Update: “Plot Device”
Did you expect “Plot Device” to receive so much attention?
The whole time, Aharon was saying it was going to be huge, and more exposure than I’ve been used to. I thought I would take a vacation after it went online, but that was totally wrong. It went online and immediately exploded on Vimeo in the first two days.
Had you used the software on other projects in the past?
Red Giant makes a wide array of software, like plug-ins for Final Cut Pro. I was using a few of their products when I got my hands on Magic Bullet. It’s primarily used for color correction. When the last season of “Lost” was on, ABC did this promo content for fans to create their own promo for the series finale. I did it as a fanboy, but I also do this sort of thing for a living. I did this promo that, for technical reasons involving me not knowing how use the Internet, didn’t get submitted properly. But it ended up going on Vimeo. I used this software called Trapcode Particular to create the Smoke Monster really easily. It basically shows the Smoke Monster the day after the final episode of “Lost.” He’s sitting on the couch watching TV, sitting in the park alone, and floating on a treadmill. Aharon saw it on Vimeo and that was how he became aware of my work.
How did the project evolve from there?
From the beginning, he said, “I want to do a promo for Magic Bullet, but I want it to be a short film that can stand on its own as a story that can show you off as a filmmaker.” To his credit, there was never any prioritizing about serving the product.
My better ideas are the ones that are sparked by necessity. For my day job, I make videos for student camps. My job is to take these themes and let them come out organically. Because of that, I have something to shape a story around, and make it feel like it was extracted, not injected.
So how did this idea get injected into the project?
With Magic Bullet, you can create the looks of various genres. I thought about what the short could be so we could use all these looks. My brother — who’s the star of “Plot Device” and did all the music for it — he and I had an idea awhile ago that we can’t do now because it’s too similar to “Plot Device”: Some guy finds a radio station that only plays this movie score, and it turns out the score is for his life, everything he’s doing. It starts to grow more and more ominous, and he’s convinced he’s going to die. It was called “Soundtrack of My Death.” I thought about how you could do this visually. I thought, “What if he had a button and he presses it, and he’s in different genres?” Suddenly we had this story construct that could organically showcase the product.
It’s also interesting that the character wants to make a cheap movie. That seems like a statement of some sort.
It was Aharon’s idea to make the guy a filmmaker. We had this book by the creator of Magic Bullet, Stu Maschwitz, called “The DV Rebel’s Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies.” It’s shown at the beginning. Amazon suggests that he also buys the Plot Device. From there, it made even more sense. He was trying to buy film-related stuff online.
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You’re heading out to L.A. next month to meet with potential agents. If you get the chance to make bigger movies, would you still want to use the same resources you had for the production of “Plot Device”?
I don’t see any reason why not. I’m new to all this, so I don’t know what the work flow in Hollywood is, but I assume there will be more people to help me with things. My goal will be to work with people who think the way I think, or better than the way I think. If I do go to Hollywood and get more money for a bigger project, the products we used on “Plot Device” are absolutely qualified to make something bigger. I think I can create everything with flashlights and smoke.
Once again the spirit of the spec script comes through. Get an idea. Create the content. Put it out there. See what happens.
It only takes one set of eyeballs to change your life.
Best of luck to Worley. And to all of you with the spec spirit.