‘Hype’ filmmakers swear by UCLA education

Friday, April 19, 1996

Acclaimed film screens tonight at Melnitz TheaterBy Emily
Forster

Daily Bruin Contributor

Many people in the film industry subscribe to Pink Floyd’s
theory that they "don’t need no education." Skipping tedious
classwork and irrelevant courses, actors, directors and producers
go on to monumentally successful careers. But they miss out.

UCLA film school graduates like Doug Pray and Steve Helvey,
creators of a rock documentary called "Hype," enjoyed several
advantages that come from a formal film education.

"The film school community is very encouraging," says Helvey.
"Most people in film school, their parents think they’re all crazy,
but the school becomes like a surrogate family. It’s very
emotionally supportive."

This atmosphere inevitably leads to connections. Helvey and
Pray’s friendship, for example, resulted in the critically
acclaimed "Hype." Showing this Friday in Melnitz, "Hype" was
screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for its comedic and
informative look at the media’s overdone coverage of the Seattle
scene. Pray and Helvey’s UCLA background influenced the project in
many ways.

"The most obvious way that UCLA helped in the making of ‘Hype’
was that it allowed me to meet Steve (Helvey)," says Pray. "He
approached me with the idea and it took off from there."

Helvey chose to bring Pray into the project after seeing some
impressive music videos Pray directed.

"They were much better than I thought they would be," recalls
Helvey. "He had very little funds and barely any equipment but they
managed to look really good. I knew he would be useful in a project
like this."

Helvey’s instincts about his partner were right on, even though
Pray never took a documentary class. Pray’s education in directing
movies gave him enough knowledge to tackle the meagerly funded
film.

"I definitely learned how to use a camera and how to edit, and
you need those things no matter what type of film you’re making,"
says Pray. "I worked with a lot of actors at UCLA and working with
the bands for the documentary was just like that. In the
interviews, when band members would say something good, you’d get a
feeling in your gut. It was just like when actors give a great
delivery of a line ­ you just know."

Pray was lucky for his experience with actors because he and
Helvey dealt with over two dozen bands, from local groups like
Mudhoney, Young Fresh Fellows and Supersuckers to international
successes like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden. Getting the
bands and money together was a problem. At first, the bands were
difficult to speak with because they were sick of the media, but
when they eventually realized that Pray and Helvey’s intentions
were to make fun of the media, they were happy to help rip on
annoying publicity.

"We would run out of money and then go back and hunt for more
funding and then go back and film until we ran out of money again,"
says Pray. "We probably got the bands that we did because they felt
sorry for us."

"And the legal rights for the film’s music were nearly
impossible to get," remembers Helvey. "We had to go through this
whole huge process with all these people involved and everyone said
we’d never be able to do it."

Pray and Helvey credit their filmmaking skills to their
education.

"Film school puts you in a lot of situations where you’re
filming stuff with crews and everything, but you have the ability
to make mistakes," explains Pray. "It builds your confidence doing
so much filming and working with so many different people."

Despite their confidence however, Pray and Helvey did not know
what they were getting into. It was their ignorance of the
impending difficulties that fueled the process.

"If we knew then what we know now, we never would have done it,"
admits Helvey. "It’s a good thing we were in film school and didn’t
know any better."

FILM: "Hype," directed by Doug Pray and Steve Helvey. Screening
at Melnitz at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Before the screening, there will
be a cartoon short drawn by the animators of "Ren and Stimpy."
Following the screening, Pray and Helvey will answer questions from
the audience. Free tickets will be available Friday at 10:30 a.m.
Call 825-2345 for more info.

Photographer Charles Peterson is interviewed in "Hype."