Alien saucer crash
Someone arranged for this elaborate hidden camera prank with an alien space ship.
Happy Dolphin Productions
Near the end of 2005 a group of Chabot students started work on a short film. I was one of those students. We spent countless hours working on the thing. On one occasion we had spent several hours working on a shoot and learned some time later that the footage for that shoot had been completely lost. That was when I started to get the feeling that most of the people on the team weren't very committed to the project. The project was abandoned shortly thereafter.
Happy Dolphin Productions is an independent film production group, based out of Hayward. This unique and diverse group of artists and technicians has taken video production into its own hands. With one video already completed and others underway, the group hosts a variety of positions for any skill level. You too can become part of this creative group; all it takes is an interest in film production and dedication and you too can become part of the experience. There is no cost to join and no previous experience is required. For more information visit the Happy Dolphin web site or send me an email.
Our first film was called Term Paper. It was a moving target. We did our best to plan the elements before we broke out the camera but this was, after all, our first attempt at a film so things evolved quickly. If you're feeling particularly sadistic, you're welcome to read the screenplay or storyboard.
Term Paper (2005)
Genre: Comedy
Tagline: I got it covered.
Plot Outline:
The first of the Happy Dolphin films. This movie features Larry and Daryl as they try to resolve a local cat infestation problem. Can they solve their crisis without losing their minds?
Run time: 90 sec
Cast overview, first billed only:
Alexis Daniel .... Nerd Andres Sandoval .... Transient Eddie Holcraft .... Daryl "Jonny" Sze Chun Chan .... Stephen [Me] .... Larry Sean .... Professor UnCast .... Walter
Background:
Many of us know that when we're born we are assigned a guardian angel. What you may not know is that the lord of the underworld, as part of his unending battle with his arch enemy, is determined to thwart his nemesis' efforts by sending his own representative. Each of us not only has a guardian angel but a demon that follows us through our day to day lives as well. We're made aware of our guardian's presence, most of the time, by subtle close-calls that happen to us in our daily lives. The demon's presence can usually be felt when things go to shit.
This is how most of us interact with these creatures from this alternate dimension. Larry however has a very intimate relationship with his. Daryl, who was unhappy with this 'arrangement' with his 'master' decided to do things his own way. He abandoned the traditions of his role and decided to come to a somewhat amicable arrangement with his earth mate. The two have accepted their fate for better or for worse; and, despite Daryl's detestable habits and Larry's somewhat tame lifestyle; have managed to make a somewhat reasonable alliance.
Daryl is non-corporeal. This means he has no actual body. He can't actually do things in the physical world. It's impossible, for example, for him to shoot a cat, piss on it, and bat it off into the distance. The only way he can accomplish these deeds is by recruiting the assistance of demons assigned to other corporeal beings and use their assistance to coerce their earth mates to do the deeds for him. For simplicity, when we shoot these scenes, we use the image of Daryl in the acts. They are however, other people, who have someone been lured into this twisted game.
While filming Term Paper, we began work on a second film. The screenplay for this second film was written entirely by Ms. Daniel.
Term Paper (2005)
Genre: Romance
Tagline: I have a surprise for you.
Plot Outline:
The second of the Happy Dolphin films. This film is still in pre-production.
Run time: 90 sec
These are some of the members of Happy Dolphin Productions.
I thought it would be interesting to see what our logo would look like on a shirt so I added the following item to my CafePress store.