Now Anyone Can Make A Feature Film – Almost

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njeofv4dr9Q&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Scary… for Hollywood at least…

One of the things I really like about flying all the time is that I get to see movies I would normally never pay to go and see.

Or even come across

Flying Virgin Atlantic at least twice a month, I have been exposed to a whole range of Japanese films I would never even have heard of – like the one in which the guy turns the washing machine into a Time Machine.

See what I mean?

So as soon as I get settled into my seat I will grab for the in-flight entertainment guide and check out the newest unknown movies.

On this last flight I came across Monsters, which I had never heard of, but which sounded OK.

“If you like District 9, you’ll like this”.

Fair enough. I loved District 9.

So I cranked it up.

It was OK.

Not genius, but OK.

The kind of thing I used to watch at home growing up on Million Dollar Movie.

Beast from Twenty Thousand Fathoms…

That kind of Sci Fi stuff.

It wasn’t Forbidden Planet, but it wasn’t terrible either.

OK.

Imagine my surprise, however, when I discovered that Monsters wasn’t just another Hollywood mediocre movie, but was, instead, an icon for a whole new generation of low-budget feature films

Yes!

The film was shot, storboarded, written and directed (am I leaving anything out?) by Gareth Edwards. (Oh yeah, he was also special effects guy). A British filmmaker.  His equipment to make the film cost $15,000 and the total budget was about $500,000.  It was all shot on location in Mexico and pretty much done on the flly.  When they found a place they liked, they just started shooting. The extras were the locals who happened to be there.

When Edwards came up with the idea, he pitched it to Vertigo Films, who asked him to watch a film called In Search of a Midnight Kiss, which had been made for $15,000 and starred Scoot McNary (who stars in Monsters).  McNary’s wife, Whitney Able became the co-star. They were the only two real ‘actors’ in the film.

Edwards did all the special effects himself, using off-the-shelf Adobe software.

Considering how it got made, Monsters has gotten some pretty good critical reviews.

Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 6.7 out of 10.

I don’t know about you, but I am thinking a lot about this.

I have a few old scripts that just need a little fine-tuning….

We’re going to give this one a big think….

And a special thanks to Ian Wagdin at The BBC, who turned me on to this one.