Jeff,

C'mon...how can you not LOVE a mid-80's, Trevor Horn produced FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD remix?!?

Maybe it's me, but an epic-style war movie seems like the worst kind of movie to make direct-to-TV.

I mean, this could be cool if it means that there will be intimate character-driven movies set amid crazy war stuff / large crowds / whatever...

But it seems more like it's going to be yet another example of the homogenization of low budget indie stuff and high budget studio stuff. (which, to be fair, says more about the people making films, who view low budget stuff just as a stepping stone towards bigger stuff, than it does about the studios, who don't seem to give much of a fuck who makes the movies they put out as long as they look right).

I saw this clip a couple of weeks ago. Obviously these guys have talent and ingenuity. Not just anyone with the right tools will be able to make something people will want to watch. For every clever, talented clip on youtube there are dozens of other clips that are close to unwatchable.

Technicians. They know how to work the machines. But they have nothing to say. The democratization of production and distribution means that more cretins with time and money are going to be able to flood the market with garbage. Hooray.

I think everyone's missing Jeff's point: It's just like the scene in "Bowfinger" where Steve Martin's character says "All films only cost $2,000 to make. The rest is just star perks & bonuses & catering..." I know that's not the exact dialogue but you get my point.

Loathe as I am to say so, I think MilkMan has a point there.

Thanks, Sean. I'm glad I could make you loathe yourself if only for a moment. And now the moment is gone.

You notice that they only show you a few seconds (in split-second cuts) of "finished" battle footage. I'm guessing if they showed you an entire battle scene shot this way, the fakery would be obvious.

I'm with Jeffrey. Tell me again why I Am Legend and Golden Compass cost $200 million?

And, yes, in a longer scene the "fakery" might be obvious. But this is THREE GUYS over a period of FOUR DAYS. Bowfinger is right.

As a no-budget filmmaker, color me impressed. I wish I had half the technical know how of these guys. They're not trying to tell a story here, just get across what they can do. Mix these guys with an indie-filmmaker who wants to tell large scale stories, with a small budget and you've got something special. This is the future of independent filmmaking.

Now Hollywood will have to spend $400 million to get our eyeballs excited. I've never understood why it costs so much? Look at 300 or any of Robert Rodriguez's latest films, relatively cheap, big special effects.