Photo by Andy Hall, Guardian UK

Today the first in a series of failed projects by my favourite directors… First up, Chris Cunningham, creator of classic music videos such as Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker and Bjork’s All is Full of Love. Visit his creepy personal site here.

Chris Cunningham’s Neuromancer 

Cancelled November 2004

Even creators considered by many to be modern masters, have trouble getting projects of the ground. Consider Chris Cunningham, perhaps the most talented director of the Jonze / Gondry / Romanic music video wave in the 1990s. Cunningham was signed to direct the long awaited adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer in 2000. After years of script revisions and preproduction (rumour has it Cunningham had drawn a huge amount of concept art and storyboards) the project was cancelled, due to fact that Cunningham was not granted final cut (ie complete control over the final edit of the film). The executive producers reserved final cut for themselves on account this was to be Cunningham’s first feature. Cunningham has since switched his focus to music production, gallery art, and live events.

From Wikipedia…

In 2000, Cunningham and cyberpunk author William Gibson began work on the script for Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer. However, because Neuromancer was due to be a big budget studio film, it is rumoured that Cunningham pulled out due to being a first time director without final cut approval. He also felt that too much of the original book’s ideas had been cannibalised by other recent films.

On 18 November 2004, in the FAQ on the William Gibson Board, Gibson was asked:

Q: Is it true there’s a movie of Neuromancer in the works? A: Perpetually, it seems, and going on a quarter of a century now. The most recently rumoured version, to have been directed by Chris Cunningham, is now definitely not happening.

In an August 1999 Spike Magazine interview, Gibson stated “He (Chris) was brought to my attention by someone else. We were told, third-hand, that he was extremely chary of the Hollywood process, and wouldn’t return calls. But someone else told us that Neuromancer had been his Wind In The Willows, that he’d read it when he was a kid. I went to London and we met.” Gibson is also quoted in the article as saying “Chris is my own 100 per cent personal choice…My only choice. The only person I’ve met who I thought might have a hope in hell of doing it right. I went back to see him in London just after he’d finished the Bjork video, and I sat on a couch beside this dead sex little Bjork robot, except it was wearing Aphex Twin’s head. We talked.”

I find it inspiring that Mr. Cunningham had the strength not to compromise his creative vision for a project. The temptation is, even if the film were to turn out trite, the exposure would have given him instant house-hold name recognition and a big pay-day. 

Cunningham has since released several personal projects, including Rubber Johnny and a remix video for Gill Scott Heron.

Guardian UK reports “Now Cunningham is tired of videos and adverts. “Making commercials,” he says, “is the dustbin of film-making. It sucks you dry.”“

Liam Titcomb

Liam Titcomb | Love Don’t Let Me Down

Director Jesse Yules www.jesseyules.com

Rejected May 25th, 2012. What they ended up making… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dPb2Zn6puU

Concept

A summer walk through an unconventional cemetery, with portraits of the dead carved into trees.

Mood

Warm and sublime.

Approach

We will shoot at magic hour at the Scarborough Bluffs in Toronto.

Using carved foam and special effects painting, we will dress tree trunks in a rural area to appear as if portraits have been carved into them. Some of the portraits will look freshly carved, others will seem weathered, as if they were carved a decade ago.

We follow Liam as he wanders through the park visiting each of the unique portraits.

One of the carved faces has a dark mouth that opens into a hollow in the tree. It has been filled with bird seed. Birds and squirrels crawl in and out of the ancient wooden-head.

As the video ends, Liam begins carving a tree.

We see that Liam has carved the portraits of two figures facing one another.

Cut to black.

Delivery

Aprox. 4 weeks after receipt of the production funds.

Metz

METZ | Wet Blanket (Version II: Initiation) Listen Here

Director Jesse Yules www.jesseyules.com

Rejected June 12th, 2012

Metz

METZ | Wet Blanket Listen Here
Director Jesse Yules www.jesseyules.com

Rejected June 10th 2012

Concept

Werewolf groupies murder the band.

Mood

Let the Right One In vs Teen Wolf

Summery

The video will be one continuous shot, played in reverse, as if the audience is rewinding a security tape.

We will open with a shot of three female werewolves partying and drinking blood from beer steins. In the background, three bodies are suspended from the ceiling, wrapped in plastic. Plastic tubing has been inserted into the bundled victims to allow their blood to drain. The plastic tubing leads to a dispensing nozzle (similar to the hose on a beer keg at a frat party).

The tape winds back further. We see woman wrapping the band members in plastic like human spiders, and hoisting up their cocooned bodies to hang from the ceiling.

The tape winds back further. One by one, we see the band members murdered by the werewolves.

The tape winds back further. We see woman transforming in front of the camera.

The tape winds back further. The groupies look like regular young women, hanging out with the band.

We close with a traditional shot of the band posing with the girls. In an homage to the ending of Micheal Jackson’s Thriller, we freeze frame and zoom in. One of the girls has demonic eyes.

Cut to black 

Technical 

The werewolf girls will have prosthetic fangs. Hair will be applied to their chests to obscure their breasts. Two LED lights on thin wire will float in front of the actresses eyes, creating an animal “glowing eyes” effect in camera. 

The footage will be grainy and desaturated. Similar to a security video, or a snuff film. 

The Rituals

Rituals | Mesmerize

Director: Jesse Ewles www.jesseewles.com

Rejected by MuchFact May 30th, 2012

Concept 

The band reanimates a mummified corpse using a car battery.

Mood 

Dark, ambient. Moments of humour.

Direction

A) We open with a shot of a blackened, mummified human driving a pick-up truck at night.

B) Flashback: Three men arrive at a swampy lake in Northern Ontario in a pick up truck.

C) The men locate a tree stump near the lake with rusted chains wrapped around it. They unwrap the chains and begin pulling them. Bubbles erupt from the lake. The men pull a coffin from the lake wrapped in plastic drop cloth. 

D) Using a box cutter, the men cut away the plastic. They pry open the casket with a crowbar. Inside is a blackened muffed corpse. 

E) One of the men pops the hood of the pick up truck and attaches jumper cables to the vehicle’s battery. Using alligator clips the corpse is wired to the battery. The truck is started. The corpse sits up with a jolt of electricity. 

One of the men reveals a remote control, similar to one used on remote control cars or aeroplanes. The man pushes the nobs on the remote control. The corpse stands up robotically in response. 

F) The man with the remote control sends the mummy after his companions as a joke. Startled, the two companions rush away. One of the frightened men stumbles. The mummy jumps on his chest. The man with the remote control struggles with it’s switches and buttons. The mummy is no longer obeying him. 

G) The mummy begins strangling the companion violently. The first man drops his remote control and tries to pull the mummy off his companion. The mummy is too strong. The first man grabs at the copper wires still connecting the mummy to the car battery and yanks them away from the mummies body. The mummy is continues to attack.

F) The third man returns with a large thick tree branch. He strikes the mummy in the chest and frees the man who was being strangled. The mummy staggers back, bracing it’s self on the hood of the truck. The three men rush away from the scene into the woods, with the creature in pursuit.

G) As the video ends we see mummy turn around and begin loping towards the idling truck.

H) We return to the open shot of the mummy driving.

Technical

Camera 7D Canon DSLR + Canon EF 24-105mm zoom lenses + shoulder mount. 

Effects The mummy will played by a thin actor performing in heavy body paint, with prosthetics and special effect make up on his face hands and feet. 

We will shoot in daylight at magic hour.

Sparks and smoke during the car battery sequence will be shot practically.

Hooded Fang

Hooded Fang | Tosta Mista

Director Jesse Ewles www.jesseewles.com

Rejected by MuchFact April 30th, 2012

Concept 

Hooded Fang party at a movie theatre walking on top of the seats and other guests as they perform. Behind them, on the big screen weird black and white science fiction footage is projected. By the end of the video, the whole crowd crawling over one another / moshing / dancing.

Art direction / Mood

Rambunctious, art punk party.

Approach

Step1 We will shoot weird black and white science fiction images similar to those in the Weekly World News. Examples may include the Fiji Mermaid, Batboy, cannibal zombies, alien heads, CIA agents, pirate gold, bigfoot ect.

Step2 Hooded Fang will perform at the Toronto Underground theatre. As they sing, the band will climb on top of the theatre seats, walking around on top of the audience members laps and shoulders. The weird black and white footage from step 1 will be projected on the movie screen behind them. By the end of the video, everyone in the theatre is climbing on top of one another, dancing / moshing.

Technical Treatment

Camera 7D Canon DSLR + Canon EF 24-105mm zoom lenses + Steadicam Pilot & Vest Arm Kit. Black and white sci-fi footage will be given a “super 8” look via Magic Bullet Suite.

The Elwins

The Elwins | Sittin’ Pretty

Director Jesse Ewles www.jesseewles.com

Listen to live version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rw_0bq-1Ic Great video in it’s own right.

Rejected by MuchFact April 30th, 2012

Concept

The Elwins have a medieval joust wearing armor constructed entirely from 

balloons.

Art Direction / Mood

Fun, viral, pop psychedelic, stop motion.

Approach

Step 1 We will construct costumes using 2000 twisting balloons, similar to the those used by magicians to make balloon animals. The characters will include three knights wearing balloon suits of armor, three princesses wearing balloon-crafted dresses. The knights will ride stick ponies with large horse heads completely sculpted from balloons.

Step 2 We will act out a joust in stop-motion. Each time a knight makes contact on another knight with his balloon sword or balloon lance some of his armor will pop, and disappear. Once a knight has all of this armor popped, he will be eliminated from the tournament and run from the jousting area in only his underwear. At the end of the video champion is crowned and he receives the hand of the princess.

Technical Treatment

Camera Stop motion 5K stills. 7D Canon DSLR + Canon EF 24-105mm zoom lenses.

Studio We will be shooting in the large room at Silver Line Studios. 

Pig Magazine

PIG Magazine Interview (Translation)

Italian version here: http://www.pigmag.com/it/2012/06/05/almost-famous-jesse-ewles/ 

1. Hi Jesse, where are you now? What are you doing at the moment?

Hi! At this very moment? I’m eating a piece of spelt-bread toast with humus that my girlfriend Jessica Rae Gordon made me.

2. You’re very young talent. How did you find your passion and when did you start to work?

My enthusiasm for the work gets renewed daily. Mostly because I’m curious and I have a good internet connection…

Originally I was attracted to film because it encumpasses all of the arts I was curious about. Filmmakers curate experiences by combining sounds and visuals in interesting ways. I think the internet is allowing filmmakers (and everyone else) to take that curation several steps further. Urban-noir filmmaker David Lynch for instance doesn’t just make movies anymore. He doesn’t just combine sound and image to give an audience an experience. Lynch’s website offers many different items, some digital some physical,  that can be considered “Lynchian”. He makes ambient music mp3s that will make you feel unsettled, even while strolling around your friendly neighbourhood on a sunny day. He sells dark roast coffee to sip on before a transcendental meditation session. He has a video that teaches you to make his favourite food, Quinoa. It’s the same world-building a great director would do when creating a film, but it’s been made more real. Lynch is helping curate real people’s lives.

This opportunity to do real life world-building is exciting. My world view is that of a tinkerer. I like to take things apart and put them back together again, leaving out a few screws to see if the thing will still run. Sometimes stuff doesn’t work (I have a whole blog about stuff that didn’t work) but that’s what experimenting is all about.

3. What is the gap between the first feeling you have when you start to work on something, and the feelings you have when your project is completed? Does your work fit perfectly with your idea / imagination?

No project arrives into the world exactly as conceived… and that can be a very good thing. Filmmaking is collaborative medium for most directors and you’re hope is that the great people you’re working with will be able to elevate your ideas. You hope they can take the direction they are given, and create compositions that are much better than what the filmmaker could have done on their own.

I think filmmaking can be approached like gardening. You have a seed, that is the idea. You place that seed into comfortable conditions — comfortable conditions vary depending on the idea. Action sequences for instance, seem to “want” to be shot in circumstances that are somewhat precarious for the crew. A scene when a character is ruminating on this future is best shot in a quiet place with a locked down camera.
As the seed sprouts and grows, the gardeners job is to train the plant up a lattice, gently steering, while letting it grow in natural directions. By harvest time, you probably don’t have exactly the plant you were imagining, but you’re still happy as long as it’s healthy and bears fruit.

4. I often see animals in your videos. How do animals inspire your virtual worlds and concepts?

People have always had a fascination with animals, especially those of us who live urbanized lives and see animals rarely. You tend for instance, to find more die-hard vegans in urban areas as opposed to on rural farms. The situation reminds me of Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep. In the book as the natural world hovers on extinction humans keep both real and synthetic animals as status symbols. The pets are badges of empathy and demonstrate that the owner is still capable of love and compassion.

For my part, I find animals interesting for the same reasons ancient people did. They’re good tools for storytelling. If you look at old fables, animals were often used as stand ins for humans, so the story would not be held up by the details of the protagonists background. If a wolf is central character, most people in the audience have an idea of what a wolf is and how it acts, the storyteller doesn’t need to explain where the wolf is from, or its philosophy.

5. I think every kind of project in life is like a pregnancy: what is your favourite phase, and why? (I mean: when you start and finish a project in your life -not only professional stuff- what is your favourite moment according to the metaphor I gave you)

Hmm. Well… much like pregnancy, conceiving is the fun part. Labouring to bring the idea into the world takes the most effort. Watching how your children make their way in the world after their born is the most scary and rewarding part.

Some other thoughts I like…

There is no sharpness without friction.

And…

Seek out difficult challenges. Things that are hard to do are rare (and therefore valuable) because they are difficult for people to copy.

6. In your work, how much is “handmade” and how much is “digital manipulation”?

It’s 50/50. My images are almost always real objects or paintings I have photographed and animated in the computer. There are very few 100 % computer generated images.

Svankmajer is cool. I was really into his work when I came out of college because it was so tactile, and I had just spent a year making an cold CGI student film. You could see Svankmajer’s fingerprints in the clay, and can imagine Svankmajer, this mad filmmaker, down on all fours strangling the clay into place.

Lately my heroes are people I think of as fearless. Kurt Vonnegut or Alan Moore or Seth Godin or Richard Branson or Margaret Atwood.

8. What’s the difference between making a video for a band, and making a video for every other kind of client?

There’s no real difference I can see, apart from the fact that musicians usually have a taste for fringe work and business people generally like more commercial stuff. As far as the ease of the process goes, the personalities of the clients make more of difference than their backgrounds. Dream clients are typically patient, curious and brave. They take their time selecting a director who they really love, and then dive into the project. They generally don’t stress about deadlines because they know if they don’t have time to do a project right, they probably don’t have time to do it over.

9. When I appreciate an artist, I like to know something personal about him, like how his standard day is, what he reads in the toilet or the safety valve he uses to vent his anger. Would you tell me three things about you personally? (not necessarily the same as I suggested)

This might give you an idea of my personality… I was in an open-mic storytelling show last winter. My story was about porn. NSFW https://vimeo.com/23015659

My personal life is pretty quiet. I’ve tried to build a simple life, so that I can take risks and attempt to do hard things in my work. I have unique group of crazy, irreverent friends that are my only valuable asset. Everything else I own could go up in a fire and I wouldn’t really miss it.

If you’re looking for more specific details… I cut my own hair and I like to make Gordon Ramsay’s F word recipes.

Zeds Dead

Zeds Dead | Living Dead
Director Jesse Yules www.jesseyules.com

Rejected May 17th, 2012 | What they made instead.

Concept

Post-apocalyptic beach party.

Approach

Intro 0:00 - 1:00 Using a series of slow motion tableaus, we show a group of horribly disfigured, zombie-like people posing in 50s style beach-party scenes. Behind the zombies, a rear projection screen plays looping footage of an idyllic beach with waves breaking on the shore line. The beach scenes will be lit with a moody red lighting, as if to suggest the events are taking place under a giant heat-lamp. The scenes will feel “staged” as if the beach set has been constructed in a bomb shelter miles bellow the surface.

Middle 1:00 - 3:35 As the pace of the track speeds up, we will cut more quickly to various other beach activities shot in slow motion. Activities include volleyball, hula hooping, crushing sand castles and fake water skiing in front of the projection screen.

Exit 3:35 - 4:30 We cut to face of a dreary-looking lab tech(s) with a thousand-mile stare. The lab tech is sitting in front of a large monitoring station lined with hundreds of colourful lights. A monitor in font of the lab tech displays the beach scenes. Looking bored, the lab tech turns a dial marked “ambient radiation”.

We cut to an image of the sun projected on the rear-projection screen. It glows noticeably brighter. The beach zombies gaze at the burning sun reverently. They lean their heads back as if enjoying the added heat. Slowly their skin begins to melt from their bodies.

We see the lab tech once more, looking desensitized. He turns up the heat further.

To close, we repeat the slow motion tableau pans from the opening of the video. The zombies are still posing enthusiastically, but by now, they have been fried to skeletons by the heat of the room.

Cut to black

Band Involvement

Depending on Zack and Dylan’s comfort level, they can participate in the zombie sequences or simply act as the lab techs.

Completion

Aprx. 4 weeks from the date the productions funds are received.

We Have Band

We Have Band | Love What You’re Doing Listen Here

Director: Jesse Ewles | www.jesseewles.com

Rejected September 3rd 2010

Concept

A video featuring three ancient Tai Chi masters shot in slow motion. The eyes of the masters will flash red and blue to the beat of the song. The movements of the masters will be inter-cut energetically with pop psychedelic animations of Chinese dragons. The band will not appear in the video. The art direction for the dragons will be similar to this:

Technical Treatment

The video will be inter-cut between two scenarios.  Scenario one will feature three Tai Chi masters performing on a set of ruined over grown steps.  The Tai Chi routines will be performed and filmed at twice normal speed, then converted to slow motion in post.  This will give the movement of the performance added intensity and make the footage ominously beautiful.

Scenario two will be an animation based on a Chinese dragon.  The dragon will be an elaborate stop-motion puppet decorated with jewels, metallic textiles and silky fibers.  The animation will feature the dragon snaking through a natural environment with fantasy / pop-psychelic elements (ie rivers of jewels ect)  The dragon peruses the tail of a second dragon.  Eventually he catches it, and in the final shot we see that there are dozens of identical dragons all connected together mouth to tail into a giant psychedelic chain.

Of Montreal

Of Montreal | Spiteful Intervention (version 1)

Director Jesse Ewles 

Rejected January 15, 2012

Concept

A 3D, morphing, animated collage. The images will be similar to the work of artist Jeff Koons, combined with more realistic versions of characters from the Of Montreal album art. The collaged images will be converted into 3D using the post-3D technique popular in IMAX films.

Step 1

We will construct animated collages featuring kitsch images (toys, candy), paint blobs and magazine collage featuring sexy lips, fingers with colourful nail polish and photos of wild animals. 

The lip-stick mouths featured in the animation will sing along to the track as they float through the compositions. The singing mouths will be similar to the giant mouth at the beginning of Rock Horror Picture Show. 

Step 2

The photo collaged images will be imported into the 3D suite Maya and converted into CG.

Step 3

We will paint a nude model all in white with white body make-up. We will paint the model’s hair white with spray-on hair colour. We will project the collage animation from step 1 on the model’s body. The model will be seated against a black velvet curtain to absorb the projectors reflected light.

Technical

The collage elements will be shot and scanned at 4K and animated in After Effects and Maya 3D. 

The final video will be delivered as a 1080p .mov quicktime.

Art Installation

The Portal

The portal was a video box inspired by the nickelodeons of the 19th century. The portal had a 4 inch peep hole that looked in on an HD video screen within the box. A thick glass lens installed in peep hole allowed the viewer to see all four corners of the video image by simply shifting their gaze. In addition, the lens also distorted the video image similar to a fun house mirror. The box was constructed by builder Melissa Fisher and decorated by painter Lee Stringle.

Conceptually, I thought it might be interesting to set up a video player that only one person could view at a time. In the past I have found that projections thrown on walls in busy venues often get ignored a few seconds after the audience sees them. The intended effect was to create scarcity and a bit of mystery, so that people in a crowd would ask each other “what’s in the box?”

The idea was to install the box in galleries and rep cinemas around Toronto, and then have the Portal play various outtakes from my music videos and other strange visual experiments I was unable to sell clients on. Ultimately, the 20 pound video box proved to be too cumbersome to set up on a regular basis. With the advent of iPad I hope to redesign the box to be much lighter, and thus, allow me to use it more frequently.

Ten Kens

TEN KENS~ Refined

Dir: Jesse Ewles

Rejected 9/19/07

For ‘Refined’ I want to a make an early 90’s video that complements the early 90’s vibe on the album. What I have in mind is similar in aesthetic to David Lynch’s Eraserhead, except mixed with the old Louis Carrol poem ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’. My pop-psych stop-motion work will be prevalent. Everyone in the band will appear in the video. *note* though this video is primarily focused on oyster eating very few actual oysters will be eaten (which is too bad because they’re delicious!). We’ll be faking the shots with empty sterilized oyster shells and corn syrup.

JE

Breakdown

0:00

We open with a slow moving pan through the graffiti alleys of Queen West.

http://static.flickr.com/52/121662761_5d60009ba6.jpg

It’s evening and the lighting is harsh with deep shadows.

As we continue down the alley we come across Dean, sitting on a picnic blanket on the ground beside two women. The three have their heads against the wall and are blowing large puffs of cigar smoke into the

sky in time with the music. They look stuffed. Surrounding the group are a number of party accessories. There’s a small t.v tray, some empty bottles and a metal bucket heaping with chilled oysters.

0:12

The camera pans right and finds Lee with his own heap of oysters and lady-friend. We have a super close-up of him splitting one of the shell fish with a shucking knife.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/recreation-nu/images/oysteropened_sealrockbeachjun04.JPG

He then delicately licks the center. To his right, his companion is eating much more aggressively. We get a strong, silhouetted profile shot of the girl throwing back the oysters. The clear slime runs down her neck and chest.

0:35

We continue down the alley. To the left we pass Ryan. He’s passed out, lying like a rag-doll with his head buried in shells. We continue on. We find Dan loading up a miniature wheel barrow with ice. He’s wearing a pair of industrial rubber gloves. Beside him is a huge fat man - cropped so we can only see his belly. The fat man hands another sack of oysters to Dan. Dan, halfhearted, splits the sack open with a knife and dumps the shells into the barrow (barely paying attention). As he casts the sack aside and heads back to refill his band mates’ platters, we notice a label on the side of the bag marked “EXPIRED”.

0:55

We jump cut to Dan shoving the oysters out of the barrow with a scoop. He tosses a few more Ryan’s way even though he hasn’t moved an inch. Quickly we cut between Dean, Lee and the girls all chowing down.

1:10

Suddenly everyone begins to feel ill. As we examine Dean, who is slouching and slack-jawed, we notice that

the girl beside him (who’s blurred by the depth of field) seems to have been mutated. Dean turns his head to look at her; as he moves the girl comes into focus and immediately returns to normal. He shifts his attention to the second girl on his other side. The same effect is repeated.

1:17

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ally, Lee continues to eat but with more craziness in his eyes. We see a wide shot of Dean looking back and forth at his slouching, sickly women, before cutting to Lee again.

1:32

Next we see a first-person view of what Lee is hallucinating. His companion’s head has been completely replaced by a giant oyster shell. Lee stares intensely. Her huge shell parts in the centre. A litter of clear slime pours out along with a thick tentacle.

2:00

We cut back to Dean’s terrified eyes, then cut to his girl friends. The top half of their faces have been replaced by oyster shells. They’re looking at one another, stroking each other’s arms. It looks as if they are about to lean into one another for a kiss. Just as they come close enough, the shells on their faces pop open, dumping slime and exposing their fat oyster tongues. The two begin French kissing with the oyster tongues. Dean does his “metal” scream.

2:15

As the build in the song begins, the fat man from earlier arrives on the scene, flanked by Dan. We pan up and see that he’s a huge walrus man. He licks his lips as he surveys all the tasty oyster heads in the ally. He begins to stomp down the alley. Dean looks terrified and hides behind the kissing oyster girls. Lee looks excited, Dan is unamused and Ryan is still passed out.

2:28

The walrus reaches Lee’s former companion first. He thrusts his head into her shell and begins to eat her. Slime pours everywhere. We cut frantically between everyone in the scene. Dan continues to walk around serving more and more oysters, oblivious to the goings on.

2:45

The walrus makes his way over to Dean’s oyster twins and separates them. As Dean recoils in horror, the walrus takes a girl in each arm and begins thrusting his head at each of them, biting them in turns. We cut between everyone once again. Dean is in the fetal position, covered in slime, Lee is spooning his shell-head girlfriend (stroking her shell) and Dan’s still tossing oysters at everyone. The walrus goes back and forth, biting the twins rapidly as the song peaks.

3:03

We end with a fall away shot of Dean screaming. Everyone around him appears to be human and passed out. Lee is stroking the head of his girl who’s lying on the ground. Dan is heading away with his wheel barrow.

Cut to black

What they made instead: Nothing

Buy Now

Buy Now | Body Crash Listen Here
Director: Jesse Ewles www.jesseewles.com

Rejected 04/14/2008

Treatment

For “Body Crash”  I would like to make a montage of cliches from the classic Role Playing Games of the late 80’s and early 90’s. The final video will be realized in two separate animation styles which will be intercut with one another.  50% of the video will be animated using 15 inch tall stop-motion puppets shot in real life outdoor settings (ie. woodlands, marshes ect) The other half will be comprised of enlarged pixel-art animations reminiscent of the classic games.  All of the characters will share a distored, bug-eyed anime influence .

The cast of characters includes a crotchety but banal warrior toting a sword of ever-increasing size, a holistic magic-mushroom eating mage and a feisty thief who’s attacks foes with the cursed disembodied skin of his face. This party will venture through various forest settings bantering, fighting scorpions, building up their levels, buying items and preparing for a boss fight at the climax of the video. The final battle will feature a giant man-eating flytrap.  During the stopmotion versions of these scenes, each of the cartoon impact explosions, as well as the spells the mage casts will be built out of paper and composited into the scene.

J

What they made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYBhbMj16VM