Posted on 11/18/2010 7:13:26 AM PST by Travis McGee
Film Synopsis: In the tranquil suburb of Excalibur Estates, ART, his wife GWEN, and their CHILDREN lead contented lives. Art cajoles with his neighbors,MERL and LANCE, then spends another quiet evening with his close-knit and loving family. They don’t notice news reports about an odd cosmic anomaly – an unusually bright star and a series of impending gamma-ray flares. Despite these strange warnings, Art prepares for another day at work.
At the office, the routines of daily life are interrupted when breaking news broadcasts a government press conference. Authorities describe recent cosmic activity from a type of super-dense star that has released a burst of gamma rays. This massive electromagnetic storm is heading toward Earth and will affect every part of the planet – disrupting electricity grids, cell phones, and every other modern convenience. As the government declares martial law in urban areas, requests to remain calm go unheeded as everyone in Art’s office panics and flees to get back home before the gamma rays cripple the planet’s infrastructure.
Art and Gwen struggle to get through the dangerously gridlocked traffic to reunite at home. When the catastrophe hits, there is little outward effect – the skies light up as the electricity and all communications are disabled indefinitely. Art and his family provide emotional support to one another, wondering what it is that is happening – some sort of end times? No one knows, but they are resolved to stick together as a family and a community.
The residents of Excalibur Estates awake to a very different world. As they survey their neighborhood, they learn that they must survive in a simpler lifestyle than they’d previously enjoyed. Merl, a former military man who has been prepared for such an event, is stocked up with supplies. The neighborhood falls into contentious chaos, conflicts arising particularly from the antisocial MORRIS. Art becomes an unexpected peacemaker as he takes a stand and gives an impassioned speech – imploring his peers to take charge of this situation and band together to turn their community into one that thrives despite this adversity. Art’s leadership inspires the residents of Excalibur to brainstorm, discuss how to manage their resources, and create their own list of rules for maintaining law and order in a world where those systems have disappeared.
The development buzzes with activity as they pool their skills and supplies, create stockpiles of food to be rationed, work out hunting and gardening systems, develop a defensive perimeter. Soon, they’re having fun and bonding in ways they never did when they were reliant on mindless entertainment – now they’re enjoying each other’s company in a more pure way than ever before.
Their peace is disrupted when they find that Morris has been stealing food. According to their rules, Morris is imprisoned. When he tries to escape, his sentence is lengthened. Meanwhile, Art, Lance, and Merl see a box of Red Cross supplies dropped a few miles away. They arm themselves and venture out. They are ambushed by THUGS but manage to escape, now aware that other neighborhoods haven’t fared as well. When Morris is released, he tries to attack Art’s family. Restraining his desire to kill Morris, Art banishes him from the community. The maligned Morris wanders to another town, run by THUGS. He negotiates his own survival by telling them about the wealth of supplies within Excalibur. These lowlifes send spies, which alerts Art, Merl, Lance, and the others to the possibility of attack. As Morris deceptively fuels the flames of hatred, the thugs arm themselves with makeshift weapons and launch a brutal invasion of Excalibur. Residents fight back to defend the prosperity they’ve built with their own blood, sweat, and tears. As the two villages clash, many good people are lost in the bloody, intense suburban war.
From Panic in the Year Zero to The Road Warrior......
Oh yeah.
25 years ago, when I had only been immersed in computing for a couple of years, a friend and I edited the bitmaps on an Apple ][ game called "Dino Eggs". It then became "Dino Smurfs".
If I had the time, it sure would be fun to alter the "Avatar" vidgame the same way. The grafix are a bit more complex nowadays, though... and at this time in my life, myFreeTime = #NULL.
Thanks for the ping, old FRiend- since I lost the only thing of value to me in this world:
http://www.freedominion.com.pa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=132035
Miss Emily has died
If TEOTW comes, I’ll just stuff a handful of mags in a haversack, pick up that old BAR I used to carry,
and start
walkin’ and talkin’...
Kindest regards to you, and yours.
I hear you man. And I’m so sorry to hear of your unfathomable loss.
I have been wondering how you are doing FRiend!
hugs...
Thank you, Matt- this is the strangest journey I've ever been on. Doing better than I would have thought.
I have been wondering how you are doing FRiend!
hugs...
Thanks- while I started this as what the title suggests:
...even a morbid old cuss like me found it too hard to sustain the premise, so it morphed into "what The Kids ( the two dogs she left me ) and I are up to, day-to-day. Amazingly, over 40,000 people have viewed it.
Thanks!
Hey People,
I am the writer/assistant director/casting director/art director/etc for Remnants. Basically it’s my baby. I wrote the first treatment of the script in late 2006.
I am not a professionals filmmaker, I actually am a user interface designer. I did got to film school in the early 90s, but got caught up in the early days of web design, and made my living there ever since. I wrote the script as a inexpensive way to get back into making movies.
The new technology of Canon Digital SLR cameras, coupled with really fast personal computers, made me think it would be possible to pull this off on a low budget, I mean really low.
We have shot the first 30 minutes of the film for under 10k. Right now we are trying to secure funding to get the whole thing made for 90k or less. If we can pull that off, and keep the quality high, I have no doubt we can make a profit. There are lot of markets to deliver films now, from DVDs, to pay-per-view, to digital downloads.
The story is about as far from liberal Hollywood as you could get. It is actually a metaphor about how the move to socialism and government dependence is taking the country downhill.
The main character and his neighborhood represent the old fashioned ideal of hard work and personal responsibility, while the invading party represents the groups that thinks they are entitled to everything simple by existing. In a personal note, it shows how life might be different if you didn’t have to worry about working 50 hours a week, paying bills, playing video games, etc, and you were able to go back to simpler way of life. Oh and the character of Merl, the war veteran, is actually one of the heroes. His knowledge actually helps save the neighborhood. His is little wary of his neighbors at first, but they all get closer as the work through the situation together.
There is also and allusion to classic tale of King Arthur and the rise and fall of Avalon. I always liked movies that mirrored older works of fiction or movies. Much like Jaws is a retelling of Enemy of the People, or Star Wars a futuristic take on the Hidden Fortress.
The event on that causes the blackout is in part based on real science: (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3351496/Gamma-ray-burst-that-was-heading-for-Earth-detected.html).
The idea that it could be detected a few hours is a bit of a stretch, but it made for a better story. I wanted a scene that mirrored what happened when I was at work during 9/11. Everyone stopping in their tracks to watch the terrible news unfold. I also want to have part of the story where the main character is trying to get home to his family, but it stuck in huge traffic jam.
We are taking a break from shooting till after the holidays. The story takes place over a 9 month period, so it works out fine. Raising the money to finish has been tough for several reasons: This is our first film so we don’t have connections with film investors, and the subject matter is something the more typically liberal orientated film industry shies away from. If we made a movie about how bad America was, or how we are to blame for Islamic Terrorism or global warming, and we would have no problem getting money.
So in the mean time we have setup a Kickerstart page, hoping that maybe presales could help us fund it :http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1761956599/remnants-now-starting-phase-2
Thank you for your interest in our film! It really thrilling to see it connect with so many people.
I can’t even begin to imagine, after my 30 years together with my wife.
Well you sure have achieved a great “look” to what we’ve seen on the trailers. I hope it all comes together for you in the coming year.
“I can’t even begin to imagine, after my 30 years together with my wife.”
Your 30- or my 25 years— is a lifetime to spend with a good woman... like all of us who are Fallen Angels, I did a lot of things I wish I could do over— but one thing I did right?
That last night she was alive, I passed her in the kitchen, and patted her fanny...
And she sez to me,
“Oh, you like that, do you?”
And I sez back,
“Yeah, I like you a lot...”
Next time you pass somebody that you love?
Give ‘em a pat...
Give ‘em a hug or a squeeze...
That Long Night, that waits for all of us, is so very dark, and cold...
Do it- you’ll be glad you did.
On the other hand, railroad communications, centralized traffic control systems, and dispatcher-operated power track switches are likely to be VERY problematical. And that's a MAJOR chunk of our transportation infrastructure that's likely to be nonfunctional at a time when it'd be needed most.
Groan, not this again. Hasn’t anyone heard of Lightening? Nearly all public systems (rail, airports, traffic control, communication, power generation and transmissions, etc.) as well as most private systems are designed against EM interference which is what is transmitted in an EMP. You can thank lightening for that and stop fretting. It’s MSM scare tactics as always.
http://www.freedominion.com.pa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=132035 Miss Emily has died
You have my most sincere condolences, mate. Time changes all things, but in this case I truly wish there had been a bit more time for you.
If TEOTW comes, I’ll just stuff a handful of mags in a haversack, pick up that old BAR I used to carry,
and start
walkin’ and talkin’...
Kindest regards to you, and yours.
Backhoe, I've got a middlin-fair supply of .30 caliber M2 ball around where I'm at, so should it come to that, it's available for your BAR. Though we'll have to pull it out of the Garand clips it's in right now, that'll give us a chance to sit upon the ground and tell sad tales of the Deaths of Kings.
I'll sock away a couple of extra BAR mags as well, just in case you might drop by.
I can’t wait to see it, I’m a post-apocalyptic movie, book and role playing game junky.
Keep 'em handy, you just never know...
Thanks,
After the holidays we will be hard at work on it.
In the next few weeks I will post some behind the scenes videos and send you guys the links.
Not really - you could always do up a couple of coupons.
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