Phoenix - A New Feature Film

I have been cooking up a new feature film, that can be made in a shelter in place scenario, starring my wife who is an actor, and my kids (if they're willing), and some actor friends remotely.

Filming and Writing simultaneously

One aspect that I'm excited about this project is the idea of the filming informing the writing as opposed to it just being a one-sided blueprint, that then turns into a feature (or as so often happens... doesn't). So by just beginning to film, that's already unlocked whole other areas of the story that I'm excited to explore. I started filming over the last couple nights with this crazy spider web and a gigantic spider that was beautifully backlit. An animated version of the spider will be feature as a talking character in the film, along with an animated phoenix...

About a year and a half ago my wife Aimee got diagnosed with breast cancer. And so that's something we've been dealing with, and it's been an intense journey. What I'm hoping to do is make a movie that explores our relationship to life, facing death, and what sometimes can be a very isolating journey, but an amazing and inspiring one in my case with my incredible Aimee. When you compound that with what's going on for all of us right now in the world with the global pandemic. There's an insane level of isolation that we're all experiencing, and that isolation is very closely related to the death of our egos. Who we thought we were and who we purported to be and the life we were living out, shopping for, and having social interaction to propagate and working to make real.

We're all having to look at that a little bit right now. And so, I want to make a film that addresses those feelings and creates an intimate portrait of a woman going through a kind of death of the idea of who she thought she was going to be. And through that, transcending and becoming something more.

I hope that this film is a vehicle for getting healthier, being open to really being clear about what's going on and investigating the facets of hope, fear and the rollercoaster can be super curative, and something Aimee is doing a lot of anyway right now.

Using limitations To Inform The Storytelling

One central mystery is what happened to the main character's partner. As I will be filming most fo the film myself, I will only be able to act in select parts of it. So that limitation is going to shape the narrative, which is an exciting way to work. Almost harkening back to Dogme 95 days. This will also add some thriller elements... creating a sense of dis-ease, evoking the sear of dealing with disease.

My son is working on a lot of Minecraft building and he built my wife a Minecraft healing hut. With all this stuff in it to help her heal, that is super sweet. So what I'm imagining is that the film will be set slightly in the future, and she'll have the ability after he shows her what he's built her, she can explore it throgh mixed-reality contact points that she can put on her head and body. She will be able to travel into the 3D reality he's created. And there will be characters in that reality including a phoenix guide & supernatural aide. The Phoenix starts out in this digital world but then pours into the real world. And it's unclear what's real anymore.

So from disease to isolation the film will get into mental stability and the death of ego and then rebirth as Pheonix rises from the ashes.

Blockchain and Filmmaking in Partnership

We'll share the work as we produce it so that you can be a part of the filmmaking process. Aiming for a groundbreaking interaction between #HIVE and Phoenix... more on that and how blockchain and cryptocurrency will be an integral part of the filmmaking process as you follow the journey.

Yours in the Hive,
Doug