By Jason Apuzzo. There are a lot of independent film projects we’re hearing about all the time here at LFM. Something we wanted to show you today, during this extended Fourth of July weekend, is a trailer for the forthcoming web series Red Storm. We’ve embedded the trailer for this series above.
The filmmakers keep things mysterious, but the series appears to have as its premise a scenario that seems straight out of the new Red Dawn film, coming this fall from MGM. Some sort of massive occupying force – Chinese communist? Russian fascist? – invades and occupies America, and a hearty band of freedom fighter-rebels fight back.
It’s interesting, of course, that this sort of invasion anxiety is reappearing in American filmmaking, as we’ve discussed previously.
The imagery used in the trailer is effective, ominous and compelling. Marching armies (Chinese? North Korean?) … nuclear testing … the protestor stopping the tank in Tiananmen Square … the 9/11-style imagery of a crumbing building, shattered by explosions, raining debris on cars below … with those cars being passed by what look to be Chinese tanks.
The narration says it all:
“We thought we were indestructible. We thought we were secure … Our goal is to take back what was taken by the enemy … This country, my country – once a beacon for the world, now a war zone.”
The visual FX shots appear quite ambitious for a web series. The driving, ominous music complete the package for what looks to be an exciting – and potentially provocative – web series. I’m certainly looking forward to it, as it looks to potentially be on a par with other provocative web series like Living with the Infidels, Grass Roots, or Gemini Rising. If Red Storm’s team marries their strong production values with risky political content, they could really have a winner.
Chinese invaders?
We wish the filmmakers the best on this project. One of the things that’s happening of late is that the software associated with high-end VFX is becoming cheaper and cheaper, and so independent filmmakers are able to imagine much more ambitious storylines than ever before. Red Storm appears to be an example of that – and we’ve got lots more examples we’ll be showing in weeks to come. Stay tuned for some great stuff ahead …
Posted on July 5th, 2010 at 5:38pm.
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Whoa..that looks good. I can’t tell from the tank though if that’s Chinese? The cgi looks pretty snazzy for a webisode. It surpising how tight this stuff is looking on a low budget these days.
Thanks for commenting, Surfer. Yes, it’s impressive what people are doing out there right now.
I like the atmosphere of menace and paranoia that they conjure up. If you look at it closely it’s actually only a few CGI shots interspersed with video footage of some guys running around with prop guns, but it shows you what you can do if you make the effort.
And then, there’s this: http://www.declarationentertainment.com/
Which seems to be approaching the right POV indy film from the other direction.
Whatever happens, someone needs to sit these people down and explain the rudiments of writing and why Christian indy films for the most part remain mediocre to poor. Just do good movies, guys. The “message” will come through automatically because your basic worldview doesn’t suck.
Something Scott Nehring covers in his book: http://www.youarewhatyousee.com/resources/e-store/
Looks like boring crap.
As opposed to exciting crap?
Hey Jason, I just want to say that everything I’ve been hearing from every other movie site says that Red Dawn has been put on hold. The film is pretty much finished and all, but MGM is going bankrupt, and they don’t have the ability to release it. So we might not see it any time soon.
Thanks, Stephen. I’ve spoken to an MGM executive about it. The situation is a little more complicated than what’s being reported. Suffice it to say that one way or another the film will get released, because whoever ends up owning MGM will need to make money off all the product still in their pipeline.
I thought this was kind of fun. Not earthshaking, but the effects are pretty good for a web serial. And there does seem to be some kind of anti-Chinese Communist message.
This looks incredibly good for something done on a low budget, that’s all I can say. They convey a sense of scale and drama that is impressive.