We Are the Strange
| We Are the Strange Feature-Length Animated Movie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | M. dot Strange |
| Written by | M. dot Strange |
| Music by | Noise Inc. |
Running time | 88 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000 |
We Are the Strange is an independent animated film directed, produced, written and animated (among other things) by M dot Strange. It uses a unique animation style fusing stop motion, CG artwork, and bluescreen effects. The film premiered on January 19, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival.
The current tagline for the film is: Monsters, Inc. meets The Nightmare Before Christmas inside of a retro Japanese video game.
Synopsis
We Are the Strange focuses on "two diametrically opposed outcasts" as they "fight for survival in a sinister fantasy world." These two outcasts are an abused woman named Blue and a doll named eMMM.
The two meet in the Forest of Still Life, where Blue follows eMMM to Stopmo City on a search for his ideal ice cream parlor. Upon arriving in Stopmo City, they are caught in the middle of a fierce battle between bizarre monsters, making their progress difficult. Thankfully, a hero named Rain appears and easily destroys every monster that faces him. Blue meets Rain before he partakes in an "impossible battle against the source of all that is evil in Stopmo City." When the outlook seems grim, a fist made of aluminum foil breaks through the ground and starts the final showdown between good and evil. Six alternate soundtracks (+author's commentary), including soundtrack by Noise Inc.
Release
M dot Strange has stated that he wishes to release the film on the Internet rather than in theaters as he will be able to retain all rights to his work, and any profits made thereafter (DVD sales, merchandise, etc). On July 16, 2006, in an interview, he said he was "trying to finish it in time to make the Sundance film festival".[1] In an e-mail sent to suscribers on the film's mailing list October 26, 2006, he stated that "The film will be done in 2 months and will hopefully premiere at a fancy_pants festival in January...". According to M. dot Strange's blog he received a call from Sundance saying that We Are the Strange would premiere as part of the Midnight Movie Program at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.[2] The film was released August 2007.
The film has since been released on torrent sites with a Youtube video from M Dot Strange proclaiming this as a "torrentrical release" (a play on theatrical and torrent) that has helped increase his audience and, in turn, DVD sales.
Trailer
The official trailer features the intro music from Dream Penguin Adventure (Yume Penguin Monogatari) in the beginning as well as in the end.
The beginning of the second trailer made for the movie features a song by YERZMYEY^AY-RIDERS which is a cover of the t.A.T.u. song "30 Minut" ("30 Mинут" in Cyrillic) called "30 Minut - ZX Spectrum Mix." mixed with original TATU's song by Carl/Micromusic in 2003.
Str8nime
We Are the Strange is the first film made in a style that M dot Strange calls "Str8nime" (pronounced Stray-knee-may), the term being a mix of "Strange", "8-Bit", and "Anime". This is an accurate description; the character and entire essence of the film can be seen as strange[citation needed]; 8-bit artwork (from early video game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System) is injected in various scenes of the film (for instance, a scene showing the sky reveals 8-bit clouds similar to those from Super Mario Bros.), and the film has an obvious anime influence (largely seen in the character of Blue).
References
- ^ Studio ArtFX. "How to Make Anime into Reality". Retrieved 2006-10-27.
- ^ Sundance Institute. "2007 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS IN THE PREMIERES, SPECTRUM, NEW FRONTIER, PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT AND FROM THE SUNDANCE COLLECTION SECTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-12-16.
{{cite web}}: line feed character in|title=at position 51 (help)