I am ZoZo is based on actual events. It centers on a group of young friends that use a spirit board on Halloween night and wind up conjuring a malevolent spirit named ZoZo. Shortly after making contact with the wraith, they find out that ZoZo is intent upon raising some serious hell.
We got the lowdown from Di Lalla on the events on which the film is based, his choice to shoot the entire picture on Super 8, his decision to shift gears from documentary filmmaking to horror, and more.
Shock Till You Drop: The film was shot on Super 8. What made you decide to go that route?
Scott Di Lalla: At the time, I was just coming off shooting my documentary in DV. HD was definitely available and when I was considering doing a feature, I considered HD. For some reason, I just didn’t feel like HD has the look that I was imagining for the movie though. It didn’t have the texture that I wanted. I did extensive research looking at how to manipulate footage with different filters and I kept finding that film was what I was imagining. Nothing else was even coming close to that. I was thinking that I would love to shoot on film but I could never even come close to affording 35 MM or even 16 MM. Then I thought about 8MM. I did a lot of research on the 8MM format – Super 8 specifically. Through my research, I realized that it would be more than possible to shoot it that way.
Shock: How is the Super 8 film digitized?
Di Lalla: There are only a couple places that are able to take Super 8 film and convert it to HD. It can be done by up-res-ing it, which is just adding pixels and making the picture bigger. I didn’t know if that would hold up on the big screen if the film went theatrical. The second way was to actually scan each frame individually. There are maybe three places in the country that do that and that is what I went for. I ended up using a place in Seattle.
Shock: There is very little violence in the film; so the picture relies primarily on atmosphere. As the director, how did you go about setting the tone?
Di Lalla: For me, a lot of it was camerawork. My documentary background combined with my love for French New Wave/Avant Garde inspired the style of the film. That style creates tension in and of itself when you watch it on screen. So, picking that, plus the way that you arrange the scenes or the story, I felt creates the suspense I was looking for.
Shock: You worked with primarily first time actors and this was your first time directing a feature. How did that impact your process?
Di Lalla: I kind of wanted unknown actors in my film to create an authentic feeling. From an artistic perspective, an unknown actor was ideal for me. But, then again, you’re always worrying about their performance. What I did to try to mastermind their performances was rehearsed the story and camera movements with them for weeks and weeks like it was a play. As actors, that was what they had primarily worked in. I put them in their comfort zone. Then, through rehearsal, the chemistry came through. After three weeks of rehearsing, they felt a natural chemistry with one another.
Shock: What kind of research did you do in to the reported instances of people encountering ZoZo through a spirit board?
Di Lalla: I did extensive research. I’ve always loved reading about the paranormal. I was specifically interested in Ouija Board stories because they are just so creepy. I came across this one story from the early 90s of a demon called either ZoZo. That got me really curious. So I did some research on that and I came across Darren Evans’ web page, which was incredible. I read his stories and then the stories that he has collected. He’s been researching it for years. He has had emails where people would write in about ZoZo. There were multiple cases with each report having almost an identical experience in terms of how ZoZo would act towards the person. To me, that made it more real that different people that didn’t know one another were telling the same story.
Shock: How much of the film is based on that research versus scripted for the screen?
Di Lalla: All of the Ouija Board stuff was right out of my research. The things that happened to the characters when they were using the Ouija Board were right out of my research. The only thing that was scripted was their interactions when they are not using the spirit board.
Shock: Your background is in documentary filmmaking. What made you want to write and direct a horror film?
Di Lalla: I love horror films. I’m not a big fan of making torture porn but I love the Hitchcockian aspect. My scares aren’t really on the screen. They’re more in your head. I know people who are watching my film are going to have a different experience. If you’ve had similar experiences, then those psychological scares are going to be real. If you’re looking for CGI and blood everywhere, you’re not going to find that.
