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George Lucas’ Micro-Budget Short Film: Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138

Electronic Labyrinth: THX-1138 4EB is a 1967 social science-fiction short film written and directed by George Lucas while he attended the University of Southern California’s film school. The short was reworked as the 1971 theatrical feature THX 1138.

Lucas had had an idea for a long time “based on the concept that we live in the future and that you could make a futuristic film using existing stuff”. Fellow USC students Matthew Robbins and Walter Murch had a similar idea which Robbins developed into a short treatment, but Robbins and Murch lost interest in the idea, whereas Lucas was keen to persist.

One of Lucas’ USC instructors suggested an opportunity for Lucas to make the short film that he had in mind: since the 1940s, the USC film school had had a working arrangement with the US Navy, whereby Navy filmmakers attended USC for additional study. Teaching the class was not popular amongst USC staff, as the Navy filmmakers often had rigid, preconceived ideas about filmmaking, and sometimes misbehaved in class. But the Navy paid for unlimited color film, and lab processing costs, for their students. Lucas offered to teach the class and was allowed the opportunity.

The Navy men formed the crew of the film, and some appeared in the cast. Because of the Navy connection, Lucas was able to access filming locations that would not otherwise have been available to him: the USC computer center, a parking lot at UCLA, the Los Angeles International Airport, and the Van Nuys Airport. Much of the filming was done at night, with some at weekends.

The film was completed in 12 weeks, with Lucas editing it on the Moviola at the home of Verna Fields, where he was working during the day editing United States Information Agency films under Fields’ supervision – Wikipedia

Enjoy!

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John Wick Director’s iPhone Action Short Film: Snowbrawl

David Leitch, the director behind John Wick and Deadpool 2 decided to direct an EPIC short film using just an iPhone. The short film is called Snowbrawl and it is REMARKABLE. I wanted to highlight this because it just goes to show you you do not need the latest 8K RED or Arri Alexa to tell a story.

Enjoy the short film.

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Martin Scorsese’s Micro-Budget Short Film: The Big Shave

The Big Shave is a 1967 six-minute short film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is also known as Viet ’67. Peter Bernuth stars as the recipient of the title shave, repeatedly shaving away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene. – Wikipedia

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Guillermo Del Toro’s Micro-Budget Short Film: Geometria

I had the pleasure of meeting Guillermo del Toro on multiple occasions through my journies in Los Angeles. He is by far one of the most down to earth film directors I’ve ever met. He is a certified cinematic genius. From the magical Pan’s Labyrinth to the Oscar-winning Shape of Water Guillermo has proven again and again he is a master storyteller.

That’s why it is fascinating to see how it all started. Guillermo del Toro’s first film Geometria is a 1987 short fantasy horror comedy film written and directed by the master. It is based loosely on Fredric Brown’s short story, Naturally, which was originally published in Beyond Fantasy Fiction and later reprinted in the short story collection Honeymoon in Hell. His micro-budget was under $2000. Enjoy!

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Tim Burton’s Short Film: Hansel and Gretel

For you obscure media fans, here is one of legendary filmmaker Tim Burton’s early efforts in collaboration with The Disney Channel that aired only once on Halloween night in 1983. This is Burton’s unique, twisted, Burtonesque version of the classic Grimm Fairy Tale featuring an all Asian cast. Hansel and Gretel are the two children of a poor toymaker, whose evil stepmother wishes to do away with them to avoid starving.

After being intentionally led away in the woods, they come across a gingerbread house attended to by a bizarre, but seemingly nice old hag with a candy cane nose! (played by the same male actor as the Stepmother) who turns out to have evil designs for our heroes! After the initial airing, Disney Channel execs were so distraught by the frightening subject matter, that they never allowed the film to be shown again.

Thankfully, someone managed to tape it that night, which provides us with this footage.

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Wes Anderson’s Micro-Budget Short Film: Bottle Rocket

Bottle Rocket, which was written by Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson, was the first micro-budget film the accomplished Wes Anderson directed. Screening at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, Bottle Rocket is loved and hated by many people.

You can see the origins of Wes Anderson’s unique directing and storytelling style dripping throughout this film. Enjoy!

Download Wes Anderson’s Screenplay Collection in PDF

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George Lucas’ Rare Micro-Budget Short Film: Filmmaker – A Diary

Even the legendary filmmaker George Lucas had to start somewhere. Filmmaker: A Diary by George Lucas. This 30 min documentary is an intimate portrait of another legend in the film industry Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas filmed and recorded sound for the documentary himself, using an otherwise unutilized 16mm production camera and a Nagra tape recorder from the production.

“Filmmaker remains one of the best documentaries about the production of a movie, as fresh and insightful today as it was in 1968… The thirty-minute film has the fluidity and detail of a written journal coupled with a cinematic sense of movement as the Rain People company goes from location to location” – Dale Pollock, author of Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas

Synopsis:
This remarkable documentary offers a behind the scenes view of how filmmaker George Lucas viewed the filmmaking process when he was an intern working with Francis Ford Coppola on the feature film The Rain People.

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