Welcome to Retro-Future! It’s “Maureen” my Sci Fi epic short from 1976.In both its content and its place in the universe this little story manages to scramble time like a blender.Consider if you will:Although the film is not exactly Oscar fodder, “Maureen” is noteworthy in that the female lead character was apparently inspired by the woman profiled in a 2016 article who tries to live her entire life as if she is living in the 1930s.
There’s only one problem: The woman in the article was merely an infant when this film was made. (Cue Twilight Zone music.)Additionally, there are story elements in “Maureen” that seem to be echoes of “The Green Mile”. But “Maureen” was made 20 years before “The Green Mile” was even published as a book, much less a film.
So either I was amazingly prescient…or I had access to a time machine. You be the judge.
At any rate, this is a USC student film from the Cinema 310 class in which you and your partner had to make two 16mm films in a semester. They were to be in black and white with all audio added in post production. The school supplied us with war-surplus wind-up 16mm cameras. Pretty much all the production equipment and facilities at USC at that time were marginally functional antiques. It was part of our challenge to get something up on screen under adverse conditions. Everything in front of the camera, of course, had to be financed out of our starving student pockets. So it forced us to be resourceful.
One last retrospective observation about “Maureen” is that it contains embryonic versions of themes that have since grown and remained with me throughout my life. This upload has an additional AI polish added to the restoration.I hope you enjoy it.
To view this film click HERE
Welcome to Retro-Future! It’s “Maureen” my Sci Fi epic short from 1976.In both its content and its place in the universe this little story manages to scramble time like a blender.Consider if you will:Although the film is not exactly Oscar fodder, “Maureen” is noteworthy in that the female lead character was apparently inspired by the woman profiled in a 2016 article who tries to live her entire life as if she is living in the 1930s.
There’s only one problem: The woman in the article was merely an infant when this film was made. (Cue Twilight Zone music.)Additionally, there are story elements in “Maureen” that seem to be echoes of “The Green Mile”. But “Maureen” was made 20 years before “The Green Mile” was even published as a book, much less a film.
So either I was amazingly prescient…or I had access to a time machine. You be the judge.
At any rate, this is a USC student film from the Cinema 310 class in which you and your partner had to make two 16mm films in a semester. They were to be in black and white with all audio added in post production. The school supplied us with war-surplus wind-up 16mm cameras. Pretty much all the production equipment and facilities at USC at that time were marginally functional antiques. It was part of our challenge to get something up on screen under adverse conditions. Everything in front of the camera, of course, had to be financed out of our starving student pockets. So it forced us to be resourceful.
One last retrospective observation about “Maureen” is that it contains embryonic versions of themes that have since grown and remained with me throughout my life. This upload has an additional AI polish added to the restoration.I hope you enjoy it.