Cardboard Warfare & The New Do It Yourself Filmmaking

One day you will be able to make "Avatar" in your own home with a tiny budget. Yesterday, I was emailed this short entitled "Cardboard Warfare," and while I'm not a cardboard enthusiast, I do like action/war/fighting movies so I was intrigued. Sure the actors aren't convicing, there is no story, and they're using carboard, but the effects, a plethora of computer generated trickery are top notch.

Using programs like AFTER FX and MAYA young filmmakers like the ones above are now able to create shockingly real effects. Before when a person got shot, there had to be squibs loaded onto the body, now it's just a computer program that needs to render. Other effects which used to take time and money are now accessible to kids who only want to read the manual. That last part is important, the work and time which used to be done on the set, is now taking place primarily in a dark room in front of a screen.

And this is only the beginning. Recently there has been a gamut of short films taking Hollywood by storm. Effects, just like ones I saw as child in "Jurassic Park"  will always amaze us, so becoming a wizard is a quicker way to rise in the film world, than say being a really good screenwriter. Short films like "Panic Attack" and "The Raven" all have landed their directors deals or serious meetings. Let us not forget techno wiz kid Neill Blomkamp, who blew people's minds to bloody pieces last year with "District 9." More recently, filmmaker Garreth Edwards shattered the audience's brain with his ultra-cheap, FX heavy film "Monsters."

Just months ago, acclaimed director John Hillcoat ("The Road") made a 30 minute film on the computer using the video game engine from "Red Dead Redemption." And what is Avatar but a really really really good movie made with a powerful video game engine (Note, in no way am I diminishing Avatar, Avatar is the greatest). In time tools like the ones James Cameron used will become accessible to all. 

Think about the music industry. In the past, in order to make a studio quality song, you needed live musicians, mixers, producers, and more. Now anyone can make a hit in garage-band and the music industry is completely up-ended or screwed by this auto-tuned/computer made robot rock sound. Soon Imovie will have rendered 3D objects, people, and backgrounds for people to mess around with.

If Avatar showed us that a movie can be primarily made in the computer, the only real barrier now is telling the actual story. And that's what "Carboard Warfare" lacks, a good narrative. Avatar succeeds because of the story, same with "District 9." The tool box is becoming more and more accessible to anyone, but someone still needs to make us look beyond the bullets and make us care.

Alien movies that messed me up as a child.

In honor of the upcoming "District 9" I have decided to reflect back on the aliens of my youth. You see, scary ass aliens from movies giving me nightmares was as much as part of my childhood as being terrible at baseball (I was kicked off my T-Ball team). There was almost a routine to it; my mother would go out for the night and I would sit down and watch a Sci-Fi (aka bloodthirsty alien flick) with my Pops and brothers. And let my clarify while a majority of these flicks were terrifying, they all were mind meltingly awesome and shaped me into the man I am today.

Aliens

This movie sparked an intense action figure collecting spree with my brother Joe Francis that lasted for at least a year, two years if you include Predator action figures. But man, this is the one alien flick that really rips your chest open or melts your face off with the acid blood. Everything about these modafuckas is terrifying. Let's go through their life cycle.

-Face hugger lays eggs in your tummy by sticking tail down your throat

-Baby alien bursts out of your stomach like a demon jack in the box

-Alien terrorizes and kills your buddies in a cold spaceship that metaphorically reflects the dangers of space industrialization.

-Space Marines/Ripley/Bishop kill it but not definitely cause there needs to be a sequel.

I didn't even mention the ability to climb on any surface, diamond dagger teeth, huge pointed tail, or acid blood.

Starship Troopers (BUGS)

What these bad guys lack in intelligence they make up in up in sheer volume. Not to say these things weren't dangerous, I mean look at that clip, lots of people getting diced up, but they seem just a little too killable. My dudes Johnny Rico and NPH quickly found out that they were actually very susceptible to death and continually dispatched them over the course of two lackluster sequels.

Predator

Ehhhhhhh mon, the dreadlocked rasta mon indergalatic bounty hunter brah. Weapons include but are not limited to spears, shoulder mountain cannon, retractable blades mounted on his hands, and some really sweet dreads. Yet despite all of this, every movie since the first one has been terrible. Here's hoping his new reboot will deliver the goods.