Distortion (film)
| Distortion | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Frederick C.G. Borromeo |
Production company | Studio Moonchalk |
Release date |
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Running time | 47 minutes |
| Country | Philippines |
Distortion is a 2023 Philippine independent experimental animated film directed by Frederick C.G. Borromeo in his directorial debut.
Combining 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.[1]
Summary
[edit]The film has no dialogues and plot as a whole, started in a very slow-pacing camera movement as the village is slowly descending into a white, concept paper-like form, then goes back to the same movement and move on to the next area. The cycle repeats, with all villages and towns have been descended into the same form until goes to the castle interior.
Development
[edit]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.[2]
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.[3]
Originally titled Minimal as a proof of concept short film released on YouTube on January 15, the film was expanded into more lengthy runtime.[3]
Release
[edit]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.[1][4][5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "Studio Moonchalk: Films, Comic Dubs, and Games: Distortion - A RPG Maker Animated Film". Studio Moonchalk. November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ Moonwriter (January 22, 2023). Distortion - FULL FILM. Retrieved November 17, 2024 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Distortion - A RMMV Machinima by Studio Moonchalk". itch.io. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
External links
[edit]- Distortion at IMDb
- 2023 films
- 2023 animated films
- 2023 directorial debut films
- 2020s avant-garde and experimental films
- Films released on YouTube
- Animated films without speech
- Independent animated films
- Non-narrative films
- Self-reflexive films
- Silent feature films
- Philippine animated films
- Philippine independent films
- Philippine silent films