Steven Escobar

Interviewed by: Lizzard Willy

LW: How did you get started in the film business?

SE: I began when my high school back in South Texas offered a Radio & Television vocational class. I wasn't sure whether to take it because the rumor was that only "low life" type people with no inspiration took it since it was a 3 hours class. I was a Junior in H.S. so I thought, "why not?" I ended up taking it for 2 years and learned all my basic television jargon and techniques. You remember the old format, Betamax"? Well that's what I started out using. Yes, I'm dating myself, in the 80's. I ended up going to college and graduated with a Communications degree from The University of Texas - Pan American in my hometown in Edinburg, TX. Every summer session, the department offered a class where we actually filmed a "made for television" movie which aired on local television the following Spring when it was finished. I started my first year as a boom operator, camera operator and editor the 2nd year and director of photography the 3rd year. I believe that program still goes on.
:LW: What type of background do you have?

SE: As I mentioned before, my background came early in high school where I honestly thought I'd be a Director of Photography and attending NYU film school. I even got early acceptance but when the reality came to it, I just couldn't get myself to move from a predominately Hispanic community to the big apple. So I choose to move just North of Houston in Huntville to attend Sam Houston State University for a year where I majored in RTF. Then that summer I came home and started at UTPA. I've always been interested in movies and television at an early age.

LW: Favorite movie you worked on?

SE: Since the majority of my career was in television and latin music videos, I didn't ever think I'd be making movies until I met Joe Castro. He was editing his feature, "Legend of the Chupacabra" while I was producing a music video. The director I was working with introduced us. I have to say that "Terror Toons 2: The Sick and Silly Show" the sequel to the original has to be my favorite movie I've worked on. Joe and I wanted this movie to be even funnier and creepier than the original. We haven't started post production yet but I'm excited to get this one out. I think all gore fans will be amused.

LW: Upcoming Projects?

SE: As I mentioned, Terror Toons 2 will be released sometime in 2004 but I'm actually finishing post production on a new film called, "Jack Hammer". Yes, it's exactly what you think it is. Very, very gory and high production value for a micro budget horror film. Also, look for "Near Death". You should be seeing in in video stores by November 2003.

I do all the post production at home using Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects for visual effects. I don't use the typical DV quality like most micro budget films. I use an Aurora Igniter Video card to capture all the footage in my computer at 1.5:1 compression (for all you computer geeks). I have more control over my footage and can color correct it while I'm "digitizing" my footage so I don't have to when I'm editing it. And to accommodate about 13 hours of footage, I need over 400 Gigs of drive space in order to get a high quality output. Okay, don't get me started on talking about editing and computers. I'm also an AVID editor during the day for a reality television show so I'm always working.

What I wanted to say about high production value was, since I co-produce and edit most of Joe Castro's films, there is no limit and/or budget when it comes to getting his vision to screen. We both work together and come up with some crazy things and I think that's important to have a good working relationship.

LW: Why Horror?

SE: I've always loved horror films. I remember having parties in high school at my parents and just watching triple features of horror films. Of course, someone would always get the shit scared out of them especially with pranks like shutting off all the lights right in the middle of a good scene. (God it sounds so silly now that I think about it) But I never thought I'd be apart of making horror films that people actually enjoy.

LW: Favorite Horror flick?

SE: Why of course, "Terror Toons". No seriously, I don't know if I actually have a favorite film. My first fascination with really scary movies for me, was the Friday the 13th up to about part 4. I remember also watching "Gates of Hell" at a drive-in. The part where the woman cries blood really got to me and the guy who's head got drilled was great. I believe it's been re-released under a different name on DVD {editorial note - the flick Steve is referring to has been released on DVD as City of the Living Dead and is a Lucio Fulci Classic}. I know Joe bought it so we own a copy of it. Those are probably my favorite horror (gory type) films. Of course there are some great horror/thriller type films I like but there are too many to mention now.