When about to embark on that challenging, stressful, and oft-inebriated journey called ‘college', a prospective freshman has a checklist of things to do before they hit the dorm hall: pack a toothbrush, register for classes. And, in the case of Sylvain White's Stomp The Yard , learn some pretty kickin' dance moves by Christmas break.

White is the director for Stomp The Yard , a film about a young man who goes to attend college after the death of his brother. Once there, he deals with the pressure of being courted by two of the campus fraternities who need his help to win a national step competition. White recently took time to sit down and answer some questions from IIE:

Image Icon Entertainment: You grew up in Paris , France . Do you believe that you approach your work in a different way than you would have had you spent your earlier years elsewhere?  

Sylvain White: Sure. Where you grow up defines in many ways who you are and your vision as a filmmaker.



IIE: You went to La Sorbonne University in Paris for law, but ended up pursuing film studies at Pomona College in California . What led to that decision?

SW: Well I grew up in Paris . Law was just not for me. I pursued it by default. I wanted to go to school in the US . I just like the higher educational system in America  better. I believe it allowed me to better flourish.



IIE: What was the first major work you did after leaving college?  

SW: Winning awards at festivals with my undergrad student experimental films was certainly reassuring and led to an opportunity to direct a short promo spot for some cable-TV movies.  A first low budget music video followed.



IIE: You've directed a number of music videos around the world. What artists have you worked with? What has that experience been like?  

SW: Shooting music videos can be a great way to sharpen your craft and develop personal visual concepts. I love dreaming up images to music. It can be a very creative avenue and I still shoot them between movies. I'm about to direct Chris Brown's new video for my new film Stomp The Yard.  

IIE: Your biography on brianwhiteonline.com says that you've employed in your work an “unprecedented way of employing 3D parallax,” especially in your work for Lugz. Can you explain stylistically what this means and how your style is different from what has been seen before?  

SW: Well, it involved creating CG background plates that moved in sync to the motion of a live action character physically moving in slow motion. Then,  shooting at low frame rates, lateral camera moves countered those of the CG plates and the motions of the character. In the spot the live action characters were three DJs working turntables on separate distant rooftops in  Manhattan.

IIE: You made a foray into the horror movie genre with I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer , the 3 rd movie in the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. What was it like to step into a well-established movie franchise like that?  

SW: Well I was thrown in at the last minute after a previous director had just been fired. I had two weeks to prepare the film from scratch; usually a minimum of 10 weeks is the norm.  But I jumped in and had a blast. I made the film feel different than the previous two installments, although the script was pretty much the same thing over again. We shot it in the mountains of Park City in the fall, with a cool cast and crew. It was a fun experience.

IIE: Now to your latest film, Stomp The Yard . First of all, what exactly does it mean to “stomp the yard”?  

SW: 'The Yard' is basically a term to define the center of a college campus. Some also call it the Square, or the Quad. And 'Stomp' because the movie is about stepping of course. In the film, the first time the main character sees people performing 'steps' is on ‘The Yard' of the campus.



IIE: How did you first get involved with this project?  

SW: It was a couple of years ago, when it wasn't much more than just a concept. The producers and the studio approached me about it. I came onboard and helped develop the screenplay.



IIE: As a director, what was the difference in the way you approached this movie, which focuses so much on dance, than other work you've done?

SW: I was determined to not use any dance doubles, which is very rare in dance films. This obviously affected the casting tremendously, making it very difficult. Luckily, we found amazing talent like Columbus Short, who can blow you away with spine-bending dance moves and dramatically carry a movie on his shoulders. My approach to this film was really more that of a sports drama than a dance film, in terms of the overall tone. I tried to apply a variety of techniques and innovative perspectives to the eclectic dance scenes and specifically to the stepping. I wanted to break the 'spectator' feeling you get when you see dance films and instead I tried to bring the audience into the action, like in a kung-fu film.

IIE: What would you say to people who might say that Stomp The Yard seems too similar to movies like Bring It On and You Got Served ?  

SW: It may sound similar to those films but in reality it feels more like Hoosiers or Cinderalla Man.



IIE: IMDB.com has you listed as the director for the upcoming film The Trunk , which is in pre-production. What can you tell us about that project?

SW: There is a mistake on IMDB about this project, which is being corrected.  The Trunk  is a project to which I am attached to direct but pre-production wouldn't start until the end of next year. It's an epic dark tragedy set in contemporary Oakland.

IIE: Is there anything else we should know?  

SW: Go see Stomp the Yard out in theaters Jan 12 th, and visit www.stomptheyard.com.