Ataque de Pánico!
[pro-player width="970" height="430"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dadPWhEhVk[/pro-player]
Ataque de Pánico! (Spanish for Panic Attack!) is a 2009 sci-fi short, directed by independent Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Álvarez. It is worthy of note, for several reasons.
First off: Quality. It is a great 3 mins 48 secs of entertainment. Visually excellent, to-the-point, and masterfully constructed. The opening is eerie and suspenseful, opening on a young boy’s toy-robot that foreshadow for the 90 foot (a total guestimate) alien machines that slowly reveal themselves and threateningly make their way into the heart of the city. Playing off jittery “Cloverfield-esque” handheld photography, Alvarez builds suspense and creates a growing sense of mayhem and, dare I say it, panic. The CGI is relatively subtle; made somehow natural by the dusty layer that permeates each frame. Then… bang – an attack of magnificent flame-filled proportions – that reeks somewhat (no complaints here) of those scenes from ‘Independence Day”. We watch the destruction build as missiles explode, buildings crumble and the airforce is obliterated – all to that stunning track by John Murphy which Danny Boyle used to such great effect in “28 Weeks Later” – until BAM! A blast that marks the end of, well… at least the end of the film and the camera that’s recording the action – and perhaps all of humanity too.
Second: Shoe-string Budget. It is all the more brilliant for the miniscule budget of $300. When one considers the logistical elements involved: locations, people en masse, not to mention CGI inserts that some could charge in the tens of thousands to implement, the achievement is simply staggering for this sum. $300 will barely buy you an hour of old-fashioned 16mm Kodak film!
Third: Reaction. Álvarez stated in a BBC interview: “I uploaded Panic Attack! on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios.”Ghost House Pictures signed with Álvarez for him to develop a new project, that may not necessarily be based on the film. The Ghost House Pictures film will be produced by Spiderman’s Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert,[9] executive produced by Roy Lee and Doug Davison.
What this film represented was another landmark change in the nature of talent-scouting. Justin Bieber, it seems, is only one of the nuggets that YouTube has churned out. In a climate where fiscal responsibility may be on the forefront of decision-making for a long time to come, the Hollywood Studio system may be ever-more eagled-eyed and inventive in its pursuit of up-and-coming talent, that would have previously (not even decade ago) struggled to self-promote. The downside is that competition is steeper than ever before. But a cinematic meritocracy? Who would deny that…
