Entrevista - O Risco

Entrevista a José Pedro Lopes para o Arte Institute a propósito da exibição de "O Risco" no New York Portuguese Short Film Festival (Janeiro 2012)

Entrevista a José Pedro Lopes para o blogue De Bicicleta no Porto a propósito da exibição de "O Risco" no Lisbon Bicycle Film Festival (1 de Outubro 2011)

Nascido no Porto, José Pedro Lopes é jornalista, produtor de cinema e de televisão.
Porque motivo estou a falar dele? No Bicycle Film Festival de Lisboa (que está aí à porta) vai passar uma curta metragem dele chamada "Risco".
Ainda que virtualmente, segue-se uma espécie de entrevista ao autor. Quem conduziu a entrevista foi a minha inestimável ajudante 8-)

Tosca: Então como surgiu esta ideia e a relação com o Bicycle Film Festival?
JPL - O filme surgiu como um “anti-filme” para os Bicycle Film Festivals, que me fascinavam há alguns anos. Queria fazer um filme de terror, o lado negro destes fantásticos festivais que promovem o ciclismo e o exercício físico.

Tosca: Como definirias esta curta?
JPL - ‘O Risco’ é uma curtíssima de dois minutos de duração que combina a comédia de amigos e o “splatter” mais desvairado.

Tosca: Gosto bastante de filmes como o "E tudo o vento levou", achas que a ideia base por detrás desta curta poderá ser semelhante?
JPL - A ideia base surge como uma premissa potencial para um episódio de ‘The Twilight Zone’: parece absurdo compra-se na internet um giz com a capacidade de fazer explodir a cabeça de alguém... mas e se fosse verdade?

Tosca: És defensor do uso obrigatório de capacete, ou há aqui alguma metáfora escondida?
JPL - O projecto brinca com esta ideia através de duas personagens ingénuas e não muito inteligentes. Mas o tom cómico do filme depressa dá lugar à surpresa de uma recta final violenta e cheia de sangue. ‘O Risco’ apresenta efeitos ‘gore’ feitos nas suas duas formas: efeitos de maquilhagem e efeitos digitais.

Tosca: Muito obrigado, felicidades no BFF - Lisboa!


Entrevista para o Streaming Film Festival (Nov.2011)

Two friends decide to experiment a special chalk they bought online. The consequences will be brutal.
This short film is a mix of comedy and , and includes a magic chalk, the internet and cycling.
Confused? Soon, you won’t be.
This bize-size short film became a surprise cycle-gore entry at the world tour of the Bicycle Film Festival.

--Interview--

What is O risco about?
\’O Risco\’ is about a crazy idea coming to life. The kind of ideas that burst out on a night out.
What if two idiots bought a special chalk on the internet that said that, if you draw a line with it and somebody crossed it, their heads would blow up?
What if it was true?

Could you explain how you work, what themes or concepts you use and what is important to you?
I think film should be fun and thoughful.
\’O Risco\’ is a comedy and actually a very effecient one. People find this to a be a very funny film.
But also I wanted them to think back on how absurd and impossible it all his: in life and in filmmaking, there\’s no limits, nor right or wrong.

How long do you usually work on one project?
\’O Risco\’ took two years to go into filmming. It was at one point a 10 minute short project and was not a comedy at all. Only with time was that we saw how this could really work: as a compact, driven and fast film.

Where do you get your ideas or inspiration from?
\"O Risco\" was an idea that came from a fun conversation between me and my producer Ana Almeida. It just made sense at the time... It never made sense again! Ahaahha

How important is sound in film, and if you use sounds, do you create your own or use existing?
\"O Risco\" is very soundriven for we didn\’t have much visual effects nor the plot was easy to be believable without weird, overdriven sound effects.

How does content relate to the form of your work?
I always look to make a film that I would like to see. Something original, something fun. I believe \’O Risco\’ offers both. I hope all my films do.

What possibilities of the web are yet to be explored?
\"O Risco\" has been promoted totally online - even though I never released to be seen freely online.
It has bee featured in over 25 film festivals in the second half of 2011, and the social networks have been a place where people comment a lot this fun film bite.

How influential is the reaction to your film by the audience?
Total. \"O Risco\" has worked very well with an audience.
I saw it a the Lisbon Bicycle Film Festival where it was actually the only non-documentary film. It was a blast: no one was expecting a gore comedy.

What is your next project about?
I\’ve been pitched a lot of ideas for a follow-up to \"O Risco\". I\’m not much into doing sequels. Specially in short films, it doesn\’t make sense.
Besides this, I\’ve some projects for 2012.