SHORT: To Wander Ros Cala

HU_Nathan7 · Sep 20, 2019

TO WANDER ROS CALA

Logline: A bounty hunter and his bounty must work together to escape a group of bandits.

Screen Shot 2019-09-20 at 3.29.18 PM.jpg

To Wander Ros Cala is a short film I have been working on for a little over 2 1/2 years now. I got my start back in 2005 creating halo machinima, which for those of you who don't know, is using a video game engine to create cinema. In this case, the game Halo 2. Because this was the medium I started in, I learned to tell stories that involved heavy science fiction. Also with machinima, you're basically reliant on post production to create the looks, as you couldn't at the time really do any lighting or in camera manipulation of the image outside of basic composition. Then in 2009, I began obsessing over VideoCopilot & CreativeCow, as well as sites like dvxuser, learning how to take my skills further and apply it to live action filmmaking. But I quickly became a lot of production companies' technical guru, working on misc broadcast and commercial projects. Distanced from my original calling which was creating science fiction styled, scripted content.

Fast forward to 2016, and a friend approached me asking if I would direct the film he was producing. This was my first opportunity to direct in years, outside of some small scale music videos. And the best part was it fit the science fiction (though technically fantasy) mold that I seem to gravitate towards.

This film is To Wander Ros Cala, and it has indeed been 2 1/2 years in the making. The budget was very roughly $3,000. We shot in Atlanta with a pretty incredible and established crew. Sourced props from a company called Spellbound Props who had a lot of preexisting pieces from the LARP community, made some custom pieces, and even owned Gandalf's original sword used in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films (which was replaced because it was too heavy).

It's pretty terrifying to put that much time into something and then have to put it out there; but I'm excited to finally do so.

I'm starting this thread as I have endless amounts of behind the scenes content, breakdowns, etc. Also planning to put out a free LUT pack with looks from the film, since that's what aspect I've gotten a lot of great feedback on.

Current Status:
Releasing the short film online on October 1st.
Currently putting it into a package to pitch to networks through an agent connection I have. Working with a writing team to really build the world and story.

WATCH THE FILM:

OldCorpse · Sep 21, 2019

Congratulations! Completing a project is a genuine accomplishment, and you are to be heartily congratulated, and deserve all credit for it.

Re: trailer. Almost regardless of genre, I personally look for FACES. A wide shot in a low budget movie, often ends up looking disappointing (not saying this is the case in your trailer!), because the environments cannot be modified (too expensive) and the characters start looking out of place, like actors in costumes... which they are. Makes it hard to believe in the "world" created by the film. Whereas if I see closeups of faces, I can see that what animates the movie is real human emotion, and I'll be in for a treat where strong characters are pitted against each other. Therefore, if I don't see close ups of faces in a trailer, I grow nervous if it's an independent small budget movie - if it's a big studio sci-fi etc., I'm not worried, because I know they'll deliver acting through stars and spectacle because they have the $. But in a low budget I know there'll be little spectacle and no stars, so at least I'm hoping I see strong human emotions. YMMV. Looking forward to your short!

HU_Nathan7 · Sep 22, 2019

I’ve never thought of it that way but super respect that position. I feel in the past, I’m pretty big on close-ups (shout out to Joan of Arc, am I right?) but this is the first film I tried to move away from that, because, like you said, I’ve seen wider shots can often be more utilized in major Hollywood films. But I can see how that could be less affective with lesser known actors.