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On the set of their new short film, which will conclude the upcoming Night at the Movies event, are (from left) director Brad Kennedy, visual effects editor Ellis Treece, intern and UGA film major Savannah Sabol and director Luke Pilgrim.
The local movie-producing team at Sozo Bear Films has gone into the science fiction realm for their latest effort.
Their film Melody Skylark and the Cosmic Soup features plenty of crafty staging and expert special effects to result in a mix of comedy and inspiration.
Co-owners/directors Brad Kennedy and Luke Pilgrim, along with visual effects artist and editor Ellis Treece, make up the full-time team at the Dahlonega-based company.
“It’s a sci-fi absurdist adventure comedy about finding your purpose,” said Pilgrim, who used his own musical journey as inspiration when he wrote the screenplay earlier this year.
Melody Skylark is a short film about a woman who has mostly given up on her dream, according to Pilgrim, but then begins to get messages in her alphabet soup.
Co-director Kennedy said the film has the vibe of a Saturday morning cartoon.
The team filmed the scenes in May of this year, but that was only the beginning, as the project has included several months of post production and special effects.
Treece said a lot of work goes in to understanding their plan for production.
“We did a month of research to just figure out how the visual effects work,” he said. “We used AI to de-age the actress’s face in once scene.”
Kennedy added that they used CGI to create the soup guy character “Captain Star Guard.”
He said they employed a technique called “performance capture”—a production method similar to the Avatar movies.
“There is lots of post production in Adobe After Effects to make it look good,” Kennedy added.
Pilgrim added that the robot-looking Mech Suit was intentionally made of cardboard—a reason that becomes clear when audiences see the short film.
The film was captured in Pilgrim’s basement studio with special lighting and other effects.
This short film will be the finale at the upcoming A Night at the Movies which takes place Friday, August 18 at The Holly Theater.
RED CARPET
The annual event features a total of seven films hand-picked by the Sozo Bear team.
“The festival is a fun night,” Pilgrim said. “We have the red carpet and the audience can ask questions of the filmmakers who are in attendance.”
Kennedy said the first film of the festival, Cat & Moth is a short that is directed by an animator that works for Disney.
“We are bringing a lot of talent from Hollywood to Dahlonega,” he said.
Kennedy added that they often fight the stigma that short films are not as full featured as feature film length movies.
Pilgrim said the short films have top-notch acting, directing, effects, and story/plot development.
“It’s good to have a platform where people can show their work,” he added.
FILM LINEUP
Kennedy pointed out that they had about 50 submissions, and ended up with seven total short films that will be seen by the audience at the film festival.
This year’s short films include:
• Cat & Moth—directed by Disney animator India Barnardo
Synopsis: “A fluffy white cat wants nothing more than to find the most comfortable spot in the universe, but little does she know someone else has their eye on it too.”
• What Wilderness Permits—directed by Joel Marsh
Synopsis: “After losing his dream job as a Park Ranger to government funding cuts, Russ McCoy slips into madness when he meets a city-slicking couple backpacking for the first time.”
• Wokman—directed by Jeremy Thao, Atlanta filmmaker and UNG film alumnus, who will be attending the festival. Producer Melissa Simpson is also a UNG film alum.
Synopsis: “Wokman shares an immigrant Chinese family’s pursuit of the American Dream from inside of their restaurant, China Wok. Based in 1998 in rural Georgia, Wokman is a slice-of-life story of the only Chinese family in town, the Lis, as they navigate through their own little corner of America.”
• Here Lies Bird—directed by Douglas Lennox-Salinas
Synopsis: “While playing in a park, a young Boy and Girl discover a bird lying in the grass. Initially, the children have starkly different reactions to their discovery, but begin to reflect on the bird’s life, where he or she is now and on the relationships we leave behind after death.”
• Jeff—A Shy Kids film
Synopsis: “An Amazon delivery drone named JEFF muses on the monotony of life, before finishing one last mission during the apocalypse.”
• Sleeping With Clouds—directed by Collin Black
Synopsis: “After a one-night stand, two strangers wake up to find their bed floating miles high in the sky. In order to find a way back down to earth, they must set aside their differences and work together to find a solution.”
• Melody Skylark and the Cosmic Soup—directed by Sozo Bear Films and staring Emily Topper, who will be attending the festival
Synopsis: “Melody Skylark, receives an ominous message in her bowl of alphabet soup warning of a supernatural war and discovers she's Earth's only hope in the face of an otherworldly threat.”
Doors open / red carpet / photo-op at 6:00 p.m. Showtime at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $17 and can be purchased online at sozobearfilms.com
or filmfreeway.com/SozoBearPresentsANightatTheMovies/tickets