This is my latest short film. It was shot with $600 dollars in four days. This was the hardest movie I have ever made to date. The reason I made this film was to put myself in the worst conditions and locations possible to see if I was able to create a well made movie all by myself. For over 14 years I been making short films and always have done everything myself: from writing and directing to camera, lighting and even buttoning my actors for the scene! This film is a test movie were I needed to put my skills to the test and practice with all my new toys: camera, props, make up skills, lighting... just to get ready for my upcoming feature length movie.
I was very please with the end results and learned so much in this little short. I learned in this film as much as in my 14 years as a filmmaker to be honest. It was like taking a crash course on tech stuff on a film set. All my career has been about polishing my skills as a Creator, Director, Producer, Executive Producer, Writer, Editor and Cinematographer. In this movie I learned / polished all technical aspects like bouncing light, white balance, sound mixing, digital effects and much more. There are technicalities in the movie that bug me but I do not frustrate much because this movie was made for learning and becoming a PROFESSIONAL ONE MAN ARMY which was the goal so my feature length looks and feels like a film shot in Hollywood.
My cast was amazing and many of them will be part of my upcoming projects and my feature length. I thank them for their collaboration and I'm sure they are happy with the results.
The original version of this movie was about 25mins long but I did four cuts and left it at 9mins. The long version was all about the set up were the main characters discussed life, religion and politics. The reason I took all that out is because I realized that this was a ZOMBIE movie and not a WAR movie. People clicked play to see zombies and not the dramas of our civilization. In a good horror short people want to see the horror soon or they will tune out.
I will be entering this short to many contests and festivals. Also there will be a Grindhouse trailer were fans can see completely new scenes and shots not used in the short all done with a different style and visual apporach. There will be a DVD made soon packed with goodies like bloopers, behind the scenes and much more.
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DURING THE VIETNAM WAR A PLATOON DECIDES TO MAKE SNUFF FILMS
written, edited, shot, produced and directed by
MICHAEL RAMOVA
starring
JIA LI WANG
MICHAEL SHEPHERD JORDAN
STEVE OSBORNE
CRISTIAN DIOR CREASY
FRANK R. SJODIN
ADAM SIMON
ELLIOT TAESOON
music by
YAYA RUTH
REMI DESROQUES
MICHAEL RAMOVA
