THE PECULIARS | an indie superhero film

[Mr Faktastic]

I want to kickstart a new genre of independent filmmaking!

I'm a young director from Baltimore and this August I'm going to start filming a feature-length independent superhero film. I want to let this thread serve as the “listening post” for the movie so you can all keep up to date with it. We'd like to consider ourselves "pioneers" in the genre of serious low-budget indie superhero films. Sure, Hollywood is great when it comes to a superhero film when they aren’t worried about rebooting something...

This film WILL be successful as an indie film as we try to capitalize on the drought of indie superhero films...or lack thereof. Expect to hear A LOT about this film in the future!

Below is just a 4-minute video clip with some background info on the movie and some the test/concept footage we shot in preparation for this film. I hope you like it.

ALSO! Internet celebrity Amber Lee Ettinger, who was named "The Hottest Woman on the Internet" by E! in 2008 and better known on YouTube as "Obama Girl," has been cast in my movie. She's been tapped to play Felicia Goodwin, the publicist/spokesperson of superhero group.

We are also in talks to secure other internet celebrity and YouTube talent to appear in this film so I will keep you posted in the weeks to come.

Listen guys… I’m only 25 years old and feel I'm just weeks away from filming what I believe is a movie that's going to jump start a new genre low-budget indie filmmaking and inspire others to get out there and be creative.

Oh! I’m really posting here to bring awareness to this project and let this be your guys’ hub here for updates and all that jazz cause I can guarantee you all that you will hear about this film again – but NOT from this thread. Haha!

One last thing. If you like what you see you can always help with our film's fundraiser:
http://www.kickstarter.co...-an-indie-superhero-film

That's about it. Thanks for hearing me out everyone. I'll keep you posted as developments come along. Feel free to ask anything and everything. I'm all ears.

 

[The Jester]

Hope everything goes well dude.

 

[CBGB]

This film WILL be successful as an indie film as we try to capitalize on the drought of indie superhero films...or lack thereof. Expect to hear A LOT about this film in the future!

Keep dreaming, bud.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

good luck with ur film man, i'm aspiring filmmaker myself, hope all goes well.

 

[Mr Faktastic]

Keep dreaming, bud.

Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny.

There's power in positive thinking. Especially if you believe in yourself and what you're doing.

 

[FaT_tONle]

I didn't go through the vid, but from the photos... it's not gonna work IMO. Because they already have super powers, and people don't want to see low budget superhero movies. If you make an indie superhero movie, it has to be like Watchmen or Kick-Ass. Ordinary people that don't have any fantastic abilities. What would a successful indie film in the genre be like? A fictional documentary featuring ordinary people in crappy outfits going out looking for trouble. Have it with a shaky camera and all... don't hire attractive actors either. Make it so that people can actually buy it as legit. That's something we haven't seen yet, and something that can really influence people. Kick-Ass and Watchmen movies failed to grasp the concept. Probably not what you were going for, but please give that a shot before someone else beats you to the punch. It will probably be cheaper to fund too.

 

[dark_b]

why does indie always have to be shaky cam?

 

[FaT_tONle]

Doesn't have to be... in fact, it makes me vomit, but it tells the movie from a first person perspective. And if your stunt work and action is crap, you can mask that.

 

[LegendaryCaleb]

good quality footage...but mimes? lol

 

[Mr Faktastic]

I'm glad this is drumming up some discussion. I promised myself to try not to defend my position much so I'll try to stick to my guns as much as possible.

I believe my film will inspire simply from the fact that I came from nothing and I accomplished something out of that nothing. El Mariachi, Blair Witch Project (also filmed here in Maryland), Paranormal Activity & Clerks were all indie films that were picked up with the intention to be redone with a bigger and better budget -- except the studios that optioned them decided to leave them as-is. I'm not banking on a major studio to pick up my film, but I am banking on the fact that no matter what that I've got a good enough project that will be good as-is for what it is. I believe in my idea, my story, my characters, and my execution. That's all I need.

My point is to go out there and show Hollywood and the rest of the world that for very limited budget I can tell a good story and entertain you at the same time -- for a mere fraction of the cost it takes you to make your movies. People like stories about the little guys who do big things. I represent the little guy -- which is everyone who sits at their computers and read through these forums. I am just like you. I want this project to show the world what people like us -- the little guys -- can do.

OH! I chose mimes because I needed generic "thugs" that I could have be beat up on. I'm an old-school Power Rangers fan (Red Ranger FTW!), so I needed the equivalent of a "Putty Patrol" to help spice up some action, hahaha! t:

The concept footage we literally shot within two hours without any rehearsal or plan I just had them walk around and do stuff -- shot with just one camera that was handheld. I stick by it 100%. Expect a real teaser or trailer sometime around Christmas or New Years. Then you'll see the real footage from the actual film.

If you like what you see then you can help support the project through our fundraiser where we're collecting modest contributions from fans and people who believe in our project and what we're trying to do.

 

[Last Son]

What type of camera are you shooting on? The stills look very good.

 

[GhostPoet]

I'll be honest...i'm tired of superheroes in plain clothes. I want costumes. I think it's sort of the lazy way out to make superhero films in plain clothes. It's more of a challenge to use an actual costume. It's hard to seperate your character from the mass of other heroes when they don't have a costume to create their own personal identity. A traditonal constume CAN be done and done well.

 

[LegendaryCaleb]

What type of camera are you shooting on? The stills look very good.

yeah im curious as well...the shots are amazingly good.
maybe if this does well you can come up with costumes for the characters?

 

[Last Son]

admittedly I haven't watched your test footage, but are your characters going to just have superman's powers spread out? From the stills you have what looks like blue heat vision, and flying.

 

[CBGB]

Here's the deal Mr. Faktastic, you can't get big in Hollywood with nothing to show. You haven't filmed anything (except good looking people looking pretty). All you have here are mimes (an obvious knock-off of the Joker) and some flashy special effects. Nothing shows me that you can make a film that is entertaining, as well as smart, unique, and story-driven. I'm sorry, but if you don't have interesting characters and a good story, your film is going to fail, and so far your movie is 0 for 2.

And it doesn't look like you have a limited budget, you were obviously able to afford a VERY nice camera and a good editing program.

 

[Mr Faktastic]

CBGB, you are now officially the second person who is officially invited to the film's premier in Baltimore next year, LOL!!! Not kidding. Keep it up and I may even provide transportation.

I believe in my story and if you have the patience I say you should definitely stick around for the first teaser or early trailer of the film which should be released this winter. We don't start filming until late August. Everything you have seen so far is just test footage and test effects. ALL nine effects shots from the video were all done in one day... Yeah....when we do the actual film I would definitely hope we spend more time on the effects. After you see something that actually represents the actual film, with dialogue, acting, and polished effects you can judge the film all you want. Shoot, this is the internet after all. "Flame on" all you want, haha! And feel free to! t:

Now to dispel anyone's belief that this film has some great support from on high and I'm using fabulous equipment: the camera I am exclusively using for this project is Canon's Rebel T2i camera. A camera you can buy from Wal-Mart for $900 (with a lens). I specifically chose this over the Canon 7D or 5DmkII ($1,700 and $2,500 respectively...without a lens) because I wanted to use a camera anyone could easily afford for under a grand. Like I said, I want to inspire people to get up off their asses -- especially young filmmakers. I wanted to use a cheap camera on purpose. I like to be able to say I did that.

As far as costumes go we really didn't have a budget to get elaborate with them and personally it wouldn't fit the world I created. What's funny though is that the cast bring up superhero costumes every now and then.

Superpowers...

There's a speedster (like flash or quicksilver), a teleporter (like night crawler), and a..."flyer" (like superman...w/o the strength). And then there is a wizard... He's the most mundane of the group but he can cast spells (elemental) OR drink a potion which can give him an ability such as the laser beam from his eyes or strength, etc. 'Heat vision' wasn't in the original script until I cast the actor who had one of the scariest, deepest looking stares during our photoshoots.

It started out as a joke where I said "I'm going to have to give you laser eyes!" and eventually made it into the film...still as a joke. Haha, it just goes to show how all we are is a bunch of kids having fun.

Villains...

The only "obvious rip-off of the joker" probably could have been my lead villain. ...Until I cast a woman in the role which gave the character a new dynamic that I rebuilt from the ground up.

Keep in mind that the mimes you see in the concept footage are just a couple friends and my ex-girlfriend. They were just in the footage for the sake of me testing out what the mimes could look like on camera. They aren't representing any specific characters whatsoever.

My original idea for an indie film was to make a "supervillain" movie. And I had an idea for this great supervillain and then I thought of who this villain could fight as the 'antagonists' of the film. That's how I created The Peculiars as a 'super team.' I instead decided to focus on a film about The Peculiars as my first film, which in turn left me with not enough script time to develop four lead characters AND fully develop villain I created. Since I couldn't give the villain justice I decided to hold off that character and filled the script with a generic street gang which then became a terrorist group they had to face. I chose mimes because they are cheap to create and can make a unique, easily recognizable "gang." This is a low budget film after all. I didn't have a villain and then I suddenly had an entire gang of faceless minions I didn't have to worry too much about developing at all. Problem solved.

If I ever do a "sequel" to this movie it would be a supervillain movie and from the perspective of that villain I mentioned earlier. A telekinetic -- totally inspired by Magneto from the scene from X3 where he freed Juggernaut, Multiple Man, etc. -- and I've only seen that movie once mind you. Because it was absolutely hard to watch.

...Besides that scene!

 

[CBGB]

Honestly, I hope you surprise me.

 

[Mr Faktastic]

Honestly, I hope you surprise me.

I will.

Just trying to figure out if it's when you come to our premier or when you see me working on the next Fantastic Four movie or some crazy crap like that (don't worry I'm not interested in doing Hollywood, lol).

My dream film is to do a film adaptation of Skies of Arcadia. An awesome RPG for the Dreamcast.

 

[Bunker]

Mimes. Laser eyes. Obama girl.

 

[Mr Faktastic]

^ It is pretty hilarious if you put it that way. I lol'd too.

 

[Carnotaur3]

Mr. Faktastic: It has a nice look. And the effects are fine. But that's all I can really say about the test footage.

What really interests audiences, whether superhero genre or not... is a story. The test footage is nothing but people looking around. Looking around some more. And then some. You want to drum up some interest? Show us the story. Who are these characters (not their powers)? Why should we care about them? What are the mimes' goals? What makes this story different from the rest?

From the clips you show it doesn't seem like you've put that much thought into it (despite the fact that you might have already done that).

A film means nothing without a good story and good characters.

 

[Mr Faktastic]

Many of you guys have raised good and valid points based on story, characters, etc. Like I mentioned before -- I'm one of you guys too -- I know what makes a decent movie. Why else would I make one in my free time?

You're going to have to take the "concept" footage for what it is. Concept footage. Before you learn how to ride a bike you use training wheels and before your favorite comic artist draws a page he sketches it out. Before we tackle this movie we shot some test footage. There's no point to it besides seeing what kind of look the film could have when we start filming next month. *shrug* I put the watermark saying it was concept footage because that's alllll it is.

I have a good story I have good characters and I have a film I'm shooting next month regardless. I won't be posting my script online anytime soon so you'll have to wait for the trailer (sometime this winter) to actually see what the story is about. All I'm saying is that it's about a team of newly-gone-public crime fighters from Baltimore City as they face their first big challenge of taking on a terrorist group of dangerously imaginative mimes (also taken from the video...). That's all anyone needs to know about my story right now. We know more about my movie than the Avengers or Captain America movie at this point.

This thread was created to serve as a place to let everyone know about the film and keep you up to date with the latest developments. I'll keep at it.

 

[Alien Anal]

I will keep a positive attitude about this because i am trying to do soemthing similar but it would be a comic not a movie.

But the thing i think i am missing is what makes this any different to Heroes or Mutant X, i feel like we still havent heard the "grab you by the balls" part that stands out from the rest other than its going to be cheap..

 

[Mr Faktastic]

I guess the "grab you by the balls" part is that it is being made by people your age without the support of a huge money hose. YOU could do this. YOU could do your comic! WILL do your comic, how about that?

I can't wait to show you guys actual footage and clips from the movie, or the trailer when its done. There isn't much to work off here -- i understand -- but the idea is solid and we're making something that's going to give little guys like us more recognition in this world. We all deserve it.

 

[Sentinel X]

Well many accolades for actually going out there and trying to go big (well as big as you can with a small budget) on your first film. Its easy to say "I want to be a film director" but a lot of people probably never take a their first step and actually try to make a movie that would challenge them. Thats why I'm saving up to get a new camera

Also constructive criticism: The test footage looks good for an indie superhero film but mines? That going to be really tricky because it can easily come across as ridiculous if you dont pull it off right