By Matthew Stubstad - www.Stubstad.com
My experience of dating strangers began when I was in junior high and a girl named Emily told me I was now her friend Ariana's boyfriend. I had never met Ariana so I could only hope for the best. We are not still together.
The dangers of love are universal and I knew I wanted to collaborate with the talented Allison Raskin when she showed me a script that captured the timely subject of online dating in an original and bold way. I knew it would be the perfect project for us to combine our efforts on.
My biggest goal in this project was to simultaneously push both comedy and horror using familiar tropes that still allowed me to combine the genres. I relied on longer but tightly controlled multiple staged Steadicam shots and with these choreographed moments we were able create cinematic and suspenseful moments that allowed the actors to have the space necessary to thrive. Simply put, everything about the film is a horror movie except the actors who are in a comedy.
I have been balancing different tones in my work for years including a viral video, Monopoly - Official Trailer, and a SyFy reality TV Show winning trailer called Winky Face. This blend of genres comes organically in my career as I was heavy invested in the work of Alfred Hitchcock, studying him under Dr. Drew Casper at USC. While I am drawn to darker storytelling, I have also thrived in sketch comedy. Loving both of these worlds I naturally want to make a melting pot of their complimentary elements. I hope that Dating Strangers can be a platform for a discussion about the online dating world and how those relationships and expectations transition into real life.
My experience of dating strangers began when I was in junior high and a girl named Emily told me I was now her friend Ariana's boyfriend. I had never met Ariana so I could only hope for the best. We are not still together.
The dangers of love are universal and I knew I wanted to collaborate with the talented Allison Raskin when she showed me a script that captured the timely subject of online dating in an original and bold way. I knew it would be the perfect project for us to combine our efforts on.
My biggest goal in this project was to simultaneously push both comedy and horror using familiar tropes that still allowed me to combine the genres. I relied on longer but tightly controlled multiple staged Steadicam shots and with these choreographed moments we were able create cinematic and suspenseful moments that allowed the actors to have the space necessary to thrive. Simply put, everything about the film is a horror movie except the actors who are in a comedy.
I have been balancing different tones in my work for years including a viral video, Monopoly - Official Trailer, and a SyFy reality TV Show winning trailer called Winky Face. This blend of genres comes organically in my career as I was heavy invested in the work of Alfred Hitchcock, studying him under Dr. Drew Casper at USC. While I am drawn to darker storytelling, I have also thrived in sketch comedy. Loving both of these worlds I naturally want to make a melting pot of their complimentary elements. I hope that Dating Strangers can be a platform for a discussion about the online dating world and how those relationships and expectations transition into real life.