Interview with Filmmaker Kevin B Ploth

1. What inspired you to use a silent, black-and-white format to address the topic in the film Silent Room? 

First my love of black and white films, and noir style.I thank my parents for that.  Black and White sets emotional focus, not spectacle: by omitting gore and exposition, the film centers the parents’ grief and the child’s absence — a quieter, harder hitting indictment.  Realm in a nutshell. Silent, black‑and‑white — the simplest, toughest choice to make you feel the silence and remember the silenced.

2. What are the biggest creative challenges when acting in a film with "no spoken dialogue"?

For me I feel it was being as small as possible at 6’6” the power of defusing my energy (thanks to Boyd Scouts and US Army for that training helped.) I feel the biggest challenge for most artists is carrying the entire performance with your eyes, body, and timing — no dialogue means every emotion has to land visually and instantly.

In a film like Silent Room, that challenge becomes the strength: the silence forces the actor to make grief, shock, and memory feel real without ever saying a word.  Being still like a cat.

3. How do you manage the multi-tasking challenges of being the writer, actor, and producer?

No me with out the we.  Having Vanessa Thorpe as Director, Producer and Poster Artist was a huge win and then Larry Gress as DP and Editor made all the difference.  For me personally I manage it by treating each role like a separate hat with one shared mission: protect the story. As the writer, I shape the vision; as the actor, I serve the moment; as the producer, I make sure the film gets finished with discipline and heart.  It is also balance, but that’s also the advantage: when you’re writing, acting, and producing, you know exactly what the film needs at every level.

4. How do you define success for a deeply personal, socially relevant indie film like Silent Room?

Success for a film like Silent Room is not just awards or numbers — it’s whether the audience leaves changed, the message lands, and the film earns a lasting place in the conversation.

I knew when I shared it with about twenty random individuals and five close friends that they all were in tears and the opening sequence was a slap to

the face.

Silent Room hits the heart first. If it honors the subject, moves people to feel something real, and keeps the conversation alive beyond the screen, then it succeeded.

5. How do you maintain high visual tension when working within a micro-short format under 7 minutes?

For me, it’s about pressure and precision — I want every frame to feel necessary, and every silence to feel loaded. In a film like Silent Room, tension comes from what you don’t say, what you don’t show, and what the audience feels building underneath.  Again thanks to Larry’s camera work and Vanessa pushing me.

6. What is your strategy for securing funding and resources for independent micro-short projects?

For me, funding starts with discipline. If the idea is strong, the plan is lean, and the purpose is clear, people are far more willing to give time, money, gear, or access to help make it happen.

7. How does your location scouting process change when shooting specifically for a black-and-white aesthetic?

For Silent Room, my own home in the Bronx already had what the film needed, so the location wasn’t just affordable — it was truthful. It gave me the intimacy, texture, and confined emotional space that made the black-and-white aesthetic hit harder, because the room itself became part of the story.

One strong example: if a room already has deep shadows, worn surfaces, and clear natural light from a window, that can become more powerful on screen than a “perfect” location that looks flat in monochrome.

8.How do you emotionally prepare yourself to write and direct a story about such a heavy, tragic real-world issue?

For Silent Room, I prepare by respecting the pain, focusing on the human truth, and keeping the storytelling simple enough to let the emotion breathe. That way the film doesn’t exploit the tragedy — it becomes a tribute.

I owe a lot to what Steve Hartman did with his Documentary which helped shape and polish what I wanted to do since 2020

9.What are the unique challenges of marketing a silent, serious short film to modern digital

audiences? 

For me, the challenge is making silence feel cinematic, urgent, and unforgettable in a world built on constant noise. Not to mention attention span of less than a minute.With Silent Room, the marketing has to promise an experience, not just a film — something viewers can feel before they ever press play.

10. What is the next story you are working on, and will it follow a similar visual and thematic.

So no — it won’t simply repeat Silent Room. It’ll carry the same obsession with image and meaning, but with a bigger swing: more irony, more motion, more attitude, and a different emotional engine underneath.

We have Orson Swells, Oriskany, Ape-Man Red, Paradise Parlor , Lord Pembroke, NAILS, and Not Your Father’s Coast Guard

All of them will opens the lens wider — still bold and visual, but more satirical, theatrical, and alive with chaos than with Silent Room. The list above are all less about silence and grief, more about ego, collapse, spectacle, and the madness behind the art.