MTH: We agree because I feel like horror films are the biggest genre that you get audiences saying, “What is it? It’s a horror film. Sure I’ll watch it.” It gives you the creative freedom to make what you want to and know somebody’s going to watch it. It doesn’t have to be so commercial.
Aaron: Right, I do think there’s a lot of similarities between comedy and horror, just that in the sense that you have a build-up and then a punchline. I think Jordan Peele said something like that. I’m a huge Jordan Peele fan and to just see him go from something like Key and Peele to you know Get Out is remarkable. It also makes sense at the same time because it’s structured very similarly.
MTH: We love Jordan Peele! He’s amazing! We think you create tension in a really successful way because watching the shorts it’s very much like you’re processing it. You’re seeing it and you’re going, “What am I looking at?!” like in The Tall Man. For me, if I saw that in real life I don’t know that I would move. I’d be like, “What is happening!? That’s not normal!” and with Under the Bed she’s in the doorway so where are you going to go? That’s brilliant. I got goosebumps! (laughs) There’s no excuse that this is just a horror movie.
I want to respect our audience and I just feel like we owe it to them.
– Victoria Fratz
Victoria: So, if you keep that in mind and you respect your audience then of course your character has to make a choice, or you need to geographically trap your character. That’s the reason they can’t leave. You need to respect them enough to let them have, “Oh, I see what happened here.” I can’t stand it when you feel like your creators don’t even care about you as a person with a brain watching their film. I’ll get so mad if someone doesn’t treat me well as a viewer. So, I try to give that same respect.
MTH: It can tear a movie apart if it has a bad story. We loved in the Mannequin when things keep happening and you’re like, Uh uh. I’m moving this thing. That’s what you would do! You wouldn’t just let it continue.
Victoria: I remember I said let’s lock it out on the balcony and it actually worked out well because then my character is holding the Mannequin and it’s so close to my face. Even as I was holding it I was thinking, “This thing…what’s wrong with this thing.” I was uncomfortable holding that creepy thing.
MTH: It was very creepy.
Aaron: That was a great example of when you are restricted to a certain space or you’re trying to just think of a practical and realistic way that the story could go and it ends up actually adding to it and making the Mannequin closer to you as a result which ends up making it more effective.
MTH: Yeah, that’s great! You are successful at telling a story and letting the viewer decide what the conclusion is. That’s what I love. I think I have the answer and you give me everything I need to make my own decision without saying, “Oh, this is exactly it.”
Victoria: Ideally people can put their own thoughts of what we’re trying to say but they can put their own impression on it which we got a lot of from The Ballerina. That was one where we knew what we were trying to say and then people in the comments…oh, my gosh. They would say exactly what we wanted but they felt like it was coming from them. Their own struggle as an artist or they would say something about, “Oh, I resonate with this because of …” and that’s everything I wanted.
Aaron: That’s the best part when you have not just a thought point but an actual theme with it and people are able to articulate the theme in the YouTube comments and it’s just like, “You nailed it!” because that’s like the hardest thing to do is to actually have a message especially without any dialogue half the time. It’s just rewarding to see people be able to pick up on that and have it affect them.
MTH: We love The Ballerina and in fact, we wanted to talk to you about Valeska Miller. Is she a friend of yours or did you guys cast her? How did she get involved with y’alls projects and Klown Skool was great too.
Aaron: She is a friend. We met Valeska through a friend when we were making our previous film and we were looking to cast a role. She had a small part in that movie and we kept in touch because she’s just super talented and sweet to work with. That’s also important for everything we shoot, you know? We just want to work with people we enjoy working with. So, we kept her in mind and we knew that she was a trained ballerina. We also were trying to figure out how to incorporate that into one of our shorts.
Victoria: That was one of my favorite story evolutions. The original story had more to do with the traditional ballerina’s costume. So, it was going to be like a haunted costume and my character was going to be doing something with the costume setting up the scene and then something happens. The ballerina appears inside the costume because it’s haunted and as we kicked around the idea, if I was the viewer watching this all I would want to do is see more of the ballerina. I want to see this haunted, creepy ballerina dance and then I thought, “Well, then my character is just so boring. Why even have my character there at all?” and then that’s when we both realized we should make the entire thing just about the ballerina. So, scrap everything that we were talking about before. Valeska it’s all you girl. The whole thing is about the ballerina.
It was a mind fuck! Just having to cover two versions of the same actress. It was a mind fuck.
– Aaron Fradkin
MTH: That’s incredible! It’s so interesting how projects will evolve and change in that way. You’ll start with one idea and then it becomes something else. It’s so good!
Victoria: She did a phenomenal job playing both because she pretty much had to do it all back-to-back. Be normal Valeska and be you know other Valeska and it was just great watching her work. There was a lot of subtlety to her expression.
MTH: It’s just so natural. It says so much to her as an actor. She put all that work in and it definitely makes a difference.
Victoria: It’s a testament to her as a performer. She’s a fantastic actress and full of talent being a ballerina as well and then she is a delight to work with. It’s been a real pleasure to have Valeska as a friend these past 5 or 6 years. She actually just texted me during this interview.
MTH: Her ears must be burning! (laughs)
Victoria: Yeah, she’s like “I hear you guys!”
MTH: The location for The Ballerina is so beautiful too. Watching the behind-the-scenes on that I was telling Daniel, “This is so giving me Suspiria vibes” because that’s one of my favorite movies. It’s so haunting and you’re completely captivated by it from start to finish.
Victoria: Oh, absolutely. Black Swan and Suspiria were definitely the inspiration for this. They’re such beautiful movies. You just think like I’d love to have anything in the realm of this. So, it was really exciting to make something that had that inspiration. I was like, “Yes!” Hopefully, I can give people an extra little taste of something I know we all already love.
MTH: Going back to Klown School, I noticed in the background that it said “Brackets the Clown” right?
Victoria: Yes!
MTH: And then I noticed in Costumes you’re Victoria Brackets.
Victoria: I’m Mrs. Brackets. We were originally always wanting to have a little nod to Gavin Brackets which is Aaron’s character from Diet. We really love him. Diet begins with Brackets but we need to bring him back. We love peppering him in. We haven’t had any lately but he definitely needs to make a resurgence.
Aaron: Yeah, that’s definitely important.
Victoria: Yeah, a little Easter egg.
MTH: We love that!
Aaron: I’m so happy that you picked up on that.
