Some you might remember the young Tanner Hirten of our Youth In Mental Health short films block last year, who made the creative short film Restart about a college student stuck in a time loop trying to prevent her friend’s suicide. I was so excited to discover that he’s still making films about mental health. Say Something is a much different short film about social anxiety with some fun concepts and animation. I continue to be impressed by Tanner’s creativity in addressing mental health issues. Our inimitable jury member Nick Chirico interviewed him about his techniques and growth as a filmmaker. You can check out his work in the festival tonight (about a 10-minute short) or even on his YouTube channel listed below later!
Nick: Do you think you have grown at all after completing shooting?
Tanner: I definitely feel like I grow after every film I do. It’s a process with a lot of moving parts so you have to make multiple films in order to get a good grasp on those parts. It’s something I’m still working on but I’ve definitely gotten better at it. I’ve also grown in my social skills, reaching out for help and building a community for a film can be scary. But because of a project like Say Something I’ve been collaborating with individuals for multiple short films now!
Nick: One thing that I thought developed very nicely was the agency of empowerment Christine projects onto Joseph’s vulnerability. She goes out of her way to really take the wheel for him. I was very moved by this. I think it represents a whole new crop of women who are following trailblazers to empowerment and independence. How was equity important in depicting mental health issues for Christine as a female in a more dominant position?
Tanner: I really wanted to have a male female relationship in the story but not necessarily focus on gender roles. In plenty of stories with two characters like Joseph and Christine they fall in love at the end. But I thought it was more interesting to depict a platonic relationship between them. I feel that a natural friendship between a man and woman is sadly under-explored as a relationship archetype and I wanted to use it. There are no romantic undertones in Say Something, it’s just two people who feel overwhelmed trying to get over that feeling by relying on each other. And I think there is something sweet about that.
Nick: Oh no doubt. In this case are any of these characters based on people in real life with real mental health issues?
Tanner: Not specifically no, there’s a show called Komi Can’t Communicate that has a similar premise but I hadn’t watched that when I made Say Something. Christine and Joseph are more archetypes than anything. Representative of mental health issues but not based on my personal experience with it.
Nick: I was really impressed by the animation. Can you tell me about your process in illustration to produce the cool eyeballs in the final cut?
Tanner: Yeah my friend is an animator so I had him help me make them. I knew I wanted something with a hand-drawn vibe to it and also wanted the eyes to have big pupils to add to their judgement. He was able to animate them moving and blinking, we went through a few different versions to see which one would look best. Namely alternates with smaller pupils but we ended with the final product eye and it fit seamlessly into the shots. I had those shorts formatted even before we filmed in my head to fit with the eyes but I’m still shocked that they worked as well as they did.
Nick: They certainly did! Are you working on anything currently?
Tanner: I finished up filming my newest short film a few weeks ago and I’m in the process of editing it! Another short film involving mental health but this time with a sock puppet. So stay tuned for that in the future! People can find my content on YouTube at @tannerhirten7668 or Instagram @tannerhirten.
