Mortal Kombat Rebirth, a short film/trailer/teaser created by Director Kevin Tancharoen, has received over 2 million hits in 48 hrs. It has easily become the most successfully viral video in recent memory and the response to it has been overwhelmingly positive. For a couple of reasons – the high production values and the fact that no one initially knew where it came from.
(The truth – $7500, a couple borrowed Red Ones, plus the donated time of the actors and post production staff over 2 months, so Tancharoen could use it to convince Warner Bros. to reboot the MK Franchise with him as the director. See the interview at Collider for more)
But this was just another short in an ever growing field of high-end independent shorts. Films like The Raven, and Pixels and even online commercial productions like The Gift by Carl Erik Rinsch for the Philips campaign Parallel Lines are all highlighting a growing trend – you can do big Hollywood looking productions, in your basement so to speak, if you’re passionate and saavy enough, and you know how to utilize the tools that have recently become available to budding filmmakers for very little money.
The aforementioned tools available nowadays are tremendously powerful. Everything from software to HD video shooting DSLR cameras, to new techniques in visual effects are making it possible. The accessibility is mind blowing, when you think what $500 worth of rented equipment over a weekend, and a laptop can produce.
Chapter 1: The Cabbie from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.
Canon is currently sponsoring a short-film chain-letter competition on Vimeo, known as The Story Beyond the Still. With the recent ability of Canon’s DSLRs to produce high-end video, professional DPs and hobbyist filmmakers alike are jumping aboard, creating incredible content jumping off Canon’s kickoff short. It’s now up to chapter 5.
http://vimeo.com/groups/beyondthestill/
It’s also worth noting that the season finale of House was shot on a Canon DSLR, and shows like True Blood and Ghost Whisperer are apparently also jumping on the DSLR bandwagon, Edging out cameras like the Red One in some instances for their portability, variety of lenses and fantastic images they can produce for a fraction of the cost. A sub culture of DSLR filmmakers has popped up as a result, many calling Vimeo their home.
As Digital agency creative, we know a little bit about the indie lifestyle. Digital has grown in the last decade, but we’re still a bit of a ways away from the paradigm shifting to the point that Digital and online gets the budgets that TV and mass currently enjoy, and like indie filmmakers we’re very used to having to do it all ourselves with very little resources and the budget gap almost always obvious in the end result.
These new tools and techniques however, are narrowing the gap considerably.
More resources:
www.videocopilot.net
www.cinema5d.com
www.vfxtalk.com
motionographer.com
www.thegnomonworkshop.com
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