Sci-fi Film Making, The Machine

       

      


I do not do film reviews here. This is not a review, this post is an observation.

    The new film, The Machine is a great example of what low budget sci fi can become. I understand that the film cost around a million and a half dollars to produce. That is a ton of money as compared to the films that I normally discuss on this blog, but in the world of studio films it is a nothing amount. It is less than one day of shooting on the New Captain America film.



Most of us know that if we got our hands on a million dollar budget we could deliver a movie that looked as if it cost forty of fifty million. We know the short cuts and we know to deliver great production value without burning money.
    The Machine stands as an example of what scifi use to be. A throw back to the days of
Blade Runner when scifi was more about speculation than blowing stuff up. I have to admit that I had serious doubts about the movie after seeing the trailer. I was thinking that I would be in for another waste of time like the movie Splice. This movie turned out to be what a low budget scifi film can be when you combine a really good script with a director who has a great eye for the visual. I believe that this film will someday be regarded as a minor classic.


    This post is my way of praising the film and requesting of the Director or the Producer a chance to do a comprehensive interview on the making of this movie. Until then here is an interview that was done with the director of the film.


    For those of you who decide to check out the movie, it is on VOD and will play in a few select theaters around the US, I would suggest that you put your film maker’s hat on and take note of how the director captures images that would easily stand alone as still shots.  I also suggest that you observe how the film is paced. It does something that is very clever with the flow of the scenes. Character A to character B and then combine for A and B and then became to the beginning again. As a writer I love that rhythm. Also it does the most important thing that you have to do when shooting a low budget film. It stays on topic. Once you are introduced to the Machine, the very attractive machine played by Caity Lotz (also plays the creator Ava), every minute of the film is there to remind you of her.

This post has been strictly my opinion and I welcome feedback from any of you.

You can expect the next found footage film making post within the week. Please take a moment to add me to your google plus and to share this post with a friend.

Digital Filmmaking, A Few Notes

Digital Filmmaking, A Few Notes

I thought that I would do a quick post on a few subject that I have been meaning to touch upon.

I am working on a pair of interviews concerning sci-fi on a micro budget. So many of us have thought that sci-fi on a feature length scale has been beyond us so that we instead do horror films. I am learning that the same technology that gives us the ability to shoot digital films on a low budget that visually can stand side by side with the studio productions also offers the opportunity to produce sci-fi. I do not believe that it is yet possible to produce a Star Wars or Alien on a micro budget because unless you are going to green screen everything down to the sets themselves you are going to spend some money. Also being a fan of practical effects when possible would inflate a budget. That said, how many of us have watched a recent big budget sci-fi film and thought that we could shoot the exact same film on 1/100 of the budget.

So I will be looking for sci-fi film makers to talk to during the coming months. Okay I have a crowdfunding campaign that I was asked to post. The filmmaker is shooting this film using a Canon T3i. I hope to get an interview with them when their campaign is over.

   

 I would like to also remind you guys that Angel Dust is still in the middle of a campaign and if you cannot donate money you can share the project with a friend. Embed it on your facebook page or use your twitter to share it. The Angel Dust post has been extremely popular, but so far it has not translated into support.   

  Next bit of business, the official international trailer for the now finished Canon hv20 shot feature film Throwback is ready and it looks great. When watching this trailer keep in mind that the movie was shot with a camera that can be purchased for about two hundred dollars.

   

     

 I suppose that will be it for today. I am right now in the middle of editing a an ebook featuring some of the interviews that have been published here with a lot of great new content mixed in. I hope to have it published before the end of this year. Thank you for visiting. Please take a moment to share this post and good luck with your projects.