Dogopolis had a chance to catch up with Oakland independent filmmakers Barry Stone and Kim Webster, who have just finished their feature film, Sniff the dog movie. Director/Writer Barry Stone has been a cinematographer for almost 30 years, so he has brought an experienced eye and theatrical sensitivity to the subject, as well as his love of dogs! Barry’s wife, Kim, is the Producer and co-enthusiast.

1. In a few words, what is “Sniff”?

Barry: Sniff is a new genre of film: a hybrid of fiction, educational and documentary. Real dog stories are wrapped in a light-hearted fiction about two British actors who come to San Francisco to work as dress-up concierges of a fancy dog hotel, who decide to make a documentary about dogs.

2. What inspired you to make a movie about dogs?

Barry: This film has been on the brew for 30 years since I made my first short film called “Dog”… I wanted to make a film about dogs that is not anthropomorphic, but that helps us to appreciate the world from a dog’s perspective. As the filming and editing went along though, I realized we couldn’t just do it all from the point of view of the dog, because as people, we are inevitably interested in the human side of things. So I had to adjust my vision of the film as I went along. It has been a fascinating journey! And we do dip down often to see things from the dog’s perspective and colour range.

3. What was the original concept?

Kim: In our original outline for the film in April 2006, Barry had the idea of using puppets to host the documentary portions of the film – to tell us about how dogs see, how acute their senses of smell and hearing are, and how they’ve evolved to serve mankind. About 18 months later,  we had begun collecting our documentary footage (by this time I’d learned to use the camera too) and Barry had a conversation with his friend (veteran British actor) Neil Morrissey about all the great dog stories we were gathering. Neil got all excited and offered to dress up in costume to host the film… so it was out with the puppets and in with the actors  to tie all our fascinating canine stories together!

After many months and several script drafts, we compiled our team of actors, including Neil, his longtime pal, actor Richard Huw, Amanda Plummer and Maurice Godin. Last November, the foursome converged in Oakland. By this time, all of the documentary segments were assembled in order. We showed Neil his “footage”, and showed Richard the pieces he was to have assembled, and then we filmed the two actors for real as they showed each other their dogs stories.  This way their reactions weren’t scripted and we were able to capture their enthusiasm and/or questions to each other in a way that is quite genuine. So, Neil and Richard are quite believable on screen as the serendipitous “makers” of Sniff. Through their eyes, we see a mixture of Neil’s fun and bizarre dog stories (surfing, bird-herding, bubble-blowing) as well as Richard’s more serious segments about the training of two working dogs.

4. How did you end up in the Bay Area for the movie’s location?

Barry: Well, we live in Oakland and as our research progressed, it became clear that there were so many fabulous dog tales right here in California that we could certainly make a feature length documentary from the comfort of our family van!  We filmed all the dog stories first, started to edit them, and then got to work on the “fiction” part of the film.

5. What are some famous landmarks we can expect to see in the film?

Barry: I love the Bay Area! The Bay Bridge, TransAmerica Tower, the Painted Ladies at Alamo Park, San Francisco’s Union Square, the Grand Lake Theatre … oh and Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament in my home town, London.

6. What were some of your favorite moments making this film?

Barry: The graduation ceremonies at Guide Dogs for the Blind are a testament to the puppy-raisers’ good will and the ability of those wonderful dogs to serve their blind partners – I still choke up when I watch that scene in Sniff.  I also enjoyed the challenge of putting the camera in an underwater housing and affixing it to a surfboard to get the doggie point of view in our story of King the surf-dog. Seeing the dogs masks that our friend Angela Thomas made for the concierge costumes was also a highlight. They are extraordinary!

Kim: I fell in love with Janna Duncan’s Drummond Ranch near Los Angeles , with the sheep and the border collies. It felt like I was “home”. I want to learn how to herd sheep with a dog – it is a wonderful, intuitive dance between the herder, the sheep and the dogs! I also love walking on Asilomar Beach near Barry’s Mom’s place in Pacific Grove and suddenly hearing the particular bark of Gus the Bird Herder – he’s such an athlete!

7. Were any dogs harmed in the making of this film?  Just kidding of course, but tell us a little about the real stars of this film.

Kim: Our two main through-stories follow Mikey and Gabby. Mikey, a particularly endearing yellow lab, goes into training at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California. Through GDB, we found Gabby, a peppy black lab who wasn’t quite suitable to train as a guide, so she had a career change to become a Search Dog.  We followed these two for months during their training, and felt compelled to follow them to their new homes – Mikey in Montana, and Gabby in Ventura County. It was important to us to see where they were going to settle.  Then there’s Harley, who loves nothing better than to retrieve a ball – even now that he’s older and quite stiff with age. We went to visit Harley’s owner up at the Klamath River and couldn’t resist filming him (even though we only had our stills camera), ever chest deep in the river, waiting for someone to toss him the ball.

8.  What makes Sniff the “best dog movie ever made”?

Barry: Well, we are bragging of course,  there are lots of really great dog movies,  but I think we have found a way to bring some important stories to a much broader audience. Because we have made a film that’s entertaining as well as educational, we have (for example) been able to show in great detail the fascinating process of training a Guide Dog for the Blind to an audience that would have been happy watching Beverley Hill Chihuahuas.  Sniff makes a documentary sensibility appealing to a family audience whilst avoiding the Hollywood tendency to portray dogs as “little people in furry skins”.

9.  So when can we experience Sniff for ourselves?

Kim: Our big community Gala is on November 5, 2009 at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, CA (6:00 and 9:00).  For those outside of the Bay Area who wish to see Sniff, you can pre-order the DVD on our website (www.sniffthemovie.com). We also plan to take Sniff to large centers and stage screenings ourselves. We’ve got two screenings lined up at the Smith Rafael Film Centre on  Saturday Nov. 7 and Dec. 12, and we’re planning a couple of Toronto screenings in December.

10.  Lastly, anything you want us to know about this film before we head off to the theatre or pop in the DVD?

Barry: Sniff is a great film for families to watch together. The humour works on many levels and there is some great information for people to learn and talk about. The music will definitely have you tapping your toes. We’re grateful to so many people and dogs for their participation – the credits roll on forever! Oh – and we’re keeping aside 10% of proceeds from DVD sales to give to charitable canine organizations, Guide Dogs for the Blind being one of them. You can check out Sniff at www.sniffthemovie.com

• Previous Entry: 9 to 5 with Dogs
• Next Entry: It’s all in the p**p