Here are the finalists for Prototype, the short film competition from leading digital media company Defy Media & New Regency Productions. Each of the 8 up-and-coming filmmakers chosen were awarded $20,000 to create their action, sci-fi or effects-driven short films, and one filmmaker will land a feature film development deal with New Regency. The films will premiere within the Defy Media network in early summer 2014 and the development deal grand prize winner will be chosen mid-summer.
Some of the samples are gold and I will be highlighting them individually.
FULL LIST
Filmmakers Names, samples, and log lines:
Writer: Daniel Perrera
Director: Steve Polis
Directing Sample:
Prototype Short Film: POLIS
Logline: A young man discovers the truth about his origins and its connection to a mysterious virus that’s sweeping across the industrial ruins of the 22nd century.
Writers: Matthew Wilson & Justin Robinson
Director: Matthew Wilson
Directing Sample:
Prototype Short Film: DRAKE
Logline: A wandering warrior protects a small town from marauders in a post-apocalyptic, dark fantasy setting.
Writers: Dan Bush & Conal Bryne
Director: Dan Bush
Directing Sample: Ghost of Old Highways
Prototype Short Film: SHUT-EYE
Logline: Next Corp nears the launch of its greatest product ever: a mind app that removes our need for sleep. But when the son of the CEO discovers horrifying side effects, he must choose whether or not to bring down the giant corporation that his father built.
Writers: Dugan O’Neal & Wilson Bethel
Director: Dugan O’Neal
Directing Samples: Dugan’s Samples
Prototype Short Film: MEMORY 2.0
Logline: A tale of love lost in the distant future where people relive their fondest memories with virtual reality. Everything spins out of control for our Hero as the lines between reality and the virtual memories begin to blur.
Writer: Aiah Samba
Director: Michael Chance
Directing Sample:
Prototype Short Film: WHIPPING BOY
Logline: A man who works as a human punching bag to relieve others of their stress gets caught up in a noirish mystery pertaining to a strange device that everyone’s after.
Writers: Chris Marrs Piliero & Don Piliero
Director: Chris Marrs Pilero
Directing Sample: Chris’ Samples
Prototype Short Film: THE LIARS CHAIR
Logline: A bounty hunter who moonlights as a hitman reluctantly gains a conscience when he uncovers a human trafficking ring that takes him and his comrades across the border into for a violent and bloody shoot out in this contemporary western.
Writer / Director: Tim Baldini
Directing Sample: Dice Awards Intro
Prototype Short Film: HACKED
Logline: A gritty Sci-Fi chase film about two young women, unjustly accused of murder, who escape custody and begin posting video content online in an attempt to vindicate themselves of the crime, find the real killer and evade a secret manhunt.
Writing & Directing team: Kevin Adams & Joseph Ksander
Directing Sample:
Prototype Short Film: GEAR
Logline: In a future where robots fill our daily lives, a young girl loses her family to a killing machine which ends up becoming her only family.