Fever, Short Film, Review And Interview

It is known a high fever can cause our minds to play tricks on us. But what if the higher temperature allows for our senses to comprehend more of what is around us. Of course, those who don't have the heightened perception may not understand what we see.

I saw Feverat the 2019 FilmQuest film festival (website). It was nominated for Best Sound.

I recommend Fever for those who like to explore the dark unnatural side of our existence.

Synopsis: A dark supernatural presence stalks a sick little girl and her skeptical mother.

Brian Rosenthal, writer and director, shares his inspiration for Fever. He also shares his past times and what got him interested in pursuing a career in film making.

What was the inspiration for Fever?

So, the inspiration for Fevercomes from a few places. Firstly, my childhood fears... I used to get sick often when I was pretty young. I'd get these high fevers, so between that and an overactive imagination, those nights were absolutely filled with terror. Then I suppose there's the more measured inspiration, which is wanting to throw my hat into the hook/rules based supernatural horror sub-genre... stuff like Nightmare on Elm Street, Lights Out, The Ring... I love when that kind of horror is done well, it can really grab you. And my notion, for what it's worth, was that the more relatable the hook (don't watch the tape, don't fall asleep, etc.), the more potential there is for terror. I also really wanted to do something that felt like it could play universally and rely on its imagery to tell the story, despite featuring dialogue. I love visual storytelling, so that was definitely a goal.

What project(s) do you have coming up you're excited about?

I'm currently attempting to get Fever off the ground as a feature and working on a screenplay for that. I also have another feature film project with a completed script that I'm working on called The Last Blockbuster, which is a riff on Clerksand The Monster Squad where we follow a handful of lovable movie geeks as they attempt to survive a supernatural apocalypse barricaded inside the world's last video rental store. It's this high concept, meta B movie about B movies set almost entirely inside a place that rents B movies... it's just fun as all hell, I'm personally super invested in it, and I hope I get the opportunity to bring it to life and share it with everyone. In the meantime, my crew and I actually shot a pitch teaser for it that kinda functions as a short as well, you can check it out here (https://vimeo.com/brianrosenthal/thelastblockbuster).

What was your early inspiration for pursuing a career in film?

I got bit by the movie-magic bug early seeing special FX blockbusters like Star Wars, Ghostbusters, T2, Alien(s) etc. at a very young age, then being fascinated enough to pursue 'making of' videos wherever I could find them. Partly out of curiosity, and I think in the case of horror partly as a means of deconstructing the things that scared the hell out of me on screen so I wouldn't be afraid of them anymore. It was around my freshman year in High School when my buddy, Jon Zietz, started experimenting with filmmaking, editing deck to deck, etc. He and his dad really helped get me going, we kinda learned the nuts and bolts as a team and proceeded to work together for a number of years, even cranking out a no-budget feature shot on a mini DV camera (JVC GY-DV500 to be exact!) back when we were around twenty-ish, in the early oughts.

What would be your dream project?

I have this notebook filled with all my ideas for shorts, features, etc... but out of them all, I think The Last Blockbuster is the one that means the most to me. It has such a different perspective on nostalgia that I think will really resonate with folks, as well as entertain in a big way. I can die happy if I get to make that film.

What are some of your favorite pastimes when not working on a movie?

Watching movies, reading/studying up on new film tech. I also play and collect retro video games, as well as movie related stuff—prop replicas, figures, etc. I'm a geek, no shame in it. I used to play guitar and draw quite a bit, but the latter has sorta folded into storyboarding for creative projects and the former needs to be dusted off and restrung, it's been years.

What is one of your favorite movies and why?

It's a hard tossup between Ghostbusters and RoboCop, and both for very similar reasons, as different as they obviously are. I had seen the cartoons in the 80s before knowing of their live-action counterparts. And upon seeing both films (I think I was 5 when I saw Ghostbusters and 7 when I tricked my family into renting me RoboCop) there was this instant correlation between imagining a thing and making it happen in front of a camera. Seeing it go from animation to live action was the real 'a-ha' moment for me, and I was already familiar with drawing so that connection just made sense. And with both films, I experienced the same rollercoaster... fear, excitement, laughter, all in one package. It helped me realize at a young age that a film could dance a line, tonally, and still work, without being entirely one thing or the other. And once again, in the case of both films, the FX. I wanted to know how those proton packs worked! How did they make those beams appear on screen!? What kind of magic was this? Was it the same way lightsabers were done in Star Wars, I wondered? (I learned the word 'rotoscope' at a very young age). And how the HELL did they stretch the skin on Peter Weller's face over all that metal?! That was just so damned freaky, mesmerizing and iconic all at once, I had to know what the trick was. Those films helped me become just as familiar and fascinated with the people behind the camera as the ones in front of it, and remain among my favorite to this day.

You can find out more about Fever on the following sites.

https://www.facebook.com/feverhorrorshort ('Fever' Facebook Page)

https://vimeo.com/brianrosenthal/feverteaser ('Fever' Teaser Trailer)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8902462/ ('Fever' IMDb)

https://www.twitter.com/brosenthal82 (Director's Twitter)

https://www.facebook.com/lastblockbusterfilm ('The Last Blockbuster' Facebook Page)

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THERE Is Your Enemy.

One down. Countless more to go!

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 93, July 9, 1887. by Various

AX-029, Crackpots!

Today's episode is about Crackpots, the Activision game that was the first 2600 game by Dan Kitchen, who went on to make many more (and is still making them!). I hope that you enjoy the episode.

Next on the podcast is Malagai, by Answer Software. If you have this game, I would love to see a photo of it on Facebook or Twitter, see the links below for those. If you have any thoughts on the game, please send them to me at 2600gamebygame@gmail.com by end of day 17 February. Just tell me what you think of it, I will take care of the nuts and bolts of the game. As always, I thank you for listening.

Crackpots on Random Terrain
Crackpots on Atari Protos
Dan Kitchen's web site
Dan Kitchen's Games site
Dan Kitchen interview by Classic Gamer 74
Atari Age thread on Keystone Kapers 2 discovery
Crackpots patch on Digital Press
...and accompanying letter
Crackpots commercial
Jim's Ferg Quest sprite hack
Ryan's Atari Age High Score Showdown post for Crackpots
Wilson Oyama's Crackpots playthrough video
No Swear Gamer 521 - Crackpots
Sean's Autobiography of a Schnook Podcast Chapter 5

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A Triumph Of Persistence Over Good Sense?

Maybe. 

What I have been searching for, for some years now, is essentially a game that has the simplicity, ease and speed of play of a stand=a unit games such as Morschauser, Volley & Bayonet, DBA, and the Portable Wargame but with just a little bit more tactical colour to feed the narrative (since I play at lower scales of game and am not terribly imaginative at interpreting game mechanisms into narrative).  I wasn't sure if or how reverting to one-stand-is-a-unit basing would help but once done it didn't take long to start remembering such games from early this century that I had enjoyed before first losing the simplicity by a return to the old multi-element unit and then becoming  fascinated by and converted to grids. (Both still useful and attractive options btw.)

The Bodyguard took a chance and got lucky, routing a unit of Grey infantry while the charge of the Mounted Rifles was repulsed by a dose of cannister.

Up until a few days ago, I wasn't really thinking about going off grid for this but my current Medieval/Fantasy rules were designed that way for compatibility with a friend and with our 16thC rules which are also  one stand units, no grid, rules.    So, when I set up the game that is currently on the table, I planned to use the grid but suddenly decided to do a new set of one page, off-grid, rules. The first go was OK but still without that colour, especially around charges while having too much unimportant detail that I had felt maybe ought to be shown.

The apparently Crack Grey gunners silenced a challenging Red battery and then continued to pound Red's cavalry. The opposing cavalry decided to play it safe and dismount for fire action until all of both armies was deployed. Red's infantry had started their assault with discouraging results.

I had recently taken another look at Neil Thomas and some of his rules philosophy. It suddenly seemed that maybe I needed to let go of a few of my habits, get drastic, and came up with something at a little bit different than what I've been doing for the last while but still familiar.

The firefight was loud and bloody for both sides but Grey's last reinforcement had arrived and the sun was sinking. It was time to gamble or go home. 

The end result was a fast paced game with the sorts of decisions I wanted to make and a minimum of fussy stuff, but with some brisk action that could have made a good story and a nail biter of an ending where a gamble against the odds paid off with a last minute do or die cavalry charge by Red sweeping away the shaken enemy while a desperate Blue infantry charge against a battered Red unit resulted in a routed unit of Blue's Zouaves and a wounded Brigadier, all in just over an action packed hour. A full size game with double the number of units should be easily handled in an afternoon without tedium.

Red's infantry had fought their way into the town and Grey's losses amongst his lead brigades had been heavy. He decided to pull back his nearly exhausted battery and sent in the newly arrived Zouave Brigade to retake the town and drive the enemy back.

I've sort of run out of names and this isn't really a direct development from any of my other games but since the Model Major General never gelled,  I've given myself permission to reuse the name.

NOW or NEVER! Red's army was nearing its breaking point but Blue looked to be even closer to breaking. There was not enough daylight left to be sure of breaking the enemy's morale  by fire alone. Red decided to gamble and ordered his infantry to hold in the village on against every counter attack and ordered the Bodyguard and Hussars to mount up and CHARGE!  This time, Fortune favoured the Brave. 

Here's the 2 sides of a page version as played in the illustrations.

___________________

Model Major General (2020 ed)
Wargame Rules QRS

2 Feb 2020 1st Draft

Turn Sequence. Determine Initiative
A Moves and declares charges, then B moves and declare charges 

B Fires then A Fires, 

A charges home or retreats then B charges home or retreats, resolve all charges.

Orders. Roll 1d=number of orders. -1 if General lost. (In large games roll by Division)

1 order needed to move a unit or a formed Brigade. (Brigadier+ a group of touching units. They do not need to stay touching.)

Moves:

Infantry: 9" + 3" if in Brigade column 

Irregulars: 12"

Arty: 12" -6" to limber/unlimber

Cavalry: 18" mounted, -9" dismounted

Facing: Units may move any direction and face direction as desired unless charging.

Bkn gnd. (Fenced fields, open woods etc)  Cav, Arty, 1/2 speed.

Difficult Terrain. (Dense woods etc) Infantry and Pack animals only at 1/2 speed

Towns. Move by road only. 1/2 move for Inf or Dismounted cav to occupy buildings.
Road: Negates terrain.

Charges. Units may not move close than 1" to enemy during movement. A unit that declares a charge and moves to within 1" pins the target unit in place until the charge is resolved. A unit may only charge an enemy which is to its front when the charge is declared. A Pinned unit may choose to shoot during the fire phase OR hold fire until the Charge resolution phase OR if mounted cavalry or spearmen may countercharge

Interpenetration: Units may interpenetrate friends if they may clear them.

Shooting: Tgt must be in arc (45 degrees either side of ahead) and range with a clear line of fire.

Unit Dice Hit On Range

Inf  2 5,6 12"

Shpstr 1 4,5,6 18"
Dis Cav 2 5,6 9" 

Gatling 3 5,6 18"

Arty 2 4,5,6 36"
Difficult Target:  Suffer 1/2 casualties rounding up if artillery, cavalry, sharpshooters or in cover.

Charge Resolution.
4d per unit if charging or holding fire.

5,6 hits

+1 if Shock troops 

Inflict 1/2 casualties if charging enemy defending fortified position or cavalry charging over obstacle or into broken ground etc

Remove any Broken units. If still in contact infantry that charged may back up 1" or a full move. Mounted Cavalry will retreat a full move. If the target of a charge is eliminated the charging unit must occupy the ground and if cavalry may advance 3" and charge again with no response. There is no second pursuit.

Morale.
Units take 4 hits +1 Vet/Elite, -1 Militia or Irregular

Commander Rally. Once per turn, at any point a unit takes hits, a Commander may join a unit within 3" and roll 1d6: 5,6 cancels 1 hit, 1=cdr is a casualty.

Hospital.  1d per turn, 5,6 = 1 unit recovers 1 hit

Army Morale = If 1/2 units broken must concede. Objectives may count as units for this.
 

______________

Now to reset the table, prep a few more units and try a different scenario.