MODERN TIMES: Kubrick/Scott lovechild

[Larry Young]

I loved this:

MODERN TIMES on Vimeo

Just amazing what you can do with a green sheet and a computer, nowadays.

 

[CTF]

It's nice to know that 35mm hasn't gone the way of the Dodo in that future.

I love the use of 3863827, too.

Thanks for the link!

 

[Larry Young]

I think it's the most beautiful three minutes I've ever seen on the Internet.

 

[Betamin]

That was pretty cool.

 

[Larry Young]

There's just nothing I didn't love about it: the bored worker with the organic apple and print book ("The Making of 2001," no less!) and homespun knit hat surrounded by cold technology; the set design; the blank, expressionless future workers whose only joy is silent film comedy; and the meta-commentary of a film being used to make the point that film brings joy to people...

...all in three minutes without a human bit of dialogue. This guy is a genius.

 

[nickytea]

I keep telling people Chaplin ain't going anywhere. Between this and the reference in Tron Legacy, I think the old boy is safe for the next hundred years as he was for the first.

 

[JunkSabers1138]

Wow, that was cool. I loved it!

 

[Larry Young]

Hey, I try not to waste people's time when I post something.

 

[CessnaDriver]

This is the kind of thing that makes me continue to think that Sci Fi could have a bold new era on screen someday. I've thought that for years, and I hope we are close now.

The tools to breath the necessary worlds to life are at the fingertips now of a potential new generation of story telling masters. If they exist, I think they do.

To tackle things that major studios would never touch and maybe even compete with them at times.

Even if it remains a niche market for the quality Sci Fi inclined, cheap digital FX could make many small films profitable.

 

[JunkSabers1138]

Also, is it just me, or did this short remind me a bit of the Abrams Trek-verse? Set design, lens-flares, etc... Seems 23rd Century citizens go to the MOON on the weekends to watch classic silent films in High Definition!

 

[Larry Young]

I cannot believe RPF-assembled is not jizzing over this short. I've been getting an email a day about this and I had nothing to do with it.

 

[Amish Trooper]

I cannot believe RPF-assembled is not jizzing over this short. I've been getting an email a day about this and I had nothing to do with it.

Bwahaha you said jizzing. It was a great short. Would like to see more from him.

 

[terryr]

It's all right.

His name, Lowell, and the shot out the window is from Silent Running.

The moonbuggy seemed to have the name Capricorn One.

 

[IndyFanChuck]

I may have to change my pants. That was AMAZING. Is there any info on how they made that?

I want to cry. Just KNOWING that we could have Star Trek that looks THAT good.

Man, I wish they would reboot Star Trek. Get some awesome movies going. With a new cast and a new ship and new actors.

Maybe they can reboot Star Wars too! Make it fun !:angel

 

[Larry Young]

It was a great short. Would like to see more from him.

Except for the people, that's all green-screen and computers. "It's all right" doesn't even cover that, you Philistines.

 

[Larry Young]

His name, Lowell, and the shot out the window is from Silent Running.

Dude, that's not the half of it. The entire thing has a nod to some SF movie or another. You saw he's reading THE MAKING OF 2001 at the end, yeah? Not to mention the imdb codes all over the thing.

 

[Wes R]

I'm impressed and I agree. How can someone with what I'm guessing is a small budget make something like this yet the studios and scifi turn out badly CGI'd dog poo. They should just give this guy a station of his own to make movies for.

 

[SSgt Burton]

Also, is it just me, or did this short remind me a bit of the Abrams Trek-verse?

No. This was good.

Dude, that's not the half of it. The entire thing has a nod to some SF movie or another.

The computer sounds at the beginning are lifted from the MU-TH-UR computer in "ALIEN".

Any others?


Kevin

 

[Larry Young]

Any others?

Well, front and center is the title of the piece, which is also the name of the Chaplin movie he's projecting. TT000417 (on the side of the United Earth [Star Trek] station) is the imdb number for Le Voyage Dans la Lune, while TT0077294 on the side of the abandoned Space: 1999 six-wheeler is the imdb number for Capricorn One.

In addition to the Weylan-Yutani stuff, the Star Wars garbage compactor, and the Silent Running nods already mentioned.

If you want to go thematically, you could make the case his knit cap is a wink at Ma Cobb's hat, and forget that the Chaplin "Modern Times" is echoed in the story in that the Chaplin flick is about a bored upper-class in an overly-technologized society.

Honestly, I've enjoyed this short more than most theatrical films I've seen in the last five years. It's incredibly rich.

 

[nickytea]

That's why I'm not running out to buy the Modern Times Criterion Blu Ray ... I'm waiting for the MOON RAY.