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Welcome to our Wasteland!
Hi, everyone, Sam here, director of "After The Blast", at the Crows Nest studio, headquarters for all things "After The Blast", announcing the launch of a new "After The Blast" Adventure:
"After The Blast 2: After After The Blast - The Gridiron Wasteland"!
We are going to see some spectacle, because this is the centerpiece of a trilogy of short films that will ultimately tell a complete story and reveal the secret of our Wasteland.
The post-apocalyptic wasteland of total destruction is even funnier this time.
In the first film we caught a glimpse of life underground for some of the survivors of the mysterious Blast. Now dodge mushroom clouds and savage marauders who worship the Rule Book of Football. See a doomsday prepper dress like a cheerleader. And watch Harry Trumbull our hero fight alongside warrior librarians to save a world already wrecked!
The Team Reunites!
Hot on the heels of the short film "Judges", which is heading for the festivals (I was one of the producers of the Alan Chamberlain short film), and as "After The Blast" nears completion, we have begun gathering the personnel, building the sets and models, and writing the next installment of this crazy post-apocalyptic comedy-saga.
The Adventure Continues...
Our hero, Harry Trumbull, having been rescued and then sent off by the dwellers of the Presidential Emergency Disaster Shelter, now wanders the Wasteland in search of his ex-wife and millennial son. But his quest will be interrupted by the startling discovery of powerful groups of survivors who make war on one another for dominance: tribalistic football teams who look (and act) like the bad guys from "Mad Max", Wall Street raiders who now really are "dog eat dog" and "cutthroat", and machine gun-wielding librarians defending the world's last treasure house of knowledge, literature, art, beauty, and plant life. Harry just wants reconciliation with his ex, he wants to spend more time with his son, he wants to have a better relationship with his son's step dad the "I told you so" doomsday prepper, he wants some kind of normal life, but he's not going to get it - not just yet.
First, Harry has to do the whole Hero-Of-The-Wasteland/Save-The-World thing.
How You Can Make This Happen.
Now, obviously we are starting from the beginning of the process for this film. "After The Blast" had the benefit of being mostly completed before its fundraising campaign began. So we will be raising more funds this time to facilitate the complete process, and also we will once again utilize the production techniques that we have developed at Crows Nest to deliver high quality without high cost.
"After The Blast 2: After After The Blast: The Gridiron Wasteland" will make extensive use of practical miniature sets and vehicles and buildings, giving it its signature retro feel. In addition to the hard models and props and costumes already in hand, we will be adding Element 3D to our editing facilities. This software will allow us to custom-create scenes of massive armies clashing with total realism and extremely low cost when compared to a Hollywood blockbuster equivalent.
How Really Good Can Become Great:
We have come up with a budget that guarantees completion but also allows for goals beyond the minimum we require to deliver a picture.
We made "After The Blast" for under $5,000 so as long as we can raise that minimum we will be able to deliver at the very least the level of quality we have in the past.
Raising more funds will make it possible to incrementally add value to the project, both in terms of practical expenses (more special effects/production design) and time (more money means a less strenuous shoot schedule. That means fewer problems to solve in post-production, and that saves time and increases value.
We don't want to put a limit on what we can raise, because we fully intend to develop the "After The Blast" property to its maximum potential and want to continually improve our product and most importantly, keep making more.
Starting with a $5,000 base budget, we will add value as we gain more funds.
For example, at a certain level of funding we will add a camera drone which will allow us to orchestrate magnificent vistas of the Wasteland and create a feeling of space and loneliness unachievable in any other way.
This time around we will be shooting outdoors in addition to the library location we have secured. The desert environs outside of L.A. will provide nature's contribution to our production value.
So, this is the framework we are thinking of for a scaled budget:
$5,000- Basic Budget - low shoot days, equipment, props amortized, salaries deferred
$8,000 - Budget Plus - We will add the camera drone and more shoot days/locations.
$15,000 - "Full" Budget - This fulfills the budget breakdown (cost estimations) as written.
$15,000 and above - We will add line items to the budget incrementally "as needed" to increase the film's value, for example:
- More shoot days, more locations
- Editor - I cut the 1st "After The Blast" but will gladly relinquish the editor's chair.
- Stage Rental
- Bigger crew (bigger crew means less multitasking, more efficient production)
- Better Craft Services and Meals
- "Name" Guest Star Actor
- "Hit" song
- "Name" composer to score the film
- Larger epic scenes using many actor "extras" in conjunction with computer generated images
- More money for promotion, promotional items, promotional events, P.R., Social Media Optimization
- Upgraded Website
- More money for festival entry
- More money for distribution to online platforms for sales.
All of these goals are clearly aimed at publicizing our efforts and monetizing the
"After The Blast" brand and maintaining it as a going concern.
The Perks.
Our perks are immersive and fun. Part of the joy of creating a "universe" like this is being able to extend the experience beyond the movie. By contributing, you are joining us in creating and perpetuating this.
The Impact.
The first "After The Blast" short grew out of a workshop that I organized, and we tried to emulate a number of my favorite directors' styles, like Paul Greengrass, Francis Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Tony Scott, the writing style of Bill Forsythe. I felt we were successful in that, and so we will continue that tradition into the second film. George Miller, that's a no-brainer. This movie has a heavy element of "Mad Max" - the original story was predominantly parody of the original Mad Max movies. What timing. David Lean, Werner Herzog - oh yes, we will be going out of doors to shoot this one, to exotic deserts like the Owens Valley or Mojave. Oh, and then there is football, so get out your "Rollerball", your "Varsity Blues" - dare I say there will be shades of Steve Sabol here? Hmmm…. And there is a core section involving the siege of a public library that may remind you of John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13", which by the way has some very funny moments. More proof you can make something funny in the middle of catastrophe.
And "After The Blast 2: After After The Blast: The Gridiron Wasteland" is a cliffhanger, leading straight into the third chapter and the revelation of the secret of our Wasteland!
You can be a part of this. You can in fact be the force that makes this adventure not only possible, but wildly successful. We are paving the way for more and bigger adventures and new films.
Risks & Challenges
Though grand in scale and location, the core scenes will center around set pieces and most importantly, the characters. Reference "Assault on Precinct 13" (the 1976 John Carpenter film, not, I repeat, not the remake) and you can see how a little crafty filmmaking on a low budget can stretch "four people in a room talking" into "four people in a room under siege by a nameless horde".
And remember, this is a short film, which lightens the load somewhat when it comes to the number of rabbits we are going to be pulling out of our hats when it comes to our visual trickery. And, we are at a kind of magical moment in time, where easily accessible technology makes great leaps possible by providing the small-scale filmmaker with the tools of a master.
Clearly, this is a particular style of cinema. But for us, "low budget" does not mean low quality. It means I am writing the script with built-in "Crows Nest Customization", carefully crafting it to tell a grand story without having to hurdle obstacles of money and time by knowing inside and out our capabilities as a filmmaking group. It means actor/producer Mark Taormino (who is also one of the stars of "After The Blast") will provide his complete and wholly owned camera equipment package free of charge. It means Crows Nest Vertical Pictures has its own prop and costume collection, with an emphasis on sci-fi/military. It means there are vastly talented people willing to take a chance on the success of a project they can directly affect for the better. And it means we live and produce in Los Angeles, the greatest source of talented, trained, educated, dedicated and experienced film artists, technicians and actors in the history of the world.
Most importantly, we shoot well-crafted scripts that tell compelling stories that despite the over-the-top subject and style are always about the landscape of the human soul, the human experience, where we've been and where we're going. The short film I co-produced with Mark Taormino, director Alan Chamberlain's "Judges", is a great example of that dramatic exploration. It also shows clearly our level of capability in terms of quality and visual style. This project was done with the same ways and means as "After The Blast", but without the benefit of a fundraising campaign. I think the results are spectacular.
And we are blessed to have such great talent eager to help us fulfill our visions and achieve our overarching mission: to present movie-watching experiences as fun and fulfilling as any other.
So the question is not so much "Can we do it?" because we've done it, going on twice now. The question is, "How far can we take this?"
And the answer is in your hands.
You have the power to make it all happen, and to be along for the ride. You can be the wind in our sails as we continue to develop "After The Blast" as a going concern.
We will be here, keeping you updated on all things "After After The Blast" and taking you to the Wasteland - and beyond….
Thank you!
Other Ways You Can Help
We know some of you may want to support this project but just can't contribute. If you have a special skill, a special prop or costume, or even know of a location or other asset that would enhance our story, please feel free to contact us here. (I know for a fact we're going to be on the hunt for some football equipment.)
Also, making some noise about our campaign can be equally helpful. (Indiegogo has great share tools that make it easy to get the word out.) Folks might find what we are doing as filmmakers and how we are approaching the process to be an interesting story to follow. As the campaign progresses, we hope to provide entertaining updates so it will be fun to check back in.
And more than anything, to quote the great (if fictional) Steve Zissou:
"This is an adventure."
