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Geek Tyrant
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Dark Comedy Short Film TRAGEDIUM is FARGO Meets INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS — GeekTyrant
Here's a fun short film for you to watch today, a dark comedy titled TRAGEDIUM , which is described as being 'like Fargo meets body snatchers, but with a lot of grace and reference to movies from the 80s and 90s, or series like Amazing Stories , or Tales from the Crypt .' The film comes from director Gastón Haag and it is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the radical indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating. I also included an interview with the director that you can read below!nd its themes. Is it a proof of concept, What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea? The inspiration came from a news story I read in a newspaper, very ridiculous, about a man who found an alien in an apartment and upon seeing it similar to a person who was his partner, he fell in love. Although the short film is not about this, it is based on the crazy idea of aliens disguised as humans, in a ridiculous and funny environment. Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker? I currently live in Bilbao, Basque Country, I am a director who has always been interested in absurd humor and genre, so I decided to mix these things. This year I premiered a series on Latin American Disney Plus and the Dark channel in Spain called "There is something in the forest" is a very retro and vintage anthology, with aliens, killer cars, werewolves, a lot of animatronic and latex. I was also in Sitges with this series and with previous shorts like Superjodidos, or Nada de Nada, comedies of humor and offal. I am currently looking to close my next project, which are two feature films, the short "Superjodidos" and another horror film called Laboratorio 70. What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories? I think that making stories that are far from my daily life is what keeps me alive in some way, I like to play and these stories allow me to do that, enter impossible worlds, and make them real. I really like the characters and creating scenes for them, and I was always a fan of latex, blood and ammiatronics. I am very inspired by music, sometimes it takes me to think about scenes, or watch movies that make me want to tell stories, I also like to observe everything that happens around me, and from there look for possible "what ifs" What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project? What I liked most about this process was working with talented people, who I knew would improve my vision, costumes were incredible, I loved working with Alaia Arde, or for example the art department or my photo director Ernesto Baez, I think He is an export talent, he is truly a genius. But something that I also added to this, because in addition to being a director I am an actor, was playing with the actors that I summoned to this story, when I act for me this is a role-playing game that I invite people to play together and that is what But I have fun and I like teamwork. What are you most proud of with this film? What makes me most proud of this short film is that it turned out exactly as I imagined, or better, I would say better thanks to the people I was able to work with, without them it is impossible. What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you'd like to share? I have several favorite moments from this short, but seeing the "aliens" with their acting, because more than fx we played on the actors' body acting, seeing that, their talent, and how they generated sensations only with their physicality and without much effect more than contact lenses. It was without a doubt one of my favorite moments, as well as the death of my character, I like to die in stories, I find it fun. What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film? I think the biggest challenge of this short film was making it in 1 day and a half, very little time for many shots. If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you'll approach future projects as a result? The short change in many aspects, one was the sound that although I had an idea in my head, the work with the sound department in post production was very fun and very cool. Also the editing by Iñigo, the editor, who added certain things that gave another twist to my original idea. The only thing missing is not having had more budget to make the aliens make the bullies' heads explode, that idea was left in the pipeline, it was just something that would have given the necessary gore touch. So in future projects, just as I was able to do in old projects, I will always try to budget so that gore is a part that is not missing. Luckily in other projects I was able to get the urge. Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other? The actors in this short film are all incredible, I was lucky to be able to work with the people I imagined in the script from the beginning, some I had already worked with before who are very talented and I admire a lot, as is the case of Lander Otaola one of the Huamoid Alines, or Jordi Aguilar, the main thug. But then I was lucky enough to get the urge to call two actors that I had not worked with before, but had tried, as in the case of the super talented Goize Blanco, or the other super talented Aimar Vega. What is the best advice you've ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers? For me, the best advice I received is to always try to do something that I would like to see, to do something that would make me go see a movie or a festival, beyond thinking of a story that the audience would like. If it comes from within you and you are motivated and like it, I think someone will always like it and you will be able to convey to them that genuine thing that led you to write the story. Another piece of advice is, please think about the characters and always give them importance, the films that I like the most are always the ones in which the characters are well presented and each one has their moment. What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward? Now my plan is to be able to film some of my film projects that I have in hand such as Superjodidos, Laboratorio 70 or Sumo de Robots, films that I would really like to see made and see if people like these stories, I think they will Have a great time and I hope you are amazed, because they are crazy and very fun. With Tragedium, what I hope is that it opens the door for me to be able to carry out these projects in the future. For me, the stories I like to tell are the ones where the most important thing is the characters. I think it's cool to explore individuals and oneself, putting ourselves in extreme situations, and playing with the possible scenarios that can arise in situations, whether ridiculous or fun, as well as terrifying and dangerous. I like all movies, but I like to make the entertaining ones, the ones that take you out of your routine a bit and make you have a good time. What is your next project and when can we expect to see it? I hope my future project is "Superfucked", a film in which in a world of violence, it becomes fashionable to become a superhero, or rather a vigilante, in order to stand out in society, and I focus on a group of misfits who do this. to follow the majority, but they only get together to bowl to criticize others, until something happens and they are forced to prove their worth. I think that talking about losing characters and how they lose is important, because it is what mostly happens to us in our lives, we are not winning good moments all the time and we don't learn much from that. Instead of losing and something going wrong, that's where you learn. Cinema for a long time was about stories of winners, I always liked losers and secondary characters that no one cared much about. I hope I can film it in 2025 and it will be released in 2026. Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handles? Give us what we can share and we'll share! You can find me on Instagram as @gastonciooooo and I leave you here trailers of my work that I did both for the series and my other short films "superwasted" of which I want to make a movie, and "Nothing at all" both premiered in Sitges. Superwasted trailer : Nothing at all trailer: What is your all-time favorite film? Jurassic Park What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work? Pulp fiction
Geek Tyrant
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Psychological Horror Short PRETTY AS A PICTURE - A Young Model Becomes The Focus of a Mysterious and Demanding Photographer — GeekTyrant
Here's a new horror short film for you to watch titled Pretty as a Picture . The film is about 'a young model who becomes the focus of a mysterious and demanding photographer that is trying to capture his idea of the perfect image. The model, in turn, must give all of herself in order to satisfy the photographer and satisfy herself.' The film comes from writer and director Ryan Nielsen, who said: 'In the end, the theme of the film has revealed itself differently to many people. I always saw it as the 'Act of being seen, and our desire to be seen.' 'This is true both for the model and the photographer, one being seen physically and the other being seen for their work. This isn't much different than being a filmmaker, where we all would like recognition for the work that we do, but at what cost? The goal is that people could see themselves in both of the main characters.' The was shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the radical indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating. I also included an interview with the director that you can read below! What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea? The inspiration came from an image of a woman posing under flashing lights and an unseen photographer in the distance. From that simple image the actual writing of the short took very little time, perhaps only a couple of days. Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker? I was born and raised in Iowa and spent a lot of my youth watching films. I had no inclination of being a filmmaker and didn't think that it was a career you could seriously pursue until I was in college. That is where I took a course in American Film History, mostly so I could get a credit for watching movies, and instead found myself enamored with the art of cinema and my obsession with movies was solidified. For the longest time, I wanted to be a filmmaker but didn't actually make anything. In fact, I consider Pretty as a Picture my first short film, considering the only things I had made beforehand were little exercises in college. It took me awhile to have the confidence to actually make something. What inspires you to work within genre cinema and tell these kind of stories? What I like about genre cinema is that it allows you to work out feelings and emotions in the extreme and encourages you to be expressionistic in your storytelling. You can make something personal, or not, and bury it within the conventions of a genre that people can grasp and hopefully come away thinking about later. What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project? My favorite part of the process for this short was probably pre-production. My producer, Ari and I, had so much fun putting the team together, designing the look of the film, and figuring out the nuts and bolts of how to make a production run smoothly. It was such a joy to meet so many talented artists and to work with them, and to also give my friends and family roles in the film, whether that be assistant directing or catering. What are you most proud of with this film? I'm most proud of the fact that we actually just made it. It's really easy to sit on ideas for a long time and go, "yeah, maybe we could do that." But with this film, my producer, Ari, and I really got the ball rolling right away and continually reminded each other, "we're going to make this movie." What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you'd like to share? This could also be one of my most proud moments, but my fiance, Paige, did all of the catering for the short by herself and it was so amazing to see how much people loved her cooking, with several people saying it was the best lunch they've had on set. What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film? Our set ran pretty smoothly, but I would say our most stressful aspect of the process was securing financing and figuring out how insurance on a film set works. If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you'll approach future projects as a result? The film changed quite a bit during the post-production. There were some things that we were just not able to do during production and this forced some changes in post. Originally the film was more cyclical, the beginning of the film was exactly the same as the end. This changed along the way and got trimmed of all of its fat. As it is now, it's a very simple, linear film, mostly an idea played out as far as it can go, but had more of an arc originally. Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other? First I met Ari Wojciech while working at a coffee shop. He and I hit it off pretty much right away and I eventually sent him the script. He took on the producing role and introduced me to all of the actors including, Claire Manning, Garrett Pominville, and Mike Danner. Some other collaborators on the film were our DP Indeana Underhill, production designer Masha Lyass, our sound recorder and designer Kevin Khor, and our makeup artist Wendy Fisher. Other notable collaborators are my great friends and assistant directors, Carson Aden and Frank D'Argenio. What is the best advice you've ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers? The best advice I've received as a filmmaker is to simply just start making movies. It's the surest way to learn how to do it. You can read and watch as much as you like, but nothing compares to actually making something. What are your plans for your career and what do you hope this film does for it? What kind of stories would you like to tell moving forward? My plans for my career would be to continue writing and directing independent shorts and features, eventually at a larger scale and for some profit. I would also like to work in commercials and music videos, as I see this as a great way to improve your craft. Most of the stories I write and direct are coincidentally not genre films. Many of them revolve around characters and life in the midwest where I am from. I love being able to take the seemingly mundane parts of life and flipping them on their head, making them thrilling. What is your next project and when can we expect to see it? I'm currently writing my next project so I'm not exactly sure what to make of it right now. All I can really say is that it's called Bedwetter and is perhaps inspired by my youth. Bonus Question #1: What is your all-time favorite film? Raging Bull Bonus Question #2: What is the film that most inspired you to become a filmmaker and/or had the most influence on your work? The film that most inspired me to become a filmmaker was Boogie Nights, but I think the film that has had the biggest influence on my work recently has been In the Bedroom.
