HeroicWorld Short Film Celebrates Fifteen Years!
By Scott Cranford
In 2000 the Internet was in it's infancy. You could spend hours trying to get information online or you could turn to printed material, which many did. Thanks to CGI, the superhero industry was ready to explode. The place to find out about all things cool with superheroes in every medium was Wizard Magazine, and it could be found at your local grocery store. For most of it's run Wizard Magazine was even in the shape of a comic book. Director and comic book scribe Kevin Smith announced in the magazine that he was sponsoring a film making contest.
I liked the idea of crossing the DC and Marvel universes. The short had to be five minutes so I used only the most iconic characters, Superman, Batman, Robin and Spiderman. My friend David Comfort was a child actor who had starred in the TV series, The Incredible Hulk. At the time he was also helping me bring www.heroicworld online. We had portrayed Batman and Robin for a pitch for a reality show and some other heroic events. It was was natural for him to play Robin the boy wonder. Eric Chmielecki and Jason Chmielecki were pals of mine from Rocky Hill, Connecticut where I grew up before coming out to Hollywood to make fan films. Originally I wanted to make a serious superhero film, but Eric, who I wanted to play Batman, really wanted to make a comedy. After we figured out a plot, I agreed that a comedy would be more fun. Jason was the perfect Peter Parker/Spiderman. My girlfriend Marcella Cranford who I later married, played three roles. I had the good fortune that my brother Jeff Cranford was a talented editor.
The Plot: Four retired superheroes meet in a coffee shop as their secret identities. Clues, only comic book fans would pick up on are given as to who they are. A catastrophe forces them back into action. Can you figure out who they are before they reveal themselves?
Ideas that helped me stay organized...
I created story boards for all the shots. I was familiar with film-making. For years I worked in the entertainment industry. I had worked on some the biggest budgeted movies in Hollywood. I also worked on the lowest budgeted movies in North Hollywood. Good directors are organized. They know the most important shots they need to sell their story and they get them done first. They also know every shot and action they need from start to finish. Story-boards save a lot of time. I have heard many film-makers say, "I like to improvise". story-boards limit my creativity. Okay, if you have time and money but most fan films don't. Even the most organized fan films will have plenty of opportunities to get creative. The story-boards are a loose guide, but essential. I went back to them when I got in trouble and crossed them off as I went along.
The storyboards don't have to be perfect. You don't have to be the greatest artist, you just have to get your point across. I have published the original story-boards I made for Power Meeting below.
I liked the idea of crossing the DC and Marvel universes. The short had to be five minutes so I used only the most iconic characters, Superman, Batman, Robin and Spiderman. My friend David Comfort was a child actor who had starred in the TV series, The Incredible Hulk. At the time he was also helping me bring www.heroicworld online. We had portrayed Batman and Robin for a pitch for a reality show and some other heroic events. It was was natural for him to play Robin the boy wonder. Eric Chmielecki and Jason Chmielecki were pals of mine from Rocky Hill, Connecticut where I grew up before coming out to Hollywood to make fan films. Originally I wanted to make a serious superhero film, but Eric, who I wanted to play Batman, really wanted to make a comedy. After we figured out a plot, I agreed that a comedy would be more fun. Jason was the perfect Peter Parker/Spiderman. My girlfriend Marcella Cranford who I later married, played three roles. I had the good fortune that my brother Jeff Cranford was a talented editor.
The Plot: Four retired superheroes meet in a coffee shop as their secret identities. Clues, only comic book fans would pick up on are given as to who they are. A catastrophe forces them back into action. Can you figure out who they are before they reveal themselves?
Ideas that helped me stay organized...
I created story boards for all the shots. I was familiar with film-making. For years I worked in the entertainment industry. I had worked on some the biggest budgeted movies in Hollywood. I also worked on the lowest budgeted movies in North Hollywood. Good directors are organized. They know the most important shots they need to sell their story and they get them done first. They also know every shot and action they need from start to finish. Story-boards save a lot of time. I have heard many film-makers say, "I like to improvise". story-boards limit my creativity. Okay, if you have time and money but most fan films don't. Even the most organized fan films will have plenty of opportunities to get creative. The story-boards are a loose guide, but essential. I went back to them when I got in trouble and crossed them off as I went along.
The storyboards don't have to be perfect. You don't have to be the greatest artist, you just have to get your point across. I have published the original story-boards I made for Power Meeting below.
The original story-boards for ...
I liked the idea of having the opening title being in space, like something big is coming and then it's just a couple of guys sitting in a coffee shop. The coffee shop exterior is the Grinder in Glendale, CA. It was one of my favorite local coffee shops. It is no longer there.
By not showing the waitress's face, I was able to have Marcella play multiple parts. The finger tapping by Peter Parker was the first clue but the shot looked terrible, so I had to scrap it. There were other clues I could rely on. In the next shot, Clark Kent knows Dick Grayson has arrived because of his x-ray vision, but Dick then enters from the other side of the room.
I originally wanted to film inside the coffee shop but since this was a zero budget production, I used my Den. Here is another clue, If you look closely at the picture in Dick Grayson's wallet you will recognize a picture of Batman and Robin on the Batcycle. It is an original 1966 Topps card from the Batman TV series. Of course there is nothing more ridiculous than Dick Grayson having a picture in his wallet of him as Robin with Batman, but this was a comedy.
For some reason the idea of Robin being the only one out of his Superhero buddies with a job was funny to me.
Another clue, Bruce Wayne was there all along disguised behind a newspaper, surprising everyone in true Batman fashion.
Dick notices Bruce Wayne has been sipping the sauce. When Bruce Wayne flips the fork in disgust and it flies out of the frame, that was just luck.
Fly Boy, Clue! The size of that cell phone is a joke.
The dialogue coming out of the restaurant was so inaudible. We had to voice it over later.
Here Bruce Wayne reveals he has been carrying Dick Grayson's for years, a reference to him sponging off of Bruce's Millions.
I eventually learned how to spell liquor.
Here Peter Parker is delivered some wheat cakes courtesy of his sweet Aunt May. Peter Parker ate a lot of wheat cakes in early Spidey adventures. My wife Marcella plays Aunt May. Not showing her face again because she will be featured later as the Job Developer. Peter is talking to Mary Jane, then receives a call from Liz Allen who is in Peters circle of friends.
For Dicks account Balance I created the image on the computer and then filmed a quick shot of it.
Losewell bank was spoofing how I felt about my bank at the time.