Distortion (film)

Last updated

Distortion
Directed byFrederick C.G. Borromeo
Production
company
Studio Moonchalk
Release date
  • January 22, 2023 (2023-01-22)
Running time
47 minutes
CountryPhilippines
LanguageSilent

Distortion (Tagalog: Pagbaluktot) is a 2023 Philippine independent experimental silent animated film directed by Frederick C.G. Borromeo in his directorial debut. [1]

Contents

Combining the elements of non-narrative, minimalism and machinima, the film was produced in RPG Maker MV engine and its premise set in the fantasy world that slowly descending one-by-one. With a runtime of 47 minutes in the film, making it the first RPG Maker feature-length and non-narrative animated film produced in the Philippines. [2]

Summary

The film lacks dialogue and plot entirely, beginning with a very slow-paced camera movement as the village gradually descends into a white, concept paper-like form. It then returns to the same movement and shifts to the next area. This cycle repeats, with all villages and towns descending into the same form until the scene transitions to the castle interior.

Development

Distortion took a week to complete. A 19-year-old video game developer and eventual filmmaker Frederick C.G. Borromeo expressed his desire of making feature-length animated films made in RPG Maker engine after his own short film Teenagers in Chester Street (2021) as an early blueprint to his filmography. He conducts research about the filmography of RPG Maker that existed, one of these included the web series Slimey (2011) and Atis's Gaze (2016) as well as short films. [3]

In January, Borromeo self-described the film as an "experimental, slow movie made in a video game engine". It took inspirations of his own idea about the place's dissolution from reality to unfinished work in a style of storyboard drawings. Like his previous prototypes, the film was using the RPG Maker MV engine and has no spec script, characters, music, and sound effects during the production, served as a minimalistic piece that allows the camera movement to map scenes and record it less than a minute per scene several times using Bandicam software and dissolve it by editing each similar scenes using VideoPad software. The film later drew inspirations on Andy Warhol's Empire (1965) and Lav Diaz. [4]

Originally titled Minimal as a proof of concept short film released on YouTube on January 15, the film was expanded into more lengthy runtime. [4]

Release

Distortion was scheduled on January 22, 2023 and released exclusively on YouTube, and the following year, was available to download for free on Itch.io. [2] [5] [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ledesma, Eduardo (December 1, 2024). Expanding Cinemas: Experimental Filmmaking across the Luso-Hispanic Atlantic since 1960. State University of New York Press. ISBN   979-8-8558-0052-4.
  2. 1 2 "Studio Moonchalk: Films, Comic Dubs, and Games: Distortion - A RPG Maker Animated Film". Studio Moonchalk. November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Studio Moonchalk: Films, Comic Dubs, and Games: Moonchalk's Archive Dairy #1: Distortion - The First RPG Maker Animated Film (Part 1: First Experience with RPG Maker)". Studio Moonchalk. November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Studio Moonchalk: Films, Comic Dubs, and Games: Moonchalk's Archive Dairy #2: Distortion - The First RPG Maker Animated Film (Part 2: Conception and Development)". Studio Moonchalk. November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  5. ↑ Moonwriter (January 22, 2023). Distortion - FULL FILM . Retrieved November 17, 2024– via YouTube.
  6. ↑ "Distortion - A RMMV Machinima by Studio Moonchalk". itch.io. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.