Author: Emily Carmichael

I can’t even begin to describe how much I love this web series. I gave money to the Kickstarter to get the second season going, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice to do so. Even if the second season never comes to fruition, I’m so pleased to have given the creator of this brilliant series my monies that I go to bed each night knowing I’ve made the world a better place. This is sort of the foreign film of all the selections I’ve given you in this article, meaning you actually have to take the time to watch and read everything to get the full story. But it’s worth it. So, so worth it. Ledo and Ix are absolutely the best two characters you never played in ye old Nintendo days, and you will all be better people for knowing them.

via Beyond Grandma’s Boy: 5 More Movies/Shows About Gaming |.

 The 2013 Tribeca Film Festival was an emba OkCupid. Extra points for the weird, in-character cadence of the dialogue. 

Emily Carmichael’s animated film imagines what would happen if two characters from 8-bit role-playing video games met online à

iarrassment of riches. Emily Carmichael’s animated film imagines what would happen if two characters from 8-bit role-playing video games met online à

Via  Tribeca Film Festival 2013 | Film Feature | Tiny Mix Tapes.

EMILY CARMICHAEL INTERVIEW

May 18 | Author: Mike Plante
To date, Emily Carmichael’s films, plays and cartoons have included one jealous ghost, six witches, and two imaginary mud people. She’s been awarded $70,075 in writing prizes and scholarships, $60,000 of which she declined in order to go to Tisch film school. She currently lives with her parents and tries hard to not pay for drinks. CineVegas 2009 is proud to present TWO of her short films.
THE ADVENTURES OF LEDO AND IX is about two 8-bit video game characters who confront the void.
Tell us briefly about the film’s story, and what it means to you.
The film is about two characters in a fantasy video game from the early 90s. Playing those games could be totally haunting. Because the sprites were so simple, and you had to read their dialogue off the screen, you ended up investing a lot of yourself in the characters– they were great vessels.
The through line of the story is that of the two characters, Ledo has bought in more to the idea of being a fantasy adventurer, but she has an experience that changes that and makes her start to question her world. What happens to an adventurer when you take away the adventure?
But really it’s about the relationship, and that sort of weary companionship that comes from being in the same predicament with someone else.
Why did you use the short film format to tell your story?
I don’t think the world is ready yet for a feature length movie whose characters only have two facial expressions. Although I’m a great Bruce Willis fan, so I could be wrong.
Have you seen your film with an audience yet, and how was the reaction?
It’s interesting because when I used to direct plays, the laughs came in completely different places every night. With films it’s different. I’ve seen the movie with a bunch of different audiences and the laughs landscape is very similar every time, it’s just higher or lower overall depending on audience energy.
What do you think the role of a film festival is?
That’s a great question. The role of festival as marketplace has declined in recent years, and was never really the point of festivals for shorts filmmakers. I think the most important thing festivals provide is an alternate financial model to get films in front of audiences.
The tagline for THE GHOST AND US?
His house is haunted. His girlfriend’s not pleased.
The Ghost and Us is about a girl and a ghost who both love the same guy. It’s about how past relationships can haunt present ones, how you end up having a relationship to the people your lover has been with, even if you never meet them.
Do you gamble?
You know, I never have in the past. I’m a little scared that I could get really really into it–but I have the same win-big fantasies that everyone else does!
STINGRAY SAM screenings (with THE ADVENTURES OF LEDO AND IX preceding the feature):
Friday, June 12 – 9:00 PM
Saturday, June 13 – 11:00 AM
THE GHOST AND US plays in
Shorts Program 2: Screenings
Friday, June 12 – 10:30 AM
Sunday, June 14 – 5:30 PM

As the presitgious film festival takes over New York this week a bold little feature flies the flag for games along with Beyond: Two Souls.

With the annual Tribeca film festival now underway all eyes are on the competition schedules. Set to debut on the circuit later today, RPG OKC, from filmmaker and writer Emily Carmichael should be on the radar of any game enthusiast and is a reminder that games are slowly creeping onto the agenda at festivals like Tribeca – in 2011, LA Noire was the first videogame to make the official selection at the event.

An entry into the Shorts In Competition: Narrative competition, RPG OKC tells the tale of an NPC romance on the bright, bubbly canvas of a throwback JRPG landscape. Thetrailer, below, conveys a rather adorable slice of homage and meta-game musings on the blurred lines between reality and 16bit fantasy that’ll be familiar to anyone who grew up hooked on the likes of Earthbound.

It’s not the only game-related property to make the cut this year, of course, as we recently reported that a special panel and screening dedicated to Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls would take place on April, 27.

RPG film competes at Tribeca today.

by Brandon Harris

“Even more memorable was Emily Carmichael’s absolutely delightful RPG OKC which with arch humor and a style all its own ruminates on the internet-fueled romance between a pair of characters in separate electronic role-playing games. The film is animated in the style of 16-bit RPG games, but Carmichael’s writing is the real show here as it gives life to the anxieties of new infatuation and the passive aggressiveness implied therein between a Final Fantasy-esque knight and some kind of desert-dwelling cat. Worthy of repeated viewings, it grows more entertaining and relevant as its 10-minute running time wears on. Seek it, OK Cupid users and Facebook stalkers, I implore you.”

via Tribeca 2013 Critic’s Notebook #3: On The Margins | Filmmaker Magazine.

The film is witty and filled with sharp dialogue that plays on pop culture, and although only 9-minutes in length, RPG OKC entertains from beginning to end.

Director Emily Carmichael‘s latest short has more heart & depth in its 9-minutes than most features and her latest triumph ”RPG OKC” reveals this. The short, which is animated and in 8-bit style of the retro games of the 90′s (ala Zelda, Transylvania, Mario) showcases the romantic story of Paul & Paquine, two characters set in different worlds, who fall in love via an internet dating site. What makes the story stand out from the pack, is the benevolence that is built between the couple and as the audience, you grow fond of the two and ultimately root for love to be triumphant over all.

There are many funny and enduring moments in the short, and one of my favorites occurs when Paul cognizes on the fact that as long as he’s been chatting with Paquine he has absolutely no clue what she looks like. When he decides to go to his brother for advice, in true brother fashion, informs him he’s probably talking to a dude. The film is witty and filled with sharp dialogue that plays on pop culture, and although only 9-minutes in length, RPG OKC entertains from beginning to end.

APR032011

Well, except for the accusation of “thinness,” (which really, who can truly object to), I’d say this is a pretty good review.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012

The Ghost and Us: Showing, Not Telling

Emily Carmichael’s horror comedy short film, The Ghost and Us, provides an excellent working example of the old screenwriting rule, Show, Don’t Tell.

In the film, Laura (Maria Dizzia), is newly married to a man she loves. Ben (Geordie Broadwater) loves her back. The problem is that Ben’s ex-wife, Sena (Moira Dennis), won’t let go. She keeps dropping by unannounced. Laura even finds Sena in the newlyweds’ bedroom, whispering sweet nothings into Ben’s ear.

Laura can’t even get a restraining order against Sena, because … Sena is dead. The woman isn’t just a stalker, she is a spiritual stalker.

(Yes, The Ghost and Us evokes Blithe Spirit.)

Despite its short length (11 minutes), The Ghost and Us provides story arcs for all three of its characters (wife, husband, dead wife). All three characters change in some small way by film’s end.

Especially admirable is the film’s mid-point scene. As Syd Field teaches, the mid-point is where one should normally place a film’s key turning point/incident — an incident that affects the main characters’ story arcs. The Ghost and Us not only achieves this, but it does so by showing, not telling.

Prior to this mid-point scene, Laura and Sena have battled and bickered over Ben’s affections. The mid-point scene begins after Laura and Sena have engaged in a temporary truce. Together, they share a snack in the kitchen. Girl stuff of the sort that bonds women.

Then it becomes apparent that Sena cannot eat. She’s a ghost.

Laura’s attempt to help Sena eat, and the latter’s realization that she’s no longer of this world, both strengthens their bond, and conveys a poignancy that lifts The Ghost and Us above a mere spook tale. Adding to the scene’s strength is that:

1. It’s conveyed visually. Rather than having the two women say nice things about each other, Carmichael shows Sena’s inability to eat, and Laura’s futile attempt to help her rival.

2. It’s not overdone or overlong. The incident occurs. It’s over. The women return to battle. (Albeit with a greater understanding of their situation, and of each other, hence, their emotional story arcs are advanced.) By not belaboring this scene, The Ghost and Us avoids the trap of cheap sentimentality.

Actually, The Ghost and Us is admirable for just having a story and characters. All too many horror films these days are just an unmotivated succession of scenes which contain nothing but gore effects.

Emily Carmichael is an NYU film school graduate whose work has screened at the Sundance Film Festival. She may be contacted at Kid Can Drive.

=====================

More from Horror Film Aesthetics…..