Ok, this is actually pretty great and gotta say the use of John Murphy’s apocalyptic “28 Days Later” score (still one of the best from this decade), really puts this one over-the-top into the “wow, this kinda rules” category.
Apparently Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez has taken Hollywood by storm this week thanks to his almost five minute short film, “Panic Attack!” (“Ataque de Pánico!”) that has drawn some comparisons to Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9” because of its lo-fi, shaky-cam, documentarian depiction of a random and terrifying robot invasion (very “Iron Giant”) on Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. It actually feels like a crazy cross between “28 Days Later,” “District 9” and a terrorist attack ala footage from 9/11.
The video is so damn impressive, apparently every agency in L.A. is taking meetings with him in hopes of snatching him up. Then surely, someone is going to attach him to some high-concept science-fiction film, no? Or in the meantime, he can surely get steady work as a commercial director while he develops project. It appears that footage of the short has been used in the music video for the band, Snake, but really, it’s nowhere near as cool as the original clip which is admittedly, very arresting. You need to see this.
Sorry, I'm not that impressed.
Nothing about this video convinces me that this guy could create a compelling feature film.
I liked it but as the others mention how can this be judged that he will make a good featur film
please preview more short films because this is where you have people doing what they want with not a lot of money. thats where a lot of creative things happen
cheers
That ending was sweet. Very cool. Although I'm a little afraid that the Bloomkamp clone craze has begun (you could do a lot worse than this sample, I must admit)
No, Neill Blomkamp did something original. This just plagiarizes Sky Captain and either Blomkamp or Cloverfield. Not to mention that ghastly generic rock soundtrack.
Not to mention Independence Day, with Emmerich's famous money shot of cars being flung from an explosion pouring down an enclosed street appearing twice.
honestly, and this isn't to hate… i got bored.
I liked it better when it was called Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow, which everyone seems to have forgotten.
if you liked this then you should make sure that every VFX/animation student on the planet has your e-mail address…so they can send you their (understandably) amature, derivative, overly ambitious demo reels.
you shit yourselves over this and not michael bay/roland emmerich? this basically one of their sizzle reels.
blomkamp wasn't even that much of a revelation, just more of the same and with an apartheid allegory thrown in. oooh, what a genius.
whogivesashit? seriously, new moon has more entertainment value with its hilarious dialogue and ab-filled shitfest quality than this.
Man o man there are a load of grumps leaving comments here. It's a cool & very entertaining short film (I'll certainly be passing it around)… thanks for sharing!
Why fire rockets and missiles at the city if at the end, they were going to blow it up in one big massive atomic explosion. Everything they did before that just seems redundant.
I agree with everyone but Dave and Anonymous. This is far from good, and underscores Hollywood's reactionary behavior because agents are just "chasing" him to sell the sizzle to producers and studio execs who are equally reactionary and lacking in imagination, and no one really cares if there's actually any "there" there.
Also, to Anonymous: Neill's political statement was actually very original. Your facts are totally wrong, but most people are ignorant so it's understandable how you can be so misinformed, even though the truth has appeared often in the press (Neill has even said so himself in interviews on multiple occasions). It WASN'T about apartheid, but about the black-on-black violence in the townships due to civil war in a neighboring country driving refugees into South Africa.
Fede's short is just cheap effects and as Cde and Amber so smartly noted, it doesn't give any indication that he could make a feature.
i got to echo some comments here. you're pretty tough on 2012 (rightfully so), but this is the same thing only it doesn't look as good. i'm sure you'll say "but 2012 had 250 million and this is low budget". maybe thats true, maybe not (i don't know how much was spent on this, could be some rich kid dropping millions), but who cares? there is not one clever, interesting, or unique shot in the short. it's really nothing except special effects, which you guys are always hating on. it's still pretty impressive technically for a young director no doubt, but odd you singled this out. and since when did agents meeting with someone mean anything (same site that dismisses when actresses meet with directors)?
Don't mean to be rude , But I think the Concept/idea was taken from this New Zealand music video made a few years ago i.e Giant Robots come into a city, same building explosions shots and a Nuke at the end..
http://www.umeric.com/#/project/salmonella_dub/nusteppa/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNGEdwiUD_E
What I don't see in the original post (and just what happens to be the most important issue) is that this short had a total budget of $300. That is impressive! However, just because Alvarez can do a lot with little doesn't mean this translates to big-budget Hollywood success.
Anyone catch the "Battleship Potemkin" homage?
But yeah, can't say I'm all that impressed. It's just a showcase for the guy's CGI wizardry, with no plot to speak of.
I think it's a little soon to be hailing Alvarez as the next big thing.
I wonder how long until the film is taken off youtube for copyright violation? If this cost only $300 to make then you know damn well he didn't license John Murphy's score.
Listen to all the jealous posers taking shots at this guy–like they could do better phfffft. Well he has a $30 million contract and you all have zip, zilch, zero, nada. That pretty much says it all. A most impressive video.
Wow, pretty impressive actually to just be done with 300 dolla's. I dont know why people have to hate on it… i mean it was a bit slow at first but after everything went down it really wasn't that bad of a short film. I guess people dont realize what you can do with 30 million compared to 300
HE SPENT $300 TO MAKE THIS.
Okay, with that in mind…
This short film is spectacular. Look at the crap half of the "youtube" starts are putting out and spending way more on. Keeping in mind this guy had no previous deals and literally is starting from the bottom and made his way up in a fairy-tale story.
Ya'll get your facts straight. This is legit for only three hundred bucks and I'm looking forward to seeing him on a grander scale.
Wow, the hate and jealousy! It may not be revolutionary but is pretty on par with what is released today. Good enough to get 30 mil, no?
There are an endless amount of story lines you could write for this.
how was this done with just $3oo?
$300 is a lot of dough if you're not actually paying for software
Lots of folks have done similar pieces for less. You can make things like this for nothing if you have decent skills with a camera and compositing (and access to the tools.)
I liked it, but when I heard the music was swiped from "28 Days Later" my opinion dropped a bit.
Sure, it's all a bit of hype, but I wish the director well…and I'm admittedly a little jealous that nobody paid me to expand my short: "Giant Robot Attacks Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania."
Checkout this video made in 2004: http://www.vimeo.com/6966258
Do you see some resemblance?
Also, I didn't like the music…to slow for the action. But the music from Alive in Joburg (Neill Bloomkamp) was fantastic!
wow did everyone see this link below!!!:
http://www.vimeo.com/6966258
It's so obvious he must of copied and based his short movie off of an older video from 2004. WOW
That is soo unoriginal…How can you possibly pawn this off as your work, seriously.
Anyway….I would still go see it
It looks like a film that has been already made before. but oh well, if it works for you. ??
This is a pretty ingenious blueprint from Hollywood:
1. Create a buzz for an unknown director by taking advantage of free viral marketing.
2. Have a ubiquitous apocalypse screenplay ready that any modestly talented director could handle.
3. Make new low-maintenance director your puppet and control film using established blockbuster formulas and minimizing costs.
4. Market the next big end of the world movie as directed by Hollywood's next action genius (keep in mind a lot of the marketing has already been done for free on the net).
5. Profit and enjoy your ability to manipulate the consumer and their pocketbooks.
Uh, people he did this for only $300 – that is what's impressive! Could you imagine what he could do with a budget of $10k, $50k, or even $1M. Admittedly, the pacing is a little off (starts off strong and beautiful), then lags a bit, and then goes full tilt, but fixing that will come with experience. Not to mention, the middle downtime left me completely unprepared for the attack that came next. Maybe that was the intent, and, again, with some experience and 'old heads' around, this director will improve. Bravo – well done!
People are so jealous these days. the jealous haters are the ones that have nothing, because there to negative and focusing their energy hating. Thats why they are not successful. He did this short, with $300 dollars. It was good! And hollywood likes it. Just cuz your work isn't good, stop hating. Make something better if you think you can. But don't hate, be happy for the person. Maybe being a little positive will bring you some prosperity. But the haters will be losers the positive creative thinkers will succeed.
laterz
I agree. Commend this Artist for his time and effort in his work… He did a brilliant job. No Artist know what has public appeal until he puts his work out there. With the experience of directing 5 films… The latest having a animated opening that was only three minutes and took almost 24 hours to cut… I can imagine what it took him to piece his work together… C'mon guys lets tip our hats to this Artist… he did an awesome job…. I had my little critics comment on my work and its striking to know that most never wrote a script, shot a film, or edited one… I'd just laughed them off because I knew they didn't have the courage to even shoot a film…. It takes guts and glory to do so…. Please give this Artist some respect… And for the smart allecks… Yeah my works recieved great reviews… but I'm not here to comment on me its all about Panic Attacks director…. Brilliant work! Go do what you really wanted to with that 30 million dollar budget! Marvelous Mr.Panic Attack Direct!
Simply marvelous!
What is most interesting to me about this story is the fact that YouTube and the internet in general has made an amazing platform for those who would have been unheard of otherwise. Whether we want to describe Fede or the footage to any other movie, director, producer, animator or otherwise, what he's done with his small budget music video has gotten enough plays and buzz to make the United States Hollywood conglomerate pay attention to folks they wouldnt have. Thus the same deal w Myspace and Apple commercials, now creating semi web stars from folks at home with a diddy and a guitar.
Funny enough – I'm sure SNAKE is not as pleased that the producer got hooked up off of a video made for their song (if you actually CLICK the music video link, its THEIR song, Ataque de Panico: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8F9Qvror6g) which I thought seemed very music video like when I saw the video sans band.
however – A lot more people now know about the band internationally that probably never would have.
VERY FEW ideas are that original. Get off your high-horses, people. 30mil is great for a dude from S America – but consider the budgets for a lot of these other movies out there that have been less than exciting.
Congrats to Mr Alvarez, and I hope some other great indie producers, etc now will catch some love from big name studios as well.
For all you other talented folk, stop bitching about this story and upload your own stuff. Start the viral promo NOW!
It's an interesting short. Yes, there is a definite similarity to the 2004 film, but that one didn't have a narrative flow or a human element, nor was any scene more than a few seconds long. Besides, Hollywood is constantly remaking films. Alvarez brought something new to it.
More important, it isn't just standard blow-'em-up stuff — there are some shots that have pretty sophisticated camera angles and composition — the black smoke boiling up around the white cross, the curving arcs of the missiles heading to the skyscraper, the swings (a Terminator 2 homage?), the spatters of blood on the screen, the obelisk with the flames flowing around it…
No, it doesn't show whether he can coax a decent performance out of an actor but there is talent there.
He was showing off what he could do with $300, not his original idea for a screenplay. Everyone is impressed by the effects and the videography.
What nobody has acknowledged is that the whole "giant robots attacking a city" thing was blatantly ripped from this short made like 10 years ago for half the budget:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfMoJ_gzjCk
<>but the effects and the videography are what directors do. They craft the imagery, the package, the complete experience.
With the exception of people like James Cameron, they generally do not come up with the story. That falls to the screenwriters. Directors and producers find an idea they like and turn it into a film. When Hollywood looks at the short, what they are looking at is how he executed the idea, not the idea itself.