More indie scifi here with made-in-Canada short Leap. The story of a young man who discovers that he can pass into a parallel dimension by falling from great heights, the short was shot on the Red camera before undergoing nearly a year of post-production. As I said when I first saw it, there are some bumps and hiccups along the road with this one but the stuff that works really works. Check it below.
Well as a short it really doesn't work, but as the obvious show reel/ calling card / fund raising teaser for a feature, it is incredibly impressive. Gaud has talent and tech know how that's for certain.
now if you told me that was made in a month, then i would be mildly impressed. but a year?? what the fuck was he doing that took a year to make this? and because it was shot on RED, is that meant to make it more impressive? i can only then assume that he had money to make this if you could hire that kind of kit...
just more mediocre trash disguised as grande short-form indy film-making.
Yikes, 666 -- come on now. That's a LOT of post stuff to deal with on an out-of-pocket basis. As a teaser/calling card, it's really well done.
Like the concept, too -- a much more cinematic take on the THOMAS COVENANT concept (watched by boss try to develop THAT for a year back in the day...) Good job and good luck, Dan!
Yes, the post work must have been difficult and time-consuming. But that's not my problem with it. My problem is that I see little in this short that really warranted the effort or money for getting a RED-cam and doing those effects.
The story is like a cross between the Animatrix Kids Story and Brothers Lionheart (though I doubt the makers had heard of this one). Though I would rather watch those instead.
And just looking at the footage shot it felt like an average short I tend to see on the HV20.com forum. Not something from the latest showreel signed by Jim Jannard and posted on REDuser.
Again, I recognize the effort. But it's misguided effort. Instead of pouring time on post-work I'd probably rather advise them to actually getting some extraordinary footage to work with. And spend a bit more time in Pre-prod.
If you want to impress people with a first directorial work, then it better be China Lake (Robert Harmon), Dark Star (John Carpenter), Electronic Labyrinth THX1138 4EB (George Lucas) or maybe even Bad Taste (Peter Jacksson).
But ok, I admit. Both Piranha II: The Spawning and Xenogenesis (James Cameron) where pretty bad too. So I won't say that all hope is lost. ;)
And if you think I'm a bit harsh... you don't want to know what I think about Casshern...
Technically, it's a huge achievement for one person. The one place he could have used help though, was the story. This is a visual storytelling medium, but for all of the great visuals, there is no story at all if you remove the narration. If it doesn't work as a story in pictures, it just doesn't work.