Pacman as Torture Porn Psycho Thriller
We here at ScribeHQ like our Pacman and like our videos. Combine the two and there’s a whole lot of love going out to the comedy-production group Therefore You.
In the spirit of slash porn hits like Saw and Hostel, Pacman’s now reimagined as a psychological thriller where our hero is in the clutches of evil. His task? Eat power pellets to survive.
Two thumbs up from this side of the Web. Therefore You was kind enough to submit to an interview about how all this came together. Answers below were sent back via email from Directors Patrick Brady and Allyson Schettino and two of the Producers, Victor Reyes and Andrew Hymas.
So tell us about Pacman and the genesis of this film. Did you play it a lot growing up? Where’d the lightbulb go off to satirize it?
First off, the Therefore team would like to thank you for checking out the video and our company. It really means a lot. Every child of the 80’s has played Pac-man. It is just a part of our cultural landscape. The film originated as an inside joke about Darren Aaronofsky adapting Pac-man for the big screen, Requiem for a Dream style. A deadly serious and frightening auteur’s portrayal of a drug dealer taking pills that make him hallucinate. Everyone in Therefore Productions was entertained by the truly horrendous ways studios try to adapt video games into films. It wasn’t until several years later that we realized a Saw-type story would make the funniest possible adaptation of the Pac-man game.
While retro nerd gaming does sell, our take-away was that high quality, well thought out video production gets people’s attention no matter what audience they’re in. That’s the great thing about the Internet and new media. There are so many different audiences craving high quality content, and this kind of distribution makes them accessible.
What was your shooting setup and where did you shoot?
We shot the trailer on the Sony EX3 with a steady cam rig, an on-board monitor for the directors and script supervisor, a 14-foot jib, and an Arri Fresnel 5-light kit (1900 total watts).
We also had the luxury of shooting MOS, so we were able run through the various setups quickly and play out some on-set improvs. The set itself was constructed in our Art Director’s basement.
Production Designer Cameron Romero built the maze set based on the textures of the preexisting basement walls to lend realness to the set and maximize our space. He created wall panels that could fly in and out of shots as necessary to create different maze configurations and save time on setup.
Any special effects tools or plugins in post production? Which ones did you use to achieve what effects?
We used practical effects wherever we could, but we weren’t shy about going into After Effects to refine the visuals.
We used Frischluft’s Fresh Curves plug-ins for color correction and Trapcode’s 3D Stroke and Shine to build the classic maze and give it some glow.
For the ghosts we built and shot a large cloth and styrofoam puppet hanging from a ceiling in front of a greenscreen, and we blew air at it with a reversed vacuum cleaner. We keyed out the puppet and used built-in tools in After Effects to turn that piece of footage into four different-colored ghosts.
We also used Mocha for motion tracking to place the Paccorp logo in the establishing shot of the building, and to put a pretzel decal onto the top part of the oncoming truck in the opening scenes.
The flaring lights in those scenes were also generated in After Effects and motion-tracked into the shots.
How long did it take from conception to shooting to editing? How’d you pay for it or was a labor of love with your time?
It took 2-3 months of work over a span of 18 months. The shoot took place in February ’09, but shortly thereafter much of the Therefore crew got called up to produce an indie feature.
The serious editing effort was delayed until January ’10. The whole project was a labor of love. A majority of the expenses were covered out of pocket. Members of Therefore Productions cooked for the crew on set. Editorial and special effects were done entirely in house.
As of this question it’s been watched a couple hundred thousand times. What were your expectations when you released it and what’s your reaction now?
We knew that of any video project we had produced, this one had better production value, pop culture appeal and broader humor than our previous more random humor films. We thought there was the potential that more people might enjoy it. Beyond that, we had no real expectations and were thrilled at the very immediate response to the trailer. The most surprising reaction is the number of people calling for a feature-length film based on the premise.
We never saw that coming.
After seeing the reaction, does retro nerd gaming sell?
Our focus has always been on making comedy we find funny.
Cinematical.com said of Pacman. “…don’t let the production value of this trailer fool you: this is most definitely a parody.”
We’ve seen that sentiment on many other sites, and that was a big deal because high production value was so crucial to us for the joke. We think that’s what sold a lot of people on Pacman: The Movie Trailer.
Fortunately, the content had a broader appeal which could be the result of retro nerd gaming but may have more to do with nostalgia for Pacman and frustration with modern horror movies like the Saw franchise. We’ve seen Pacman posted on film, video game, horror and comedy sites. Namco even put it on their Pacman Facebook page. So while retro nerd gaming does sell, our take-away was that high quality, well thought out video production gets people’s attention no matter what audience they’re in.
That’s the great thing about the Internet and new media. There are so many different audiences craving high quality content, and this kind of distribution makes them accessible.
Did you have a “purpose” for making this? Ie, create something to bulk up your reel as a production house? Create something that you can bring to brands as a concept?
About Therefore Productions
Visit Therefore Productions to learn more about them. They also have a blog/community site at ThereforeYou.com.
Originally, we didn’t write the trailer with any of that in mind. As the project developed, our producers realized it would be worth our while to make Pacman a big production; pull out all the stops to do the joke justice. In the past year, we’ve done a lot of groundwork to position ourselves as a commercial video production company, and we saw this shoot as an opportunity to create a higher production value project to demonstrate our skill sets and bulk up our reel.
What next for Therefore Productions? What do you want to be doing and where do you see a market for what you want to do? Ie, working with agencies, creating original theatrical work, etc.
We are currently in post-production on another spoof piece, entitled The Multiproduct Commercial. The fake commercial takes cross promotion to the extreme and pairs unlikely products together in ironic and disastrous ways.
Alongside Pacman, this video will serve as a major promo piece for us, emphasizing both our writing and high-end production capabilities.
This year, we have three main goals: 1) work with small to mid-sized companies and agencies, creating smart, comedic video content that will increase their brand awareness; 2) continue to create, promote and perfect our in-house comedic content; and 3) entertain and expand our fan community.
It’s a three-pronged approach that will hopefully lead us to becoming a fully-fledged production company with the flexibility to choose its projects, whether they are theatrical, art-house or commercial.
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