Meet Noel Herbert & Zane J.S. Johnson | Film Composer / Writer-Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Noel Herbert & Zane J.S. Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Noel, Zane, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Films and videos are generally produced by a whole series of companies in loose communication with each other. In terms of artistic expression, the process can sometimes play out like the game Telephone, in which a message is whispered from ear to ear until it is ultimately garbled. This is why Film Menagerie emphasizes a full process that takes place under the banner of one company. Scripting, casting, direction, cinematography, editing, sound design, and scoring are all fully integrated within our services and are executed by a tight-knit team of creatives as a collaborative rather than hierarchical or dictatorial process, resulting in a production that feels truly unified, achieving a special alchemy of combined sound and image exceeding the sum of their parts for an experience that is truly cinematic in the best sense of the word.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Film Menagerie is the embodiment of a personal artistic dream, which is to unite a multiplicity of artistic pursuits- music composition, visual arts, writing and drama, under a single umbrella in which the whole can vastly exceed the sum of its parts. Our goal is to create a stable of talented artists and allow them to truly explore their passion in an environment that is supportive of both commercial viability and true artistic merit. We would like to create a place in which artists that have been struggling to make a living off of originality can not only survive but thrive. Likewise, we want to give our clients an affordable means of manifesting their dreams in the form of cinema. It has been a long and arduous journey to get to this point, but we are proud to state that we have made no compromises on our vision along the way.

Queen of the Angels, a featurette film which premieres in the Pasadena International Film Festival on June 29th, is an example of the kind of work we wish to create – atmospheric, poetic, and thought-provoking, widely interpretable and open-ended in the way that all good art is. We’re very excited to present this work to the world for the first time. We took home the Honorable Mention award at the Pasadena International Film Festival.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As residents of East Hollywood, we can definitely recommend Jitlada as a top pick for gourmet cuisine. For vegan visitors, Gracias Madre in West Hollywood is a top pick (widely approved by non-vegans as well!). For a quality glass of wine (or a great beer for that matter) we recommend our favourite local bar, Tabula Rasa on Hollywood Blvd. As far as sightseeing, Griffith Observatory is an obvious choice, but what is less obvious is our favourite means to get there, which is to start with a snack and a cup of coffee or tea at Trails Cafe in Fern Dell, and then head up one of the local trails, which start in a beautifully forested area, where you can see numerous non-native species of plants. For a unique nightlife experience, we can recommend Clifton’s Cafeteria, a downtown treasure in the historic Broadway Theater district, where you can experience vintage jazz, natural history museum dioramas, a lifesize facsimile redwood tree, and a secret Tiki bar all in one location! Gallery openings in the Arts District are also a favourite weekend activity, as well as the Arts District Brewery, where one can mix adult beverages with nostalgic delights such as ski-ball.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The success of Film Menagerie has been largely due to direct support from family members and close friends. We are a tight-knit group of creators, and we are fiercely loyal to those we support, just as our friends and family have been so consistently loyal to us. Regarding mentors, I would like to mention three members of the CalArts faculty who inspired me- Janice Tanaka, whose optimism and “The Show Must Go On” energy proved a perfect starting point for daunting independent film production, Nina Menkes, whose persistent devotion to her unique creative vision throughout various ups and downs and despite tremendous forces from the mainstream film industry demonstrated to me the model of a truly independent filmmaker, and Nicole Panter Dailey, whose unique screenwriting classes offered a path beyond generic scripting practices in which groundbreaking originality can thrive. All three gave me the increased confidence in myself as a writer and director that I’ve needed to persist over the years.

Website: www.filmmenagerie.com

Instagram: @filmmenagerieproductions, @no_lmusic, @jackperrow