Let me attempt to make amends for the terror I brought upon our eyes this morning with that 'other' trailer. I think this teaser and trailer will more than make up for it. Follow the jump for the teaser and trailer for the short film Afterville.
50 years ago, a number of unknown structures fell upon our world, changing the skyline of the major cities of the planet. Years later, scientists would make an incredible discovery: the rocks seemed to originate a signal from their interior. According to our time criteria this signal was codified as a countdown. Pointing at a specific day and time in the year 2058.
I for one am very impressed with the look of these trailers. This is a future that seems real and not so far-fetched but grounded. Literally [ho ho I made a funny]. But I love the idea of society building up around these objects, possibly rising from the ashes only to become what I can only assume will be ashes again. It looks great. It sounds great. More information when we can get it.
This looks really interesting. Thanks for helping me wash the crap out of my eyes that was left by the "other" trailer.....
conceptually... Awesome. Very very intriguing. The look and feel of shorter teaser reminded me of Children of Men a little too much, but still. Fucking impressive for what I imagine is a shoe-string budget.
But, I hate to be a cynic, it's almost definitely destined to be an epic fail in that it looks epic. And epics don't work in a 5 - 15 minute format. I understand the makers probably don't have enough cash to make a feature, so this thing is probably just a promo to attract the money to make it the feature that it really ought to be.
Still, it just reminds me of all of the short film festivals I go to and how 90% of what I see fails as an actual film, because they're all features awkwardly crammed into 10 minutes with the intentions of impressing money people rather than actually telling a story well.
Still impressive though. Either way, I see enough talent here that I hope they get the money to make a feature. From the 2 minute trailer, I just can't imagine how this thing is going to work on the emotional level that it obviously wants to with such little time.
This is my theory. These are items placed in storage and the countdown simply lets the people who were renting storage space know to come and collect them.
The potential of awesomeness is there, yes. The "CoM" vibe is good, the cutting is good, the concept is good. But like 0583, I am concerned that the actual film could be a let down, as the concept and energy of the trailers scream "feature". A lot depends on the intention of the filmmakers and the actual length of the short. If it is a 20-30 minute short, then OK it could work fine. Regardless of this film I will keep my eyes out for where Fabio and Fabio go, for even these trailers show they have some damn fine talent and deserve some attention.
True, there is also (a rather sizable) potential for failure. This could also work as a short film if the the aim is specific enough, telling a story that fits 10 minutes.
There of course, lies the booby trap of wasting a good idea as a catalyst for a story that has nothing to do with that catalyst. Children of Men left me with an aching to run trough the screen and just explore the world where the film happened. I did love the film and event he fact that the Big Idea was just something that was taken as a given - but with a lesser director it could have easily been just frustrating, a film with a Big Idea that just avoids mentioning it.