Must Watch Short Film: MANIFEST DESTINY
This is a pretty cool and disturbing short film about underground surgeons called Manifest Destiny. The film was created by Darrell and Doug Waters, the whole film was shot in their garage, they ordered the medical stuff off of ebay.
To introduce the film they write the following, which is what is going through the head of the character in the film:
Every time I find myself the recipient of one of these late night phone calls, tramping through some back alley behind another dark abandoned warehouse . . . Stuttering another secret password. . . Entering another hastily constructed operating room. . . Scalpel in hand, performing another indescribable procedure . . . I see another pair of eyes . . . By now in the hundreds . . . Staring . . . Whenever I try to sleep . . . Another member of an unenviable audience. . . Asking a painfully simple question for which I have no answer . . . Why . . . Cranston says I need to "detach". I suppose he's right. I can no longer bear their judgment. I leave them here. . . On the table . . . As I scribble my signature on the confidentiality agreement, I leave them to their fate . . . I say goodbye.
They filmed it on a Canon HV30, shot it in 24p in TV mode 1/48, used JES deinterlacer, edited it in final cut express at 23.97 and exported it at 30 frames/sec. 24 frames/sec looked to jerky on export. Canon FD 1.8 50mm was the only lens we used.
As for their inspiration for this short film they mention, The Thing(1982), The Body Snatchers(1977), The Fly(1986), you know, 70's and 80's sci-fi/horror.
MANIFEST DESTINY from Darrell and Doug Waters on Vimeo.