markcheng
Well-known member
Thought it was about time I post an official User Film Thread about Deployment Strategy- a film that's taken me 2 1/2 years to complete.
Some of you may have seen screen grabs and/or read my posts in the special effects/After Effects forums, but here's a basic overview...
Deployment Strategy (DS) is a 30 minute short film I've written, directed, edited, and produced in New Jersey where I live.
Story Synopsis
The film takes place 50 years in the future where the country is dealing with the impact of prevalent artificial intelligence. My story takes a familiar sci-fi theme and attempts to expand on this genre by exploring how a paranoid US government might regard AI as both a threat to national security and international competitive advantage from a military and business standpoint. The story also delves into how society is struggling to reconcile the difference, if any, between the God-given rights of humans, and the Man-given rights of robots.
Production
Production spanned a total of 8 filming days while post-production- including editing, special effects, scoring, etc - took a year and a half (hey, not full time!) All live action footage was filmed with a DVX-100a by Patryk Rebisz, a professional DP, and a rented lighting kit. The film was shot handheld - no dollies - with shots locked down on a tripod only when CG was required.
Post-Production
The film has 100+ special effects shots, 95% of them were achieved in After Effects and done by me- i had to learn AE for this film. Another 15 additional fx shots were outsourced to a small CGI company in Poland. The musical score was done by Chris Haigh, a composer in England. All overseas correspondence was done over IM and/or email.
Budget and Funding
The film was done for a relatively small budget (i say small compared to the scope it was trying to accomplish) and part of the reason post took so long was because I had to save up my own money.
That's my next point- this was completely self funded. It's difficult to quantify the actual budget because many people volunteered and/or gave me huge discounts in return for being involved in the film. I also bartered a tremendous amount. For example, all the SWAT guns and gear - a total of $18,500 worth for 12 soldiers for 1 week - was supplied to the production. In return, I designed and built the rental house an online inventory management system for their company. (i'm a web developer in my other life)
Festivals
so the film was completed last month, and I've applied so far to 42 festivals. I've heard back from 4 of them- i got rejected from 1, and have been accepted by 3- one of which I've won Best Sci-Fi Short.
I'll be posting updates and more details on the film soon! thanks for reading!
Some of you may have seen screen grabs and/or read my posts in the special effects/After Effects forums, but here's a basic overview...
Deployment Strategy (DS) is a 30 minute short film I've written, directed, edited, and produced in New Jersey where I live.
Story Synopsis
The film takes place 50 years in the future where the country is dealing with the impact of prevalent artificial intelligence. My story takes a familiar sci-fi theme and attempts to expand on this genre by exploring how a paranoid US government might regard AI as both a threat to national security and international competitive advantage from a military and business standpoint. The story also delves into how society is struggling to reconcile the difference, if any, between the God-given rights of humans, and the Man-given rights of robots.
Production
Production spanned a total of 8 filming days while post-production- including editing, special effects, scoring, etc - took a year and a half (hey, not full time!) All live action footage was filmed with a DVX-100a by Patryk Rebisz, a professional DP, and a rented lighting kit. The film was shot handheld - no dollies - with shots locked down on a tripod only when CG was required.
Post-Production
The film has 100+ special effects shots, 95% of them were achieved in After Effects and done by me- i had to learn AE for this film. Another 15 additional fx shots were outsourced to a small CGI company in Poland. The musical score was done by Chris Haigh, a composer in England. All overseas correspondence was done over IM and/or email.
Budget and Funding
The film was done for a relatively small budget (i say small compared to the scope it was trying to accomplish) and part of the reason post took so long was because I had to save up my own money.
That's my next point- this was completely self funded. It's difficult to quantify the actual budget because many people volunteered and/or gave me huge discounts in return for being involved in the film. I also bartered a tremendous amount. For example, all the SWAT guns and gear - a total of $18,500 worth for 12 soldiers for 1 week - was supplied to the production. In return, I designed and built the rental house an online inventory management system for their company. (i'm a web developer in my other life)
Festivals
so the film was completed last month, and I've applied so far to 42 festivals. I've heard back from 4 of them- i got rejected from 1, and have been accepted by 3- one of which I've won Best Sci-Fi Short.
I'll be posting updates and more details on the film soon! thanks for reading!
