In the brave new world of web series’, The Movie Extra Web Fest Competition brought to the fore a whole new generation of filmmakers. And what a fascinating competition it has proven to be, with some great (and not so great) offerings and good sports shining brightly against a disappointing plethora of bad sports. Amongst this chaos a number of great new concepts shine brightly, and one of those is “Blood and Relics”, the brain child of Joshua C Birch and Simon Taylor.
Blood and Relics is an action series set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world where humanity has regressed back to the tribal age. Rather than the bleak and uncompromising planet often displayed as the typical post apocalyptic scenario, this planet has been reclaimed by Mother Nature, which is a comforting touch.
The series follows a young Novice hunter (newcomer Kashmir Sinnamon) who has uncovered some of the secrets of the past. As he delves deeper into this world he distances himself further from the tribe and incurs the wrath of the Veteran hunter (well known favourite ‘bad guy’ Ozzie Devrish) and other tribal leaders. In a community which fears the past, the Novice is quickly ostracised for bringing the ‘old evil ways’ back to hurt his people and he finds himself siding with a mysterious Hermit (up and coming actor James Harris). Ultimately he finds himself at the tipping point of revolutionary change and fighting against his own people.
This series holds great potential – whilst the story has been touched on before in other forms, so too have vampires and war films, which just goes to prove that a good story, told well and with new twists and a great new ending, will always be in demand. The casting is clever and well balanced, showing a mature understanding of fitting actor to character (and an understanding of the pulling value of the 8+IMDb rule!). It is not surprising they are in the finals for the Movie Extra Competition (second place, from 100 competitors!) and I look forward to seeing the completed series in 2011.
Cast: Ozzie Devrish (PJ Hogan’s Peter Pan, Crocodile Dundee in NY, The Condemned, TV series The Strip, sci fi cult The Dark Lurking and rumoured to be cast next year alongside Mad Max legend Roger Ward in The Hospice) James Harris (Azrael, Dartworth, Mercedes, Kansas), Kashmir Sinnamon.
Written by Simon Taylor & Joshua C Birch, Producer Simon Taylor, Director Joshua C Birch, Cinematographer Brian Loewe, Production Design Kate Carrick, First A.D. Summa Liu, Make-up Amanda Rieck, Editor Michael Du – Shane, Sound Design Andrew Couzens, Colourist Lauren 'Thunder' Carter , First AC / Gaff Lachlan Hughes , Sound David Ridley , Art Assistant Sean Lemass.
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