Waaaay back in March of last year, I showed you a trailer for a short film called Lazy Teenage Superheroes, made by young Michael Ashton, for the total of $300. I point out that it looked better -- and more special effects than -- any episode of Heroes, an actual primetime show by one of the major TV networks in America.
Well, Ashton sent me the finished product, and there are two corrections I need to make: 1) it wasn't $300 for the trailer, it was $300 for the entire damn short you see above, and 2) it not only has more and better special effects than Heroes, but better writing and characters, too. It's also better in those categories than The Cape, another primetime, major network show. From what I've heard, it's like better than No Ordinary Family, the other major superhero show, but I haven't seen it personally, so I don't know for certain. At any rate, Lazy Teenage Superheroes is cool, clever, and exceedingly well-made. If I were a TV network executive, I'd call this kid. Or cry. Maybe both.
Well, Ashton sent me the finished product, and there are two corrections I need to make: 1) it wasn't $300 for the trailer, it was $300 for the entire damn short you see above, and 2) it not only has more and better special effects than Heroes, but better writing and characters, too. It's also better in those categories than The Cape, another primetime, major network show. From what I've heard, it's like better than No Ordinary Family, the other major superhero show, but I haven't seen it personally, so I don't know for certain. At any rate, Lazy Teenage Superheroes is cool, clever, and exceedingly well-made. If I were a TV network executive, I'd call this kid. Or cry. Maybe both.
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I had to stop this half way through.
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<i>Heroes</i> looks worse than this? I haven't seen an episode, but I have a hard time believing that. Honestly, the only effect that impressed me at all was the "bending time and space" at the end (which, admittedly, was <i>very</i> impressive); the rest were cheesy in a way that reminded me of those awful fan-made lightsaber duels on YouTube. Even the flashback scenes in <i>Bitch Slap</i> were easier to take seriously. And the camerawork and cinematography were horrible. Look, I get it, they're nerds and it's cool that they made a thing. But to pretend that it's impressive by any standard besides "nerds making things" is, as far as I'm concerned, rather silly. Also, is that the <i>Battlestar Galactica</i> typeface?
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Wow, you can get editing/ compositing software capable of these effects under $300? What software did they use?
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You should check out misfits. It's a british show with 2 seasons so far and it's fantastic when it comes to realistic teenagers being given superpowers
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For a cheaply made home flick yeah it is nice but I hardly see what all the rave is about. I didn't care for any of the characters or dialogue except for a few good lines. To each their own. I wish the creator success in the future.
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How come nobody has mentioned that this is a huge rip-off of the Kick Ass movie? ... How come nobody has mentioned that this is a huge rip-off of the kids in the X-Men movies? ... How come nobody has mentioned that this is a huge rip-off of the ...
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and the makers of Heroes threw away all their cameras, sets, costumes, software, and hell... actors, staff, caterers, editors, directors, producers, vehicles, etc every episode.
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you forgot lunch that one day... adds at least $12.38 from McDonalds.
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Rough night?
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Camera work during fight scenes? Equal to most prime time tv, better than some fights on basic cable. Camera choices during the scene in their house - eh.
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Seriously. At least $412.38 was spent on this, by my calculations. Totally changes everything.
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I didn't really get the bit at the end. I mean, they're about to fight, and the girl stops time, and then it just... ends? What is supposed to have happened after?
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Yes.
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If I do some computer work for you free of charge, you don't factor in the money I spent on hardware, software and training. That's what I bring to the table. So yeah, if you wanted to get a bunch of Bedouin to make this for you, you'd probably have to drop more cash. And the location shoots would be a bitch.
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This isn't a short film, it's a CV, it's not a pilot for a series, it's to show what the creators are capable of while working within a budget. This will never be made into a series, and rightly so, but the people involved will move on to bigger things within the industry, and rightly so.
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That's Kevin Costner's daughter. So, he's done ONE good thing.
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They probably just didn't pay the cast and crew. I could believe they only spent $300 on effects if they had the editing software available and/or downloaded any necessary software. But $300 for props and a filming location isn't that out of the question. Even the green screen they used could have been rented or borrowed.
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Kinda funny how your putting this on par with Heroes.. lol.. Just Count how many videocopilot.net tutorials they used for this... lol... hahahah lame
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Mel has a hot ass.
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Don't get me wrong, I love what they've done, but I just don't believe $300 is accurate.
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Don't get me wrong by questioning the budget above - I myself am working on a 5 minute effects laden short film as we speak er... type. I can't see it. I've spent around 4k and don't even have a any 3d models and paid the actors donuts. There's this attitude that cheaper "shows the man" and that's cool, but its bullshit to claim how little it cost for the attention. I did like what they did btw, blows my stuff out of the water....
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What? like real people? don't think that concept is copyrightable.
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that was a cool film. love how the guys get the bug bot to go out of commision right away. some execs need to buy this film and make it a series like on fx or worse sci fi.
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What?
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How come nobody has mentioned that this is a huge rip-off of the Scott Pilgrim movie? SP is essentially about a lazy teenage superhero who talks and acts just like these guys. It's funny and well made, though.
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Yep.
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Odd. I could have sworn it was the Tron DOg video in the main page. Mustabeenmah imagination. This is kinda cool. I would have blown the 300 dollars on stacks of paper and food, so I'm impressed.
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people will stop defending when you stop behaving like a tool.
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Seriously who cares.... I have taken part in a number of amateur dramatic productions and no one has ever been paid unless they have been hired to provide something we couldn't do with in the group... thats just the way it goes. This looks great and hopefully tv execs are taking notice and these guys get the chance to play with a studio backing them to see what they can produce.
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and this starts to sum up what is wrong with "modern entertainment"...
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This is why I come here. The funny, ha ha shit is great but this is the only site I visit that I would have ever seen this and I'm richer for it and you rock.
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I think we can talk budget - because it's interesting - and offer support at the same time. I fully support the filmmakers and hope to see more from them!
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Heh - I need to check out The Cape. I need to know if it's tolerable cheese or just painful cheese!
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Yes, it's great that people are making films like these, but it's HIGHLY unfair to compare these to network TV shows. First, networks have focus groups (which they pay far more than $300 to hire) to tell them what will and won't "work". Then, the networks further tweak the story and characters so nothing will offend potential sponsors and investors, and then look for product placements. Next, the pilot will be shown to the network executives who only want "hits" and the show will be further tweaked. So, while this guy's 13 minute film is very cool, will it stand up to an hour's time slot on Wednesday night and draw in enough people all over the country to get advertising dollars from GM, Pampers, and Cheerios?
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Heroes cost millions per episode. How many is up to debate. But, that's Hollywood voodoo accounting, which is its own beast. Studios will assign overhead that has nothing to do with a show to a show's budget in order to make their books balance the way they want. If you want to add the cost of camera, and software to the budget of the short, it'd be... hmm, maybe 8K for 13 minutes? That's just a guess. That's without any salary for anyone involved. This isn't a comment on the quality of the short in any way. Just talking numbers.
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stop defending it for the sake of defending it. Its a nice little short sure. But the cost being talked about it false, of course you can claim it was free when you don't pay anyone and use things you had before starting. And Heroes cost millions per episode, but the money does not all go into production values.
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On my first viewing, I enjoyed the effects and I really liked the characters, especially Cal and Melody. But I felt that the story was a little disjointed. I was a little confused about what was going on after a certain point. Still good, but needs some work if they turn this into an internet show or something.
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Heroes cost btwn 2 and 4 million and episode!
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I watched this and was entertained, it wasn't the best thing ever but the fact is I watched it and if these characters appeared in a real TV length type show, I would be excited to watch it Heroes - I got thru the 1st episode and gave up. The Cape - I got thru 10 minutes and gave up, granted I didn't start at the beginning, I saw that it was on and checked it out, and it loooook so bad!
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"3 times as much" So.... $900? Still impressive. Stop hating on it for the sake of hating on it. The fact of the matter is Heroes didn't exactly cost $5000 an episode or something. It's more like $50,000.
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You know you can use the stuff you listed more than once, right?
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that happens all the time on independent short productions like this.
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Totally agreed. The cost is nothing compared to the talent that these creators have. I would prefer to see people offering their support to people rather than looking for a point of contention.
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I love the directing. Kinda reminds me of what Edgar Wright did with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
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When the group turned around to walk away, the bug thing wasn't there anymore.
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So what if it cost more than $300 and they borrowed everything to make it? Still better than the crap on TV being pushed off as superheroes.
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Costs aside, do you really think it looks better than what we see on TV? There are a lot more FX, sure, but the rest of the film? Sound, camera work, quality of image, lighting, etc? Not being snarky, I'm genuinely interested.
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I couldn't agree more, I really did look like Bosnia...
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One of my geeky pet peeves is when my fellow geeks laud a small budget project as being so much better than the crap dished out to us on TV when it really isn't. Please, don't bet me wrong - I applaud the filmmakers for their effort and what they accomplished. But, honestly, claiming the production quality is better than what's on TV is just silly. The FX are groovy, but they're off the shelf FX you can buy. If you want to do something like, say, have a super cape (for God knows what reason) you have to do a LOT more work, and that takes a whole lot of time and money. If you stick to the FX you can buy from Red Giant or other companies, you have to craft your stories around them. We applaud fan efforts because we ourselves are fans, and that's fantastic. But we shouldn't kid ourselves that the vast majority of micro-budget projects are somehow "teaching Hollywood how to do it right." Again, I LOVE the fact that people with passion are making stuff. And seeing one person's vision is always exciting. But lets also keep in mind that if most of what we see was from fans was somehow on TV, we'd be bashing it for its acting, poor cinematography, etc, etc. That's my nerd rant. Thank you.
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Agreed.
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This.
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Why are people bitching about how much it cost to make the video. The point is that it looks so much better than the shows on tv with a much higher budget.
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cant people quit fussing about the cost accuracy and just admit that it was pretty darn cool for a fan made flick?
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See, it's about doing a good job, not about throwing tons of money at the problem and hoping it solves itself. I approve.
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I hate when people claim how cheap they made their short on the Internet when it just isn't true. Yes this cost $300 to make, but they already had the camera they already had the editing software, and effect software. You add in all that and that short all of a sudden costs 3 times that much. It's like claming this pimped out car I have only cost me $300 because I added some ground effects and rims (I know I'm lowballing price here) because I allready owned the car.
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The simple fact is with the right abilities you can make a show like that for next to nothing on your own, but once you get into making it a full show for network or cable TV the costs go up. You have to pay licencing, taxes, union fees, actors salaries, writers, all the crew etc. That makes the price of making a show that looks just like that jump up to way above $300 per 3 Min or so. So break it down and put that show on TV and it will end up being on par with Heroes etc, just because that's how it works in Hollywood. I'm sure if Tim Kring got his ideas and only his ideas on the show episode after episode it would be just as good the entire time as the first 3/4 of season one did, but once you add in a team of writers, and some network people, the quality of the writing goes down. The writing gets worse less people watch it, so less money and the effects get worse. Sadly as good as this may be, it would be sub-heroes by the end of the first arc if it was on TV because Hollywood destroys anything fresh or well thought out. No shows stay good from the start to finish, they either get progressively worse or they get cancelled when they are amazing. Or worse they end up on Fox and then both can happen at the same time.
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do you want an itemized budget? The $300 was probably pizza for the cast and crew. No permits, stuff they already had and free services.
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Software aside, it only cost $300 because the filmmaker was the accountant and he didn't pay himself or anyone else for his or her time.
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This needs to be a show. I immediately love the characters. The lines were just great the humor was excellent. This would be awesome on FX.
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Uh... that looks like it cost 300 dollars.
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That really depends on how you define the budget and what you factor into it. Who knows how many programs, props and/or hardware they had sitting around when they started. What matters is they had much less money than Heroes, The Cape or No Ordinary Family and they managed to kick all of their asses in terms of storytelling and production quality. And to top it off this short barely even has a story and it still manages to be far more entertaining with far superior and more likable characters.
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Actually, had to be more than $300, because they use Action Essentials and Pro Scores from Video Copilot.net. Unless they...ahem....downloaded them illegally. Also, if you factor in the cost of After Effects, a decent computer, and a camera, it was way more than $300.
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Awesome stuff. automatically erased HEROES from memory the moment Electric Baraka showed up. Personal opinion; Won't top MISFITS. Should def be a show on FX.
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Better thought-out than the circus storyline of Heroes...
TotalComments: 64
