#1 Jerry White Jr’s Top Ten.
#1 Joe Hornacek’s Top Ten.
#6 John Ryan’s Top Ten.
#3 Dan Augustine’s Top Ten.
#2 Jesus Rivera’s Top Ten.
#7 Shane Oesterling’s Top Ten.
Cast
The PCP ROBOTS as Themselves
Joe Hornacek as Various
Jerry White Jr. as Various
Director/DP
Joe Hornacek
Written by
Joe Hornacek
Editors
Joe Hornacek
Jerry White Jr.
PCP Robots and Sets
Joe Hornacek
Music
John Ryan
PCP ROBOT
My friend John suggested that we should do some graffiti one night, so we gathered up some spray paint and painted some shit on the back of this run down supermarket. John ended up painting a robot, with big letters next to it that spelled “PCP Robot.” We were all stoked because this was the biggest thing, and nobody else could come up with anything that was as cool. Also, it was a relief to see something cooler than the usual graffiti done by wanna-be, pot smoking, rich kid deadheads that would paint “Dick rules,” and “pot.”
So, being movie makers, punk rook, energized, and all that, we tried to imagine what the PCP Robot would look like or do. We all had different ideas and our own experiences talking about it. So, PCP Robot kinda became a vibe. We started drawing pictures, doing PCP art, making up words, and talking about building robots. I always that that it was a fun thing to do.
It’s like seeing old sci-fi movies for the first time. You know, the ones form the ’60s with really fucked up robots? Man versus machine. But then somehow the robots would get life or some weird ghetto soul from taking PCP.
With all this shit floating around in my head, as well as turning 20 and wanting to get something accomplished, I decided I was going to make my version of a life size PCP Robot. I made the head and that was it. It’s kinda cool, it lights up. We took a picture of it and used it for the cover of HOOFSIP #12.
At some point, I decided I was going to make miniature robots, spaceships, stories, and sets. I don’t remember how in the hell I came up with the stories, but I do remember thinking, “All right, the PCP Robot is going to be walking and then some freaked out robot will start fighting him.” John kept the vibe alive with his music, which gave me lots of inspiration.
As the months went by, and as the deadlines expanded, the PCP Robot movie was finished during the last couple weeks of December ’95. Jerry reserved eight hour blocks of editing time a day and we would go about four days a week. Approximately 20 hours of this time was spent on PCP Robot alone.The music was done by John Ryan (one of the most creative people I’ve ever met). People have described Aphex Twin as the “Jimi Hendrix of techno,” well John Ryan is the “PCP Robot of electronic music.” In the end, John’s music and the overall vibe I felt while making the movie came through strong and in a righteous way. Once scene shows the LF Brothas actually interacting in the PCP Robot’s world. Another scene shows the PCP spaceship floating around artistically. Other scenes have different forms of artwork while “PCP Robot” is said in varying unusual tones.
Hope you will check PCP Robot out. I’m currently working on more scenes to make the movie longer. Hopefully we will be making John’s version of the PCP Robot in the spring.
Peace out…and in case you’re wondering, we do not take PCP.
This just clicked almost like I had dream about it before it happened in a past life. I remember wanting to do an actual movie without the puppets, in live-action with actors and build actual sets, but I did not have a story.
The main reason this was made was because we were all really serious about making movies at the time and it just kind of happened. I remember being so excited for some crazy reason at Rochester Park. I remember thinking to myself, just go crazy excited the best you ever were and hype beyond control. Then John spray paints “PCP Robot” on the back of the old A&P supermarket which is next to the park. Making PCP Robot was all about being excited and hype.
I made some cool robots with the inspiration of spray paint and a collection of electrical components that I accumulated from the the beat up U-matic decks sold at Dixieland Flea Market. The money earned to save for the business was used to pay for the merchandise which made me all the more confident to work with it. Like this was the major goal.
In PCP Robot, the opening is one of the coolest things. It may have been done before in a different movie, but I swear I saw this image in a past life or dream…or something about seeing it in the past. The cameras we were using made the film. Hi-8 high quality with saturated and fading color changes with cool sculptures, plus the combination of John Ryan’s music and a lucky sound effects CD we found at the Rochester public library.