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Jul 11, 2012- 4:22 PM
That's the tagline from Sudbury's “roller-coaster action-flick” Con Game.
Throughout the 13-minute short, Steve Gagne made the deeper message clear, while still offering up a “can't-peel-your-eyes-away-from-the-screen” sort of thrill ride.
Gagne, who produced, directed and starred in the flick, said he had been wanting to create a “short, sweet, non-stop action” film for quite some time now.
“I've always wanted to do a short based on a chase,” he said. Local talent tore up the streets, alleyways and rooftops of downtown Sudbury, trying to get their hands on Gagne's character. Full of fight sequences that make you flinch and acrobatics that make you say “did he just do that?,” the film certainly hits the mark for which Gagne was aiming.
While Gagne remained in the driver's seat throughout the production, he said he couldn't have done it without his crew.
“I had a great team,” he said. "Everyone had room to do their own thing, which gave them room to allow their creative energy to shine. I trusted them.
Combining Gagne's vision with the quality work his team provided ended well.
Following a test screening July 10 at Peddlers Pub, Gagne said he knows what needs tweaking before submitting the film to festivals. This year, he plans to have it play at Action On Film Fest in Los Angeles and Sudbury's own Cinéfest.
The film is Gagne's second stab at video production, and another notch on his acting belt. He said he enjoys being in the drivers seat — after all, “nobody knows the story better than the writer/producer/director,” he said with a laugh.
To learn more about the film, search Con Game on Facebook.
What Jenny Thinks
Making movies is hard work. At least, I would assume it is. I know how much footage and time it takes to edit short news clips for NorthernLife.ca — and those aren't quite movies.
We don't have to account for things like lighting, makeup, talent, stunts; We simply recount what's happening — we don't have to worry about creating what's happening.
That translates to me having a huge amount of respect for Steve (and others like him) and what he does. On top of putting in a ton of hard work, he's also putting it out there for the world to see.
Given that we live in an era where Hollywood-calibre explosions, fight scenes and car chases are commonplace, that's a pretty bold move on his part. And I think he does a good job of making it work.
When people say Sudbury lacks culture and arts (which I unfortunately hear quite often), I think of people like Steve, and I wonder where all those neigh-sayers were when Con Game was screening.
The only surefire way to make something — like our arts scene — become better is to actually do something about it. So huge props to Steve and his team for helping shape Sudbury's artistic landscape.
Posted by Arron Pickard
