Welcome to the Mess Lab with Zane DeLong

Artist and IT professional Zane DeLong, the creator of Welcome to the Mess Lab on YouTube, devotes most of his channel to presenting articulate commentary on movies that, as he puts it, have something to say. 

In this episode, he talks about several films, including 1984's "Surf II," which is on one hand trying to be a goofy "Airplane!" style comedy and, on the other hand,  a rather disturbing portrayal of the anxieties of its characters.  The comedy doesn't really work, but the film is interesting nonetheless, Zane says. And several of its actors — Eddie Deezen, Eric Stoltz, Linda Kerridge, Cleavon Little, Terry Kiser and Ruth Buzzi — are recognizable because they were in bigger and better-known shows.

Zane's movie commentaries, which tend to be pretty involved, generally take him a long time to produce, so he experimented with giving viewers shorter "impressions" of more movies. In his first of these short-form commentaries, he covers "The Story of a Three Day Pass" and "Watermelon Man," both by Melvin Van Peebles, as well as "Hanging Garden,"  "Lucky Chan-Sil,"  and "Are you in the House Alone?"

Finally, check out his episodes covering “House,” "Domino" and a compilation of films that he presented under the intriguing title “Great Walls of Cinema.” And there's one music video in the mix. Zane shot it in a beautiful cemetery in Columbus, Ohio, for his friend's band, Discount Tents. Quite serene.

You can get to Welcome to the Mess Lab here. You also can check out Zane's Twitter feed, where he goes by the handle @_noone_specific and where you'll see a sampling of his artwork, particularly the digital face he sculpted using the free program Blender.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to The Gale Hill Radio Hour!

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to The Gale Hill Radio Hour!

The show is available in Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast directories. Also on Substack and YouTube; Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Transcript

00:00:13:07 - 00:00:34:23
Kate
Hello and welcome to the Gail Hill Radio Hour. I'm your host, Kate Jones, having a conversation today with Zane DeLong, artist, filmmaker, I.T. professional and creator of Welcome to the Mess Lab on YouTube. Zain, thank you for being on the show today.

00:00:36:01 - 00:00:38:05
Zane
Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me.

00:00:38:10 - 00:00:42:09
Kate
I really appreciate you taking the time to be on with all your projects.

00:00:44:05 - 00:00:47:09
Zane
I, I can always make time for a little more time, you know?

00:00:48:04 - 00:01:01:21
Kate
That sounds good. Well, I don't think I can do your channel justice. So would you explain. Welcome to the mess lab. And that would be a mess. As in messy.

00:01:02:22 - 00:01:27:00
Zane
Yes. Yes. Well, I think so. The channel is kind of about it's a way of creating a platform for deep criticism in kind of the, like, older sense of the word. And, like, it's more of a kind of an artistic statement in itself where, like, the criticism builds off of something else. Right. In this case, it's movies, right?

00:01:27:15 - 00:01:37:14
Zane
With. And that's what it is. At the moment. I think that it's going to be to expand in different ways. But at the moment, I'm focusing on that specifically.

00:01:37:21 - 00:01:48:21
Kate
That sounds good. How would you describe your commentaries about film? It really doesn't seem as if the term movie reviews accurately describes them.

00:01:49:18 - 00:02:03:18
Zane
Thank you. Yeah. So I I, I'm going to borrow some, like, statements, basically from friends who have watched it. I think that's actually the best way because, you know, someone else's opinion is like, you know, so.

00:02:04:08 - 00:02:05:02
Kate
Yeah, that's a good.

00:02:05:04 - 00:02:32:23
Zane
Self-Awareness to it. And I think that they are. But what I like about good criticism is that it builds off of the the piece that it's talking about. Right. And so my videos are a statement about something right? The way I introduce each of these movies is I introduce a topic we can all relate to first. And I try to do it as stylishly as possible.

00:02:33:00 - 00:02:50:04
Zane
It is a YouTube video. And I then kind of go into the movie, you know, and do a little bit of and do as much analysis as is necessary throughout the video. And then to close it out with. Here is the wrap up of the themes of the movie. Then the wrap up of the themes I introduced at the beginning.

00:02:51:01 - 00:03:17:09
Zane
I think, you know, we can talk about so many things that way. And also it helps us kind of look look beyond what the movie because you know, we're all we all have a lot going on in our heads. Right. And the idea is to spark that thing that reminds us to get us to feel something right. And I definitely am kind of being a little generalized here.

00:03:17:09 - 00:03:36:07
Zane
But I think when you are able to spark that, when you're able to provide something as succinct and direct enough that it can spark something beyond the meaning of the piece itself, you've done a good job. And I hope that's, you know, what's so interesting?

00:03:36:14 - 00:04:05:21
Kate
And you're you're commentaries have a lot of depth And in fact, you you have different ones that you do and you have five that you call movies from the deep. So they really are they do have depth. And then you have one called Impressions from Beneath. And then on this channel, you have a music video that will talk about a little bit later.

00:04:06:09 - 00:04:30:23
Kate
But how about if we start with your recent movie From the Deep about the movie Surf to in your description of this film you write, what does the feeling of doom and surfing have in common? Huh? What? Indeed. So please explain.

00:04:32:04 - 00:04:51:13
Zane
Yeah. So part of that is, you know, I kind of want to like a click baity title but, you know, I'm trying to work with what I have with something that is genuine, right? And it is about Dune. I mean, it's about but not the way you know, I introduce the thing with talking about the game Doom, because that's been trending lately.

00:04:52:07 - 00:05:23:20
Zane
But then immediately within the first 20 seconds, like something else here is no, this is actually what we're talking about. But the sense of like, you know, there's a sense of like information overload in our current like what sense of it is, but like true, you know, with lots of social media and all that stuff. And I don't necessarily mention that specifically, but like just how kind of like, like where do these, where does this information overload come from?

00:05:24:11 - 00:06:03:15
Zane
It's about current events. Usually and that's the most well, it's always about current events. And so then I try to filter that through how surf to communicate. It's overload because the movie is wild and it's a it's kind of a mess, but it's a fascinating mess. Right. Whenever I see a lake, whenever I see a movie where like on the back of the box or the description or whatever, if they have trouble describing it, they're like, I'm interested because that tells to me that there is usually some sort of like a really kind of deep vision.

00:06:03:16 - 00:06:29:16
Zane
It may be lost in there, like don't get me wrong, it definitely was. And surf, too. But like, it's definitely something to say, though. It absolutely has something to say about kind of overwhelm, about, like comparing yourself to others about like the way that I eat, like Mark, like between like marketing and esthetics of other people. Comparing yourself to that, it has a lot to say about that.

00:06:30:11 - 00:06:44:20
Zane
And I wanted to dig that out. I wanted to like, create a a statement that was organized and then use this movie as a jumping off point for that statement. Okay. Does that make sense?

00:06:45:00 - 00:07:02:04
Kate
Yes. And so so even though the description of the film isn't very well put, you know, it doesn't really give you an idea of the theme of the movie. What would you say? How would you describe surf to.

00:07:04:00 - 00:07:33:19
Zane
I would say it's a movie that's kind of in conflict with itself. It is in conflict with the self. It it it wants to be like simultaneously this goofy, like, airplane style comedy. It has a lot of like Airplane style jokes, situational comedy, but also it wants to it kind of you kind of see like in like anxieties like come through like lots of anxieties.

00:07:33:19 - 00:07:35:18
Kate
Yes. It wants to disturb you.

00:07:36:14 - 00:07:36:18
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:07:37:20 - 00:08:04:12
Zane
Yeah. And so it wants to do both of those at the same time. And that's really awkward. And I'm not saying it can't be done right, but like it it's but it's fascinating because of that. I mean, I will it is a good movie, don't get me wrong. Like it's a bit of a mess. Yes. But like, it is a good movie because it like, it elicits those feelings I'm not sure that everyone is going to have that opinion.

00:08:04:12 - 00:08:29:18
Zane
Right. Lots of reviews on the Internet of it are just like, oh, it fails that everything it does. Well, it feels it being a comedy mostly. Yeah. But like it it it it uses that comedy as a way to kind of cope with the anxieties it's portraying. And so on that level, it's, it's a lot more it's actually quite good as a, as a movie, you know?

00:08:30:10 - 00:08:44:07
Kate
So it's worth it for that because and again, going back to what connects us right now, especially in current, you know, modern society, is that we are anxious.

00:08:44:20 - 00:08:45:17
Zane
Yeah. Yeah.

00:08:46:23 - 00:08:47:09
Speaker 3
Hmm.

00:08:47:16 - 00:08:52:14
Kate
Very interesting. So how long ago was that made?

00:08:53:23 - 00:09:04:18
Zane
Oh, let's see. I think 82. Let me actually look that up here. I actually it was 82 or 85. 84.

00:09:04:18 - 00:09:11:06
Kate
Oh it's in the 80. So, so it's not, I mean. Well of course is. So our anxiety has continued for a long time.

00:09:12:18 - 00:09:40:11
Zane
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was 84, it was actually released in a cut version and with like additional like added shots by the producers and I actually haven't seen that original theatrical version. There was a recent restoration done on the director's cut. That's what I talked about. That's what I've seen but originally it was like recut to be kind of more of a teen sex comedy.

00:09:40:11 - 00:09:54:05
Zane
You know, they put like more nudity in it and stuff in the theatrical cut, whereas the current one doesn't have much of that. It's like it's there, but not much. It's, it's more about it's kind of like it's more of that weird clash that comes through.

00:09:55:02 - 00:10:07:21
Kate
Is the movie significant for anybody who's in it or, or the director or anything like that? Or is it mainly the, the theme that emerged about anxiety?

00:10:08:22 - 00:10:31:11
Zane
I think it's mostly the theme. I it wasn't like it's not exactly an easy movie to market. You know, like it's, you know, you have a lot of big players in it. You know, like Eddie Disney, who was in Greece to Eric Stoltz, who was in Pulp Fiction and many other things, like Linda Kerridge, who is kind of a cult film person.

00:10:31:11 - 00:10:41:13
Zane
She and Fade to Black and Alien from L.A., Cleavon Little who did Blazing Saddles and it's so much more. Oh, Terry Kizer, who was Bernie, I believe, and Weekend at Bernie's.

00:10:41:14 - 00:10:41:23
Kate
Okay.

00:10:42:11 - 00:10:55:22
Zane
Yeah. So it's got a lot of big names, but I think it was more of like, I think I'm not sure that it did a whole lot for those folks. I think it was more to do a lot for the movie, you know what I mean?

00:10:56:00 - 00:10:59:01
Kate
Right. Get somebody to to watch it, perhaps.

00:10:59:15 - 00:11:01:04
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. Yes.

00:11:01:11 - 00:11:08:02
Kate
Very interesting. So why did you decide to include that? Why why was this one of your movies From The Deep?

00:11:08:20 - 00:11:24:23
Zane
Oh, it just spoke to me, you know, like I thought I mean, also part of it was, you know, there were recognizable names in it, too. I could possibly use that as a thing. I don't know. You know, I'm trying out things for the YouTube channel.

00:11:25:01 - 00:11:54:03
Kate
Right. And it's interesting to see people, actors who are in other things and and you know, who you know from other things. And then. Oh, that's right. Because this is the one I think that Ruth Buzzi is in. I mentioned from from the old Laugh-In in the late sixties, seventies. And that was so interesting to see her, you know, hanging out at parties or whatever and it was just.

00:11:54:07 - 00:11:58:09
Zane
It was one of she was one of the the moms of Chuck and Bob, the main.

00:11:58:09 - 00:12:01:11
Kate
Oh, okay. I didn't realize she was a mom in it. Okay.

00:12:01:18 - 00:12:13:22
Zane
Yeah. I didn't There was only one mention I had of that in that split screen, if you recall the split screen where it shows the two families literally completely in sync with each other.

00:12:13:23 - 00:12:15:05
Kate
Oh, right, right.

00:12:15:05 - 00:12:30:09
Zane
Yeah. So that showed that she was the mom. I didn't dwell on it too much because characters aren't super it's like you don't even the moms don't even have a name. They're just the moms segment of the dads, you know, like.

00:12:31:19 - 00:12:36:10
Kate
Oh, that's appropriate, I guess, for a teen film.

00:12:36:22 - 00:12:37:11
Zane
Yeah, right.

00:12:39:02 - 00:12:43:10
Kate
That's good. Well, is there anything else you'd like to say about surf to.

00:12:45:15 - 00:13:10:21
Zane
No, I think well, I mean, you know, I had fun with the intro. I decided that if you recall, I mean, you do recall I did a little rhyme at the beginning. And the of it. Yeah. And that was fun to play with. I enjoyed that esthetically. Right. I'm not saying I'll do it again, but I like that rhythmic sort of thing to get you into the the video right away.

00:13:10:21 - 00:13:13:13
Zane
You know, I enjoyed I drove the heck out of that.

00:13:13:13 - 00:13:15:01
Kate
It worked really. Well.

00:13:15:13 - 00:13:15:23
Zane
Thank you.

00:13:16:07 - 00:13:35:00
Kate
Yeah, that was great. So we'll go to some other movies from the Deep, but I want to talk about your very first episode of Impressions from Beneath, which is a short form commentary. So what can you say? What what do you want to say about impressions? From Beneath?

00:13:36:11 - 00:14:18:00
Zane
Well, impressions from Beneath is a it's more about like being in creating like, you know, I don't have to I can release those quicker because like it's I it's well, so for for example, I write one paragraph for each movie and I stick to that. And so it doesn't have to be as deep. It can just but, you know, I think it's still like interesting, entertaining moves that are a pretty each film moves at a very fast clip, you know, 85 movies and it's yeah, it's more about just like, hey, let's talk about more movies because it takes a long time to make a movie from the deep.

00:14:18:00 - 00:14:48:05
Zane
And I just wanted something that was like a little faster, a little, and still to be able to, like, inform people about interesting movies throughout history and to create that impression, to give in to to provide an example of other things that are happening. Right. And as another note, I also wanted to say that I probably will change that to like I'll keep it.

00:14:48:05 - 00:14:57:22
Zane
I think I'm going to keep it as movies from the deep, but then just call it impressions, just to keep all the movies from the beat similar to like how I did the Great Wall of Cinema history.

00:14:58:04 - 00:14:58:13
Kate
Yes.

00:14:59:05 - 00:15:03:11
Zane
Yeah. I just have it as a subset right now. Go forward.

00:15:03:12 - 00:15:15:19
Kate
Oh, that'll be good. Yeah. Yeah. So do you want to talk about any of these movies in particular? Like the story of a three day pass or, or whatever? There were five of them, as you said.

00:15:16:09 - 00:15:19:02
Zane
Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

00:15:21:22 - 00:15:46:05
Zane
I've got to say, my favorite of the bunch was Hanging Garden. I spent the most time talking about it in the video it was the Japanese film about the the family who does not keep secrets from each other or, you know, quote unquote, does not keep secrets from each other. And it goes into like family history and shared trauma between the families.

00:15:46:13 - 00:16:12:15
Zane
And it it does it in such an interesting way, like the camera literally like moves and tilts and twirls in a way that supports the character's state of mind. It's really interesting because that could very easily come across as self-indulgent, but like it actually just comes across as supportive of the these these characters who, you know, they function normally.

00:16:12:15 - 00:16:36:17
Zane
It's just they've got some stuff they need to address but it's also a very positive movie. It doesn't like it doesn't what I like about it doesn't tear them down. It shows them like finding a way to address it or finding a way through it, at least for the duration of the movie. And I like that one.

00:16:36:17 - 00:16:51:13
Kate
Of your sources that you included with this episode is Melvin Van Peebles Essential Films is one of these films by Melvin Van Peebles.

00:16:52:11 - 00:16:57:16
Zane
Yeah, I'm two of them, actually. The story of a three day pass and Watermelon Man.

00:16:57:17 - 00:16:58:05
Kate
Okay.

00:16:59:00 - 00:17:29:20
Zane
Yeah, those are those are wonderful. The story of a three day pass was about a American GI stationed in France in the sixties, and it was about his like even though he's in France and it's like not as racist as America, he still experiences it because he's got this like bubble in the stationed place. Right. But, you know, he's like explicitly told not to mingle with any of them.

00:17:29:20 - 00:17:37:17
Zane
And of course he does. And it's but it's more about like just the romance that happens. And it's very like poignant because of that.

00:17:37:17 - 00:17:42:11
Kate
Yes. And then Watermelon Man, that's an interesting one.

00:17:43:00 - 00:17:56:11
Zane
Yeah. For a lot of it's it's hilarious. It's about a man, a white insurance salesman who one day just wakes up and he's black and he's surprises.

00:17:57:00 - 00:17:57:13
Speaker 3
Yeah, right.

00:17:58:17 - 00:18:46:12
Zane
He's very he's a bigoted white insurance salesman particularly. And it is meant to kind of take you on a journey to like I like viscerally sympathize with with the black experience. It's not about taking you. It's it's not a it doesn't pull its punches. Right. It is very like direct. And it's deeply revealing, I think. And it's it's good at talking about prejudice and racism and also 1960s America it was released in 1970 so yeah it was, it's, it's a good one.

00:18:46:12 - 00:18:52:09
Zane
I don't really recommend that one is probably the most like immediately like grabbing of the other ones.

00:18:52:11 - 00:18:58:21
Kate
Yes. And why is Melvin Van Peebles, why is he important.

00:19:00:02 - 00:20:02:05
Zane
So he so his most famous film Sweet Sweet Back's Bad Ass song, that's two A's and five S's at the end is with an exclamation point. That's kind of so that was released in 1971 right after Watermelon Man this was an independent film made by a black filmmaker about a, a male, a black male I guess prostitute, I guess you would say, who murders a white policeman and then goes on the run and again in 1971 and it actually was a huge hit and it kind of it was one of the very first it was the like it was one of the very first hits of its time of its style of its time.

00:20:02:06 - 00:20:24:02
Zane
Right. And after that you know, you might have heard of the blaxploitation genre. Right, that came immediately after like and Shaft came immediately after it though I think that one was being made at the same time but came a little bit after it. But nonetheless it's like it is the granddaddy of that, like that movement you know, but it's not the same kind of movie.

00:20:24:02 - 00:20:56:16
Zane
It's more again, just like his other films, it's more direct. It's more it's it's not worried about apologizing. That's not going to pull its punches. It's it's whereas a lot of those blaxploitation movies, those tend to be tended to be produced by white people with black actors. And, you know, Sweet Sweetback was totally independent crew not even union people, mostly not union somewhere, but it's it's a it's a classic.

00:20:56:19 - 00:21:01:17
Zane
It really is. It's it's it's I love it.

00:21:03:06 - 00:21:25:09
Kate
Yeah, sounds like it. Okay. Well, let's go back to movies from the deep and I thought that your comments about House were absolutely terrific. This film is about confronting your demons from the past. Would you please talk about it?

00:21:26:19 - 00:21:40:04
Zane
Yeah. So, yeah, house is that. It's the movie house in that made in the eighties as well. It's a horror comedy starring William Cat and a the guy from Cheers.

00:21:40:05 - 00:21:42:01
Kate
Yes. The guy who played Norm.

00:21:42:14 - 00:21:43:09
Zane
Right at him.

00:21:43:19 - 00:21:44:05
Kate
Yes.

00:21:45:11 - 00:22:12:14
Zane
And I like it. It's got a it's another one. It's like, you know, star studded sort of things. But William Cat is an author. He is writing about his experiences in the Vietnam war, but he's a horror novelist. But he's like, now this is what he's transitioning to and his fans aren't really happy. There's a good joke about it where the his publisher says people are sick of hearing about the Vietnam War.

00:22:12:14 - 00:22:14:15
Zane
They want to hear a good horror story, like.

00:22:15:09 - 00:22:20:04
Kate
As if that wasn't enough horror, right?

00:22:20:14 - 00:22:40:18
Zane
Yeah, right. And yeah, he he buys an old house from his aunt who passed away, and then he decides to write in isolation there. It doesn't go as planned. His nosey neighbor, played by George Wendt.

00:22:40:18 - 00:22:43:21
Kate
That's right. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Also known as Norm.

00:22:44:10 - 00:22:44:18
Speaker 3
Yes.

00:22:47:00 - 00:22:50:03
Zane
He's nosy and he also recognizes who he is.

00:22:50:05 - 00:22:54:16
Kate
Well, he was a fan, wasn't he? Wind of a big fan of his horror movies.

00:22:55:20 - 00:22:57:01
Zane
Yes. Horror novels. Yes.

00:22:57:01 - 00:22:59:02
Kate
Yes. I mean, that's why I met horror novels. Yes.

00:22:59:06 - 00:23:29:08
Zane
Yeah, yeah. And yes. Yeah. So they become like, you know, like friendly neighbors and then ends up he gets roped into like, William Katz visions of, like, these weird monsters that kind of like are wearing army helmets and stuff like that. And then you know, it's about him discovering his, like, his way through his sort of like, mental block right?

00:23:29:10 - 00:23:53:04
Zane
Like in through his PTSD. I'm sorry he lost a child to, like. Yeah, but, like, literally lost like this. Like, where where is he to to this house that has, like, supernatural stuff going on. And and it's about him, like, discovering himself. And then you know, his life is falling apart, and he's kind of reached the head at this point.

00:23:53:09 - 00:24:00:03
Zane
And then he confronts it in a very simple way. But it's like about how he confronts his PTSD and like how he.

00:24:01:03 - 00:24:19:19
Kate
And the grief and the ups and just everything. And I love what you say when it when I referenced your comments I just loved what you said said about the caring community, small the small band of people who, you know, helped him through it.

00:24:20:06 - 00:24:20:14
Zane
Right.

00:24:20:21 - 00:24:25:20
Kate
You you were so articulate and profound with what you said.

00:24:27:13 - 00:24:36:12
Zane
Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, that's I felt that that's what the movie was. That's what the movie was saying, you know, and I wanted to make sure people knew it.

00:24:36:20 - 00:24:58:11
Kate
Yes. I thought it was really a terrific episode. And and there's another really terrific one called Great Walls of Cinema, which you did a while ago. It came out about you posted maybe about a year or so ago. Yeah. Really interesting concept. So would you talk about that Yeah.

00:24:58:12 - 00:25:19:02
Zane
Um, I don't know about you, but when I'm like, not into a movie, I tend to just stare at stuff in the frame. And, you know, obviously how can you miss a wall? There's like, it's just there. And so I wonder, like, what? Why don't they talk about walls and like, in movies? So that was a fun experiment.

00:25:19:02 - 00:25:46:10
Zane
And just like, I mean, you know, ultimately it was about like kind of being like sort of a sort of like a Zen Buddhism sort of thing, like just being in the moment, you know, like you're like, I think we all have those moments where it's like, we just want to kind of fight. We're looking for something that, you know, keeps us focused, right?

00:25:46:10 - 00:26:13:05
Zane
You know, or we're looking for something to like engage with, right? And maybe a movie doesn't do it. Maybe it does, right? And the movies I listed are good movies, I think, but also I wanted to kind of talk about how breaking them down it goes. So can only go so far, you know, because you can't talk about just the walls without talking with the themes of the movie and what they're doing.

00:26:13:20 - 00:26:39:09
Kate
And what the walls mean in the movie. I mean, that was so interesting to me. I don't have examples because it's been a while since I looked at it, but at the episode. But I just thought you really talked about why the what cinematographer did what you know of that person did, you know, with the walls. And I like that so much.

00:26:40:08 - 00:27:11:22
Zane
Thank you. Yeah. I mean, for, for the listeners to give an example, one I did was possession, which Andrei Arlovski, the Polish director, made a movie in the 1980s with a Sam Neill the Jurassic Park guy before Jurassic Park. And the way they use walls is like there's a clean wall there are messy walls, but like people's lives are in chaos.

00:27:11:22 - 00:27:39:05
Zane
And so like there's kind of this aspirational quality of like, yeah, the clean wall versus like just, you know, these kind of sterile environments, these clean walls and like and but they're like arguing and they're like hurting themselves doing it and like. And so I use that as a comparison point to talk about like, sort of like a rift in how people see themselves and how people see their environment.

00:27:39:06 - 00:27:39:14
Zane
Yeah.

00:27:40:07 - 00:28:09:12
Kate
Wow. That's good. So anyway, I remember that as being really quite stunning. Throughout the entire episode. And your once again, your commentary commentary was so interesting anyway, you know, so let's talk about Domino, which so far has the most views of all your movies from The Deep. There's a reason for that. So please tell us Yeah.

00:28:09:12 - 00:28:37:09
Zane
So Domino is a spunky little Italian movie starring Brigitte Nielsen and, you know, the model and later action star from the nineties you know, it is model who was married to Sylvester Stallone, if I recall correctly. Yes. And so like it's just an interesting little feminist movie about like the woman who's just trying to find her purpose. And it's like a science fiction movie as well.

00:28:37:09 - 00:29:03:07
Zane
But like, it's not really interested in the science fiction. It's more of like using it to kind of work I just provide like sort of ambiance, you know, it's cool. It's really neat. And I think in speaking to your point of why it has the most views, I recall at one point I was able to see like what people were looking up and why it brought it brought them to the video.

00:29:03:07 - 00:29:12:02
Zane
And it was like Brigitte Nielsen, hot yeah. Like, that's fine. I don't mind why.

00:29:12:18 - 00:29:14:21
Kate
She has a following still.

00:29:15:11 - 00:29:16:13
Zane
Yeah, right.

00:29:16:14 - 00:29:23:18
Kate
Clearly, people wanna people want to see whenever she's in. I think that's terrific.

00:29:24:19 - 00:29:26:01
Zane
Yeah, it's funny.

00:29:26:08 - 00:29:35:21
Kate
And maybe you know, they'll also watch the entire little feminist movie and get some ideas from that. I think that's a that's excellent.

00:29:36:11 - 00:29:51:14
Zane
Yeah. Yeah, it's a, you know, it's a neat little movie, and I, I recommend it. You know, it's, it's another one of those kind of messy movies, but, like, it's a good one. It does it. It's good. It's saying what it's. It's going for.

00:29:51:18 - 00:30:01:16
Kate
Sure. That's. That's really good. Well, do you want to talk about any of your other movie episodes before we talked about the music video?

00:30:02:18 - 00:30:06:08
Zane
No, I think that's it. I did a talking about music video.

00:30:06:16 - 00:30:14:07
Kate
Okay. Well, I believe I remember that you shot this music video. Is that correct?

00:30:14:17 - 00:30:15:19
Zane
Yes, that is correct.

00:30:15:20 - 00:30:20:01
Kate
Okay. So how did it come about that you did this music video.

00:30:21:21 - 00:30:51:17
Zane
So my roommate at the time, one, he is in a band called the Discount Attempts at Danny Lemon is his name is you know, he's not the head of the band, but he's a he was generally a drummer most of the time. But he's like, let's shoot this music video. We're just going to go to the cemetery and take some shots and, you know, whatever.

00:30:52:17 - 00:31:03:16
Zane
And I'm like, hold up, hold on. We got let's let's let me bring my camera and let me help you. And so.

00:31:03:16 - 00:31:11:20
Kate
Yeah, so they were just going to do it themselves without the the assistance of an able filmmaker.

00:31:12:14 - 00:31:35:20
Zane
Yeah. I mean, I may be remembering it incorrectly, but I think his idea was just to do a cell phone like kind of like I like shooting stuff in the cemetery. And it's a beautiful cemetery. So, you know, it's like any where you point it would look nice. But like, I was like, let's, let's let me, let me help you out with this.

00:31:36:02 - 00:32:05:00
Zane
And I So we did. And it's, let's see, was shot at Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio. England hasn't been there. You can Google maps. It's a really beautiful, picturesque place. And so we shot it and then later edited it right in the, in the we actually shot it in 2018 and then released it. Didn't edit it until 20, 20.

00:32:05:05 - 00:32:13:14
Zane
It just kind of like it just didn't coincide with anything really. And then just then he's just like, we should just make this really simple and, and so we did.

00:32:13:20 - 00:32:18:06
Kate
Okay well it's, it is a cool video thank you.

00:32:18:19 - 00:32:48:05
Zane
I love it. Yeah. It's just a very calming kind of serene video. It's, it's another song. It's a song about togetherness and and it's sort of there's a sort of irony about, you know, shooting in a graveyard and but it's about people walking through graveyard and the togetherness of being there with another person at the graveyard. It's it's poetic, right?

00:32:48:11 - 00:32:56:08
Zane
Yes. There's not a whole lot I can describe with that. It's better, I think, to experience exactly it. Minute and 59 seconds.

00:32:56:15 - 00:33:02:12
Kate
Yes. So what other projects have you worked on that you particularly like.

00:33:04:01 - 00:33:37:06
Zane
I like I really like doing 3D work. You know, I like in my movies from the deep episodes past House episode and Iron, I've used a little bit of my 3D work in that, and I've made a I've sculpted a face and created a human face that I can, like pose and stuff in in blender the program I use and, you know, done the texturing, all that stuff.

00:33:37:06 - 00:33:48:08
Zane
It's a lot of very technical and artistic work. Both sides of your brain and it's a it's cool I think.

00:33:48:11 - 00:33:51:18
Kate
I've seen that face that you have sculpted.

00:33:52:08 - 00:33:52:17
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:33:53:03 - 00:33:55:11
Kate
And it is it's really remarkable.

00:33:56:13 - 00:34:31:13
Zane
Thank you. Yeah. It's it's just amazing what you can do with this little piece of free software and not little. It's now used in big projects and funded by big companies, but it still is free to use completely and it won't change that. That will not be changed, which I think is a lovely, remarkable thing for something of that caliber, because other 3D programs, you'd be spending 4000 a year for or, or maybe that's three years, but nonetheless, like it's a lot of money, right?

00:34:31:13 - 00:34:44:17
Zane
You're looking at like $70 a month minimum, I think for any 3D software and blenders, like, you know, trading blows with the best of them and it's, it's free to use for any purpose.

00:34:44:20 - 00:34:53:01
Kate
Jeez, that's really something yeah. And, and have you done other music videos as well.

00:34:54:00 - 00:35:13:23
Zane
I have on that same so Danny Lemon, the same guy, we, we made a video for one of the songs Sexy Pastry Chef and that was a lot of fun. That was like every, on nearly every idea we had, we managed to get it in and throw.

00:35:13:23 - 00:35:15:20
Kate
It in there like a pie.

00:35:16:13 - 00:35:16:20
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:35:16:22 - 00:35:55:03
Zane
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And it was, it's, it's just this wild, chaotic fun. It's the the video is about a guy who sees another guy in a party, and his eye is too shy because he is drinking to compensate for it, and it's interested in that person. I'm sorry. And the music videos about, like, how that the music video and the sun are about how social media are, like, personal and personal anxieties like all.

00:35:55:03 - 00:36:05:20
Zane
Kind of like swirl around and like create this sort of mind, the chaos. And so the video being chaotic was totally appropriate.

00:36:06:05 - 00:36:14:07
Kate
Okay. Very good. Well, so how do people find more about you oh.

00:36:14:13 - 00:36:39:20
Zane
Well, you see, you can actually you can actually look at my Twitter if you like. I have a Twitter on the handle. Well, you can also just you can look up welcome to the mess lab on Twitter. Or you can use my handle, which is underscore no one underscore specific, if you like.

00:36:39:22 - 00:36:40:10
Kate
Okay.

00:36:41:00 - 00:36:57:19
Zane
Oh, that's yeah. I post on Twitter. I make stuff on there. And you can of course find me at Welcome to the Mess lab on YouTube. That will also get that get you to see my videos, which is I'm very proud of.

00:36:58:02 - 00:37:06:06
Kate
Yes. And I will include a link to that channel in the show description.

00:37:06:07 - 00:37:07:03
Zane
So. Okay.

00:37:07:10 - 00:37:15:00
Kate
Yes. Is there anything else you'd like to add I know.

00:37:15:00 - 00:37:27:18
Zane
I think that's right. Well, you know, I just want to I'm just glad you had me on to talk about how we relate to relate to things. I don't know.

00:37:27:18 - 00:37:48:01
Kate
Yes, I like it. It's been a great pleasure. And I just wonder if you want to give a little shout out to where you learned a lot of your filmmaking and about movies and you also learned and studied Mandarin Chinese and different things. A little shout out to your university that.

00:37:48:19 - 00:38:05:09
Zane
Sure Ohio University. Yeah, my favorite. I just visited Athens, Ohio, earlier this week. That was I always enjoy that. I love the town. I love the the the look of the place.

00:38:05:19 - 00:38:12:03
Kate
It is beautiful there. Oh, my gosh. It's a it's just a gorgeous part of Ohio.

00:38:12:18 - 00:38:25:01
Zane
I know people who have been around the world who are, you know, older and age who have said there's nowhere like Athens, Ohio, in positively. Yeah, I like that's yeah. It's a wonderful place.

00:38:25:07 - 00:38:30:03
Kate
Yeah. I think there's something about it that is quite quite appealing.

00:38:30:23 - 00:38:32:06
Zane
Yeah. Yeah.

00:38:33:07 - 00:38:43:17
Kate
So anyway, I just thought I'd mention that for all those. Oh, you graduates out there yeah.

00:38:43:17 - 00:38:53:06
Zane
Well, let's, you know, before we even like after the handshake, we'll let you know right anyways.

00:38:53:06 - 00:38:58:15
Kate
And it has been a pleasure. I really appreciate having you on the show, so thank you.

00:39:00:00 - 00:39:01:13
Zane
Doubly so same here.

00:39:01:16 - 00:39:04:11
Kate
Okay, well, so much. Take good care.

00:39:05:10 - 00:39:05:18
Zane
To.

00:39:06:19 - 00:39:18:06
Kate
This is Kate Jones with the Gail Hill Radio Hour. Until next time. Thanks for joining us. Please remember to subscribe like and share. It's greatly appreciated. Thank you.