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Gremlins Fan Sequence by Sacha Feiner from Sacha Feiner on Vimeo.

deadline: july 10th, 2008

WHAT IS IT?

In the middle of the movie Gremlins 2, there is a sequence where the film seems to break, and where the gremlins invade the projection booth. In the VHS edition in the early 90's, director Joe Dante managed to reshoot a special sequence where the VHS tape seemed to be torn apart and in which the gremlins invaded a John Wayne movie. The DVD just kept the original theatrical version. Today I decided to make an alternate 5 minutes sequence for the DVD.

WHAT IS THE CONCEPT?

The idea is to have the gremlins invade various classical movies with INTERACTIONS in the original action. The Exorcist famous "moving furniture" scene, Tim Burton's Batman, The Goonies, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Them! are among the planned films.

HOW IS IT MADE?

The creatures effects are all made with puppets. A new mold has been made out of a hard cast of one of the original sculptures from the production. A batch of new foam puppets has been created especially for this project. Their performances are enhanced by computer effects, which makes them able to do nearly anything, from running to jumping or facial expressions. The entire shooting takes place in a bluescreen studio, in order to superimpose the gremlins in the chosen movies.

WHY THIS PROJECT?

I have been a gremlins fan since I saw the first movie as a kid and it has always been my dream to be part of such a project. I own one of the largest Gremlins collections in the world, including thousands of merchandising products and original screen-used props. I am truly passionated with these creatures, as well as with special effects and I am just happy to do it. I don't really wait for feedbacks; the reward is already in the creation. Indeed, today I am lucky enough to be able to afford the whole making of something like this, entirely produced and directed by me.

HOW LONG AND HOW MUCH?

I know and am able to produce many special effects techniques and try to be as efficient as I can be. The project is well planned and the shooting and compositing period will be as short as six weeks. The deadline I decided is July 10th, 2008. This is a fan, non profit project. I do everything alone, from the filming to the compositing. I only have assistants for the puppeteering. The overall budget, including the purchasing of the original sculpture, the HD and studio equipment, the molding and painting of the puppets and the editing, is about US $3000. This is also an answer to something Joe Dante said in an interview, when the journalist asked why they did not shoot any new alternate sequence for the DVD edition: "I guess there was no budget"! Indeed, the purpose is also to show that it is possible to render a professional, fun and well done sequence for... nearly nothing.

Sacha Feiner's WORLD IN PROGRESS - EPISODE 1 - MECHAS

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