NEW YORK PREMIERE
SYNOPSIS
PITCHER/CATCHER is a VHS-shot movie about a washed up baseball player and his last shot at glory.
STARRING: Will Janowitz, Arron Shiver, Dylan Kenin
RUNTIME: 13 minutes
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Will: VHS is a wonderfully weird medium. It’s finicky because the cameras are finicky. It was sort of the perfect vibe. We also wanted it to look like an old skate video. While skating and baseball are super different sports, there’s a desperation to both of them. I also equate both with warm weather, too. You can’t control VHS nor can you really light it. We wanted a natural look an I feel like we got just what was in our collective heads. The cameras are also big and clunky and oddly, you feel like it’s filmic that way.
Monroe: I like how honest and unapologetic VHS is and it felt like it would fit the story and characters. We decided we didn’t want to mess too much with the footage in post so it really feels like a time capsule to me. A family video of some strange relatives you might know. We liked that. Though it can be finicky, shooting on VHS in natural light really worked with the skeletal shoot we required and it also helped the flow and performances because we could just shoot without stopping or having to break the momentum of a scene. Although the original camera battery did eventually die so at one point I had a cable running from my car’s lighter outlet.
One thing that doesn’t really capture well with VHS however is the sound and bad sound is always distracting so it was important to record that externally. Then we had the mix done at a great audio post facility called Fall On Your Sword.
DIRECTOR: Will Janowitz, Monroe Robertson
SCREENPLAY: Will Janowitz, Monroe Robertson
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Monroe Robertson
EDITOR: Monroe Robertson
PRODUCER: Will Janowitz, Monroe Robertson