archived-videos Thieves - "no budget" Cyberpunk short

JGBarnes · Jul 18, 2012

I say "no budget" based on the wiki definition of a "no budget film."

In reality, it cost me $300 to make Thieves. I have been promoting it in this thread for several months now. In there you will find posters, articles, interviews, reviews, trailers etc. if you are so inclined.

Just yesterday, Thieves was screened at the Mitten Movie Project in Royal Oak, MI and it won the audience vote by a landslide of 71%. Second place had 7 votes. We had 57. Today we finally put it online.

Watch Thieves here.

harpsichoid · Aug 13, 2012

Actually, I was pretty impressed with the accent- he's still done a better job than some top actors.

JGBarnes · Aug 13, 2012

harpsichoid said:
Actually, I was pretty impressed with the accent- he's still done a better job than some top actors.

Ain't that a sad fact. I've seen far worse accents from highly experienced Hollywood actors. Again, for his first time EVER acting, I think he did an exceptional job and I couldn't ask for a better performance.

Thank you so much for watching, harpsichoid!

8salacious9 · Aug 15, 2012

JGBarnes said:
Ain't that a sad fact. I've seen far worse accents from highly experienced Hollywood actors. Again, for his first time EVER acting, I think he did an exceptional job and I couldn't ask for a better performance.

Thank you so much for watching, harpsichoid!

Il give credit where it's due, for a first timer he did well, however the accent doesn't reflect a Londoner at all, more like someone from brighton with American tangs every now and again, I'm interested in knowing who he researched to get this accent? Or was it just a self thought process?

JGBarnes · Aug 15, 2012

8salacious9 said:
Il give credit where it's due, for a first timer he did well, however the accent doesn't reflect a Londoner at all, more like someone from brighton with American tangs every now and again, I'm interested in knowing who he researched to get this accent? Or was it just a self thought process?

He took Idris Elba as his biggest inspiration, but with my direction I tended to lean toward a Clive Owen delivery, though I doubt you can see that particular influence. Like I said, though, I didn't want it to be a pure native accent. Even if we tried that, who would we be kidding? It would sound far too comical coming from an American amateur.

I didn't have a specific region or city in mind for where the character came from, but London certainly would not have been my top choice. Maybe if we get the funding to make a feature length I can develop his character and backstory more and decide that kind of detail.

gorillaonabike · Aug 18, 2012

8salacious9 said:
Il give credit where it's due, for a first timer he did well, however the accent doesn't reflect a Londoner at all, more like someone from brighton with American tangs every now and again, I'm interested in knowing who he researched to get this accent? Or was it just a self thought process?

I would challenge that. It was plenty London enough for me and I've lived in the smoke all my life.

AcespadexXx · Aug 18, 2012

Awesome man really awesome love the whole cyberpunk feel but its not to over bearing.

8salacious9 · Aug 18, 2012

gorillaonabike said:
I would challenge that. It was plenty London enough for me and I've lived in the smoke all my life.

?? anyone could tell that it wasnt right listening to it from the start, it was obvious it was a fake accent, why? because it sounded like an imitation of a londoner, also who in london sounds like that anymore? unless your an old time cockney, which he weren't and didnt look like one...

and he sounded like a white english londoner, even worse in my opinion, someone from the films background as his, would never sound like that, its not realistic, all you gotta do is go around and see the people to know, its called racial profiling, theres a certain tone to mix ethnic people in london these days, and it certainly doesnt sound anything like that.

like i said before, it sounds more like a brighton accent, coz they do speak like that there, but not london, not anymore..

JGBarnes · Aug 19, 2012

AcespadexXx said:
Awesome man really awesome love the whole cyberpunk feel but its not to over bearing.

Thank you! I sincerely appreciate that.

"Not overbearing" was planned from the start. I am a fan of subtlety, and though the art of subtlety is rather elusive and challenging for an amateur like me I did my best. Even if I had a reasonable budget for this, I wouldn't make it a whole lot different from an aesthetic standpoint. The cyberpunk elements would not be much heavier -- if at all. For example, the Extractor I would do something a little cooler with his mask, but essentially keep the core simple design.

We actually talked about having a few more overtly cyberpunk elements in the film -- and they are still in the script (we even shot to fill those parts in), but ultimately we decided after getting into the cut that they were distracting and essentially served nothing to the pertinent story. The dialogue admittedly might lean toward the esoteric, so I didn't want to throw all these other unnecessary distractions at the viewer/listener.

The film community/market is saturated with sci-fi/cyberpunk shorts and there are PLENTY of films that lay the cool aesthetics on extra thick if that's what you're into. In my opinion, however, they often sacrifice a thought-provoking story and characters to achieve that. Sure, it might be debatable whether I achieved the latter, but that's what I was going for: substance over aesthetics.