Australian icon Roger Ward guest interviews for The Australian Short Film Network journal with Rapper, Hip Hop Artist, Film maker and writer Noel Vinson.
Recently, I was interviewed by the talented Indie film maker, and Publisher, Destiny West, for her popular and informative, Australian Film Network Journal. Then, I noticed she had also interviewed and published a lovely Q and A with my colleague and old friend, Brian Trenchard-Smith.
It was great to note Brian passing on his experience and wisdom and his comments were gladly received. It got me thinking though, that perhaps Destiny’s readers would like to read about someone from the other end of the chain, one, just starting so to speak, to see if his thrusts and parries resonate with others who are also at the beginning. Destiny jumped at the chance, so, having already interviewed the erstwhile director and young man about town, Noel Vinson, for another magazine I asked if he would be up for another. But Noel was reluctant. Not that he didn’t understand the importance of putting oneself out there for public display, as he is quite aware of the need to lay bare one’s ideals and dreams and successes but did not think his career had travelled far enough to be of interest to others. But when I pointed out the terrific reaction and feedback received from his first interview Noel agreed to take part.
For those unaware, Noel Vinson produces, directs, and writes. His work is diverse and covers Rap and Hip Hop Clips featuring himself singing vocals he has written, bowel loosening horror and paranormal that urge you to keep the lights on for the next 48 hours at least.
Noel is from America but has called Australia home for the past six years.
We did this interview at his Sydney home/office.
RW/- Noel, you’re gregarious, outgoing, and certainly not a SHY young man, why are you reluctant to share your life with other filmmakers who, we now discover, find your process fascinating?
NV/- Well, I guess it’s because I’m the guy that writes the scripts, gets a willing crew around him, and ticks the boxes on the to-do list. This side of filmmaking is still new to me. I’m not used to it and never imagined the way I go about my work or how I tackle the process would be of interest to others.
RW/- But surely didn’t your previous career (which we’ll talk about later) necessitate publicity, interviews, and screaming fans.
NN/- Maybe so, but that was a previous life, a long way from today! Honestly, the only screaming I hanker for these days is when a moment in one of my films shocks the shit out of an audience and I hear the rumble of satisfaction as they exit the theatre.
RW/- Gratifying?
NV/- The ultimate. It’s that reaction that I think any creative works for, regardless of discipline. For me, it makes good of those frustrating hours where I battle blank pages to fill them with words and action. And then, if I’m lucky enough, I get to shoot the creation. Which I might add is the greatest pleasure and order following the chaos! And, after all of that, one is rewarded by spending thankless hours at the editing table clipping, chipping, creating… crying.
(Behind the scenes on Dusters)
RW/- Yes, I can imagine the frustrations and probably fear with which you approach each project. I also suspect your readers, particularly those with the same goals and mindset, must resonate with what you have just stated.
NV/- I’m sure they would. I think it’s that vulnerability that makes us creatives human. And that’s even before we get to tangible stuff. But at the end of the day, it is a love-hate relationship, a filmmaker and his subject. Is it good enough? Scary enough? Deep enough? I tend to wonder if even Spielberg looks back on something like Jaws, or Carpenter with Halloween, and still question some of their choices. I don’t doubt it.
RW/- Yes, you’re probably spot on with that. But before we delve further into this interview, and to allow those unaware, to see what makes Noel Vinson tick. I will reprint some of your initial explanation about your “previous life”.
Here is what you said a couple of months ago.
NV: Chasing a career in Hip-Hop brought me to China in 2011, but it would be remiss if I didn’t mention that it was always my intention to be a filmmaker. Ever since I was a kid, I was attracted to two main things: music and movies. Anything else took a back seat. With film, there was something enjoyable that came from it, which couldn’t (and still can’t) be quantified for me. Then I saw A Nightmare on Elm Street. And it fucked me up. I didn’t think I would make it through my teenage years should Freddy Krueger see fit to invade my nightmares… which he did on a nightly basis. Because of this, I decided to lean into my fear, and behind my parent's sleeping backs, I began to watch every horror movie I could get my hands on. In facing my fears, I began to love everything I was subjecting myself to. It was empowering and I became fluent in all those stereotypical yet iconic horror tropes, and that is why I’ve chosen to direct my output toward the horror genre. But if I’m being honest, the game changer for me was when I was about eleven years old. I watched a pay-per-view showing of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and I immediately became obsessed with Jack Nicholson. This obsession brought me to “The Shining” and then to “Chinatown” which is my favourite film of all time. And I started to imitate Nicholson as I wanted to be an actor. A few years later I saw Jack Lemmon in a film called “Days of Wine and Roses” and that solidified my calling—I was to be an actor and I started imitating Lemmon to sharpen my craft. But then two things happened: marijuana and hip-hop. I veered from my intended course and ended up having one helluva ride under that umbrella. But because I chased a tangible music wave for so long, I lost track of those film sights. And it just so happened as things do, that with the clean slate Australia afforded me, I could finally transcend from music into film, a transition that has become more and more tangible over the past six years. And, as I am older now, I know it is not an actor I need to be.
(Dusters movie poster)
RW/- Okay, and for me, having worked with you on two of your directorial shoots, and one where you were an extremely diligent Executive Producer, I know you have a dab hand, an excellent eye, and a shrewd and cunning mind which allows you to create whatever you wish to achieve. Yet, despite dreaming of pursuing this profession for thirty-odd years, you only began film making a little over six years ago. Why the time lag? And what changed to finally cause you to take up the challenge? To throw aside one lucrative and successful career, and follow this one?
NV/- To be honest, I found myself at a crossroads. The time had come to make a decision. By following my other dream, I was doing extremely well. But was I satisfied? Had I achieved all I wanted to? No, not in the least! Hindsight showed me mistakes I had made. Thought processes that no longer served me. And out of the “what ifs?” and the “What would have happened had I?” came the “Dammit to hell, have a go!” It ended up being an easy call for me to go gently into the good night on music because, aside from my partner Ray who supported me foundationally, I found myself dependant on myself. I no longer had my team, my comfort zone, or my expectations. So, I threw any doubts I had to the wind and stepped warily into this brave new world.
RW/- Warily? I’d say you threw yourself bodily into it. Have a look at what you said in that previous interview.
NV: The first film I ever had my hands in (outside of any music video clips I released as VITAL Emcee) was called “I’m Sorry Mommy” (2017). I wrote and produced that one, while Sonja Lowe, a talented friend of mine, directed. We won the Audience Choice Award for Best Australian Short at the A Night of Horror International Film Festival in 2017. Interestingly enough, Sonya also produces a successful true-crime podcast called The Evidence Locker, which I host. Anyhow, following ‘I’m Sorry Mommy”, I made something called “The Malicious” which I wrote, produced, and directed. Amongst a few other awards, “The Malicious” recently won Best Female Performance as well as Audience Choice – Best Australian Short at this year’s A Night of Horror, which makes me back-to-back winners with them. I’m over the moon about that so shoutout to A Night of Horror for giving me a bit of street cred! Following that, was “Dusters” in 2019 which I still plan to put out to the circuit, COVID-willing, and then “Jane” just a few months back. And my producing partner, Abel Robinson and I began releasing our Axmo Deus shorts on social media in October of this year.
(I'm Sorry Mommy movie poster)
RW/- Hmmm, you’ve had many major successes, awards, and wonderful crits. And despite your original trepidation have come out the other side, smiling.
NV/- That’s the repressed actor resurfaced! No, in all honesty, I do try and smile even at the worst of times.
RW/- Smile you might, but what about that swagger to your step. That expansive expression, that confidence you ooze, is this a long-held image you’ve carried over from your previous life, or do you feel as confident, as happy, as you appear?
NV/- Hahaha, looks can be deceiving, and as mentioned, I was a frustrated actor in my teens, so maybe what you see, isn’t really what you’re getting. And as they say, fake it till you make it baby! There’s actually a line in one of my lyrics, written in times of yore, that says: “there’s a fine line between being humble and being confident and as far as I’m concerned, to be ‘em both is an accomplishment”. I feel like that is the most accurate description as to how I try and carry myself these days. I hope that answers your question.
(Still from Malicious)
RW/- I doubt even an Academy Award-winning actor could express that much Bonhomie if they weren't telling the TRUTH, as they say in acting school.
NV/- Okay that is a fair cop, but for a guy who wanted to be an actor and then became the most egotistical version of himself as a Hip Hop artist, I’m actually an introvert. Underneath all that BS there’s a switch, and I just happen to know when to turn it on. And maybe that makes me psychically maladjusted or manipulative, but I doubt it because in doing what I’ve always dreamed of doing, not in one, but in two careers, having tastes of success with the first, and then reverting to the second and getting a pungent WHIFF, well, I guess I really can’t help wearing my heart on my sleeve, even if it is a smile.
(Still from Dusters)
RW/- Finally, you’re beginning to accept who and what you are?
NV/- Hey, I didn’t know this was a psychiatry session. I’m walking—
Wait, where’s your script pad?
RW/- Why? Scared of the truth?
NV/- You can’t handle the truth.
RW/- Hahaha, that was spot on, you sure know your Nicholson, and it appears you’re still an actor?
NV/- An out-of-work actor who can’t handle the 150 bucks an hour you’re going to charge if you are a psychologist.
(Behind the scenes on Dusters)
RW/- You’re too astute for me Mr. Vinson. And because of that, you caused us to go through two bottles of J.D during our last interview, and you’ve driven me to it again. What have you got in the cupboard?
NV/- Not in the cupboard, on the cupboard door. And it’s a big fat padlock! J.D caused me to shoot my mouth off last time so this time it’s tea or coffee.
RW/- Come on, Noel, you’re a filmmaker they don’t drink tea and coffee.
NV/- You’re partly right, I don’t drink coffee, I inject it! But if I may, do you smell something?
RW/- Yes, I do. What are you baking?
NV/- Scones.
RW/- What are you, Alfred Hitchcock?
NV/- Not until I start giving myself my own cameos!
(The Malicious movie poster)
I followed Noel into his kitchen and sure enough, there they were. Twelve perfectly formed scones, all with a tell-tale indication of being laced with pieces of date and sultanas. There were also elegant cups and saucers, side plates, and ceramic pots filled with clotted cream and raspberry jam. We were going to have Devonshire tea.
RW/- Noel, knowing your work has the propensity to scare the shit out of even the most cynical, I was pleased to learn this interview would take place in daylight. But I was worried even further when you suggested we meet at your home/office. As I envisaged you in a rumpled bedsitter or dingy terrace, loaded with camera gear and unfinished scripts, a bank of computers, empty milk cartons, and the obligatory left-overs that always fill the abodes of young filmmakers. But, how come, after a mere few years of chasing your film directing rainbow have you managed to procure such a classy abode? For hell’s sake, I can not only see the Blue Mountains but if it weren’t for that damned building next door, I know I’d see the city and the Pacific Ocean as well? With all due respect, this is not the abode of a beginning filmmaker.
NV- It is a nice spot. A place to be comfortable and humble. But if I’m being honest, no matter how successful things may appear to be for me, the revenue I’ve received for filmmaking would hardly pay the Strata Fees. Marriage in a cohesive tie with my past life, allowed me this, which if I may say, is still cheaper as a mortgage than rent was in the eastern suburbs.
RW/- By past life, you mean your Rap and Hip Hop life?
NW/- Yeah. I was never on (or even close to) the level of what people would call mainstream. And the emcee in me would have vomited had I sold myself short and compromised for that kind of recognition. But I was on my way to making a nice dent in the underground scene, but then I was invited to China.
RW/- I’m sure your followers would love to know more, as would I. Can you enlighten us on what prompted you to go to China and what sort of a lifestyle did you have over there?
NV/- Well to make a long story short, I was invited to China by a firm who was looking to put together a team of Americans who was to tour the country on behalf of Chivas Regal. Another way to put it: glorified brand ambassadorship! When I landed the gig, I did so with the risk of not having all the details laid out. I had my visa and flight ticket taken care of, but I didn’t even have one Chinese name or contact when I boarded that plane. For someone like me that is a coronary waiting to happen. I did it though, because I needed to see further horizons. Chasing the hip-hop game from local to broader-local wasn’t achieving exactly what I was hoping. Even though I had made it on to Grammy-Consideration lists with the two records I had released, nothing ever came from that laurel, so I found that whether I was playing the House of Blues from Anaheim to New Orleans, or the Key Club and the Roxy in LA, or even various Pride Festivals (when I was still looking to come out professionally), my wide-eyes still needed to wander further. I needed something to make the time I had already put in worth my while. And with China, I was about to be paid extremely well to do what I was already doing, and breaking my back over, in the States. I won’t go into any details here but suffice it to say that once you fast forward three years later, you’ll have a story of sex, drugs and EDM colouring a palate of memory lapses that ultimately helped me grow into quite the conservative man that I am now. And I am honestly thankful for that because I am much more driven, focused, and dare I say, relaxed. It’s like a form of nirvana because now all my one-track mind wants to ponder is how to answer this question: how the fuck do I make this happen?
(Still from the movie Malicious)
RW/- Quite a back story. Interesting life. And even since we last spoke, your slate has grown. I last worked with you Directing me on the excellent two-hander, ‘Jane’, then later I worked under you as Executive Producer on the well-developed ‘Limbo’ another award winner. But our first acquaintance was on the wonderfully developed Western, “Dusters”. It was a long short, excellently done, with great foresight on your behalf. You spoke about it with a lot of love and indicated you had high hopes for an extended, feature version. I shall print your previous explanation for those who are unaware.
NV: “Dusters” has reached the final draft of its feature adaptation, and I can guarantee it’s insane in the best way. I believe that it’s everything you’d never expect in a Western… like a Nolan type narrative covered in Tarantino wrapping. I have put together a template budget and shooting schedule, but more work needs to be done as far as pitch materials go. I intend to create a speed reel for it too, something to sell the Proof of Concept and bridge it to the Feature. But truth be told, “Dusters” is something that needs to be respected in a budgetary sense, and I think I may need to prove myself further as a Director with something lower-budget before I’ll be trusted to command something a bit more expansive and I feel any future slates will be co-productions. An area that I am also pushing “The Malicious”. And another feature that I’m quite excited about, “Aorta”. If the Gods remain as crazy as I need them to, we’ll see these through without the limiting checklists and agendas of bureaucrats who nowadays seem to be embarrassed by genre film… their loss!
RW/- It is interesting to see the manner in which you and Abel, your producing partner, work.
NV: As both of us are EPs on everything we do, we are involved from the onset irrespective of who may be Directing or writing. We respect each other’s, creative souls. I like to think I am a better filmmaker, because of those I surround myself with. I know the story I want to tell, but Abel helps me translate that vision into shots and edits. I don’t pretend to know exactly how things need to be, but so long as we know our basic coverage, I can then consult other HODs on further creative choices. Film work is teamwork, and dammit, I’m thankful for the team.
RW/- You rely heavily on music to dramatize your work; it works extremely well. Do you pontificate over every music sting, as much as when choosing what image to shoot?
NV: I think every creative has to dance a fine line between being open to change and suggestion, while pleasing the inner control freak that we surely all have so, YES! I pontificate, meditate, cry, laugh, and eventually, hopefully, praise each subtlety of sound and nuance. Especially because I am making horror films that can be looked at as 70% sound. I also feel very honoured to be working with Matthew Hamm as a composer because we both have the same tastes and he always ends up knocking a queue or a theme out of the park! He also is someone who understands the vision of what we are trying to create and the long game that we are playing. I think that’s why some of our output works so well, we have aces in every department who believe in the visions that we are trying to achieve.
RW/- Thank you Noel, another excellent interview and a damned pleasure once more. Would you pass me the cream?
(Trailer for I'm Sorry Mommy)
(Trailer for Malicious)
(Trailer for Dusters)
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