The Dog – A Rapidly Condensed Guide to Treading Water, is a short film that was made by a Victoria-born filmmaker who has since received extensive praise for the project.
As of today, Wednesday, July 31st, it is now available to watch online for free, and can be accessed around the globe.
Michael Makaroff funded, wrote, directed, edited and produced the 14 minute film—which was shot at several locations throughout Victoria, including Phoenix Bar & Grill, Haus of Owl, Cinecenta, his childhood dentist office and more.
The film follows a body parts insurance salesman who is sitting at a truck stop bar and recounts stories from his life on the road.
“It’s kind of an exploration of wasted time and how we just let time slip past us using insurance as the portal of how we look at this through, because insurance is such a beast in itself,” Makaroff told Victoria Buzz.
“You’re trying to prepare for something bad to happen just so you get financially reimbursed at the end of it, but you still lost the thing that’s most important to you.”
Ultimately, Makaroff says the film is about the dichotomy between taking risks versus playing it safe.
Makaroff says that The Dog – A Rapidly Condensed Guide to Treading Water took almost a year and a half of writing, which he did throughout the COVID-19 pandemic alongside his co-writer, Hugh Allen, who is based out of the UK.
Once the short was written, Allen and Makaroff pitched it to get some grant funding, but ultimately did not get approved. So instead, Makroff decided to self-fund the project and do it as ‘DIY’ as possible, without sacrificing quality.
When it came time to shoot the film, Makaroff called in some favours with connections throughout Victoria and shot in eight locations in just four days.
“Every day we would have to pick up all the gear and go to a different location, which is kind of unheard of because it just wastes so much time travelling, but we had so many locations to jump to,” Makaroff explained.
“It was quite a chaotic shooting experience to really try to make it feel like what would have normally been an eight day shoot.”
Watch The Dog – A Rapidly Condensed Guide to Treading Water below, then read on to find out more about the film and Makaroff’s intentions behind making it:
Makaroff says when people see the film, he wants them to question their own unique outlook on the value of time, and use the film as inspiration for this reflection.
“Do you want to live life playing it safe or do you want to take risks and experience all the highs and lows that come along with that,” he asked.
“Ideally people will take a moment and think about all the different aspects, because there are a lot of different things that you can pull away from it if you sit with it.”
Since its release, the film has won numerous awards.
At the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival, it won Goldie Awards for best of BC, and best performance by Vancouver-based leading actor Kevin McNulty, who also won a Leo Award for best performance in short drama.
“[McNulty] is a mastermind. He has a lifetime achievement award for his theatre work,” Makaroff said.
“He’s really like a local icon for acting and I think he really elevates the project to somewhere that I never knew it could go.”
Up until its global online release, The Dog – A Rapidly Condensed Guide to Treading Water has been making a name for itself on the festival circuit.
Makaroff says it’s been to New York, Los Angeles twice, all around BC, Newfoundland and more.
He added that after doing some research, he found that most short films get around 10% of the festivals they apply to and his project has gotten into around 50%.
Now that the film is out, Makaroff says he is getting to work on a new short film he would like to make in the coming year, he has a feature-length film in the works, and is working on a pilot episode for television about social media influencers.
Watch The Dog – A Rapidly Condensed Guide to Treading Water if you haven’t already, and let us know what you think about it in the comments below!
