The History

For the last 8 years I have been working on this project. 6 years alone was learning all the ropes, software, 3d, matte-painting, screenwriting marketing etc. I have a problem though as the country I am in has very few feature film makers that have the vision to make a big budget looking film, I always hear that it will cost too much or that it can't be done without a huge crew and all the other excuses. Well I decided to show them that it can be done. So I set up a test run of the big helicopter and car chase scene. this is what the scene entailed:
1. 2 helicopters
2. 9 police cars
3. 2 fugitives on foot running
4. 1 jet-ski
6. ambulance vehicles
7. 1 fire truck
8. 1 fuel explosion on water
9. Closing off 2,7km of busy beachfront road. (car chase)
10. 4 cameramen with mini-dv cameras
11. 10 security people
12. closing every cross street (9)
13. 50 extras on pier and surrounds
14. 5 large lights.
15. lots of other smaller stuff.
16. 3 sea rescue boats
This scene was to be done in one take (except explosion)safety reasons.

When I told certain people that I would be doing this they laughed and said I was living in a dream world. I nevertheless invited them to be there.

None of them showed.

I was alone in co-ordinating the whole thing and it had to be perfect to work. Timing was crucial as every segment of the chase was reliant on certain signs that would be the trigger for the next group to do their thing. I used a Pre-viz software demo called Antics 3d to help with the timing, as timing was everything in this scene.The re-shoot will be coming up in a few months and thanks to the pre-viz software I have fine-tuned the 3d animation to calculate various departure and action times.

The whole scene expanded 2,7km and I was in the middle to make sure that everything went ok.

Words cannot describe what I felt when it all started as the police helicopter was coming over the horizon I realized that this is actually happening. The usual "something's gonna go wrong" was in my head.

The point is that no matter what anyone tells you, do not give up on your dreams. I haven't made the movie yet but I took the first big step.

Now all I need is for someone out there to see what the others don't.


I have blog that I have just started about the movie and the making of it with mock-up posters and other interesting stuff.

BTW. that whole scene only cost me (two thousand) R2000.00 for the phone calls to arrange it.


There is also a small promo clip with some of the chase scene that I slapped together to get the site started.



"History is often made by one person, with the help of believers"

my own observation

5 minutes later it was all over. Everything went off smoothly. I had a hidden tear, because I had finally done what I promised myself all those years ago. It was like coming out of prison.