Christopher Cunningham: Okay, first off, what is FAN?
Gena Tuso: A zine for fans.
Dan Monick: A fanzine.
Anton Yelchin: Peeping toms with disposable cams.
CC: The Reseda shoot you guys did awhile back inspired FAN. How?
GT: Dan, Anton, and I were on a fashion shoot in Reseda awhile back. Anton bought some disposable cameras at CVS while Dan was shooting him. There was a moment where Anton was shooting window mannequins at a porn shop. I look over and Dan is shooting Anton shooting the windows. I thought, wow this is kind of cool. The next week we got the film back. Anton had all these great weird valley pics of the candy aisle at CVS, broken payphones, trash cans, self portraits, and all sorts of randomness. There was even a part where Dan was wearing the jacket of a suit I put Anton in and Anton was shooting Dan. I wanted to make this scenario happen again with other people.
CC: What’s up with the valley?
AY: The valley is the glorious land of hallucinations that awaits the weary traveler past the canyons. I grew up there and love the land.
GT: It’s like a cityburb. Not quite the city but not a suburb. My dad grew up there and I have spent a lot of time there.
CC: Anton, you’re an actor, but you do so much more; what else?
AY: I love film and since it's an audiovisual medium I've always been interested in its two entwined elements. Over the years I have become more and more interested in creating my own audiovisual landscapes and so photography, sound design, music, are all natural extensions of this interest. I am also a large supporter of DYI craftsmanship: whether it be zine printing, low fi music, or paracinema. All these interests affect each other - the way I like to see photos is intertwined with the way I interpret landscapes and how I'd like to record them coalesces into the kind of video texts I'd like to produce. I think that's why Gena, Dan, and I get along creatively is that we are all interested in the extent to which we can create and disseminate DIY information. We all have similar interests in the audiovisual realm.
CC: Dan, you have a real love for film and wanted the use of disposable cameras for FAN.
DM: Disposable cameras are just so easy to use and are un-intimidating when put into the hands of a non photographer. I feel like it makes the shooter more free. Film has always looked better; it’s rough and beautiful at the same time and it’s tactile.
CC: When did you first start shooting?
AY: When I was 12 after I saw a documentary on Stanley Kubrick and learned that he had started as a photographer.
CC: That Reseda shoot became a zine. Why a zine?
GT: Dan makes these cool zines which inspired the layout for FAN. I’ve always been a fan of the grit and lo-fi aesthetic of zines.
CC: What was the very first zine you ever made?
DM: To be honest I have no idea. When I was a kid I just always saw them and thought they were so cool. My love of xerox and copiers came from making band flyers in the 90s. It’s a texture that cannot be duplicated. Kind of like film. I didn't make an actual zine till 2001 I think.
CC: What’s the zine process for FAN?
DM: Shoot, edit, print, chop up, rescan, Dylan does some weird photoshopping, print, edit, tape, cut, glue, tape in order, take apart, xerox, collate, staple, fold.
CC: Anton, have you made any zines?
AY: My two friends and I had been working on a zine called Lurker for several years that used disposables to capture our adventures while lurking. The main character of the zine that Gena and Dan and I worked on was one such incarnation of my lurker personality - a curious & questionable specimen of the streets. This inspired the idea for FAN to use similar tactics but have people from various creative backgrounds use disposables to capture each other as a form of interaction, maintaining the same primitive DIY aesthetic.
CC: What keeps you sane?
AY: I don't like to put too much stock in my sanity; but, making stuff, which also drives me nuts sometimes.
DM: Just making stuff I love and always putting something I love into everything I make.
GT: Making stuff and showing new ways to make the stuff.
CC: What’s your motivation?
GT: I wanted to create a venue where we could all escape and make something real. I love the under styled, gritty, lo-fi presentation of FAN. The anti-magazine. It’s the unexpected shock factor that makes it fun and anything goes. Kinda like an ongoing social experiment. Showing artists in a way we don’t usually get to see them or do other cool stuff besides what they are famous or known for.
http://www.fanthezine.com/
