 |
Founded 6th April 2009
Zero-Budget
Films (Z-BF) is a film production group dedicated to offering
acting and production opportunities to Shanghai residents.
Z-BF aims to produce 2-4 feature-length films per year.
 |
| Subscribe
to Zero-Budget Films |
CLICK HERE to see more PHOTOS of our Games Night Events and Film Shooting
|
||||||||||||
EIP Sponsors Zero-Budget, means "we ain't got no money". But we still have expenses! Below is the list of people who made donations to Z-BF through the Games Night fund-raisers. Your donations went a long way towards offsetting our costs of food, drinks and camera repairs. Many thanks. You will also be credited (by name and amount) as financial supporters in the film credits. If
anyone else would like to make a 50rmb donation (or more), please
contact me at: NB: NO OTHER FUNDS WERE RAISED IN THE MAKING OF THIS FILM. James Funds raised through Games Nights: ¥300
... Chris Malone ¥1800 ... TOTAL (= US$264 at 6 Sep 09) Other Z-BF sponsors: Filming
Locations: Camera
and Lighting Equipment: Props: Others
offering their time to Z-BF: P.S. If I've forgotten to mention your name, I sincerely apologise. I've just been so busy with everything that I've obviously overlooked you. But, if I have, please let me know so I can correct the situation and give you the credit you deserve. James
|
Shooting Everything is Possible was completed this afternoon! YAY! James Taris ... 2 Sep 2009 It's official ... Shooting Everything is Possible was completed this afternoon! YAY! Tomorrow we'll take a day off and on Friday we'll begin post- production (editing). Thanks again to everyone involved: creative team, management team, cast, crew and sponsors. Your efforts have taken Everything is Possible past the 2nd stage and into the 3rd and final stage of the film-making process. Please allow about 3 months for this stage to be completed. And if all goes according to plan, we'll be screening the final product in December this year. James ZERO-BUDGET FILMS RE-INVENTS ITSELF James Taris ... 10 July 2009 You've all heard the blurb before: Zero-Budget Films is a film production group dedicated to offering acting and production opportunities to Shanghai residents. Well, now it's time to face some realities and turn this group into the group which can deliver on it's promises. The realities: 1)
CAST - Just about everyone wants to be in the film So ... (and this is the re-invention) 1) DUAL CAST and CREW roles: We can't make a film without a production crew, so everyone who wants to act in our films will also have to take on an off-camera role as well ... at least for a day. This will enable us to field a production team for each of our scenes. This applies just as much to the speaking roles as the non-speaking roles and extras. 2) FUND-RAISERS: Z-BF will be holding weekly fund-raising events in order to help cover past, current and future costs of equipment repairs, props, wardrobe, food, travel, DVD production, etc. The events will be held on Wednesday nights (6-10pm) along the lines of a Games Night where people can play an assortment of games for 2-4 players. Games available are: Chess, Chinese Chess, Mahjong, Scrabble, Monopoly, Sudoku, Cards. Entry will be 50rmb and include unlimited free drinks: softdrinks, coffee or tea. Alcohol and food will be BYO. If you support us then we'll support you, so ... ROLES WILL ONLY BE GIVEN TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE ATTENDED AT LEAST ONE Z-BF FUND-RAISING EVENT. James
Taris New film title: EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE James Taris ... 10 July 2009 Responding to your desire to make The Glory of Athens a truly high-quality film, worthy of international exposure, several significant changes have been made that will help move our film into that direction. 1) New film title name: The Glory of Athens has now been re-named as Everything is Possible. We believe the new film title describes the film more accurately and will have greater universal appeal. 2) More acting roles: More roles means more people can contribute to the success of the film, as well as give benefits (knowledge and experience) to more Shanghai residents. We have, effectively, doubled the amount of speaking roles and roles for extras in the film. Now, up to 200 people can be in the film ... most for their very first time. So, if you haven't already done so, please send us your PHOTO and BIO (name, age, nationality, email, phone, acting experience - if any, other skills you may have; e.g juggling, skating, magic, martial arts, etc.) so we can consider you for one of those roles. And, please, tell your friends too. If you want to get into films, Zero-Budget Films is going to be your fastest, and surest, track to reaching that goal. James
Taris |
MOVIES
BEING PRODUCED
by Zero-Budget Films If you're interested in being part of the productions listed below please subscribe to our Zero-Budget Films group (at top of page) and we'll keep you informed of all available positions as well as the film's development progress. |
|
|
Z-BF
1 Development
Stage:
Scheduled shooting dates:
|
Synopsis: Everything is Possible is about the humour in the struggle to overcome adversity that has Six Ancient Greek Masters come back to life and display the characteristics which made them so successful. The six characters include Pericles, Archimedes, Socrates, Demosthenes, Homer and Odysseus. The film, based on the stage play, The Glory of Athens, has some hilarious dialogue from these characters and Hercules - a modern day accountant - who is burdened with a seemingly impossible task. The year is 2009, and Athens Inc has chosen Hercules to revitalise their ailing sales force by giving them an inspiring speech leading them into a new era of sales success. But sales is something Hercules has absolutely no knowledge of and is overwhelmed by this new responsibility. In a desperate bid for help, Hercules prays to God, who sends the Ancient Greek goddess Athena to his aid. She takes Hercules back into time, around 440 BC, when the Parthenon was being built, and meets the Six Ancient Greek Masters, though they're not exactly how he'd imagined them to be. Pericles teaches Hercules LEADERSHIP: how to tackle problems by soliciting the help of the best minds available. So when the slaves threaten to strike unless they can get more time off to watch Greek theatre, he contacts Archimedes (by mobile phone) to invent the Teli-Vision for him and then he contacts Al Capone-akis to provide the programs for him. Unfortunately, Pericles' army suffers huge losses in a recent battle, so he's now confronted with a much bigger crisis than Hercules': saving the glory of Athens. So the focus then turns to finding someone to help Pericles solve his own seemingly impossible task: restoring faith to his people by addressing them with a reassuring public speech. Archimedes teaches Hercules CONFIDENCE, even though he's self-centred and obsessed with his own genius, getting excited about even his smallest achievements. And so determined to succeed that, for inspiration, he baths 4 times a day ... with Soula, Voula, and ... But he can't help Pericles. Socrates teaches Hercules PERSUASIVE ARGUMENT, by practising his arguing skills with a sock used as a hand-puppet, toning up his repertoire of clever arguments to confuse his opponents. He uses much philosophy and wisdom in his monologue but is taken away by an angry mob before he can give Pericles the advice he needs. Demosthenes teaches Hercules SPEAKING SKILLS: he's a smooth talker who has overcome a speech impediment by practising with a mouth full of stones. But even though he promises to help, he suddenly loses his voice when choking on one of the pebbles. In desperation, Hercules looks for a replacement, and finds Homer. Homer teaches Hercules SELF-BELIEF: he's very inspiring and shares, in verse, how, even though blind, he was able to use persistence and perseverance to realise his dreams. But he fails to make contact with Pericles. Odysseus teaches Hercules COURAGE: he's Pericles' last hope. And when Odysseus finds that Homer is rewriting his story, changing it from a one year absence to 10 years, he spends most of his time trying to add encounters with women to these new changes, finally, in a flash of enlightenment, coming to conclude that we can have eternal glory by becoming the best we can be. But although each character is placed in ridiculously funny situations, they are all presented as strong role models for Hercules, who gleans a little from each one on his journey to tackling the problem his company has burdened him with. And the play builds to a very powerful conclusion, as we find out if Pericles can save the glory of Athens, and if Hercules can solve his own problem too. |
Z-BF
2 Development
Stage:
Shooting Date:
|
Synopsis: Kinderland is an adventure story about, Chopsticks, a 6-member rock group (3 male musicians and 3 female singers) who stumble across an ancient song called, SUNDAY. They play the song out of curiosity and soon find themselves transported to a strange but exciting fantasy land: Kinderland. There they see some very weird people ... doing very weird things. But they also meet Ying and Yang, two young lovers, who can only marry if they complete the Kinder Matrix, a puzzle which is gradually completed by the successful performance of classic children's songs. So, in an effort to help Ying and Yang get married, and also discover a way for their own return home, Chopsticks set out on a series of exciting and unforgettable adventures in Kinderland, making many friends and escaping from a few evil enemies along the way. A feature of this musical will be the unique music treatment which will accompany the kinder songs ... written to appeal to all ages. WANTED: Writers to complete the screenplay and songs for a fun and exciting musical ... Kinderland. If you've got an imagination and you'd like to see your name on the film credits, contact me at JamesTaris@gmail.com with your photo, bio/cv and sample of your work. Experience is preferred, but a childish imagination is compulsory. Applications only accepted from Zero-Budget Film members. So if you know of someone who may be interested, please get them to join the Z- BF group first. NOTE: This is a musical so apart from the regular CAST and CREW, we'll aso need:
|
|
Z-BF
3 Development
Stage:
Shooting Date: |
Synopsis: Beethoven
is an inspirational story about Beethoven, the
famous composer, and his lifelong battle with ill health ... eventually
resulting in his total loss of hearing. His determination was so
Original lyrics accompany Beethoven's original music throughout the musical. WANTED: Writers to complete the screenplay and songs for another fun and exciting musical ...Beethoven. If you've got an imagination and you'd like to see your name on the film credits, contact me at JamesTaris@gmail.com with your photo, bio/cv and sample of your work. Experience is preferred, but a creative imagination is compulsory. Applications only accepted from Zero-Budget Film members. So if you know of someone who may be interested, please get them to join the Z- BF group first. This film is at the very beginning of the creative stage so there's lots of scope for writers to add their own original ideas to the story. NOTE: This is a musical so apart from the regular CAST and CREW, we'll aso need:
|
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
James Taris
email: JamesTaris@gmail.com