THE GARDEN is a Proof-of-Concept Short Sci-Fi Retelling of Paradise Lost
I’ve got a proof-of-concept short film for you to watch today called The Garden. This is a sci-fi reimagining of Paradise Lost, the 17th-century English poem written by John Milton.
The story follows a group of explorers who set out into deep space in search of a new home for humanity after they learn that the sun is dying.
Made for $30k with credit cards and small donations, the vast majority of the cast & crew are friends who worked on this pro bono. My writing partner and I wrote a feature script, and in an effort to draw some attention to it, we decided to try and make this to give potential investors a tiny glimpse of what the movie could be. The visuals are obviously not final- you'll have to wait for the feature for that. We're indie filmmakers, and we couldn't afford to hire a VFX company, so we did what we could with what we had.
There’s a lot of potential here, but to be honest I’ve seen a lot of other short indie sci-fi films by indie filmmakers that were made on little to no budget that look a lot better. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good. I just don’t see where the 30k went in making the six minutes of footage they present here. I’m not seeing it in the effects or acting. Maybe it went to really expensive camera and sound equipment. If that’s the case, they could have saved a lot of money by renting that stuff.