Filmmaker Zachary Hadden's visit to this year's BareBones Film Festival provided some feedback on entertaining independent films in his opening night review. Two movies that were suitable for a general audience became the subject of Hadden's reviews during his follow-up film festival visit. He was kind enough to permit me to share his film festival report on Pendragon and a short film, Leave Me:
It was another great Sunday afternoon at the 10th annual BareBones Film Festival. There was a lively crowd that showed up for a great family feature film called Pendragon. Though this was not their debut, it was still well received and attended. Pendragon is a story of an ancient regal warrior of Britton whose is called by God to defeat the Saxons. After his death and the Saxons still undefeated, his son inherits his father’s mission.
Treachery ensues the young man as he becomes the hope of all Brittons. Through twisting plots and unraveling schemes, God makes a way for Artos to not only defeat the Saxons but opens the door to bring faith to his people. The history of the film-making of Pendragon began in the backyard with two teenagers who wanted to film their sword fight. Creative ideas began to flow and before you knew it they had a movie. Nathan Ashton, one of the only known ADR/Foley artists in Oklahoma and member of our Oklahoma Movie Maker Yahoo group, was on hand to answer questions following the presentation.
Nathan was hired to reproduce all the sound for Pendragon. Did I say all??? Yep. Every clanking sword, every rustling cloth, every hoof pounding the dirt was done by Nathan. When the film began production it took 3 years to get the finished product. When dealing with young actors who are constantly aging and voices changing, the project had to be shot 3 times before they got it right. Initially they started the shoot in standard 720 resolution but changed to HD later on.
2 cameras were used speeding at 30fps. A cinematographer was hired for the last shoot and the quality was exceptional. A very wise step if you can afford it. Total budget was $110,000. Overall it was an enjoyable movie and and received a great audience response. The producers are currently looking at all distribution avenues. On a side note Nathan also assisted in post sound and his wife Lydia crafted the score for Ryan Dunlap's recent award winning short called Leave Me.
Those just catching on to Barebones Film Festival can visit the website to get event information and movie schedules.
Wishing everyone a great week!
Zachary Hadden
(Zachary Hadden directing on location)
Zachary Hadden’s recent projects include The Deville Witch and Why I Love Tulsa
What movies have YOU seen at film festivals?
Leave your comments below!
Technorati Tags: Bare+Bones+Film+Festival, Bare+Bones+Film+Festival+reviews, film+festival+reviews, film+festival+movie+reviews, Bare+Bones+movie+reviews, Bare+Bones+reviews, Bare+Bones+2009+film+festival, Bare+Bones+2009, Bare+Bones+festival, movie+reviews, Pendragon+BareBones+film+festival, Pendragon+film+festival, Pendragon+review, Pendragon+movie+review, Pendragon+movie, Pendragon+film, Pendragon+film+review