DYNAMO: new Ian Hubert film

by - 2012/01/13 35 Comments Directing & writing

In his spare time – while finishing Project London vfx and getting pestered by me for Mango – Ian worked with his mate Scott Hampson on a crazy funny short film… just because! It’s a real zero-budget film; made with passion and shiploads of talent! Effects and 3d have been done in Blender, obviously.

Have fun watching it, and spread the news.

http://www.karmapirates.com/

  1. Coen Spoor says:

    Wow… in a cinematic sense (and the lack of budget), just wow, though story-wise i prolly didnt get everything the first time around, it’s shot beautifully!

    What gear did you use?

  2. Gianmichele says:

    Eheh…this is crazy. I like crazy! I’m sure Ian will do great for Mango.

    The things that kept pulling me out of the short is the integration with CG (something weird with color matching). Something to keep in mind for Mango ;)

  3. ibkanat says:

    Wow! Awesome… Great job Ian. Great teaser for Project London & Mango! Could you give us some stats… ~ how many hours… what equipment used. little faqs. Like did you even drive the RV?

    • Ian says:

      Hey thanks! How many hours? Whew. No idea. Lots, but not an insane amount. A lot of the 3d models were either thrown together quickly, or borrowed from abandoned projects, and for most of the stuff it’s surprising how quickly it can be pumped out if you have a good idea in mind of what you’re going for.
      Everything was done for basically as cheap as possible. Little pocket audio recorder, t2i canon camera, and lighting with 5 dollar clamp lights. Scott made a dolly out of PVC pipe and some skateboard wheels that ended up working great!
      Nope, the RV never actually moved anywhere :D.

  4. Tadd says:

    Wow! The professional quality of this is just .. OUTSTANDING. If you’re not snagged for something large budget soon I’d be surprised.

    With that said there was something about how the story unfolded – or didn’t unfold – that seemed to bug me. Lack of any closure on any level is in itself flustering. You’re left with pretty much a “What did I just watch?” feeling. It looked outstanding and the acting was impressive in itself.

    In the end I thought it was well done. Not “for a no budget”, but as a film. This stands toe to toe with anything I’ve scene any other indie folk pulling together.

  5. Manuel L says:

    Im blown away!
    Incredible film which makes me look forward to Mango with even higher expectations :D

    Audio design is also beautiful :)

  6. Mark says:

    VERY COOL!!!!!!

    Wanted see more!

    Well done! I hope Mango is like this style!

  7. comeinandburn says:

    Wow, wow wow!! That is some incredible work!

    So glad to see Ian will be working on Mango… people are really going to stand up and pay attention to Blender once Mango’s finished.

    can’t wait!!

  8. Antoine says:

    This is an awesome movie. Effects are great. The story is super mega weird (wich I love). The only imperfection is, for me, the flying birdy creatures whom are a bit too squary.

    I’m glade Mr Hubert is in that blender team !

    Have a good day guys !

  9. Defaultsound says:

    This was a great watch. One question. Does anyone know if the hat robot taking pictures was CG or a prop? either way it looked great.

  10. Jon N/A says:

    That was really fun to watch. I love the noir-robot-photographer :D , I thought that robot was gonna be in the Mango Project …Seeing how it was in the gallery… I also like how Ian’s character [Who reminds me of Fry from Futurama ;) ] says: “Huh… It’s probably just a zombie” :)
    Really looking forward to the next episode!

    Will you act in the Project Mango as well Ian?

    There was one thing I didn’t understand though… I didn’t understand what happened after the secret agent pushed a button on his gadget…I figured two guys died by bullets… I figure one of them was the detective we saw earlier but, I don’t know who the second one was.. Was it a zombie? I also didn’t make out whether the Robot was destroyed as well or not…

  11. Taryn Fox says:

    Just out of curiosity, is there any way to subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed? >.>; I want to get regular updates …

  12. Rafster says:

    I really hope that this is NOT representative of what’s to come for Mango. Am I the only one that is unimpressed by this?? Zero budget is absolutely NO excuse for failing to entertain.

    It is my opinion that the two most important things in film-making are script and cast. The production value (vfx effects, cinematography/lighting, art direction, sound & music) is okay in this film, but that ALWAYS comes third to script and cast.

    First, it fails in script, or in the writing. In short, it’s boring! No one cares! The audience does NOT in anyway identify with the protagonist, or cares about him. And the dialog (super intelligence agency????) isn’t in anyway engaging. No one cares about the visual effects if the story doesn’t cause laughter, sadness, suspense, surprise, fear, etc. Less important, but still degrades the production value, is that the spaceship moves in a very cartoon-ish way: there is no way that an object with that mass can accelerate that fast in real life. One thing that gets ignored in visual effects is to make an object MOVE in a believable way. And by the way, is it even needed?

    Second, it is miscast. I’m sure that the gal is really nice in real life, but this is show business!! She doesn’t have that ‘star’ quality that makes me fall in love with her. Also, there is no ‘magic’ between the male and female actors in the motor-home, so the sexual tension gauge ‘joke’ doesn’t work well. And the agent and detective are way too young and inexperienced looking to be believable in those roles. I’ve seen this in some student films, where everyone in the film is 23 years old regardless of what role they played.

    In the end, is the concept that creative? Does it hold my interest? Is there an overall beautiful ‘look’ to it? Do I feel ANYTHING for the cast? I know these questions are very subjective, but if I’m really honest with myself, the answer is no.

    I heard someone say that the biggest obstacle for independent filmmakers is NOT money, talent, equipment, or distribution. It is creating a film that someone will want to watch. But I think it is coming up with a script for a film that someone will want to watch.

    • efflux says:

      Rafster, I tend to agree. Yes, it’s great that people can make movies like this on low budget but how many people care about this?

      Another point that I think is important. Too many movies have been made potraying a totally dystopian type future world. Best to avoid this.

      As fas as story telling is concerned, both Big Buck Bunny and Sintel had stories that meant something. Sintel in particular had a story with quite a bit of emotional impact at the end. Pretty amazing achievement in my opinion. Don’t let the new project stray away from this.

    • horace says:

      miscast? :)
      i think the girl was great.
      what are those “star” qualities you are talking about? :p

      i didn’t really get what it was about (so i understand critics about the story) but i found some of the individual scenes very well done and funny. ian looks like he is 16 years old. :) i don’t get why some people always must be so negative.

    • Manuel L says:

      YOU not beeing entertained is no reason to judge the movie that subjectively. I really, really enjoyed it, its a piece of art and i dont expect everyone to be entertained, but no reason to hate.
      Mango will be of course completely different, but the compositing, shots, cg elements (some where really convincing, e.g. that flying camera officer) the overall mood and of course the audio design.
      I would LOVE to watch another episode of this.

      @Ian&Scott: Great work and im sure Ian will do an ever better one on Mango.

  13. efflux says:

    Just another point about creating movies with stories. I suggest this is THE most important part of any movie making process. I suggest that anybody involved in this looks at Jospeh Campbell who has written extensively on Myths. George Lucas was particularly influenced by him. Star Wars has remained a popular movie not simply because of big budget and effects.

  14. Fincky says:

    It’s simply too dark but you can find some good stuff in this short.

  15. Alex B says:

    …I don’t understand the story plot at all….but the 3D elements are well done.

  16. ton says:

    I deeply respect filmers who dare to work on their crazy things, finish it and boldly present it to audiences. It’s thanks to creative makers like Ian Hubert that people get inspired to work on film too. Hollow remarks about story or scripts only resonate a short while but won’t lead to anything.
    Real film makers know how complicated it is, and how hard it is to separate out single aspects (story, or casting) as crucial success factors. It’s everything, it’s all the elements that together make something much bigger, a nearly magical process of growth and learning.

    My lesson: the only and THE most important thing of film making is finishing it! :)

  17. Finky says:

    Ton: Makers, makers, come on! It doesn’t mean that they are good to do it or have to do it.
    Internet gives these incredible idea that everyone can do movie.
    Who cares if someone finishes something ugly, pointless, nonsense?

    These guys can do what they want but until the moment you ask for donation, you have an extra effort to do than finishing a “movie”. I don’t speak for BF, it’s just a response to your “motto”. ;)

    Best success with Mango!

  18. aran says:

    “Hollow comments about script & story”, cmon! shorts or movies with lowsy script and or story are hollow and don’t last, there’s hundreds of thousands of shorts created by film makers all the time and that are not propped up with cheap 3D and effects, they last no time, those with decent story and script become favourites and last far longer.

    Take the 3D and effects from this short and what is left? If Mango takes same attitude then what hope?

  19. Hubberthus says:

    Come on people, there was a post not long ago in which they showed that they are thinking of an interesting story.
    You act like you haven’t seen any of the Blender open movies. Even the first one had an interesting message, even though AFAIK in that short they really didn’t care that much about the story.
    Here’s a short movie that was made with no budget just for fun, presents excellent 3D stuff (just look at the comment who asked if the hat was a prop or rendered), and the thing you can do is troll about the story and cast.
    Yes, they know about scripts. Sintel?

  20. Colin Levy says:

    I’ve watched this three times now, from beginning to end. I love it! I’m totally captivated by its tone. Great bold filmmaking choices. I wish I was more like Ian! :P

    –Colin

  21. Great job! I like the style but I didn’t get the story. Since it looks like there are going to be a couple of more episodes I’ll just wait for the next one.

  22. Roundabout says:

    Optimal work Ian. I’ve seen the short several times as well. Enjoyed every viewing. Your cinematic style is similar to that of Terry Gilliam’s. Of which I’m a big fan. Looking foward to future episodes/works, including the Mango film.

  23. Payton says:

    What audio recorder did you use? And I am interested to know what you used for compositing. Blender node? External? And great work!

  24. saul says:

    I really like it. there were a few scenes that needed a bit more work but this is very impressive considering this is a very low budget short film.

    Can you tell me what kind of camera did you use? Did you used
    DSLR? and what did you use for sound?

  25. I watched this movie all the way through, and I can verify that it was actually from the future, or the past.
    The lighting looked like it was from a comic book, and although it wasn’t in 3D, it was pretty fun and exciting.
    I understood the story and if I’d had more legs, I’d have shot the bats myself.

  26. Joris says:

    Really nice shortfilm…looking forward to the next episode.
    The atmosphere in the film is amazing, and I really like the music in the film, in fact I’m listening to the album of Soren Laulainen now.
    Great work, now we’re sure that Mango is going to be great =)

  27. J.Y.Amihud says:

    NIce job. I so like good job. I enjoe to see Ian inside this movie. And I hed interesting to see Ian Hubert is finaly look’s series. Ok…

    I actualy guess what this somehow paranoick story but I’ll IT’S GENIUSS (how you did it?)

    I saw one little throble in acting, but it’s OK…