Synopsis:
Don't just eat the soup of life, be the Wonton Raptor!
Director Statement:
I had been quite fascinated with children's chalk drawings for a while and was in the habit of filming them, using the motion of the smartphone to create a sense of movement and animation. I was looking at some of the footage, and suddenly had this image of the shark that gobbles up his soup with such a zest for life that he becomes the "Wonton Raptor." I wrote and recorded a fun voice-over track and bundled it all together into this micro short film.
Director's Anniversary Interview:
ROFFEKE: How has your film career (and/or life in general) grown or changed since you submitted "Wonton Raptor" to ROFFEKE?
ROBERT: Wow, ten years already! I would say that I started out doing a number of films with actors and crew, but at the same time also developed an ability to be able to put things together myself by capturing imagery and blending the imagery with recorded voice-overs. This was fun because I could make a piece of film art to explore whatever themes I was interested in without needing to put together larger teams, and think about scheduling and whatnot. By breaking projects into little pieces, and learning how to do all the tasks myself, like editing, I was able to move quickly, which suits my temperament since I don't always stay interested in projects for very long. It's always a race against time for me to get something done and out the door before a new project catches my fancy! Working this way also allowed me to entertain fun collaborations like ours where we were each able to contribute component parts to the other's projects and send them along electronically. That was lots of fun!
ROFFEKE: What projects are you currently working on?
ROBERT: I am doing a lot of writing these days, mostly short fiction. I recently finished a set of six interlinked novelettes that explore the experiences of a small group of friends over several decades. My work is available (often for free) on Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Robert_DavidDuncan in case anyone would like to score some short fiction for their summer reading! I still do short film art pieces also, often inspired by the street art and other features of life here in Vancouver where I live. I particularly like to make interlinked pieces that each tell a small part of a larger story.
ROFFEKE: What projects would you like to work on in the future?
ROBERT: Nowadays I enjoy playing small parts in other people's film projects. I like acting and voice-overs, so I'm always pleased when someone would like me to come on set for a bit to play a small part, or just record something here at home as a small voice-over and send it along. I have had a lot of fun doing all the film things I have done so far, and my ego is not really involved much any more. If I can help out in some small way and have fun, I'm in!
Robert playing a small but important part in The Shenganiguns project. Watch HERE
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1g3kzz80n2lfmkv/Shenganiguns%20v1.mov?dl=0
ROFFEKE: What lessons did you learn during the Covid era?
ROBERT: One of my favorite ideas is that constraint breeds ingenuity, and that was certainly the case for me during Covid. I would likely have kept on making films with other actors and crew, but when that was no longer logical, I had to find another way to keep my creative output up and continue working. That was when I began wandering around the empty alleys here and taking cool videos of what I was seeing. I figured out how to turn those into projects, like the Spinoza Hotel and Seeker and Artist stories you and I collaborated on. I felt very lucky in some ways to have found a way to keep working, and ironically, the pandemic ended up being a period of high productivity for me, despite the overall atmosphere of uncertainty and fear in the world.
ROFFEKE: What are your (more recent) thoughts on Artificial Intelligence?
ROBERT: I still like AI a lot as an adjunct to visual storytelling and world creation. I like how I have been able to have an idea for some imagery, and have a tool render that for me in a way that surprises and delights me. I work in a truly zero-budget way, and so these tools let me access visual ideas that I wouldn't be able to get otherwise. I can do some traditional art myself like sketching and a bit of painting, but that isn't where my talents currently lie. The AI art lets me broaden my world building efforts a bit in a really fun and easy way, so I appreciate it. I have also been following your own journeys in AI with a great deal of interest, Mildred, and it would be great to hear how you currently view it in your work also!
(Mildred's note: My views on Artificial Intelligence in my work, coming soon!)
Robert David Duncan speaks on AI and Creativity - February 2022, ROFFEKE Radio Interview.
Wonton Raptor (A micro-short, smartphone film, less than one minute long).
Collaboration across continents: Room 254 Spinoza Hotel
My core training in acting is from the Stella Adler Studio in New York. I love acting and filmmaking and Vancouver where I now live is a beautiful place to make films. I am interested in the dramas, delights, passions and heartbreaks that take place in everyday interactions (or lack thereof) between ordinary people. Most of my films have dealt with human-scale issues such as tough choices, love, dreams, hope and finding meaning and fun in life. I love an underdog story! My motto is don't let anything get in the way of telling a story that might uplift someone - film it with your smartphone if that's what you have, but get it done and share it with the world.
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