Replay: A Short Film by Reynier Molenaar
Ah, the Spirit of Ed Wood lives on!
The two cameras also came in handy for all of the dangerous stunt work, allowing actor and stunt performer Xin Sarith Wuku to do less takes then normally required. For one of the most difficult and ambitious stunts, the script called for Xin (playing “The Runner”) to climb up the side of a three-story building and then jump from one rooftop to another — a distance of about 15 feet. To add to the “crazy-factor,” the production didn’t have permits for the location.
By coordinating with Producer Giovanni Cortez, Reynier was able to position “look-outs” on walkie-talkies around the perimeter, allowing the complex stunt to be choreographed with the performers and cameras operators without, well, getting arrested. Once the “all-clear” was given, the entire scene was shot in 2 long continuous takes. The camera operators repositioned themselves at key moments throughout the scene in order to grab the angles that were storyboarded by the director. In the end, the stunt was performed flawlessly and none of the buildings’ inhabitants ever noticed that a movie had been filmed on the property.
And the Mac connection:
The complexities of shooting Replay were also heightened by the numerous visual effects shots, including green screen work, computer generated imagery (CGI), painting & compositing, and speed retiming effects. All-in-all, Replay has over 40 effect shots and practically every frame in the 6 minute film is digitally enhanced in one way or another. A point of pride for Reynier Molenaar, who handled the effects on the production, is that he was able to complete all of Replay’s post-production work, including the effects, on his low-end eMac (not to be confused with the nicer iMac) desktop computer system.
This would have never been made by people who use PCs. They’d have been refused permission — or had to get $1M in fucking insurance — and would have just dropped the idea.
Go to the site to see the embedded trailer for the movie.
Hey, you guys are good at spreading word around for this. I found out about it from a flier taped to a lamppost a few blocks from McCarren Park in Brooklyn!
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