Se7en Questions with Artist
David Black
Who are some of the artists or some of the
works that inspired you to get started in this field? Of today’s current artists, who do you draw inspiration from?
I actually fell into the acting by accident in May last year when I was asked to be an extra in a local, indie horror movie called Cult Girls. I’d been a cartoonist and musician for the last 36 years, so there was a big cross over of skills involved there.
As a cartoonist, you write stories and have to choose the camera angles. You are always drawing the characters emotions and body language too, so the same thought process you use in acting goes into animating your characters.
As a musician, I was already acting in front of the camera for the music videos. I just hadn’t put it together in my mind that movies and music videos are strongly related. Well, not until Cult Girls, when a number of the crew on that film started telling me about music videos that they’d worked on.
Due to this accidental start, I can’t say that there were artists that inspired me to get into this, but there certainly are artists that inspire me now. One is Bela Lugosi. Now that I’m into acting, I look at his work through different eyes and am amazed at his performances.
What have thus far been some of the negatives of being an indie artist in your field?
I would say that the biggest negative for most is trying to make a living. When I was a cartoonist, it took me five years of hard slog until the payments came in often enough for me to get by. It never amounted to a great living and I had to work around the clock, so I eventually burnt out and just took a full time, straight job in an office. I only managed to make a living for five or so years from my art.
What have thus far been the positives of being an indie artist in your field?
The positives are that I’m happy. Being able to be involved in indie movie shoots on most weekends has meant being busy doing something that I love. I’ve made lots of friends over the last year and a half and can honestly say that for the first time in life that I am satisfied. I feel that I have a direction, am valued and look forward to every single day.
What have been your favorite completed projects to work on up to this point? Can you tell us a little bit about them?
I’ve loved all the music videos that I’ve done with my band Darkness Visible. As for movies, due to being just a year and a half into the indie movie industry, most things that I’ve done haven’t come out yet. A few music videos for other bands have, but the best roles that I’ve acted in and seen footage of are still under wraps.
The segment I did for the American film, Ted Bundy Had a Son is my favourite, though. It hasn’t been released but was shown at The Warrandyte Film Feast and at the Victorian Indie Movie Night. It floored the audience at both due to the intensity of it all.
What projects are you currently working on or have planned for the near future?
The big one that I am working on now is a hosted horror show called Horror House. It’s been slated to run on Foxtel Aurora next year in February. I play a vampire called Count Funghoula. Along with Mistress Boobiyana (played by Tritia DeVisha), we present short Australian horror movies. It’s an off the wall, black humour, bad taste show. We’ve got the pilot finished and are now working the remaining five shows of the series.
Where do you see yourself in a few years and what would it take for you to consider your career a success?
I have a feeling that Horror House will take off, so in a few years, I see myself doing TV ads and various spots as The Count. For this to be a career success though, it would have to pay money. So if I can quit my job and make a living from that, then that would be success beyond anything that I’m currently planning.
If you couldn’t do this anymore, what career path do you think you would have followed and why?
My guess is that writing would be the path. I’ve been doing reviews on local movies for my blog, Oz Indie Cinema. They’re now re-printed in a very popular blog called The Movie Blog. I hadn’t dreamed that my small stuff would get onto something with a 500,000 monthly readership. I think with a little bit of work and practice, I could turn my writing into something viable and by covering our local movie industry, I would still be able to remain involved.
