December 30, 2023

Vinisha rumph is the multi-disciplinary artist atlanta DESERVES

Vinisha Rumph has worked on six music videos with me as an assistant director. I can’t trust anyone else as much with specific logistical decisions or to just be straight toward with me when something requires an additional look. With a ton of experience, they’re just the best at what they do. In this interview, we talk about being multi-disciplinary, logistics, their long history with making art, cosmic shit, Hannibal Buress being drunk and a ton of other topics.

introduction into film

In what capacity did you work with Everything Is Terrible?

I was a huge fan of Everything Is Terrible when Doggiewoggiez! Poochiewoochiez! came out, which was basically dog footage cut up to be The Holy Mountain. They were touring and in town and my friend called me, hey do you wanna help with the pre-show? I had to carry Nick in a suitcase onto stage then backstage. I was really starstruck and I thought, at that time, the only way you could work with them or submit videos was to win their Battle Royale in LA. So, after the show, I talked to them about it. I had a burnt CD with my videos. On the CD, I had a bunch of videos that I cut up under the name trackattack!, which is still up. I was super gassed up. They were like, You don’t have to win the Battle Royale. If we just like your stuff, you can be a part of it. My friend and I started doing videos for them. It was a lot of fun. It was all VHS/found footage focused as EIT does. I did at least one music video for my friend, his name was Star Spinner. He was like, hey I see what you’re doing. Here’s a song that I have. Would you want to do a video for it? I started practicing datamoshing, which was really popular at the time, or just emerging. I think that’s still the highest viewed video on that channel, with NOOSH THE ROBOT.

This was 2012-2015. What was your experience with filmmaking and art before that?

Before that, I was in film school. I graduated high school in 2009 and went straight to film school in Nashville. A lot of it was studying cinema. I was a huge foreign film fan, particularly French new wave cinema. Most of my experience before that was just doing productions for class. So, I did a couple of short films and then I dropped out because it got too expensive.

I love auteur theory and the concept of movies resembling books or literature. The French new wave directors in the 1960s, from what I remember were film critics or avid readers, so they came up with the concept of auteur theory. The way that I view it is films being like books had a lot to do with understanding characters, so the idea of a character study is what I feel like it boils down to. Really being able to get into the mind of a character, the feelings of them and going about their day. At times, it seems really voyeuristic like you’re seeing something that you’re not meant to see, especially looking at that time period and what films were up until that point.

What is your favorite film-related mistake that you've learned from?

I think one mistake that I learned from big time was when I was directing my second short in college. I was always known for running really good and smooth sets, but when it came to the actual art of it, I felt a little overwhelmed because there were some technical things that just weren’t working right. I don’t know if it was because I couldn't trust some of the people, especially my cinematographer, or if we just didn't have the right equipment for one of the shots that I needed. There was this fluid master of a character moving through the house and into another part, but we had to dutch angle it at the end and I was never happy with that. So, it’s just those little things. It taught me you either have patience or you get a plan b for a good shot and I just don’t think I worked with that person enough to have that in-the-moment collaboration that would have helped fix that.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY logisitcs

You’ve worked in a ton of different mediums. Filmmaking, podcasts, music, stills, painting. What do you connect with the most of do you connect with all of them in different capacities?

I’ve always been fascinated with artists who are really good at world building, so artists that are multi-modole and multi-passionate. I’ve always recognized myself as one of those people. I love exploring different mediums so it really just depends on where my resources are at the time or where my energy and capacity is at. Am I in a phase where I want to have more conversations and do podcasts? Am I meeting new people and want to explore more of their craft or am I in a space where I wanna be super solitary and just paint for a few days on end, if I can snag a cheap canvas or something? Other times with film, since that is more collaborative, it all just depends on if someone approaches me. I see my process as just a lifestyle.

What is the process to location coordinating and scouting? You did location work for movies like Instant Family and TAG, which has a ridiculous plot.

It’s a lot. Usually, you get in good with a location manager. My mom was dating one at the time and knew I was working in post-production and wanted to bring me over to that side. This is the way with a lot of jobs: the location manager will call because they got the show and need to start looking for locations so you immediately hit the ground running and start scouting. They give you the script and give you an idea of the locations you need to find. I learned a lot about different types of houses, like Atlanta has a lot of Craftsman homes. So, I scouted for a lot of those during my time. You enter a lot of interesting and unique places doing that. As production gets geared up and they start calling people in, that’s when I transition to coordinating which is basically a lot of paperwork and organizing. The whole company and crew will go out and look at these locations and figure out all the technical aspects. Once filming starts, it’s handling permits, managing accounting, tracking the budget. Basically, I’m the librarian for the department.

I’ve had you do a lot of logistical work and assistant directing with me, which i’ve always been able to trust you with. What’s your approach to the logistical side of filmmaking?

My time location coordinating definitely lent itself to me being logistically minded when it comes to film, but even before that, during school I had a few classes where I really got into assistant directing. I remember I made a strip board by hand for a feature length film, because that's how they used to do it in the old days before they had all the software where you can just plug stuff in and move it around really easily. They literally moved little paper strips with each scene on a big board and color-coded them. I just like a good puzzle.

Any funny set stories?

I wasn't on set for this. I was working in the office. I was working on TAG and there were two things that happened. The first week was insane. The first one involves Hannibal Buress showing up. It’s about to be the first day of filming and he went out and drank all night, showed up at 6AM to the wrong studio, got into an argument with the security officer, then said he wasn't gong to do the film. The UPM, himself, came to my office to tell me this. He was like, I don’t really know what we’re gonna do. A few days later, there was a huge stunt with Jeremy Renner in this church where he’s surfing these chairs and he ended up falling and breaking his arm. Costume had to go in and resize all the sleeves of his shirt to fit his cast.

Your musician name, V.H. Hesse, you were waiting to use this name?

Yeah, that was coming from when I was working for EIT. Since I wasn’t producing the videos all by myself, I had my friend Colton, who transitioned into Riley. I was working with them. We both agreed on the name trackattack! but the name V.H. Hesse was something I tucked away in my pocket.

What gets you hyped to make that kind of experimental music? Is that an accurate way to describe it?

I don’t know how to describe it and I get a little bogged down trying to label genres on music unless it’s obvious. I don’t know. I go in, I open my DAW up and I just start kinda playing around until something sounds cool, then I try to build it up around that. I’ve always loved music. As a kid, I’d sneak out of bed to listen to the DJ sets on the radio late at night. I could literally spend every day listening to music, all day, no TV.

From Nelward’s Buttercup video

From Karaoke’s Opposite of Time video

cosmic shit

Lucid dreaming stories? Have you ever spoken to anyone/anything through lucid dreaming?

I have a couple of weird stories. When I was a kid, I used to get a lot of lucid dreams. I remember one time, I was in second grade. I had this dream of me walking down this hallway. Two weeks later, we had this field trip to Zoo Atlanta and Cyclorama. After we get out of Cyclorama, it’s the same exact hallway. I’m freaking out. I’m in the second grade, I already know I can’t tell anyone about this. Again, there was another big moment in the summer before sixth grade. There were these two people in my dreams that I’ve never met before, one being this boy my age and one being this girl my age. They had very distinct looks. Then the first day of school, they were both sitting in my first period class. I’d never met them before.

Can you explain tarot reading to someone who is ignorant to it?

Imagine all the cards in a deck being a book instead and each card represents a scene or a part of that story. So, when you’re laying them out on the table for a reading, you’re laying out different scenes of a story. You’re using those to bring context to something that’s going on in your life to help you get a broader perspective or help you problem solve. I use it as a tool to problem solve as opposed to predict because you can’t really predict anything since your mind will change from day to day. So, it’s always tied to mindset a little bit but I’m not going to get into that part.

How do you know when a read is accurate?

I’ll check in with a client when I read for them and you know when you’re right when a person starts to open up. I’ve sat and read cards for people and they’re really closed off and they’re very skeptical. Whether they’ve had a reading or not before, you’re a different person and if they’re coming to you for the first time, they don’t really know what level you’re at and your proficiency.

To acquire growth, do you need to blame things on yourself to find redemption?

First and foremost, I always try to remember that things happen for a reason, like that Daoist story with the farmer, whose son breaks his leg, and people think it’s sad that his son broke his leg. The farmer then says it’s neither good, nor bad. We’ll see. Then everyone else’s son gets drafted except his son didn’t because he was still injured, so him breaking his leg is actually a good thing. I try to look at a lot of things like that but when it comes to accountability, I don’t like to try to blame anyone. I think it’s a lot of reminding myself to be super self-aware the way I show up and respond to things. What was my intention? What did I want? What was most important to me at that time? Did I have my priorities right? Was I present? Was I in the right space? Was I thinking about others? There are times when people fuck up, it’s fine. Being able to be self-aware and (thinking) what part did I have in that? Some people are just motherfuckers, though. You figure that one out real quick.

Experiences with Christianity or other religion?

In terms of religion, my family wasn’t super religious. I remember I made my mom cry when I was 14-15 when she was driving me to go hang out with some friends. She asked me if I believed in God and I told her I was a Buddhist and she was upset, which was weird. Today, I see spirituality more of like understanding the energy that you feel and you put out into the world, because we’re all so connected. Everyone, we all go through similar experiences for the most part. Christianity, I’m kind of detached from it. My partner, his family is pretty religious so there’s just certain things we don’t talk about or I won’t show up to things or I keep the conversation very surface level. I don’t really get asked about what I do or people don’t really ask me any personal questions I think because they might have an assumption about me and aren’t willing to have that conversation and be open minded. I lost friends in high school because of it, friends that I had in middle school who came from very Christian households. As we started to grow up and I got into my own style and they were doing their own thing, it became very apparent that their families didn’t want me to hang out with them or they made their own decisions to stop hanging out with me. It’s just a very social thing.

conclusion

The resilience of the DIY scene in Atlanta

In Nashville, the DIY spaces didn't last as long and didn’t have as much support as I feel Atlanta does here. It’s the community that really supports it. It’s the people who are really dedicated, writing the grants, getting the word out, having shows there. One thing I love about it is that it’s like a cockroach. It will not die. We’ll just move to a different part of town or we’ll have a fundraiser or we’ll start galleries in people’s houses. It’s going to exist no matter what because we have such a strong spirit. It refuses to die.

SSRI experiences

I did take Zoloft for a bit when I was in early college because my mom and I don’t have the best relationship and every summer I’d have to come back home and I’d work with her doing manual labor day in and day out just to make some pocket money for when I’d go back to school. That was helpful but I think that was more of an environment thing for me. I’ve always kind of struggled with ups and downs of living in today’s world, being broke sometimes, being completely exhausted other times. I think I’m moving myself into better environments and I’m setting up better boundaries to where hopefully those ups and downs are not as sharp. (My partner) actually just recently started Zoloft and that’s been helping him a lot, so it’s been nice being able to say, I fully encourage this. I’ve done this before. I just had other things going on and it wasn’t the full scope of what I needed.

Sleep Paralysis stories

There’s one dream in particular that I remember. I was a teenager and I was going through this abandoned hotel that had this really lush courtyard. I remember going through the courtyard and walking to my room down this hallway and there was a girl in a white dress with a scarlet gem and I was like, I'm not going over there. I dipped into another room and I laid down. In my dream, I woke up. I was still in my dream, I was in my bedroom and there was a mirror, so my dream-self walked up to the mirror and I’m looking into it. A third eye starts coming out, visibly through my forehead. I get freaked out and I hear this screech in the background of the dream. I come to consciousness but I wake up and I can’t move. I still hear that sound. I couldn’t move for a few seconds and finally I was actually able to get up.

Other times I’ll get up in the middle of the night and I’ll see stuff. One time I saw this old Japanese mask, the red one with the long nose. I forget the name, but it’s actually a spirit that protects nature. Oddly enough, that was the same week a lot of the Stop Cop City stuff started coming up, which I thought was very interesting that I saw that particular type of spirit. Aside from that, it’s just symbols or sounds or these moments where I’m awake but I’m not awake.

Random inspiring thoughts

Right now, I’m living off the saying “live life like you’re a few drinks in” just to help with confidence. (laughs) To get out of my head and just loosen up a bit.

I know we have some stuff coming up that we can’t talk about but what else do you have coming up?

Well, since I did my first music show last week, I’m focusing more on making music and having fun with that. I have some songs that I’m trying to finish up and mix. I can get the ideas down but sometimes just polishing the sound is a little cumbersome. I’m going to study more of that and refine that skill. Aside from that, I just want to have a good time. Dress well, eat well and have fun with my friends.