Vacuity

Trapped in a dying space station's airlock, Alan must choose between living to see his family again or sacrificing himself to save the lives of his crew.

Michael Matzur is a filmmaker originally from Vancouver, Washington. He recently completed his college degree at the School of Film and Photography - Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana where he wrote and directed several films including Vacuity. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Learn more about Michael at http://www.michaelmatzur.com.

• Category

  Entertainment

[Branden Sueper]

How did you do this for only $6,000??

[NearPerfectTV]

You did an amazing job! I was captivated from the start. All aspects of the film were carried out well. Great character, plot, set, and an awesome score!

[Thomas Wangsmo]

If you read my comment, that's almost exactly what I said. Shorts and features are of course very different, and it's easier to make a great short with no money than a great feature. For a feature film you can't really do all the post yourself, and still maintain top quality. Sound is actually what often ends up being most costly in post for low budget films, and is where most of the $220 000 on Mariachi was spent. Its marketing cost more than that, but that's not a post-production cost.

[Supresa]

The point is it is possible to make great movies with miniscule budget. Marketing and distribution is another thing. Nowadays, you can just do post-production by yourself and upload your films online (especially short films) and show it to the world with no cost and get paid at the same time (if you get lucky, I guess.). Keep in mind that El Mariachi is a feature film, not a short film. Good point, though.

P.S. The original budget was actually approximately $7000, I dunno why I wrote $2000.

[Thomas Wangsmo]

El Mariachi cost approximately $220 000. It had a lot of work done in post. Rodriguez apparently shot the thing for $6000, according to himself, but that's not the cost of the film that was released in theaters. It is possible to make great work on low budgets, but not quite as easy, and not on quite as low budgets, as some people seem to think. Unless you just don't pay people for their work and steal all your equipment, of course...

[tonjay3445]

And who's this writer? You know, to add creditblity to your comments for everyone reading.

[Scott Meck]

I'm guessing you didn't read the original post in which I gave the story a 3. Which yes, is classified as shitty. Maybe its just because I'm working with one of the most brilliant writing minds of his generation that I can deem high criticism to those who deserve it. I'm not in the business of giving positive reinforcement to works that don't warrant it. Simply put.

[tonjay3445]

I don't know if I'd give the script a 0/10 like you have, using the eloquent descriptor "shitty". It was a 5/10 in my book compared to what Hollywood does and a 8/10 compared to what most college student films have. Perhaps some of its attempts are weak, but overall it is emotionally engaging and I can see how at the start their intentions and perhaps the script was good. Who know what happened during them making it that caused that to lessen.

[Scott Meck]

I gave production value a 9.5. That's fair. What I don't understand is why so much professional effort went into a shitty script. That's also fair to say.

[csselement]

His wife sounds like a bitch, but neat short.

[Branden Sueper]

I totally agree that the script is pretty lacking, but that is not really what is impressive about the piece. What is impressive is the look, feel, and style that went into the piece (original soundtrack, set built from scratch, the AE, etc) I think it is frankly unfair to say that the movie should have been "much better" for the amount of people in the credits because aside from the screenwriter and the actors it is a highly sophisticated set/soundtrack/edit writing is just not his thing.

[Earl Hamilton]

I respect your opinion and all the work and effort involved in the project.

Congratulations to everybody.