TERROR REPORT tells the story of a pair of CIA agents working on two different ends of the war on terror: Sinclair King, the implanted dictator of an African country, and Benjamin Hatcher, a loose cannon with a score to settle. When liberal-leaning Senator Gilbert Brennan arrives in town to take part in a rock-stars-for-peace benefit, an assassination plan is launched — kill the senator before he can bring his controversial war-on-terror document to light. And a staged terrorist attack is just the cover Hatcher needs.
The film was made in about a year, for a budget of about $2,000. Most of that was on-set materials like props and costumes, and a few dozen DV tapes. It was shot on Panasonic DVX100’s, with a small crew of Visual Effects students. The mixture of semi-professional actors and student talent produced some quality differences in scenes, but stick it out and you’ll probably get a few laughs out of it. Watch out for Bill Borea working overtime as a slimy baddie (Hatcher) and my extended cameo as a rock-star-cum-activist, Bruno Vox. The post-production look included a thick pass with Magic Bullet’s Look Suite to give it a filmic appearance, and a big handful of visual effects work, ranging from simple gun blasts to matte paintings to digital doubles!
The trailer is edited by Jason Bergman, a very talented student of mine currently working in LA. Some of the main sequences are directed and shot by Matt Gilson, another highly skilled student who went on to work on some major motion pictures as a concept artist and matte painter.
