Mike Flanagan, Director of Oculus Feature (2014).
On Saturday, we covered the first story for MFM on the new Oculus feature that could be propelling Mike Flanagan into theatrical circles. (Click here if you missed it.)
Long time readers know that we reviewed the original Oculus shortly after we opened our doors and it received a 9.5 score due to it’s brilliant use of mystery, suspense, and intrigue. Shot for only $1500 on a Sony Z1U, the film was titled “Oculus 3: The Man With the Plan” and followed a researcher (Scott Graham) who was obsessed with a mirror that could bring madness and death to any home it was in. To prevent any collateral damage or uncontrolled involvement, the researcher isolates himself in a storage unit with the mirror (covered with a sheet), his research notes, recording equipment, and a cell phone to the outside world. After that, you were along for a deliciously terrifying ride that I’ve rarely seen in Hollywood or Indiewood! (Click here to read the original critique.)
So impressive was it that it stood at the top of the MFM shorts list for 18 months, until the Varava brothers finally passed it with the Shadow Effect. Flanagan’s next feature, Absentia (which he raised money for on Kickstarter and shot with a 5D Mark II DSLR camera), received the first 10.0 for a feature in MFM’s history. (A fact that was made all the more staggering because Flanagan wrote the script in a handful of days and had to get it shot before his pregnant girlfriend, who starred in the film, had their first child!) Absentia would then go on a whirlwind festival tour and be released via video on demand, Redbox, and Netflix.
Despite all the things in his life, Flanagan has made time to help out our readers here at MFM via writing articles on his experiences, helping judge contests here, and even doing special request critiques to give back to the filmmaking community.
Mike was kind enough to answer a few of the questions we had about the Oculus feature.
Publicity image from Oculus Feature.
As a brief recap, before we begin, Mike’s original idea was that the Oculus series would be a series of shorts that would all fit together and eventually form a feature film of three or four shorts. (Somewhat similar to the concept behind the Animatrix.) This is the reason why this short was titled Oculus 3, as it was designed to be the third chapter in this series. Despite the accolades he’d received for this film, he found that he had difficulty getting traction for this methodology and would spend the next seven years refining the story he wanted to tell with the way of going about it.
JH: First off, Mike, I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you chatting with us. We’re extremely excited to see this next step in your intriguing premise. Obviously, the original short was titled: Oculus 3: The Man With the Plan. Will this be Oculus 4, or just Oculus?
MF: Right now it’s just OCULUS, and I’m hoping the studio continues to embrace that title.JH: Okay. Well, will this be a prequel to or a sequel to the short?
MF: Neither, actually. It’s not a straight remake, but it inhabits the same world as the short. There’s a lot of DNA from the short film, but it’s been expanded and re-imagined as an ensemble piece. The “locked in the room with cameras” angle from the short is intact, but bolstered by the story of our protagonists’ childhood and first encounter with the mirror.JH: Excellent. So you’ve got Intrepid Pictures (The Raven) on board, who’re reminding me a lot of New Line in the early days. You also have a trio of actors who already have their own cult followings for very successful TV shows: Katee Sackhoff (“Starbuck” in Battlestar Galactica), Karen Gillan (“Amy” in Doctor Who), and Rory Cochrane (“Speedle” in CSI: Miami). With all that in mind, what sort of release is planned?
MF: Right now it looks like it’ll be a theatrical release. Anything can happen, but Film District intends to release it wide sometime next year [2013].JH: I know this one won’t be a microbudget film, but, for the curiosity of our readers, what was your production budget?
MF: I’m not sure what I can say about the budget, so I better play it safe. With that said, I can say that it’s within the typical boundaries of films classified as Indiewood.JH: Totally understand there. Now, before we conclude, are there any tidbits for the Mike Flanagan fans to look out for?
MF: Scott Graham will make a very memorable appearance in this film, along with a number of cast members from ABSENTIA.JH: Very cool. I loved Scott and the mirror’s cameo in Absentia, so I’m looking forward to it. Of course, I still believe you’re going to be pulling a Terry Brooks on us and the worlds of Oculus and Absentia are interconnected.
MF: Can’t comment on that.JH: Indeed. Well, as always, sir, you are both an enigma and a gentleman! Have fun on your journey through post!
MF: I’m looking forward to it!
Hopefully, Mike will be able to catch up with us again before the official release. In the mean time, be sure to check out Mike’s official site: MikeFlanaganFilm.com .
Jeremy T. Hanke
The director of two feature length films and half a dozen short films, Jeremy Hanke founded MicroFilmmaker Magazine to help all no-budget filmmakers make better films. The second edition of his well-received book on low-budget special effects techniques, GreenScreen Made Easy, (which he co-wrote with Michele Yamazaki) is being released by MWP in fall 2016. He's curently working on the sci-fi collaborative community, World of Depleted, and directed the debut action short in this series, Depleted: Day 419 .