Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm talks with indie filmmaker, Adam Valuckas, about his war film, Panzer Corps. (You can read his Best of Show winning critique for this film in this month's issue of MFM from Jessica Creech here.)
Adam was the auteur on this film: directing, shooting, co-writing the screenplay, producing and handling the post-production. Adam gives some insight about what goes into making a film and shares some lessons learned along the way.
Panzer Corps Trailer
Michele Yamazaki: Hi Adam. What was your inspiration for the film? Why did you make the film?
Adam Valuckas: For me, Panzer Corps grew out of the need to do something creative. I was working for Comcast doing slews of local commercials. I found at the end of the week I couldn't remember what shoots I had gone on and what I edited. It was one big boring blur of uncreative work.
I'm going to sound like I'm eight, but I wanted to do something creative with guns and lots of them! One effects test lead to another then to another and it grew almost out of control. Soon I had a living room full of boxes with uniforms and fake guns, helmets, grenades (fake of course) and other assorted shenanigans. My friends joked that I had to be on a FBI or AFT list; the UPS guy always had a quizzical look on his face.
MY: Oh, haha, I hope not!
AV: My roommate, Matt Conlon (college film bro and later assistant producer/ 1st AD for Panzer Corps), wrangled me in to finish the script. Then Jeff Leaman (another college film bro and later Producer for Panzer Corps), and I set into finishing the script.
MY: It seems like an extensive undertaking.
AV: "Extensive undertaking" are two perfect words to describe the making of Panzer Corps. I keep questioning why I didn't just make a comedy or a drama set in someone's apartment. I was thinking about the script and how to blow stuff up, how to make war set dressings, CGI stuff and the list keep going on. It was painful, but a good pain like working out, finally I was feeling creative and the burden was a pleasant byproduct.
MY: You wrote the screenplay, directed, did the effects, etc.
AV:I co-wrote the screenplay with Jeff Leaman but I did direct, production manage, shoot, edit, do the VFX, post sound, website, marketing, etc... I am so thankful that the cast and crew were there and did amazing things but I wish I could have paid for them to take some time off. A one man show is never as good as a group of talented people. Sorry, i just ranted. :)
MY: How long have you been making films?
AV:This is my first film since college and my first real narrative film oddly. I have been a videographer for ten years directing, shooting and editing commercial, corporate, and web videos. I'm good at a lot of things but not a "God" at anything. But I can do just about anything, you can give me a silver star sticker if you like. Kidding, but I won't stop you.
AV: "Extensive undertaking" are two perfect words to describe the making of Panzer Corps. I keep questioning why I didn't just make a comedy or a drama set in someone's apartment. I was thinking about the script and how to blow stuff up, how to make war set dressings, CGI stuff and the list keep going on. It was painful, but a good pain like working out, finally I was feeling creative and the burden was a pleasant byproduct.
AV:This is my first film since college and my first real narrative film oddly. I have been a videographer for ten years directing, shooting and editing commercial, corporate, and web videos. I'm good at a lot of things but not a "God" at anything. But I can do just about anything, you can give me a silver star sticker if you like. Kidding, but I won't stop you. 
