Why did you choose the LA Shorts Fest to submit to and what do you want to accomplish with this festival or festivals in general?
“We submitted to the LA Shorts Fest first for its reputation as a great festival and second because it is our hometown festival. We hope we can garner some attention from our work to help us with future projects.”
Worker trying to retain his identity amid corporate restraints.
Type/genre of film: Drama Director/Writer: Paal Wilhelm Nesset/Jose Pablo Gonzalez
Premise: Set in a dystopian future, Mike Inc. reveals one worker's attempt to retain his identity amid extreme corporate restraints.
Length: 10 minutes Budget: $800.00 CAD
How did you accomplish your film given the budget constraints? Pablo Gonzalez- “We created Mike Inc. as a part of the 2009 Crazy8s Filmmaking Competition. After being selected, we received 800 Canadian Dollars in cash (the only amount allowed for expenses) and had only 8 days to complete our film. In addition to the restricted budget, we received support from local rental houses, casting agencies and post-production facilities. With such time and budget limitations, the success of Mike Inc. depended on the collaborative effort of the talented professionals who donated their time.”
“The budget was used to feed our crew during the 2 days of production, truck rental and gas as well as a few necessary props that could not have been borrowed or "found". We knew right away that in order to achieve our vision, we would have to be smart about finding ways to get things for free. Our story depended on custom made set decoration, so we had to collect random garbage, broken equipment from friends and free stuff from Craigslist.”
Not quite holding it together in Mike, Inc.
“One of our producers, Ryan Basaraba, managed to make deals with some local breweries to sponsor us, which in turn allowed us to bargain with other sponsors for more support. We also teamed up with two other production companies in town that liked our story and were willing donate their resources free of charge. Rugged Media's Executive Producer, Adrian Cox, supported us all the way from planning through delivery of the film. He also acquired the RED Camera package from a few generous donors.”
“For our post-production needs, we received extensive help from Goldtooth Creative. It was unbelievable to have their full staff working tirelessly on our project for three days and nights. It was very humbling to see that many people working so hard to tell our story.”
“The two first days were spent casting, location scouting and building props and costumes. We also managed to squeeze in a rehearsal with our main talent while shooting stills for what would become a short animation sequence. Our biggest concern turned out to be finding a suitable location. Up until the day prior to shooting, we had not found any of our four locations used in our film. We finally lucked out big-time by securing an empty store location conveniently situated beside our post-production facilities. This diverse location allowed us to shoot all of our scenes in-and-around one building and immediately send footage to our editors.”
