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"A Friendly Game"

What happens when two brothers escalate a one-point tennis match beyond “a friendly game”?

Over their Spring break (April 2008), Ben and his friend Dylan made a two-minute movie. In contrast with "009", which had six filming days and countless days of editing, this movie had one filming day and just a couple of days of editing.

Here is the movie, some stills, and some production photos. (One of the "stills" isn't really still.)

- Carl

p.s. You're encouraged to share the link to for this movie with anyone who might find it interesting. All the Slugco.com and BenKadie.com material is shareable.


Watch

Vimeo HD Version -- will play in new window.

 

YouTube Version


Here are some "stills" from the movie.


Reviews and Screenings

2008 festival poster As the youth winner from the Seattle Times Three-Minute Masterpiece digital film contest, "A Friendly Game" was invited to a second screening at the Seattle International Film Festival. This time as part of the FutureWave program for artists under 18.

Click the little poster for details from the afternoon including comments to the young filmmakers by author Sherman Alexie.

3 Minute Masterpieces 2008

 

"A Friendly Game" is the J. Michael (Youth) Award winner at the 2008 Seattle Times Three-Minute Masterpieces screening.

Of more than 100 entries to the Seattle Times contest, eleven films were Three-Minute Masterpieces winners, receiving a screening at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) . At the very fun screening, "A Friendly Game" won the J. Michael Award youth filmmaker award. Ben is the first filmmaker to win the youth award twice. (He won last year with "Perilous Skies".)

As the youth winner, Ben received a generous prize the Rima Family -- the J. Michael award is a memorial to their son.

Click the logo to see the newspaper article announcing the Three-Minute Masterpieces on-line availably.

Here is the Seattle Times' description:

"A Friendly Game"

The laws of physics are nothing compared with the imagination of Bellevue filmmaker Ben Kadie, a seventh-grade student at Seattle Country Day School. Young Kadie's dazzling "A Friendly Game" is the ironic title of a tale about a tennis match that defies gravity and concludes with a ball banking furiously off trees and a few foreheads. Production stills reveal Kadie's homemade dolly (using a re-purposed skateboard) and a giant sheet of green fabric (hanging from his family's deck), against which special effects were shot. The resourceful Kadie (a winner of last year's Three-Minute Masterpiece contest as well) says he used real tennis balls during the shoot as well as an "animated, spinning tennis ball I added during editing."

   
LA "Keep up the good videos coming!!!!"
   
Tucson '"Friendly Game" is terrific [...] And you've got wonderful actors.'
 
Wausau, Wisconsin "Fun Movie and great special effects!"
   
Texas "Very interesting special effects! I liked it!"
   
On-line forum "That absolutely rocked! [...] It was amusing and just the right length; long enough for a good laugh and a "how'd he do that?" but short enough to keep the interest. Again, fantastically amusing and well-done video!"
   
Newcastle, WA "Hey, this is a great video! I really liked it and I hope you make more great videos like this!"
   
Seattle "Totally Cool soooo awesome"
   
YouTube Comment: "This is great!"
   
Peoria, IL 'I loved "A Friendly Game". I spent the weekend with some friends kids a couple of weeks ago and they liked it, too.'
   
An LA Filmmaker: “I love that short, amazing! You’re going to have to teach me all your special effects. Wow, that was great, a really good story mixed with effects, great!”
   
Theatre professional, Illinois:
   
Maryland: "Your video short was truly delightful, and your effects and animations are wondrous to behold! You'll be a favorite at a film festival!"
   
St. Louis: "Very funny short! [My daughter] won't stop bugging me to play it."
   
Unbiased star actor's grandparents: "That's terrific. We are waiting for the next one. What is the price of the shares in their company - we may be interested, for several hundred shares anyway!"
 
   
San Francisco: “I liked this a lot. [I'm going to forward this to a friend] I know she’ll laugh and laugh.”
   
Seattle: “Fun!”
   

(Send your unbiased, positive reviews to sluggy@slugco.com.)


Production Photos

The boys shoot the film on a local tennis courts. The day's light rain, while not ideal for filming, keeps other court users away.


Several shots in the film use Ben's newly-completed dolly. Its skateboard wheels ride on PVC pipe tracks. Nanci, Ben's mom, built the dolly with help from the Internet, Ben, and me.


Ben films Dylan with our family's new Canon HV30 camcorder.


Some of the film's shots will contain real tennis balls. Others will contain an animated, spinning tennis ball that Ben will add during editing.


We move the equipment to shoot me being hit in the head with the ball.


Returning to the house, the boy's shoot the film's green screen segments.


Related Web Site with More Films

http://slugco.com


The End