THE FUTURE OF FILMMAKING
Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh and Graphic
Films announce the SXSW Film Festival Premiere
of their sci-fi epic “Able Edwards” and the arrival
of true Desktop Cinema.
Los Angeles, CA, March 5, 2004 – Never before
seen in the history of movies, "Able Edwards"
is a 90-minute digital feature shot entirely without
sets on a green screen stage for only $30,000.
Every shot contains a digitally manipulated image.
Using consumer grade equipment to achieve big
budget results, “Able Edwards” makes an evolutionary
contribution to the digital revolution by integrating
multiple consumer technologies; digital video,
sophisticated software, faster than ever PC’s,
and fearless experimentation—all in service of
creating a world and bringing it to life.
Background elements photoshopped together are
combined with live action footage in a unique
blend of technological artistry to create the
retro-futuristic world of "Able Edwards".
The footage was edited at home on a Macintosh
G4 with Final Cut Pro editing software and the
composites were achieved using Combustion. Animations
were created in Maya, Flash and 3D Studio Pro,
all of which were also completed on home personal
computers. True Desktop Cinema.
Writer/Director Graham Robertson likens this
concept of Desktop Cinema to the evolution of
desktop publishing in recent years. “Desktop publishing
no longer requires us to rely on print shops because
we can publish virtually anything from our home
computers. Desktop Cinema works in the same way.
Any person with a video camera and editing software
can produce a complete, high-end film project.
Filmmakers are no longer held back by the lack
of money, crew, or a studio.”
Premiering in competition at the SXSW Film Festival,
“Able Edwards” is the story of the clone of a
famous entertainment mogul who is created to revive
the glory days of his deceased predecessor’s corporation.
In the process of restoring reality entertainment
to a synthetic, virtual world, the clone realizes
he has yet to live as his own man.
Francis Ford Coppola once said there would come
a day when some little fat girl from Ohio could
borrow her dad's camcorder and become the next
Mozart of moviemaking. “Able Edwards” is that
little fat girl.
More information on the technical and creative
feats behind “Able Edwards” can be obtained by
visiting the website at http://www.ableedwards.com
or at the SXSW Festival site : http://sxsw.com/film/screenings/...num=1104
Writer/Director: Graham Robertson
Executive Producers: Steven Soderbergh, Jay Hart
and David Mazer
Producers: Scott Bailey and Graham Robertson
|