Quality Americana

It’s every aspiring young filmmaker’s dream to live the whirlwind Carleton Ranney and his misfit crew did almost a decade ago.

Growing Up in Austin, Texas

Ranney was raised in Austin, Texas amongst a carefree, small-town atmosphere that encouraged artists with their unofficial nickname “The Live Music Capital of the World.” It was the backdrop for indie hits that made a big splash like “Slacker” and “Dazed and Confused” by Richard Linklater. 

“Some of my earliest memories were like my dad watching a movie that I shouldn’t watch maybe, but I did,” Ranney said. “I caught the bug early.”

Ranney’s father had recorded movies lying around the house, and he was fascinated by the worlds found in film.

“I was like looking over his shoulder,” Ranney said. “I remember he recorded ‘The Thing’ off of like pay per view or something, it was like really bad quality on a VHS.”

An Aspiring Actor

Early on, Ranney was inspired to become an actor. 

“I wanted to be like Tom Cruise,” Ranney said. 

Ranney dove straight into his passion after a traumatic car wreck in the Hill Country that left him healing. 

“I had a lot of physical injuries from that,” Ranney said. “I was like ten when that happened. I couldn’t really do much active stuff, and I was just watching movies all the time. I just became more obsessed with them.”

Through this immersion in film, Ranney decided he would switch his future plans from actor to director, and when he healed up, Ranney started making projects on Super 8 with his neighborhood friends. He later found his first teacher in high school at the Center for Young Cinema.

New York City

Through his hard work, Ranney was able to achieve his dream of being accepted into the School of Visual Arts in New York City. 

“When I was in high school I got really into bands from New York,” Ranney said of groups like the Ramones and Sonic Youth. “New York was just like this magical place where all this art and music that I was into came out of. That’s where I wanted to be.”

Ranney was able to assemble a crew from fellow alumni, and they were able to produce their first project “Slasher” on 16mm with a sponsorship from Kodak. 

“It was probably one of the most magical times of my life for sure,” Ranney said. “It was everything I wanted.”

Filming in The Lone Star State

New York came with its own level of difficulty for filmmakers, and when they found the opportunity to make a feature-length film, they decided to film in Austin.

“It was kind of a big deal that I shot on the Red camera,” Ranney recalled about the early days of digital filmmaking. “That was such a great experience. When you shoot a movie down in Austin, people are just excited that you’re making a movie and they want to help out. It’s so much easier to get locations and resources.”

Ranney said filming “Slasher” laid the groundwork for “Jackrabbit.” 

“Everybody that was on the crew for the most part moved up to New York from Austin,” Ranney said. 

They decided to avoid the endless Texas summer and film in the fall, a decision that added to the dystopian effect and dread that the characters are living through. 

“I’m never shooting a movie in Texas in the summer ever again,” Ranney said with a laugh as he recalled making a high school project in the sweltering heat.

Entering the Matrix

“Jackrabbit” is a low-budget sci-fi drama about a dystopian future that’s ruled by a technocracy. The main character Max, played by Ian Christopher Noel, is following the clues left behind in a computer hard drive by a late friend that couldn’t bear to live a life of being watched for their own “safety.” Max joins up with Simon, a company insider played by Josh Caras, who helps solve the mystery. Ranney said that he wrote “Jackrabbit” specifically for Noel and his crew. 

“I was just like ‘man this guy is really talented,’” Ranney said. “We wrote it with them in mind.”

Caras appeared in “Slasher” and the two have known each other through acting since high school. His work includes “The Highwaymen” with Kevin Costner and “The Glass Castle.”

“Reed Birney was our biggest actor,” Ranney said. “He plays the CEO of the tech company, the guy that sort of runs the city.”

Tribeca Film Festival

“Jackrabbit” premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, the bucket list of any aspiring director. 

“We thought ‘holy (expletive) this might blow up,’” Ranney said with a laugh.” 

The film was met with some backlash at the time, as the theme was loosely inspired by revelations from whistleblowers Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden that showed the extent of government surveillance in the digital world. 

“There was a lot of people and critics that hated it,” Ranney said. “If I wrote that movie today, there would have been a lot more dialogue.” 

Parts of the film show the CCTV feeds that are locked up in every home, and the constant eerie feeling that a drone could be circling above your every movement.

“The inspiration for it was very much of the times,” Ranney said. 

The main inspiration was taken from the story of techno-activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, who was arrested by MIT police for illegally downloading academic journals. Swartz was known as a prodigy in the techno world and believed in an open and free society, but tragically had a prior history of mental health concerns. 

“He put them online for free. I think they really wanted to make an example out of him,” Ranney said of the lengthy prison sentence Swartz received. Just days after facing his prosecution, Swartz was found deceased in his Brooklyn, New York apartment.

Interpreting the Film

Ranney left a lot of space in the film, letting the audience interpret the themes with their imagination. It focuses on what comforts and security the average person is willing to give up for the pursuit of “safety” and also deals with the tragedy of someone taking their own life.

Max is an “off-the-grid” type that is willing to leave society behind, while Simon seems to go along with some of the dystopian norms presented in the film. They both unite to solve the mystery their lost friend left behind from different mindsets.

Ranney said it felt too “on the nose” to set the film in the present day. It was first envisioned as ultra-futuristic, but they chose to use vintage computer systems for the sci-fi setting first out of budget constraints, but also to show the lasting qualities of older products. The vintage techno-Americana helps transport the audience into a different world.

“It was my first baby,” Ranney said. “It was terrifying. It was really stressful to make. I was really young, but it was such a great experience. It was like going to graduate school.”  

Josh wrestles with “the conflict of wanting to just live, and have like a good life living in a system that you know may be corrupt and harmful to others,” Ranney said, “the comfort versus the just and the righteous and playing with that ambiguity.” 

“I think you always have to take whatever your beliefs are and really put them to the grindstone and really explore them,” Ranney said. “Anybody that says they have the answer should be disqualified.”

Dystopian Setting

The themes were also inspired by the dystopian settings in Robocop, with Delta City being ruled by a technocracy where robots police society, and the Matrix.

“When they left the Matrix they’re just like living in these dark, cavernous places eating gruel. Is that the better option? Is that freedom?,” Ranney said. “You trade one matrix for another. There’s an argument to be made for both sides, and that’s always what I’m interested in. Not having a clear answer.” 

Screenwriting

Ranney has stayed involved in the film world over the past decade, teaching screenwriting while preparing for his next film.

“I think it’s important for young film students to understand that it’s totally doable, you have to really just go for it and you can make it happen,” Ranney said. “It’s a lot easier said than done, but it’s still within reach. Science fiction isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about the perspective of mind.”

Plans for a Modern Western

Ranney is planning his second feature film to be shot in Texas, a modern western-themed crime film. The crew is also hoping to host a screening of “Jackrabbit” for its tenth anniversary. 

“I still get email from people like from everywhere,” Ranney said of the hard to find film. “Jackrabbit” can be streamed currently on Tubi, and the distribution deal they secured at Tribeca had the film placed on Netflix and various streaming sites without a physical copy produced.

More information on Carleton Ranney can be found here.

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