Something for the FX guys

[occasus]

Prey Alone, Irish short film.

Budget: about 80,000 Euros.

Download the full movie

[Generic Skinhead]

This screened at the same festival as one of my shorts. At first I was blown away by the style, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised how utterly empty the film is.

Wether the film board should be funding short films that seem no more than big budget showreels for people is a real hot topic among Irish directors at the moment.

As a showcase for bluescreen it works well however and I realise the topic heading is a sort of disclaimer. It is very well made.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 26, 2005 07:20 PM: Message edited by: Generic Skinhead ]</font>

[miker]

That mpg won't play on my Mac for some reason.

Funding bodies can't win. They get slated for funding potentially commercial material and slated for funding arthouse stuff that nobody wants to see.

However, if getting funding and making a "showreel piece" leads to Irish directors being represented by ICM, surely that is a good thing?

Short films are showreel pieces anyhow IMO. Unless it's around 26 mins in which case it's good for TV.

I did watch the trailer though and it does look like a big American style yawn. I am surprised that an Irish funding body would fund the promotion of blatant American culture.

[jb_617]

Wow, I only bothered to look at the picture (they don't like me watching movies at work. The bastards), but all I can say is:

Matrix ripoff.

That's just from the picture. Seems like a waste of time to make an 80,000Euro short that's just an FX show-off. Generic is probably on the money when he says that it lacks substance. For that kind of money you could have made an ultra low-buget feature that ran, say, 80 or 90 minutes. In that kind of time you could have things like, oooh I don't know, character development? Built some involvement? Written a good story? You know? Stuff we <u>like</u> to see.


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Give me 80,000Euros, I'll show you how it's done [img]wink.gif[/img]

[miker]

I got to watch it using MPlayer OS X.

It's interesting, nice premise, well made, averagely acted, but waaaay too long.

For twenty minutes I was sitting there thinking "this is like watching a ruddy playstation game". Little did I know.

Maybe if the established commercials director who directed it had stuck to his usual form factor I might've liked it more.

It's only a Matrix rip-off in the "film vert" sense.

These guys made a fan film, and jb hates it on the strength of a single frame, LOL.
(watch it to the end, it is a fan film of sorts)

405themovie is better IMO. At least it's the right length.

[occasus]

Originally posted by Generic Skinhead:
This screened at the same festival as one of my shorts. At first I was blown away by the style, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised how utterly empty the film is.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, it's unbelievably empty and clich?d. But I watched it for the effects, really cool stuff.
Only got to see half of it though [img]confused.gif[/img]

[ray_bog]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 27, 2005 04:23 PM: Message edited by: ray_bog ]</font>

[jb_617]

I didn't say I hated it. All I said was that on the strength of that picture, it looked like a Matrix rip-off. Not a Matrix fan film. If it was a fan film, wouldn't it be called "The Matrix: How Much Longer Can We Flog This Tired Franchise?"


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Which, by the way, is what the new Star Wars film should have been called.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 27, 2005 12:00 PM: Message edited by: jb. ]</font>

[Steve Saint]

Hi There Guys, sorry you didn't like the film,(it seems to have upset some of you, especially some- one very radically named "Generic skinhead"?.. nice!...anyway, I know some of you haven't seen the full film and unfortunatly you can't download it anymore because our site(s) have been overloaded, the problem is we have had over 25,000 downloads in the last two months. However it has been sold to American TV, so maybe you can see it there, I find it interesting that out of 35 websites/reviews/and forums, you're the first to really dislike the film.(and it happens to be an Irish led forum..maybe a little too Irish perhaps?)
The Irish Film Board were very brave to try this out.They are there to support Irish film makers?..are they not?
Anyway, I'm sorry you didn't like it...but you don't need to ask for your 7 euro back because it was free!...
Oh and ...Generic Skinhead...best of luck with your film. Keep the faith....

Steve.
Co- Writer/Director
www.preyalone.com

[Generic Skinhead]

Dont mind me Steve, i'm not so radical...

And your film didn't upset me, its very, very well made, just not really my bag - but im not even slightly surprised its been sold to US TV so congratulations!

Its good to see Irish directors going places- hope for the rest of us.