There's no shortage of talent in Hollywood, but it's not for geeks. Talent is often available, but weirdness is not always available. Even if there is, it may not be suitable for Hollywood.
Neil Blomkamp, who is known for his "dirty science fiction" in the international film world, is the representative of this kind of geek who is not suitable for Hollywood - even if his famous work [District 9] was completed in Hollywood, it is not a product of Hollywood from its internal logic to its external form.
The ensuing Hollywood encounter, and the fact that he has to organize his own studio to make sci-fi short films to attract investment, make Neil's unsuitability for Hollywood even more obvious.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > couple vs Hollywood</h1>
There are many stars who have braved Hollywood with husband and wife partners. Neil Blomkamp and his wife, Trinity Tacitus, are a lesser-known, and rather high-flying pair.
From four short films ([Tetra Vaal], [Aliens in Johannesburg], [AdicolorYellow] and [Riot Machine]), he was appreciated by Peter Jackson the Bearded and invited to direct Microsoft's flagship video game series Halo.
To the couple's sacrifice of [District 9] to shock the film circle and the world's film fans, to their filming of [Elysium Space] and [Super Chapai] and being "disliked" by Hollywood, the whole process lasted only seven years.
Although seven years is not a short time, if you look at the seven years, they have only handed over three works (and two of them are jokingly called "money losers"), which is already quite a bad mix.
What the Neils have to say about Hollywood begins with Microsoft's million-dollar bid in 2005 when he invited Alex Garland (the dude later directed [Mechanical Ji], previously known as a screenwriter) to write the script for [Halo].
Halo (HALO) protagonist - Sergeant Major John 117
Prior to this, The Neil couple followed the habit of co-writing by husband and wife, and then the husband Neil became a director, starting from Johannesburg, South Africa, making some science fiction short films that look dirty and messy, but are actually closely related to their lives here.
The most well-known of these was the "Aliens of Johannesburg" that was later adapted into the feature film [District 9].
But after the major Hollywood studios saw the script of [Halo], the situation changed.
On the one hand, the major studios rejected Microsoft's demand for absolute control of the film arts and the way the revenue was distributed.
On the one hand, Universal and Fox decided to join forces to create this masterpiece, and their designated director was Peter Jackson, the bearded director known for his "Lord of the Rings" series.
After a game, Microsoft agreed to global sharing of the US domestic box office, Fox to earn overseas box office requirements, while buying Microsoft's copyright for 5 million US dollars, and giving Microsoft a component of the global box office.
On this premise, Microsoft recognized Peter Jackson (in fact, from the very beginning Microsoft identified him).
However, Bearded only signed a contract to co-producer, and after a few glances with Gilmour del Toro, he invited Neil Blomkamp, who has only four short films, to be the director of the film.
The director, who has previously directed flashy and high-profile commercials for brands such as Nike, Adi and Citroën, is also a fan of Halo games. The two hit it off.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fire and ice [district nine].</h1>
In order to make a good start for themselves in Hollywood, Neil and his wife also tried their best.
They realistically created three short films with the theme of [Halo] to test the waters, hoping to see the reaction of the studio and the audience — these three short films, which were later edited by Neil into a seven-minute short film [Halo: Landing] (2007).
For this test, it is now unclear what went wrong, in short, the project has not been able to advance smoothly. To be sure, [Halo: Landing] was affirmed by Microsoft and the big studios.
Staff at Weta Studios (Peter Jackson's special effects studio), who worked on the film, said they had kept the footage used to shoot the short film so that one day the project could be restarted.
"After all," says Nick Barrys, who worked on the project, "all the footage for the short film was made from scratch, and we designed it specifically for it." ”
Before filming, he recalls, Neil had only one requirement, that the location "must be a large piece of land, preferably a landfill, with some buildings in the background." ”
So the final location chosen for [Halo: Landing] was a landfill in Wellington, New Zealand's capital.
But the project ultimately failed to continue. As co-producer, Toro threw himself into the production of Hellboy, and projects such as Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones" also entered the pre-development stage.
Only Neil and his wife were left, dazed and overwhelmed.
Fortunately, Peter Jackson had recommended Neil to TriStar Pictures and encouraged him to adapt [Aliens from Johannesburg] into a feature film — what would become [District 9].
Neil later recalled that after [Halo: Landing] ended, Samsung Pictures' Farran Wasch called him, hoping to bring benefits to each other and to do something together.
"After desperately trying for [Halo: Landing] and finally falling into a trough," Neil said, "I wanted to really prove myself, so I couldn't wait to get involved in [District 9]. ”
This 2009 [District 9] is considered by many media and film critics to be "one of the most outstanding science fiction films of the twenty-first century": its satire on bureaucracy and the media, its sharp portrayal of selfishness and greed, and its revelation of class solidification are rare in other science fiction films.
Even more memorable is the rare "dirty aesthetic" of Neil's films: it has no electric flint and strange light, no rainy nights and neon lights, on the contrary, it is slum-like, with animal-like instincts and wildness.
This extremely personal and stylized work not only allowed Neil to receive four nominations at the Oscars in the coming year, but also established his own film and television aesthetic characteristics within the scope of the international film world - but it is also this advantage that hinders his continued development.
Neil's films, in addition to the remarkable "dirty aesthetic" style, there is also a point that few people notice, that is, the screenwriter who partners with him has always been his wife, Trinity Tacitus.
The reason why the halfway screenwriter can tell the story of [District 9] so well is because this is the living environment that she and her husband have experienced before.
This both made [district 9] a reality and limited her imagination of the wider world.
Therefore, the criticism and satire of American medical care in [Elysium Space] will make many Americans feel childish and ridiculous.
And the "Super Chapai" led by her husband Neil, although it is a story of rock and roll and robots, its external form and internal thinking problems are still routine things.
As outsiders, it is difficult to say that it is the wife's screenwriting ability that limits the future of husband Neil. But what is certain is that without the existing scope of life, neil's imagination is lacking in energy.
[Super Chapai]
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > oat studio</h1>
What forced Neil to finally leave Hollywood was his long-cherished [Alien VI], which was cut off by Ridley Scott: the [Prometheus] series helmed by him had a foundation of red.
So, after a series of disappointments, he and his wife ran away from Hollywood, and in May 2017, he formed Oats Studio, and on June 14, 2017, with the help of Steam, the most popular game distribution platform for home computers, and YouTube, the first short film titled "Volume 1: Rakka" ([Raqqa], 2007) was announced.
So far, Oat Studios has released 12 short films totaling 16 shorts, namely [Raqqa] (21 minutes and 52 seconds), [Cooking with Bill] (the first short film is three minutes, followed by three sequels), [Fire Bunker] (26 minutes and 52 seconds), [God: Galen setti] (3 minutes 53 seconds), [Zygotex] (22 minutes 24 seconds), [Capyne: Fluke] (4 minutes 51 seconds), [Adam: Mirror] (11 minutes and 22 seconds, the second part of the film is released separately, It's 6 minutes and 59 seconds, so it counts as two), [Gdansk] (2 minutes), and [Bad President] with only 45 seconds to preview.
[God: Serengeti]
In November 2017, another 2 minutes and 37 seconds of "Executive" and 9 minutes [Adam: Episode 3] were released, and in 2018, another 3 minutes and 35 seconds of [God: Metropolis] was released.
With the exception of [Kapuyn: Fluke] and [Adam: Mirror], [Adam: Episode III] are pure CG animations (the three pure CGs are still different, the former is an animated effect, the latter two [Adam] are live-action effects), and the other short films have live-action characters.
[Adam: Episode 3]
After these short films were released, after being asked by fans if there would be a sequel, his answer was: "It depends on whether people are willing to watch more content." This sentence is not only a test for fans, but also a test for investors.
After all, this kind of science fiction movie needs tough capital to do the backstage.
So he released it for free, which is a test of the entire market. Fortunately, from the feedback received so far, fans can't wait to see more content.
We seem to have reason to believe that it is time for Neil, known for his "dirty aesthetics," to return to the audience's vision.
For example, the first short film [Raqqa] is a complete continuation of another form of [District 9]. It's just that it's apocalyptic, globalized narrative.
The short film, starring and narrated by Sigour Weaver, is divided into three parts:
The first part, in the form of narration, introduces the tragic encounter between people and the earth after the alien invasion of the earth;
The second part shows human resistance to aliens through the perspectives of madman Nosh and Black Amir;
The third part boils the narrative down to Sigourney's point of view, telling the story of her leading humans to conquer aliens while foretolding the future of humanity through black Amir — but this result is not shown in the film.
[Raqqa] is a conceptually advanced work, the connection between the three parts is very weak, and the narrative is mainly narrated, with the desolation and pathos of the end times, giving people a style of apocalyptic.
A similar style appears in [Adam: Mirror].
The story begins with a short film that uses CG technology to manipulate the robot, which tells the ultimate direction of justice in the apocalyptic world in a philosophical style.
But its narrative is only a few words, and the moment the audience enters the story, it is also the moment when the film ends.
In contrast, [Fire Bunker] and [Zygote Xenomorph] are more stories - although they are both headless and endless stories, the substitution narrative that omits the narration is still more emotional.
For example, [Fire Bunker], which tells the story of a Vietnamese villager who died during the Vietnam War, who lost his family due to grief and anger caused a genetic mutation, had the ability to stealth himself and manipulate foreign objects, and eventually only had bones and nerve veins left.
It's a film that plays with historical elements and is suspected of paying homage to [Predator].
But its concept is too advanced and does not explain the mode of operation at all, making the movie seem a little awkward, but the burn brother recalls that he crossed to the United States, and then found that he was burned in Vietnam, which has a connotation that makes the story more and more full.
In addition, it is the skeleton shape known as the "river god", with a rather amazing visual style, which makes everyone who has seen it unforgettable.
It's also worth mentioning that Dakota Fanning starred in [Zygote Xenomorph]—we, accustomed to Ellie Fanning, seem to have forgotten that she also has a twin sister who once warmed us in the movie.
Among these short films, [Zygote xeno] is the one with the strongest story and the most horror.
In particular, the monster composed of 96 people's bodies chased all the way behind it, which was really frightening.
However, it still does not clearly explain the origin and direction of this story, but uses a narrative in which the monsters are constantly chasing, and still looks at people as confused.
In addition, several short films are not strong in story:
[God: Galen setti] is talking about God watching the people he created actually make fire 20 years in advance, and after a prank with the butler, he killed all the human beings;
[Kapuyen: Fluke] is talking about the brutality and lack of humanity that weapons experts have created today's weapons and used them to experiment with prisoners at will.
There's also a series of short films [Cooking with Bill], which is also a bad joke short film about people eating human organs such as fingers and hair while selling tableware.
Overall, these short films of Oats do not have a substantive plot, and are more in the sale of concepts and special effects.
Neil's purpose is clear: to test the waters of the market (audiences and investors). As for whether we can see a sequel, the key is to see if investors are interested in these things.
However, as far as the current feedback situation is concerned, it seems that we are not far from seeing Neil's feature films, and movies such as [District 10], [Hell], and [The Vanishing World] are already on the way.