Turbois a low budget student film set around a futuristic fighting game called Super Turbo Arena … or modern day fighting game thanks to Natal. We brought up Turbo back when it was first revealed and now the movie is available for you to check out after the break.
The plot revolves around a tournament searching for some of the best players that play the futuristic fighting game. What’s really going to grab your attention is the stellar special effects work. The CG looks like something from a full fledged Hollywood production. Plus, the script was written by Brent Strickland who’s working on the new Wonder Woman movie. Not bad for a student film, eh?
If you got a half-hour to kill, then check out Turbo. There’s some merch stuff you can buy over on the official site if you’d like to give them some support too.
[Correction: Jarrett Conaway and Brent Strickland of Wonder Woman fame are shopping the script around Hollywood. Brent did not work on the student film itself.]
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Hey everyone. Thanks for checking out my film! I agree with most of your comments. Good and critical. Was a challenging film to make. I def will strive to make any future versions of it a little less 80s retro aka cheeseball. But, come on, that's the fun of it! Have you seen The Wizard or The Last Star Fighter lately. So much camp and still classic. Anyway go to http://www.turbothemovie.com to check out a TON of extra stuff on the film. We spent alot of time on it. With your support hopefully we can get the feature script made.
Yeah, for all their cheesy poofness, I love The Wizard and The Last Starfighter, good classic I grew up. Its all about the fun of games, and those sweet, chessy memories.
I'm sure we'd love to see Turbo go further. I admire you guys for sticking to your vision, as its not easy to create something cool and get an audience to show love.
Hey, they say hollywood is out of ideas, hopefully they'll come your way. Respect to BFAM (gotta love that name).
One last thing JCON82. Do you guys plan on any promotional stuff, or panels for upcoming stuff like PAX East?
Absolutely loved it. The camp factor stays in my own comfort range (that is, it's "classy camp" in my book). For only being a student film, I thought the shots and effects were great -- definitely indicates a cinematic know-how. I also want to mention and praise just how much you condensed into about 25 minutes -- absolutely great pacing! If you do flesh it out, I hope you stay conscious of just how well your current piece flows. I'm certain there's a lot of things you wanted in there that just wouldn't fit due to time and budgetting constraints, but really, with what you had, you absolutely soared. Finally, and most importantly here on Dtoid, it's a great celebration of the gamer.
I feel like I could go for a number of criticisms about the actual script, such as the cliche stuff, but I just liked it too much anyhow -- you don't have to be afraid of treading familiar territory, especially when you do it this well (heck, that's the critical success of Uncharted 2 so far -- nothing original, but some of the best presentation of familiar gaming concepts).
Loved it all, some more needed to be explained about the game, but that can all be worked out in future movies or the full Hollywood spectacle. Look forward to more from you, casting choices were great. Shamus was hated, but it needed to be explained how he was cheating, I guess a speed hack.
I will support you for future endeavors(DVD anyone?)
This only makes me wonder even more about the one thing that has confused me for years.
Why the hell do Hollywood special effects cost so damn much? This was just as good, and was probably made on a budget so small that there could be 10 sequels before it costs anywhere near as much as a regular Hollywood film.
Haha the story is packed with cliches (jean claude van damme's kickboxer anyone?) but the movie itself is really entertaining. Very cool special effects and the actors are pretty good as well. Compare this movie with the Resident Evil 1 live action intro movie for example.
Zero budget + lots of effort = Very very cool movie.
Hey everyone. Yeah there are DVDs and T-shirts, etc at the website. www.turbothemovie.com. The feature script is grittier...but for it to see the light of day I need to get TURBO in the millions of views. I did get a manager a few months ago because of the film.
Cowboy TTop! I'd love to go to PAX East or any convention that would have me...but alas, I haven't been invited anywhere and TURBO cost me money, it hasn't made me money...yet. I'm trying to save up money to buy Uncharted 2 before I buy a plane ticket anywhere. lol.
As for the discussion on Cliches...not every film can be a Charlie Kaufman film and honestly if it was the Kaufman version of TURBO I'd probably isolate 99% of my audience, myself included. The trick is to present a familar idea in a fresh new way. I hope I accomplished this. For me the core of the story is a guy who admires his brother so much that he wants to be him, and the game let's him complete the destiny his brother never could. I wrote the scene with the brothers first then formed the rest around it. But, it's challenging because I was writing the feature at the same time and I needed a 25 min or less version for film festivals and to graduate from USC film school. Please spread the word!
Wow! The effects looked professional, the script was straightforward and easy to relate to, and the acting, though not star-quality, was excellent. The choreography was great... couldn't help but smile with a warm pleasent feeling when he won at the end and told them his gamer 'tag'. Touching and fun to watch with plenty of action ;D
Cowboy TTOP, you wanna know why Hollywood gets it wrong, and this film got it so right? It's because there aren't any REAL gamers in Hollywood! Remember the Wizard and The Last Starfighter, right? Well, remember, too, that those movies came out during the era of the 'original' gamers... i.e. DnDers, Mario and Zeldaers, and so forth. The people working on those movies were most likely gamers themselves, along with being filmmakers. These days, Hollywood is run by a bunch of execs and boring folks, who don't really play games (I'm assuming. Look at all the crappy game-related movies that have come out!!), while all the REAL gamers are too distracted to break into the movie business by shiny next-gen graphics! LOL So I guess we can blame crappy game movies on awesome games...?
Lol, I digress. JCON82, I want to see you make it big in Hollywood, please! We NEED people like you to represent people like... well, you, and the rest of us! Best of luck!
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
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Contest:
8:00 PM on 10.07.2009
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i just saw the new star trek in theaters about twenty minutes ago, and this still entertained me just as much
perhaps a little cliche with the plot, but still engaged my suspension of disbelief
can't wait to see what else comes out of this fledgeling studio
I'd like you to get an interview with the creators of this film.
What interesting is how a big Hollywood film like Gamer, is so far off the mark, but budget effort Turbo gets it right.
Yeah, for all their cheesy poofness, I love The Wizard and The Last Starfighter, good classic I grew up. Its all about the fun of games, and those sweet, chessy memories.
I'm sure we'd love to see Turbo go further. I admire you guys for sticking to your vision, as its not easy to create something cool and get an audience to show love.
Hey, they say hollywood is out of ideas, hopefully they'll come your way. Respect to BFAM (gotta love that name).
One last thing JCON82. Do you guys plan on any promotional stuff, or panels for upcoming stuff like PAX East?
I feel like I could go for a number of criticisms about the actual script, such as the cliche stuff, but I just liked it too much anyhow -- you don't have to be afraid of treading familiar territory, especially when you do it this well (heck, that's the critical success of Uncharted 2 so far -- nothing original, but some of the best presentation of familiar gaming concepts).
I will support you for future endeavors(DVD anyone?)
Why the hell do Hollywood special effects cost so damn much? This was just as good, and was probably made on a budget so small that there could be 10 sequels before it costs anywhere near as much as a regular Hollywood film.
Could do with less cheese though.
Also, that guy is Kaim.
Zero budget + lots of effort = Very very cool movie.
Cowboy TTop! I'd love to go to PAX East or any convention that would have me...but alas, I haven't been invited anywhere and TURBO cost me money, it hasn't made me money...yet. I'm trying to save up money to buy Uncharted 2 before I buy a plane ticket anywhere. lol.
As for the discussion on Cliches...not every film can be a Charlie Kaufman film and honestly if it was the Kaufman version of TURBO I'd probably isolate 99% of my audience, myself included. The trick is to present a familar idea in a fresh new way. I hope I accomplished this. For me the core of the story is a guy who admires his brother so much that he wants to be him, and the game let's him complete the destiny his brother never could. I wrote the scene with the brothers first then formed the rest around it. But, it's challenging because I was writing the feature at the same time and I needed a 25 min or less version for film festivals and to graduate from USC film school. Please spread the word!
Wow! The effects looked professional, the script was straightforward and easy to relate to, and the acting, though not star-quality, was excellent. The choreography was great... couldn't help but smile with a warm pleasent feeling when he won at the end and told them his gamer 'tag'. Touching and fun to watch with plenty of action ;D
Lol, I digress. JCON82, I want to see you make it big in Hollywood, please! We NEED people like you to represent people like... well, you, and the rest of us! Best of luck!