George Psinakis Rausch

Q: George, when did you start shooting films?
A: Around 1991 I started shooting one take films on a VHS camcorder with friends in and around my neighborhood. We would storyboard the scenes in a composition notebook, which I still have to this day.

Q: When did you make the jump to digital video?
A: I got a QuickCam in 1995 and was shooting short comedy videos with the camera tethered to my PC. I was editing using Adobe Premiere. However, I continued to edit linear video until I 2001 when I started editing exclusively on computers.

Q: Wow! Do you still have those old videos?
A: Yes and no. I have all of the VHS tapes, but they have not been captured to digital. All of the DIGITAL shorts were erased accidentally in 2006 when I mistook one external hard drive for another. This is one of the reasons why I continue to shoot everything on tapes and not memory cards. There is only one or two digital shorts that survive on an aging HD on a friend's computer in Hollywood.

Q: I heard that you are an actor as well. Is this true?
A: Yes, I've been acting for a long time (just about the same time that I started shooting video, 1991). I love being on stage and in front of the camera. However, in filmmaking, I find myself more often behind the camera or as producer because I like running a tight ship and making sure that everything runs on time and on budget. So, I'd like to revise what I said before: I'd like to be an actor/producer/director/professor when I grow up.

Q: Is there anything else that you'd like to share.
A: I really think video/film have an bright future and I wish to be a part of it as things change. Also, I'd like to thank my mom for supporting my filmmaking habits when I was a kid, the Excursions in Learning Program which taught me how to edit (on linear decks) and run a set, Glastonbury Youth Services Bureau for their after school programs in acting and television production, Tufts University for providing me with an opportunity to learn about film history, experiment with all kinds of technology, and act/director/produce several films, and my mentors Howard Woolf, Don Schechter, and Joshua Seftel.

Q: Red pill or blue pill?
A: I know that is a reference to the Matrix, but I have no idea which does what. I promptly forgot it. Does that make me a bad filmmaker? I hope not.

Q: Thank you for your time.
A: It was my pleasure. I like interviewing myself.