interview by Roy Chalkevski
Pete, Summer, Zach, and Kevin (Jey Reynolds, Monroe Cline, Nicholas Harsin, and Dale Van Slyke) look over their heist plans.
Yucca Fest is the world’s first vaporwave feature film, combining traditional elements of indie cinema with signature aspects of the vaporwave aesthetic, while also experimenting with the narrative edit of the film itself. A slow burn, with an ending you won’t stop thinking about, the film follows four friends as they plan a heist in the background of a vaporwave music festival, but are they the only people after the money?
Brady Trainor, the producer and editor of the low budget/high concept music festival heist film has all the answers. A native of Pontiac, IL, Trainor obtained a film degree in Florida before moving to the Mojave desert in California where the movie was filmed. “It’s a great place for creativity,” Trainor said about the area, “there’s a lot more to do out here than people realize, and having clear open skies is never a bad thing.” Brady talked with me about his influences, balancing cinema style with vaporwave, and his personal connection to the film.
Yucca Fest is full of vaporwave aesthetics like this one.
You serve as the main producer and editor on this project. Why did you want to make a vaporwave movie?
Vaporwave is something I’ve been following for a while as an emerging art genre. Not just music, but as an aesthetic and really an entire culture. In early 2018, I began wondering what a vaporwave movie would even look like. Then a few months later, when I read Sunshine’s script, I knew we had a good opportunity for a low budget/high concept project that wouldn’t strain itself being vaporwave, especially since we were going music based to begin with. We threw some specific elements into the script, but I knew that post production would be where the fun would really start. It was really a case of the stars aligning in the very beginning.
Jesse (Zachary Zarvos) desperately looks around the festival.
What were your influences while creating this movie?
It was more music videos than narratives, things like Tyler, The Creator and Tame Impala. With the movie being so closely related to music it just made sense. As far as influences from other features though, I tried to take a little bit from as much as I could. A staple in vaporwave is sampling, so I would try to add things in to mimic older movies. There are references to a lot of different films in Yucca Fest, old westerns, Tarantino, Star Wars, and tons of action movies from the 80s/90s. Combining elements together that probably shouldn’t work and approaching it in this niche way that somehow makes sense. For me it was a great way to creatively problem solve how I could progress the story but still stay true to what I was trying to accomplish.
A split screen shows the beauty of the world the movie creates.
How much of that creative problem solving went into the final look of the movie?
There was a lot of experimentation and thought that went into the final look. I had made a few skate videos as test edits, and had created a lookbook at the beginning of pre-production, even then there was a lot of fine tuning for the right look, and then a lot of second guessing after that. Every frame had to be reviewed to make sure it carried the message we wanted it to carry. Every effect and sound had to mean something. I wanted to make sure in the end we were cinematic, but that we really held onto our vaporwave theme.
Fall deeper into the rabbit hole as the movie progresses with increasingly strange visuals.
What were some of the limitations you faced putting this all together?
Our budget for starters. Although we received some money from our executive producer Michael Huffington, we also had to turn to GoFundMe, a few private donations, and I even briefly went into debt to make sure this movie could be done. I think our total budget was under $10,000 total. Between travel, food, and gas there wasn’t a lot left over to actually make the movie. I called in just about every favor I had, and was fortunate enough that I had family and friends that traveled quite a distance to help me out.
Another unique vaporwave visual from Yucca Fest.
As the producer, you had quite a hand in crafting the soundtrack too, right?
I put Matt [Waldner] on his path, he did all the rest. I remember giving him a lot of non-vaporwave influences to look over. Things like Boards of Canada, George Harrison, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and Pink Floyd because I wanted to expand both the audio and visual encyclopedias of the film, adding things in like glitchwave, drone, synthwave, and psychedelia to keep the audience engaged. What Matt came back with was something really amazing. I can’t really take much credit for it though.
Kevin (Dale Van Slyke) talks with Rita and Riley (Vanessa Conlon and Chelsea Murphy) as the festival unfolds around them.
Did the pandemic interfere with creating Yucca Fest at all?
We were fortunate enough to have filmed in May of 2019. By November we had a pretty completed fine cut and were able to do pickups before the year’s end. I spent pretty much all of lockdown editing solo. For the most part it really hasn’t gotten in the way, but now that we have this movie finished, and we want to show people, we’re finding it difficult to get it out. We know we have something good, we just want to be able to share it.
Jesse (Zachary Zarvos) uses his power as security guard to keep an eye out for crime.
This film has a pretty personal connection for you, can you talk about that?
You mean besides having worked on it full time for three years?
Besides that, yeah.
When I first decided this was going to be the movie I would fully commit to, I asked a friend of mine, Walt Roseboro III to direct it. Walt was my college roommate and the best man at my wedding. He’d been a close friend for a decade even though he lived in Philadelphia and I was in California. Walt eagerly agreed, and we started casting. He was supposed to fly out for a few weeks in November of 2018 for Thanksgiving and to start pre-production, but a few days before his flight he was shot and killed by his roommate.
I took some time away from the story, contemplating if I even wanted to go forward with it. In the end I decided I wanted to see this through. This had been our dream for some time, and I didn’t want to just abandon it. I wanted to make sure this thing got done so I could dedicate it to him. When we started shooting my parents came out west for a few days to help out. That turned out to be the last time I saw my mom healthy as well. She passed seven months later. This whole process has been such a roller coaster.
Joshua Trees stoically stand under the desert night sky.
What advice do you have for indie filmmakers tackling a project like this?
I think it’s important to try to not take it too seriously. It’s hard work to create anything, especially a movie, but remember to enjoy it. At the end of the day I was able to make a movie with my friends and family by my side. I’m very lucky in that regard, not everyone gets an opportunity like this.
And don’t linger too much on what could have been. “This shot would have been great if we had just blah blah blah.” It’s fine to have that thought, but just enjoy your project, learn from what you made, and do better next time.
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It’s all part of the plan as four friends in southern California (Monroe Cline, Jey Reynolds, Nicholas Harsin, and Dale Van Slyke) decide to rob a music festival. The only problem; someone else has their eye on the money.
The film stars Monroe Cline, Jey Reynolds, Nicholas Harsin, Dale Van Slyke, Zachary Zarvos, Enrique Oseguera, and Cazimir Milostan.
YUCCA FEST is directed by Chelsea Murphy and written by Sunshine Green. The film is produced by Brady Trainor, Walt Roseboro III, and Jey Reynolds. Michael Huffington serves as the executive producer. The film is produced by meddle media.