We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandon Lowe. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandon below.
Brandon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
Filmmaking is one of the most expensive, stressful, tedious, and often invasive forms of art known to man. Invasive might be too dramatic, unless you’re a jerk of a filmmaker. But what I mean by that is you’ll often run into issues where you’re in a place no one wants you in. Luckily here in Missouri, you don’t need a permit to film in most areas. But that doesn’t always mean you’ll be welcomed with open arms by the public. As an indie filmmaker I have to be very careful how I go about things. We’ve had several encounters with police while filming. No matter what the law says about where I can be with a camera, the second someone complains it can very quickly be over. One day while filming a scene at a public park, a nearby bar started using a generator outside. When I say this thing was loud, it was LOUD. Which really sucked for our audio recording. However……….. we don’t own the space……and he was just doing his job. So there was absolutely no way we were going to ask him to stop. Instead I just explained what we were doing and asked him if he had an idea how long he’d be running it, because I thought maybe we could just wait it out. He didn’t give much of an answer which was fine, and eventually we decided to push forward and accept we wouldn’t have the best audio. About 15 to 20 minutes later the police showed up and told us they got a noise complaint and we had to leave. Apparently he called us in, I guess he didn’t like me asking him about the generator. Oops. There were several shots we didn’t get, but the police were nice enough to let us finish one last shot, and we left. For the record we weren’t loud……….but that kind of stuff just happens.
I will say the police have gotten used to us so most of the time they just check out what we’re doing and leave. Which is great when you’re shooting horror movies. We had to bash in someone’s head (special effects of course) at a basketball court. A police officer pulled up and we were so afraid we were getting put into handcuffs until he could figure out what was going on. But that’s not what happened. He was just stopping by because he mistook the situation as us giving someone CPR and he wanted to make sure everyone was ok. He was a cool dude and didn’t think twice about all the fake blood and body parts once he knew everyone was ok, and he left. I’ve also had an officer pull up on me while I was filming alone. Despite all the lights I had set up and the camera being front and center, he didn’t seem to understand what I was doing and asked me all types of questions like “have you been drinking?” “Do you have any weapons or drugs on you?” “Are you a perv? A sex offender?” Etc. finally he left me alone with the promise I’d be quick, but I was so stressed out the whole time. Had cops called while I was playing a dead body, 6 cops drove up while I was filming in a field dressed like Jason Vorhees because someone complained about that too. It can be a wild ride sometimes, but like I said before, the cops get more and more used to us everyday. So it’s getting better.
The Missouri filming laws don’t apply to the inside of buildings, private properties. So as an indie filmmaker it can be quite the challenge to find locations we can use. It’s hard to explain to people what we want to do, and to assure them we won’t be a nuisance to their property or customers. A lot of businesses or property owners aren’t too thrilled about the idea, and turn us down. But now and then we run into people who don’t have a problem with our projects and are more than accommodating to our needs. One of the best routes to go is finding places that already embrace art. We needed a scene where two characters watch a movie in a theater. Immediately we knew where to go. Armor Theater is a movie theater in Kansas City that embraces indie films and filmmakers. Before we went to them they had already let movies film there, so we knew we’d have no problem. We brought in our lights and equipment and waited till one of the movies ended. We were informed by the theater that we’d have 30 minutes in between showings to film. So as soon as the movie ended and their customers walked out, we got to work. We got our lights set up, including one behind us to play as the projector flashing since there was no real movie playing. We got our shots and then we packed everything up and left just in time for the next movie to play.
It’s really exciting doing this stuff, and it’s even more exciting when we get opportunities like that. Sure it would have been nice to have two hours in the theater to really take our time. However there’s something thrilling about knowing we have to go go go, and get it done. I think we focus more in those settings.
One huge thing about filmmaking though, especially on an indie level. Is the phrase, “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission”
For the purpose of this article, I’ll be responsible and say don’t try this yourself. But sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. This is where things can get really thrilling, if you do it right and don’t cause a disturbance.
There’s a movie called “Escape From Tomorrow”, it was entirely filmed at Disney world, but it was filmed secretly. No one knew what they were doing, they did it without setting off anyone’s radars and they were never caught. They were so afraid of Disney trying to stop their project that they flew to another country just to edit it. As of now Disney has never acknowledged their film or tried to go after the filmmakers.
Although I’m not bold enough to ever pull something like that off, it’s incredibly impressive. In the film world it’s called Guerilla Filmmaking. As risky and sketchy as it sounds, it’s a very common practice in low budget films. Even big budget films do it. Those scenes of the Ghostbusters running around New York……. They had no permit, and those people weren’t actors. They took a camera and followed them around the city as they ran through real people.
We’ve done this at places like Union station, Dollar Tree, and even the mall a couple times. It’s challenging and scary at times, but if you can do it respectfully and unnoticed, it can really pay off in tough situations where there’s no other choice that won’t kill your vision completely.
Filmmaking can feel like you’re in a heist or spy movie. But that’s probably just me being dramatic again. But it sure is exciting.
Being a filmmaker comes with a lot of problem solving, and you have to be quick on your feet and be able to come up with solutions fast. But no issue is bigger than money…..like I said filmmaking is one of the most expensive forms of art. However it doesn’t have to be. I’d like to believe I’ve gotten really good and making stuff out of nothing. It helps that I’m somewhat of a hoarder, but a hoarder that actually uses what I hoard. We needed a hospital IV stand for a music video, where am I supposed to find that!! Oh….my own backyard. I love collecting weird stuff average people shouldn’t have, and most of the time I always find a use for it all.
One of my specialties is special effects, which in a bigger setting can be really expensive. But over the last 8 years I have taught myself how to make the most gruesome effects with little to no money, I can make anything with some liquid latex, toilet paper, and paint/makeup. I love to challenge myself with effects I’ve never done to further enhance my skills. I purposely write “impossible” things into scripts so I can teach myself how to do it. I try my best to not say no to myself.
I love what I do, and I hope I can do it till I’m physically unable to. Film is my life, and I can’t see it any other way. No matter what problems are thrown at us.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
So for those who have never heard of me, which is most of you. My name is Brandon Lowe. I’m a director, actor, editor, builder, painter, photographer……an artist. I’ve dedicated most of my life to making whatever my mind comes up with and finding new ways to entertain people. The one form of art I’ve become most fixated on at an early age, is filmmaking. I believe Film is one of the greatest things humans have ever invented. The best part about it is it’s the one form of art that combines every other form of art. Music, painting, construction, writing, acting, photography, dancing, etc. there’s nothing more beautiful than watching a movie on the big screen. That’s what I thrive for, it is my lifeline. I love pushing the limits of what I’m capable of. I love growing each and every day into something better than the day before. I’ll admit it, most of the films I made in the first five to six years were absolute garbage. But I didn’t know it was garbage, I was having fun and I loved what I was doing. I just know middle school me would faint if he saw the stuff I make today. That’s not to say my work now is amazing or anything, I have a long long long way to go before I’m like the big time directors.
I love camp, I love making things that look like they came straight out of the 80s. I’m a makeup artist so I love practical effects in my films. Just about everything you see in them is real, I don’t know how to do CGI so I have no other choice anyways. But I prefer it that way.
On the side I’m a photographer, I love taking photos and coming up with new ways to make clients photos interesting and different. I like my photos to look like they came from a celebrity photoshoot in a magazine. I’ll admit filmography is more of my specialty, I have way more to learn about photography. But it’s all basically the same principles, it’s just one is still…..and one Moves….
Come to me if you want something more unique, something that will turn heads on your Instagram.
While we’re at it, feel free to contact me for any film making inquiries as well.
My production company is BEE Tv Productions
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I wanna make a full length movie, something that’s outside of YouTube. Something that can play in theaters and stream on streaming service’s, which is a goal not so far away, may 9th we start filming my first full length movie “Coochie The Clown”. And I can’t wait for y’all to see it.
Outside of the movie, I wish to grow a cult following. I don’t want to be famous, I just want to be known by a decent amount of people around the country. People weird like me who will embrace my art and my mistakes along the way, people who don’t care how un traditional my work is.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One of the most rewarding aspects of my art is seeing my visions come to life, seeing my self in crazy situations and felling like I’m in a “real” movie. But enough about me…. If we’re being honest here, my favorite part of this all is pulling my friends and loved ones into my crazy world and watching them slowly get engulfed in it all. Watching them get excited over things I used to get excited about alone. Watching them start to understand why I do what I do and giving them a chance to live out their secret movie star dreams. Obviously this ain’t Hollywood, and no one cares about what we’re doing, but it feels magical watching our fully edited films and our make believe antics……..stuff you’d only see in a movie….
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@crazybrandonlowe?_t=ZP-8w0vpm9FYPn&_r=1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weird_brandon_lowe?igsh=Zng0MzBybmJvc20x&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@beetvproductions?si=C88mMCo_Ku8hn0dn
- Other: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-make-our-first-feature-horror-comedy-movie?lang=en_US&ts=1746129588&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook&attribution_id=sl%3A75ffd7a9-c760-4bca-b64b-4614577712a2&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6FfWr6QOuLQBAhwri5ykCMqImUpY4JCIxg7cDOekOCsSLLjWe1vCzdAE-CGA_aem_pPgW2UGQtoQ_ELAMYhL9dg
