![]() But it could also easily describe this ponderous effort, which would be more accurately described as “exploitative filmmaking.” The production notes for the film produced by disaster movie maestro Michael Bay mention that the creative team employed a technique they dub “opportunistic filmmaking.” The term refers to the use of non-traditional photographic formats such as iPhones, GoPro and surveillance cameras. So what you really want to do to distract yourself from this horrible state of affairs is pluck down $20 at home to watch a new cinematic thriller about a country in the grip of a deadly pandemic, right? Right?Īpparently, the creators of Songbird think so. Millions of people are in desperate financial straits, the government response has been chaotic and people are violently rebelling against the very health measures designed to keep them alive. The death rate is higher than ever, with fatalities racing toward the 300,000 mark. There would be no fiddling with lighting or makeup touch-ups because of social distancing requirements.The country is currently in the grip of a deadly pandemic. On the set, because some actors would be unmasked during filming, the only other people present were Mason and the director of photography, Jacques Jouffret, who operated the camera. ![]() That meant Mason used a crew of 30, about a tenth of a standard production in previous years. "Songbird" would be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Getting a low-budget movie financed is one thing getting it made when the film industry and the unions were scrambling to set new safety protocols is another. "Transformers" and "The Rock" director Michael Bay joined as a producer shortly afterward.īecause so many actors were eager to work after months of work stoppage, Mason could land veterans like Moore and Craig Robinson in supporting roles by the time cameras started rolling in June. They sent their document to producer Adam Goodman, who greenlighted the production the next day. The story kept mutating like the virus, from a found-footage creature movie like "Cloverfield" to a thriller about the less tangible monster currently rampaging around the planet. Within a day, the writers had put together a 12-page document that was part rudimentary story and part manifesto on how they planned to shoot it in the middle of the burgeoning pandemic. Mason's writing partner, Simon Boyes, called him that week to pitch the idea of doing a bit of guerrilla filmmaking while they were in limbo, the plan being to ask several actor friends to shoot scenes on their iPhones or laptops to be edited together later. The movie arrives on television screens just shy of nine months after the first day of the California lockdown, which halted a passion project film that Mason had been working on at the time. All those fears, all those concerns, the nightmare was real for us. "This is art imitating life while we're living it. "Rarely do you get to play a character and tell a story that you are actually living and surviving in real life," Carson said. Actors Bradley Whitford and Demi Moore and director Adam Mason behind the scenes on the set of "Songbird." STXfilms That puts him on a collision course with a married couple (Demi Moore and Bradley Whitford), who are willing to kill to protect both their black market business and their immunocompromised daughter. One of them, a courier named Nico (KJ Apa), must save the love his life, Sara (Sofia Carson), whom he hasn't seen in person since the lockdown began, after she is targeted by the authorities. Those who are infected are put in camps, and only those who are documented as immune are allowed outside their homes. In the thriller, the Covid-19 virus has mutated into Covid-23 by the fourth year of lockdown.
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