the experience of working on this type of film

Lutsky introduced Conaway to the folks at Ember Lab, a start-up digital effects house in Southern California "With the large amount of VFX work that had to be done, Jarrett could have easily spent his entire budget on post production alone if he had used an established Hollywood studio," says Ember Lab's Josh Grier "We wanted to propose a bid that replica Rolex 116233-CSJ Men's watch fit within his budget and would allow us to sustain our selves for the duration of the project. " For the team at Ember, Turbo was their first complete project and the experience of working on this type of film was by far their biggest drive to get involved

That, and the arcade gaming. "My brother Mike and I lived in Tokyo for about three years and we have always been fond of the Japanese arcade culture," says Grier "After watching the first cut of Turbo, we knew right away that we wanted a hybrid look, combining elements of the retro eighties gaming culture with Japanese arcade flair. " Those retro replica Rolex 116528-MDO Men's watch elements were massaged so that they felt futuristic and a look was developed that Conaway agreed completed his vision

"The most challenging part of Turbo was not a specific effect, but the design work that went into developing Turbo's game system," says Grier "The HUD, UI and the futuristic TV were featured in about 75% of the shots and all had to be developed replica Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust watch from scratch. "Not only was the game system complete mapped out, but the game's mechanics "People sweat when they play DDR in arcades, right?" asks Conaway

I was never worried about it turning out great

Remember, Turbo is a student film — they were convincing the donors to give money just so the film could get made That's it A donation of faith "When people donate to a short film they are basically doing it out of the kindness of their hearts and pockets," Thompson points out "They will really reap no monetary benefit, so your passion truly has to replica Rolex 116200-BLSO Men's watch convince them. "With initial funds in place, shooting commenced on December 2007 For the next year plus, Conaway and his team would be hard at work on this short film

"I was never worried about it turning out great, I was just worried that it would take forever to get there," says Justin Lutsky "To be honest, I never expected this to be such an undertaking When I agreed to edit I was anticipating a several month commitment and couldn't really believe we were still working on a short film a year and a half later. "Lutsky replica Rolex Oyster 116518-BMRL Men's watch had met as contestants on a Fox filmmaker reality show called "On The Lot" in May 2007 Both were eliminated, but became fast friends

Lutsky, a young filmmaker in his own right, was asked by Conaway to cut the film "Turbo shot on the RED camera, which was fairly new at the time," says Lutsky "There were no established post production or editorial work flows established We essentially had to replica Rolex 116523-MAO Men's watch create our own work flow from scratch and had a lot to learn along the way. " Learn as you go, learn as you go. An effect-heavy film like Turbo needs effects

Meaning Conaway could not put it online

But it wasn't just about *** a slick flick "I wanted to find the story's emotional core," says Conaway For him, that was the relationship between the two brothers in the film Conaway was ready to go, Turbo was the picture he wanted to make for his replica Rolex 116234PRJ Men's watch master's thesis Then, road block "I didn't get a lot of support at USC for the project," says Conaway. If he was to make the film using USC's cameras and USC's equipment, well, then, USC owns the film Meaning? Meaning Conaway could not put it online

How did you see Turbo? On the Internet How did I see it? Ditto This is an age in which, if it's not on the Internet, it does not exist And the only way for Conaway to ensure that the film existed was to get it online, which meant raising the money himself He replica Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona Men's didn't do it alone Film is a collaborative endeavor — though the director is leading the charge Conaway and his producing partner, Garrett T Thompson, set out securing money

Conaway created a press kit — a press kit for a movie that hadn't been made yet, but a press kit that showed the visual vibe of the film "Neither one of us comes from money, so we had to take a basic grass roots approach to raising the funds," says replica Rolex 116233-SDJ Men's watch Thompson Student loans, credit cards, fund raisers, matching gift donations, grants and any which way they could get the money they needed "The challenge was convincing people that we could get this 'crazy Turbo' project done. " The reward wasn't some monetary pay-off.

up-and-coming filmmaker gets gaming

This was Conaway's University of Southern California student film short "It costs about $400,000 to make an episode of Power Rangers," says Conaway "So if you think about it that way, it's really not that expensive. "Student films typically cost a few thousand bucks — maybe the price of a sedan at most, not a fleet of sedans Sure, Turbo was to be replica Rolex 116234BKSJ Men's watch Conaway's thesis film, but it was to be more: Atypical It's Conaway's calling card This would be a two-years-in-the-*** showcase showing he could use to tell a story and made a slick, effect-heavy film

And ultimately proof that this young, up-and-coming filmmaker gets gaming, the internet, convergence It all started in 2007 No, actually it started before that with karate, *** and video games The Last Dragon inspired a young Conaway to take up replica Rolex 116518-BKDL Men's watch martial arts in junior high, studying Shorin-Ryu style karate and kobudo until he achieved a black belt "There weren't many black action heroes that I was aware of as a kid," he says, "so Bruce Lee Roy fighting Sho-Nuff the Shogun of Harlem on a bootleg VHS was my inspiration.

" (The movie would even go on to inspire the final fight in Turbo!) By high school, he was got a gig as executive editor of game site PSXNetwork. , going to E3 each year starting when he was 16 There was a stint working at Electronic Arts in marketing And then there were movies, loads and loads of movies. Movies took him to USC Film School replica Rolex 116523-MDO Men's watch and to a select motion capture performance class taught by Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis The class got Conaway thinking about the Uncanny Valley Theory, about avatars, about effects and, even, martial arts