In filmmaker Jaime Heinrich's compositions, there's a general sense that he's landed in exactly the right space, framed a decisive and accurate visual to define his work. As he puts it, it's finding the sweet spot. “It’s a feeling that you get from what you’re looking at, and it’s really easy to tell when it’s not there," he explains. "It’s like balancing a toothpick, getting right in that spot where it’s at the perfect balance."

Detail-by-detail, Heinrich has experimented into his artistic voice. From producing sports-action films as a teen to making hip and polished commercial work, he's slowly narrowing down his styles and concerns: "I’m getting cleaner, more on point, more focused from a viewers point-of-view. I used to be a little overly creative," he begins. "I’m really trying to conform now to where any viewer can watch my work and get it while being clear on plot and story, not being so overly artistic that they get lost."

With an OurStage.com top ten placement in the 'Cutting Edge' category for the short 1408, based on Stephen King's short story of the same title, Heinrich gets closer and closer to nailing his goal. Here he talks about working with dialogue for the first time, haunted hotels and finding the narrative structure of real life.

SM: In 2001, you finished Mr. Black, which you’d shot on both 8mm and 16mm. What was the transition between going from an early piece like that to 1408?

JH: Mr. Black didn’t really have a script. We were going off cartoons with that dialogue and just making it up as we went. We shot it over two years pretty. We’d shot a scene here, and then we’d add onto it. It was experimenting with the dialogue without actually using dialogue where 1408 was focused all around dialogue. It was more like an exercise, 1408. It was just like, “Here’s a real story and a script with dialogue,” and I was working with dialogue for the first time pretty much.

SM: What did you learn about the process of working with dialogue?

JH: It’s throwing something else into the whole production which is just as big as cinematography, just as big as the editing, the sound design,…and it was hard. I thought it would be easy because we had a script, but when you have to focus on the shot, the actor, if it’s believable, what they’re saying, how they’re saying it, the sound quality. It’s just another thing that I have to pay attention to. It’s juggling all the hats.

SM: Essentially the film is psychological horror. How did you play with that?

JH: What I wanted to do was not show anything…To get into someone’s mind, it’s really up to the imagination of the viewer. So, when you don’t show them anything, I think it’s a lot scarier. It’s like reading a book. It’s your imagination that’s going to make up what happens next.

It’s the anticipation, even though nothing really happens. If someone gets spooks when they’re watching it, that’s all that matters to me. That’s all I want to come across in the whole film.

SM: Talking about your location, you have a great production story about the hotel [you shot at.] It burned down three weeks after you wrapped the shot there. Why were you originally drawn to that location, and what was it like shooting there?

JH: There was a certain vibe there that was really eerie, and everyone there was telling us all these stories about it being haunted, all these weird things that have happened to them…It was surprising what happened there afterwards; it burning down. It was strange how many people actually got caught in the fire, but it wasn’t a total shock either. After hanging out there for four or five days, we really knew how that place felt.

SM: Now, you guys were in production in the spring of 2007, and then in the summer of 2007, we got the June 22 release of Mikael Håfström’s 1408. What was it like seeing that come out after just having made a film based on the same short story?

JH: That was another coincidence—the whole hotel thing that happened afterwards and the fact that, “Here’s this big time movie based on the same story.” It kind of made it more legitimate too that we made it. I haven’t seen (the other version) yet, but it’s really cool I’m sure to see them side-by-side, one that’s stripped down and bare bones and the other that’s on a whole different spectrum.

SM: I was hoping you could tell me a little bit about the story [for Heinrich’s next project Rabbit Throat], and how it came about.

JH: (My good friend Ryan Bahlman) had broken up with his girlfriend, was living the single life up in this town were we grew up and was going out. There was a lot of drama…I said, “Well, here’s a camera and a bunch of tape. Just go and record everything. You’re hanging out. You’re going to the bars.” So, he did that for two years, and then we had all this tape.

So, I edited it together and created a story that took place over one night into the next day and into the next night. I wouldn’t call it reality—well, it’s reality, but it’s in between a documentary, reality, dramedy. It’s just based around this group and portrays their lifestyle.

SM: What’s been the hardest thing about working on it so far?

JH: Trying to create the edit. There’s just a lot of loose ends, so it’s like, “What’s the focus? What’s going to keep people interested?” Also, the fact that we knew all of these people, that I know them as friends, it’s like, “Well, you’re interesting to me.” What’s interesting to someone who doesn’t know these people?

SM: Ideally, where would you like to develop to as a filmmaker?

JH: A lot of this has been experimental and practice, just refining my skills, which I think takes a good fifteen years, no matter how much talent you have, to actually ground it. The first feature I make [which Heinrich’s working on right now], I want it to be a hit, and so I’m not rushing into it. At this point right now, that’s where I want to be in the next year after I make this feature. I want it to be a hit, take it to Sundance and have it be so legit that people have no choice, and for that it needs to be bullet-proof all the way through with the story, the way it’s shot, the edit, the flow, everything. I’m at that point in my career.

For more information visit http://heinrichfilm.com/.