18/06/14 The Last Of Us Fan Film (2013)

I mentioned on here a while ago that I've been playing the (truly excellent) PS3 game The Last Of Us. As with many popular video games, it has inspired a number of 'fan films' online. If you didn't already know, these are small, low budget, short films inspired by the original digi-pixel time-wasters. If you have a look on YouTube, there's thousands of 'em.

I done a search the other day and this one 'topped the charts', so to speak. Even if you haven't played the game, although it'll definitely help if you have, I think there's something to be enjoyed in this.

It's only fifteen minutes long, but I'm gonna include it as it's a fine effort and it has an IMDB entry, therefore legitimate by the loose standards of this blog.

Set twenty years after a rather nasty fungal infection has decimated humanity, it focuses on Joel and Ellie making their way through a wasted, fading landscape, hoping to make contact with an underground resistance group called The Fireflies.
The Fireflies have a medical team that can potentially harness Ellie's immunity to the infection and create a cure, ensuring humanity's survival. On the way they encounter numerous dangers both human and infected. A bit like The Walking Dead, but without the boring six months spent on a farm bit.

As someone who has spent a great deal of time watching films, playing games and making zero-budget splatter-flicks, I feel I can pass a relatively experienced eye over such endeavours.

Starting with the bad:
The building used in the film is covered in graffiti. This makes no sense as the infection spread fast and would've left little time for decorative tagging.
Lifting dialogue directly from the game feels a little forced when comparable scripting would have worked just as well.
The guy playing Joel looks a little young and the girl playing Ellie looks a little mature.
The 'Clicker' they encounter basically looks like a normal fella with a cake glued onto his face.

The good:
The building used looks very much like the hotel in the game (the level it's based on), and considering this was made on a pocket-money budget, the graffiti is easily forgivable.
Both the main actors capture the game's characters style and mannerisms very well. Idiots on YouTube complain that 'Joel' is too young and 'Ellie' is too old. (see above) Well, when it was made Jeff Moffitt was 47 and Kate McLeod was (a young looking) 20, so that's bollocks. They nailed it in my humble.
The action choreography was spot-on.
It caught the mood of the game.
It looks great considering the almost complete absence of budget.

Anyway, I've waffled on far too much about this, the main reason being that I'm off work tommorow and I've had a few whiskys. So, yeah, have a look for yourself:

If games ain't yer thing, please ignore all the above. Although I don't really care either way.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3619414/
10/10

Cheers.
Perkin.