It's anime on amphetamines — with a throbbing techno beat and a dash of Kabuki. Most of all, M dot Strange's berserk and beautiful We Are the Strange is a triptastic triumph of DIY filmmaking. Strange (former Web designer Michael Belmont) spent three years and roughly $20,000 crafting his feature-length debut — learning animation, creating virtual landscapes, and scouring gutters for props. Last December, he went into lockdown mode, working 30-hour shifts to finish in time for Sundance. The plot? Something about an anime waif and a mopey porcelain doll searching for safe haven in a vicious videogame world. But that's beside the point. The visuals are dazzlingly hypnotic, dropping references from the Brothers Quay to Super Mario Brothers. Strange calls his technique Str8nime (strange + 8-bit + anime). After 86 brain- melting minutes, viewers may not know what hit them. (The Sundance crowd didn't — there was a minor stampede for the exits long before the closing credits.) Still, Strange has attracted a fierce online fan base — eager acolytes are even learning how to make their own Str8nime via his "Film Skool" clips on YouTube. This fall, he's self- releasing a DVD, with free parking-lot screenings across the country. "People have to stop jumping for the Hollywood carrot," he says. "I'm training a new generation of filmmakers." Check out Strange's technique below.
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M dot's 8 Steps to Str8nime
1) Shoot the stop-motion doll in front of a homemade closet greenscreen.
2) Launch Maxon Cinema 4-D and render the 3-D background for the shot. Remember: "Blocky makes better; 8 bits was always enough."
3) Import stop-motion sequences into Adobe After Effects and remove the greenscreen.
4) Import the 3-D background renders into After Effects and match them with the movements of the stop-motion doll.
5) Create the most evil 8-bit sky you can in Mario Paint and add it to the scene. "It won't be that scary, but that's the point."
6) Add 3-D particle effects or hand-drawn wind.
7) Str8nime is not photorealistic, but it is photographic. Create depth-of-field blur and lens distortion.
8) Dial in the color. "If it doesn't burn your eyes, it's not bright enough. If the voice in your head doesn't scream 'WTF?!' it's not strange enough. When you're finished, chant, 'This is Str8nime. This is Str8nime.' Over and over."
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