PARADOX

SYNOPSIS:

After his wife is killed in a hit-and-run accident by a mysterious Hooded Man, DYLAN BRANDT, a Theoretical Physicist, builds a Quantum Suicide Machine to jump through parallel universes to find another universe where his wife is still alive. Based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where a man storms of the Gates of Hades to return his wife to the land of the living, Dylan traverses infinite worlds of the Multi-verse to find his wife. But with every jump, Dylan is thwarted by the efforts of the mysterious Hooded Man. Ignoring the warnings of his mentor, DR. YAMAMOTO, Dylan recklessly jumps into ever more flawed universes, until the rules of physics completely break down, threatening to destroy the universe and everything in it.

PRODUCTION NOTES:

With a budget of $15,000, Paradox was an ambitious project from the start. New York City was chosen as the location not only for its gothic and labyrinthine tonal qualities, but also due to its budget- friendly filming incentives.

The film was shot over the course of a two-year period during weekends and evenings. Production days were long and hard. Despite the help of volunteers, a large amount of the film was shot with a mere two-person crew. The producers and directors found themselves serving every position from Above the Line to script supervisor to grip. While this was difficult, a smaller crew helped the "run and gun" guerilla-style filming that took place on the often unpredictable New York streets.

Originally, the film was attempted on super16mm film, but due to the exposure limitations of super16mm film and budget considerations, this medium was quickly abandoned in lieu of recent advancements in low-light sensitivity found in the new HDDSLRs. The full- framed Canon 5D Mark II allowed the production to capture New York City in a manner never before captured in films. Instead of renting powerful lights to illuminate streets and buildings to gain proper exposure, the production coupled the low-light sensitivity of the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 1D Mark IV, with the natural lights of the city to capture New York City as it is exposed to the human eye.

However, some locations were too dark to get any exposure at all. Due to the guerilla filmmaking method adopted by the production, custom-built DIY LED lights were constructed to pull power from a car's cigarette lighter. When compared to the industry leading 1'x1' LED Litepanel, our custom-built DIY LED light output nearly four times the luminance at one-sixth the cost. Not only did this provide maximum flexibility in lighting set-up, but it also negated the need to rent power generators, thereby minimizing the number of crew and permits necessary to film.

The HDDSLR's small form factor also allowed the production to rent inexpensive equipment, fast, low-light sensitive photographic lenses, and specialized camera mounts and sliders, which kept the bottom line low while producing high-quality cinematography.