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The Project
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Sex, Love & Z-Parts I will try to the best of my abilities to give you a clear and concise understanding of the aforementioned project, but it must be communicated that this is a large idea in my head, and I am probably the only person truly able to explain it to others – from a pedestrian point of view; but I am still a writer/director so please humor me if I digress... Sex, Love & Z-Parts is not a film. It is technically two films - a feature and a short - that combine to create the narrative that is Sex, Love & Z – Parts. Sex-Love, the short and the feature, was created to fulfill the mission of Big Hit Productions and thus to truly appreciate this project you need to have a firm understanding of Big Hit Productions, so I would encourage you to seek out that page first and then return here. Ok so, if you have done as I have asked you have a fundamental understand of what Big Hit Productions is and how we intend to distinguish ourselves from the rest of the filmmakers on the planet. You understand not only why the company is named Big Hit Productions but how the mission of BHP directly affects Sex, Love & Z-Parts. But you are no closer to this idea. Well, here we go... The Foundation: In the film theory section of the website you will find a thesis written by myself entitled “Cure the invisible”. As much as I would encourage you to become at least vaguely familiar with the document, I am aware of its penchant for $10 words and verbose thoughts. All that you really need to understand to move forward is that I, Marcus D. Russell, believe that Generation X is categorically different from all of the generations that have preceded it. While I can prove this statistically and demographically, I am in actuality referring to their relationship with “the image”. The image is the stylized commercial, or music video, or blockbuster film. It is a pseudo-critical studies umbrella term to describe the influence and appearance of the new media. In the thesis it is my supposition that there is a new sub-genre in American Independent film, and that sub-genre is Gen X film. Though it is not visible or recognizable to any large extent by the non-critical audience, I do believe that there have been a number of films released in the last 10 or so years that have these Gen X attributes. This is important because the challenge indirectly levied by the thesis is to create a film along the lines discussed in the thesis (absence of parental, issues with long term monogamous relationships) in an attempt to populate the genre. Ok... this is where it gets out there. So if you have familiarized yourself with what BHP is, then you are aware that visual style and high production values are non-negotiable. As founders, Scott and I believe that if we are to have any success in reclaiming the mighty throne that we believe independent film once occupied, then it must have high production values. Again, if this seems like a far reaching statement or a wide generalization, I would encourage you to visit the Big Hit Productions link, and familiarize yourself with the tenets of BHP. So the goal of the short and the feature is to use the emulative aspect of the festival circuit and the industry as a whole to create subjectivity for generation X. The basic idea is... that if SLZ were to screen at a number of festivals and perform reasonably well, that filmmakers would directly and indirectly create visual looks and narrative reminiscent of SLZ. In a situation such as this, the American independent cinema would very quickly be populated with characters that embody (at least demographically if not through character description) the needs, wants and desires of Generation X. That is the goal of this project, to entice them to copy the form and feeling and help the process snowball. In this respect SLZ must be thought of as overly provocative. It must elicit reactions where ever it goes. That is the intention of BHP and of Marcus & Scott. Consequently, BHP is used to radicalize most situations. BHP is a pothead banner. It is an open call to invert the paradigm by what ever means the filmmakers see fit. Sex-Love is the control aspect of this relationship. The Entity: The title Sex, Love & Z–Parts is purposely visually and vocally reminiscent of “Sex, Lies & Videotape”. While I am greatly influenced by Mr. Soderbergh’s work, that is not why the film bears such a similar title. "Sex, Lies & Videotape" was the film that ushered in this new movement in independent film. It not only forever changed the trajectory of Sundance as a film festival, but it’s appearance caused the micro cinema movement that gave us "Clerks", "El Mariachi" and my personal favorite "Blood, Guts, Bullets & Octane". I therefore wished to have that type of an impact on the industry. By that I do not mean, people all trying to be like myself and Scott, yet I wish to interject a new dialogue into the discourse and get everyone thinking of what could be... and hopefully they would experiment with it. It’s Creation: Ok, there is a ton of shit going on in this film. That is due to a number of reasons but primarily because we want you to watch the film more than once. There is a limit to how much one can absorb on the initial viewing of Sex-Love. Most are distracted by the profanity, or the plethora of jokes that appear in the film. Please be aware that there is a conscious effort to emulate Hollywood form and indiewood form, only to break from it. Independent film is unfortunately an art form where we tend to only understand films in relation to films we like, or have seen several times. Due to that situation, SLZ is most unclassifiable. It has become the literal “traffic wreck” that Scott and I intended it to be. It is sometimes loved and sometimes hated, but never forgotten. The Deal With The Film: Yeah, we spent a little money. But not for the reasons that you wish to think. First and foremost (especially for you non-filmmaking types), this was not an easier project due to its negative cost. In the festivals and screenings that we have participated in, there was this feeling that Scott & I did not belong, because we had enough money for permits and insurance and an art dept. It really must be understood that we wanted to work with a larger palette; and that we have a very particular reason for shooting a film such as this. Filmmaking has become the defacto pursuit, hobby and intention of young artists today. This coupled with the advent of digital technology has made filmmaking quite accessible to the masses. Faced with this landscape, Big Hit Productions decided to “compete on a professional level”... hence the larger budget. Our aim is to raise $2.5 MM to shoot the feature. In our humble opinion, the prequel indicates that we have a look, and that we have style; but more importantly that we are responsible and can handle the pressures of a larger production. I have personally been known to utter less than flattering things about mini-dv; so that being stated, see if you can follow this logic... If you were to shoot a $4K film that is awesome and swept festivals as far as the eye could see, you are still in no better of a position to raise funding for your feature. You shot your film with a handful of people, most were friends and family. They liked you and they liked your film; you could see the whole production at once, due to its basic and uncomplicated nature. If you as that filmmaker were to secure $2.5 Mil for a feature, you would find yourself in a precarious position. Your feature is 625 times larger than your short. Your five man crew is now 60. You have 5 producers; each of which has their own paper trail. Mistakes are rather costly due to the number of people involved and physical amount of time it takes to get the department heads to agree (all 8 of them). Even the most talented filmmaker will be overwhelmed in this situation. We, therefore, undertook a rather ambitious project so that we could prepare ourselves for feature film production. For This Film We:
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