The guy that got the 30 Mil contract for his 300 dollar movie...

[handsomeharry]

About 3-5 years ago, some guy allegedly got a $30 million dollar contract to direct a movie on the strength of some clip he posted on Youtube. It was a pretty cool movie, about some flying saucers invading San Francisco(?). It had giant robots walking silently by some bridges, then a bunch of saucers flying through the city...but, a. everybody said that it must have cost more than 300 dollars, and b. I never heard of him again, although I wasn't a regular follower.
So, did he ever pan out as anything, or was it just some more of Yahoo's (where I read the story) nonsense?

[Miller]

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow?

[enalzi]

Sounds like District 9 to me.

[Accidental Martyr]

District 9 was based on the short film Alive in Joburg but I didn't see anything about it only costing $300.00 to make.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...live_in_Joburg

[hogarth]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataque_de_P%C3%A1nico!

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by hogarth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataque_de_P%C3%A1nico!

Looks like the guy is working on The Evil Dead now, according to IMDB.

[GuanoLad]

Someone named Hogarth would certainly know their onions about giant robots.

[Enigma42]

Originally Posted by handsomeharry

About 3-5 years ago, some guy allegedly got a $30 million dollar contract to direct a movie on the strength of some clip he posted on Youtube. It was a pretty cool movie, about some flying saucers invading San Francisco(?). It had giant robots walking silently by some bridges, then a bunch of saucers flying through the city...but, a. everybody said that it must have cost more than 300 dollars, and b. I never heard of him again, although I wasn't a regular follower.
So, did he ever pan out as anything, or was it just some more of Yahoo's (where I read the story) nonsense?

The video is pretty cool and it's awesome the creator got some visibility and even work out of it. I have no quibbles with the video itself, but the focus on the supposed $300 budget was ridiculous at the time.

I work in VFX and CGI myself, so I appreciate the film and the quality of Álvarez's work. But heck, every video or film I've ever worked on could be said to have a $0 budget! Sure, if you disregard the time I spent, the time of my colleagues and the actors, the cost of the software, the cost of the computers, the cost of the cameras, the cost of the electricity to run all the equipment during the long renders. . .

Álvarez made this film on the cheap with people volunteering to act in it. But you can't compare the budget of a commercial production with the out-of-pocket expense incurred in a hobby production. I remember someone breathlessly touting 'the end of Hollywood movies!' due to the ability to create a film like this for such a low budget. If this film were created as a commercial venture, everyone would have to be paid and so on and the budget would've been substantially higher.

[handsomeharry]

Hey, guys-thanks for the input.
(I haven't been back online till just now, or I'd have got back with you all sooner.)
Yes, it was Ataque de Pánico! I, too, thought it was pretty cool quality. I was also put in memory of El Mariachi...it was supposedly produced for 8000 dollars. Of course, they didn't mention the 1/4 of a million dollars (or whatever) it cost in post-production.

Thanks again,
hh