Markc78: Yes, we shot most of the teaser on the Canon 5D using Nikon lenses. We needed to use the Canon 7D to shoot our slow motion shot at the end though (ie. girls eyes through the white fabric). The 5D can't shoot 60fps, the 7D can.
As far as what's it's inspired by.... It's a good question. I think at its root it's inspired by telling a story of someone of would otherwise have their story ignored. We want to show how what appears to be ugly on the outside actually has a little bit of reason about it on the inside. As far as visual inspiration goes, I have too many heros to mention! Our writer is Eastern European and has grown up with a healthy addiction to literature and cinema so that will undoubtedly influence the story. But as I mention on my blog post here:
http://www.romanticchildstudios.com/blog/first-independent-feature-film/
I'll summarize:
"Igor (our writer) is heavily influenced by some of the world’s best writers, theatre directors and filmmakers. In fact, he was forced to see a psychologist after his family, concerned that Igor had an unhealthy obsession with film, found out he watched a 9 hour film at the cinema. His parents are, without a doubt, correct that he is unhealthily obsessed with books and film. But it’s this unhealthy obsession to storytelling that drew me towards his eccentric personality in the first place. If he was my son, I too would send him to a shrink… but he’s not my son, so his psychological hang ups are sort of an asset to me.
At a party last week, he was yelling at a few of us that the book Demian by Hermann Hesse and the book Prophet by Kahil Gibran should be a mandatory readings in the curriculums of schools. We were all politely listening to his rant but he still felt the need to shout at us “In fact, it shouldn’t just be mandatory… it should be Fu#$%'ing LAW to teach our children about love”.
My job at this point is to act as a bridge between our producer and writer ensuring that our writer isn’t falling prey to some of the criticisms of his heroes. Igor could easily fall into the trap, like Tarkovsky, Pasolini or Bergman of being criticized for being overly academic, dry and yes I hate to say it but…. boring. So my role at this point is to ensure that Igor feels confident marrying the pedantic concerns of Tarkovsky with our producer’s concern of creating commercial narrative cinema that doesn't turn it's back on the power or poetic potential of independent cinema."
To NickClapper: As for a production thread... I'm trying to be consistent with blogging about the process (link above). I'm trying to update at least once or twice a month.
If you guys have any questions about our process I'm happy to share our successes and failures with you.