The Bullet
A film by Jordan Bahat
A portrait of David "The Bullet" Smith Jr., the world's greatest working human cannonball.
Set against the backdrop of classic nostalgia and Americana, the film provides a glimpse into the life and mindset of one of the world's great roadshow thrill acts on his last day of residency at the county fair.
Directed by
Jordan Bahat
Produced by
Caviar Content
Executive Producers
Jasper Thomlinson & Michael Sagol
Producer
Mike Sarkissian
Associate Producer
Alex Brinkman
Director of Photography
Mike Gioulakis
Editor
Jordan Bahat & Jack Price
Post Producer
Terry Huynh
Online Editor
Alec Ernest
Sound & Music by
Ari Balouzian
Color provided by
Electric Theater Collective
Colorist
Aubrey Woodiwiss
Color Assist
Tim Smith
DI Producer
Kate Hitchings
Titles by
Gordy Sang
Director's Statement
I didn't quite know what to expect before meeting David "The Bullet" Smith, Jr. I stumbled upon his name one day by absolute chance and, via a quick google search, I found his personal cell phone number on his website. All I knew about his was:
He was allowing a group of total strangers that found his name on the Internet to come film him for the day. And,
He fires himself out of a cannon for a living.
When I met david, he was all worked up in a sort of manic state of nerves nad intensity... which makes sense considering what was to come in just a few minutes. I was surprised to see that, essentially, he's a one-man act. He tests and adjust the safety net himself. He rallies the crowd on the microphone himself. And then, of ocurse, he fires himself into the air in an awe-insiring, death defying, thrilling stunt. And, at the time of filming, he was doing it three times a day over the course of a nine-day residency.
Between cannon shots, we sought out a quieter environment to speak in and we used David's trailer as a sound buffer between our microphones and the screaming children, tiger exhinit, and roller coasters nearby. He told me about his family story: His parents acsent in the circus world as a world champion trapeze act and, later, the birth of the Smith family human cannonball business.
