Repo Man Director Alex Cox Plans To Edit Next Film With OpenShot

New submitter JonOomph writes "Director Alex Cox, the creator of Repo Man and Sid and Nancy, is making plans via Kickstarter for his next film, Bill, the Galactic Hero, a feature-length science fiction comedy set in the far reaches of our galaxy. He is challenging the norm by shooting the film on 35mm monochrome (black and white) film, possibly the last film to ever attempt this, and possibly the first feature film to be edited with popular open source video editor OpenShot." If you don't like spoilers, I suggest reading this short but fascinating piece on Repo Man (one of my all-time favorite movies) only after watching it.

Comments

Probably not the last B&W - but theatre only

[dbIII]

It's probably not the last B&W since the tone range on modern monochrome film is huge, so some stuff looks very good, so long as you have a real 35mm projector. Converted to digital you lose a lot of range so something that looks good on film may just look like mud on a TV or digital projector.

Bill, the Galactic Hero

[Anonymous Coward]

By Harry Harrison, I've read this book. It was funny, had a bit of a hitchhikers guide feel to it.
Although it was written earlier.

Re:Bill, the Galactic Hero

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

They cross interstellar space through use of "Bloater Drive" - becoming bigger than the galactic gulfs, then shrinking back, when their nose-cone approached the destination!

Brilliant! I suppose it was the direct antecedent to improbability propulsion.

Re:A terrible idea...

[wonkey_monkey]

which means the number of places you could see this will be limited

Just because it's being shot on film, that doesn't mean it won't be a digital end product.

Interested

[puddingebola]

Always interested in what Alex Cox makes. Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Walker, Highway Patrolman, Straight to Hell. Doesn't he get some credit for using open source software to make a feature length movie?

Re:Interested

[davesag]

I'm backing this film, not because I give a damn about him filming on 35mm b/w stock, or because I care what video editing software he uses (he could use iMovie for all iCare), but because I loved the original book, the screenplay was what Harry Harrison and Alex Cox were working on when HH died, and I get a copy of both for US$25, while supporting the whole crowd-sourced film-making concept.

Re:Probably not the last B&W - but theatre onl

[I_am_Jack]

You'll still have more range and depth than you would with shooting on color film stock and desaturating during the editing process, or shooting digital B&W.

Harry Harrison

[Princeofcups]

That should be "Harry Harrison's classic Bill the Galactic Hero." He also wrote Soylent Green aka Make Room Make Room, the Stainless Steel Rat books, and many other great works that should be in any true geek's collection.

Re:Repo man is intense

[retchdog]

Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, and whoever played Miller were perfect. Olivia Barash and Agent Rogersz were supposed to be ridiculous. Everyone else was an extra.

Re:Probably not the last B&W - but theatre onl

[dwywit]

No - you produce a digital intermediate from your analog negative, edit the digital intermediate - cuts, transitions, etc, then hand that edited intermediate over to a film-cutter to assemble the analog master from the original negative, using the digital intermediate as a template.
 
It's much more complex than that, of course - but it's possible. Now as to why? Tonal range of 35mm film as mentioned above, probably. He'll need a good budget.