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watch The Earth Incident (48HFP)

Had a lot of fun this year. Got an excuse to shoot a miniature. Was really happy with my cast and crew. Enjoy. :)

Required elements:

Genre: sci-fi
Prop: flashlight
Dialog: "Why am I always first?"
Character: Alana/Adam Nicholson, door-to-door sales

youtube

vimeo
 
I really enjoyed it, especially when she communicates with the human.

I'm not sure what the final joke really means... is it a Star Wars reference?
 
Thanks, Nick. Yeah, that's my favorite part as well. Courtney (the alien) was just perfect in that role.

Which joke didn't you get at the end?
Earth blowing up? Nah, no Star Wars reference. Just a trio of hapless aliens F-ing up their job.

The opening shot is definitely an homage to Star Wars. And we did have that one reference/nod to
Coneheads
. :)
 
Something about 'malconizing' and 'filopolize'. Those might not be the precise words but they were definitely words I didn't understand! :D
 
Something about 'malconizing' and 'filopolize'. Those might not be the precise words but they were definitely words I didn't understand! :D

Oh. Hehe. Nah, that's just jibberish, made up for this production.
As was stated earlier, they were supposed to kill humans, but they need Earth. One of those settings would produce desired results. The other would not.
 
Ah! I see ;)

I think the word 'malcon...' made me think that you were amalgamating millennium falcon and then I thought it was some Star Wars reference that I was missing.
 
Haha, I especially liked "Explain yourself!" - "I have no children." haha.

Quick stuff like that is fun, I have yet to do a 48 hour fest, something always comes up. Good experience overall?
 
Heh, that house is getting some serious screentime in your films! :lol:

Why did you choose to subtitle almost the entire thing?

Loved the Coneheads reference.

Any shots of the miniature bts?

'Grats on finishing a 48-hour. :cool:
 
Yeah, when the chick talks to the human was the best :cool: Totally caught the coneheads reference and loved it :)

Sometimes I felt like the subtitles were going by to fast. But then again, I just woke up so...

Fun flick!
 
Thanks, guys!

Paul, yes it was a very positive experience. In particular, I'm glad to have worked with a new actress whom I really liked and want to work with again. Courtney (the alien) performed really well, and in my opinion, her performance felt natural and effortless, and she conveyed a pretty diverse array of emotions in a brief time. She's about to move away from Richmond, but I'm hoping to cast her in something bigger, some time in the future.

Steve -- sorry, no BTS miniature footage or pics. That was all done by myself, and time was of the essence. The reason it's so shaky is because I didn't set up any support system. I knew that the best way to do it would be to suspend the model in a stationary position, then dolly the camera back. But since I was so rushed, and I didn't really care about the quality (it's the 48HFP, after all), the camera was stationary, the model was taped to a yard-long ruler, and I just hand-held it, moving it over camera. Real professional setup. :lol:

I still want to shoot a miniature, except I want to do it legit.

And why the subtitles? Because the whole bit about them being freaked-out by a salesperson only works is they're completely lost, both culturally and linguistically. Couldn't have them speaking English.

Dready -- actually, yeah, having never done subtitles, I wasn't sure how fast was too fast. And in retrospect, I can think of at least one place, maybe two, in which I would go back and change them, if I could.

Glad y'all enjoyed it, and glad you caught the nod to Coneheads. Very few people in the audience got it. But the premise of my story is pretty much a direct knock-off (unintentionally; didn't make the connection until after it was written), so I figured I had to send some love their way. :)
 
As requested:

img3482q.jpg


That's two toy Navy battleships, glued bottom-to-bottom, spray-painted black. Total cost: $4.
 
Ha! Funny stuff ... especially for 48 hours ...

Nice alien language as well ... The actors did a pretty good job of getting into a natural conversation flow ... well natural for aliens talking to each other ...

Did you script that or was it actor impro over an English script?
 
Thoroughly amusing. I really enjoyed it. Love the humour, story, directing, acting, pacing and the appropriate whimsical music. Everything really.

Btw, how did the character in the hat know it was a "her" outside? Im assuming gender sensing powers.

But really, i think this is the second 48H short ive seen from you and you never fail to entertain and make the time fly by.
 
Thanks, guys!

Ernest, your kind words are well-timed. I recently had one of those artists-doubting-themselves moments (I think we all understand, no?). The encouragement goes a long way, and is much appreciated. :)

Joa -- the alien language was 100% improv. We rehearsed in English, because of course I wanted them to know what they were saying. But then during shooting, they just made up a bunch of gibberish.

Ernest -- actually, the "her" comment was a slip-up in post. In the original script, the boss alien (female) enters the room and asks, "Who is that?". In post, I decided it was better that they not even understand the concept of knocking on a door, so changed it to "What was that?". That one small change had some ripple effects, because it led me to change her next line after that, which referenced who it was at the door, identifying them as female. But while I changed the female aliens lines, I mistakenly left the male aliens lines the same. Shoulda removed the reference to gender. Blame it on the nature of the 48. :)
 
Blame it on the nature of the 48. :)

That's what i thought. The gender sensing thing was a joke legitimizing the goof :)

Hey and don't doubt your capabilities as a storyteller. Vimeo and youtube are filled with films and videos which are less than two minutes long and i have trouble going past the first 30 secs due to a million signs pointing that it wont be worth it. But with your work, im not checking the time to see how much is left, im just into it till its suddenly over already.
 
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