Submarine Channel

Chunk: The General by Miss T

Second in our series of shorts by the inimitable Sietske Tjallingii, aka Miss T, The General is a veritable gala of home-made wonders, that culminates in a darkly humoristic satire on American post-imperialism. A battalion of sandy tankers appears to advance threateningly, before being crushed by ruthless, Nazi-looking army boots. The camera pans out to reveal a marvelous comic twist in the shape of a rotating boot-wheel, decked out in American army garb, that shimmies around in front of The General himself as he commands it via old-school remote control!Once more, Miss T uses her anti-slick aesthetic to create something unique and surprising, communicating a clear message while making you chortle all the while.

We had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Miss T, and below you can read Part 2 of our intriguing convo. For Part 1 and to see her very popular Godz***a vs The Netherlands short, > please click here.

What are the main challenges you’ve faced during production?
With Godzilla it was really hard ’cos we had to break all the props in one take! Basically, once they were destroyed we couldn’t fix them anymore, so we had to prep them very well and just hope that it would go right in one take. That was a real challenge!

Where do you draw the line between playing with the viewer’s imagination and just looking cheap?
I like creating the illusion – or doing my best to create it. Strings are alright but let’s say a hose waving around in the background just isn’t into the illusion anymore! I just go with my instinct on the day about what adds to the illusion and what doesn’t.

Which genre do you think best describes your work?
I kind of go through all the genres I guess, so maybe I’m a “genre filmmaker”. I certainly feel relations towards different kinds of filmmaking but I couldn’t really name a category where I really fit in. I’m often put in the animation category because of the comical / cartoon look. But I don’t want to do the work of animation so I always call myself a “lazy animator”!

I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head who does anything similar, so yes maybe I am my own genre! But I’m so inspired by other genres – maybe if anything you could call me satirist or a pastiche artist because I’m copying but doing my own thing with existing genres.

Interview by Lotje Sodderland

If you like this film, please consider buying the DVD ‘Sietske’s Super Shorts’ in Miss-T’s crazy web shop:
www.outofmymind.com