Meet Eric Corbin

We recently connected with Eric Corbin and have shared our conversation below.

Eric, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever head any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?

I find it best to work past a creative block by switching activities for a while. When I feel stuck in some way with a sculpture I will pick up some crayons and start drawing for example. The switching of activities informs or stimulates a part of my thinking which was not being utilized. It’s good to switch things up, it allows you to loosen your muscles.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’ve been creating practical special effects for other people’s films and creative projects for several years now. I also create sculptures and latex masks for private collectors, companies and/or for seasonal use. This commission based work allows me to earn money that I put back into my own projects. Lately, a good chunk of my energy, attention, and resources have been funneled into my own films and film projects that I write/direct either alone or with friends, incorporating my own hand crafted special effects work.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The ability to sculpt in clay is something that is very nuanced and looked at with a lot of mystery. Although people understand how it works, sculptors are treated as if they’re some sort of magician who has cast a spell. In reality this is a skill that was built over time, with lots of failure involved.
The ability to take a great photograph is something that I’m still chasing, although I feel relatively competent in that area. Learning even the basics of photography has benefited me immensely in my life.
I learned how to sew when I was in high school and that is an essential skill that I find myself using almost daily. It is something I feel everyone should learn if possible.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The Film Director as Superstar by Jospeh Gelmis

This is a book of interviews conducted by Joseph Gelmis of some of the up and coming directors of the 1970’s which ended up becoming some of the top names in the world of film. I picked this book up in the used section of a small bookstore in Dania Beach called “My Mama’s”. They have a shelf dedicated to film books so I started buying and reading a bunch of them, they’re really cheap because they’re in bad condition. This copy I got is an old first edition and it even had annotations from the original owner. I ended up adding in some of my own for fun.

There’s a really good Cassavetes interview where he says this thing about success and failure not really being success and failure. How he bombed on one picture but then got huge contract deals from Paramount afterwards. He also mentioned this thing about human behavior and the character of a person which resonates with me. How a person can be charming and lovable one second and a total bastard the next. People aren’t only 1 thing.

The biggest takeaway I got from the book overall though, is that as a student filmmaker, or indie, or low budget, or whatever you wanna call it, you have to make shorts. You can’t start off with a feature film, you should make short films. Good ones, bad ones, silly ones, serious ones, as many as you can. You will probably end up convincing a bunch of people to believe in you and what you’re doing then end up getting the help or the budget to make your feature film. Start off with shorts. I never went to film school, or art school, or any college for that matter. So I’m learning a lot of this stuff a little bit later in life through cheap books that I picked up on my own, and through the internet mostly. It’s never too late to pick up a book and learn.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @corbins.creatures
• Youtube: @corbin_films

Image Credits

All images owned by Eric Corbin.