Arcane & Erskine on The Razing

J. Arcane and Paul Erskine, the filmmaking duo better known as Arcane and Erskine, just released The Razing. It’s an intensely personal film, and the story of how it was made contains a wealth of information for indie filmmakers.
The Razing is now available on Apple, Prime Video, and Vimeo.

IFJ: Congratulations on the release of your third feature! What is The Razing about and what inspired you to make the film?

J: Thank you so much! Outwardly The Razing is about the uncomfortable get together of a group of estranged friends. Inwardly it’s about the pain and poison damaged people impose on one another. My own family and my recent estrangement from them was what inspired the film and writing and creating it was my therapy.

IFJ: Can you give us a breakdown of the production, crew, and post?

P: We shot the whole feature in six consecutive days. The talent were on set for 8 or 9 hours per day but J and I would be working before and after the shoot, so it would typically end up being 16-18 hour days for us both. We had a crew of just two. J and I shared all the duties, I was on audio, lighting and tech, J was operating the camera and managing the props and special effects. Post-production took J five months, a month each for the cut, dialogue, color grade, VFX and sound design.

IFJ: You’ve been making films together since 2014. What are the dynamics of the collaboration and how have you sustained your drive for making films together for so long?

J: We fill in each other’s weaknesses completely. There are some aspects of filmmaking that Paul loves and I hate and vice versa. There are also aspects we both love and both hate so someone always has to draw the short straw but we couldn’t make a film without the other so that’s what makes us a good team. We’re also partners in life so making films is also a means of spending time and creating memories together. It’s our version of a vacation I guess, except it’s a vacation of working and as tiring as that sounds (and is), to us it still feels a lot more rewarding. We often joke our family photo album is our filmography.

Read the full interview here.