Press Start (film)
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| Press Start | |
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| Directed by | Ed Glaser |
| Produced by | Ed Glaser |
| Written by | Kevin Folliard |
| Starring | Joshua Stafford Peter Davis Daniel Pesina Carlos Pesina |
| Music by | Jake Kaufman |
| Distributed by | Dark Maze Studios |
| Release date(s) | September 25 2007 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Press Start is a 2007 independent film produced by Dark Maze Studios. It stars Joshua Stafford, Peter Davis, Daniel Pesina, and Carlos Pesina.[1] The film is a video game parody adventure comedy. It was released on DVD on September 25, 2007.
Press Start focuses its parodic tone primarily toward the era of 8-bit and 16-bit video games, but references more modern games as well. Games parodied range from Donkey Kong to Halo. The film also satirizes all aspects of gaming, including collectible card games, Saturday morning cartoons, comic books, and trends of turning games into breakfast cereals[2].
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[edit] Tagline
Three heroes. One mission. No continues.
[edit] Synopsis
The film is about a suburban youth, Zack Nimbus, who lives in a videogame world and must save it from a tyrannical sorcerer. He is assisted by ill-tempered ninja and a tough-as-nails space soldier [3].
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Joshua Stafford | Zack Nimbus |
| Lauren Chambers | Sam |
| Al Morrison | Lin-Ku |
| Kevin Folliard | Voice of Lin-Ku |
| Peter Davis | Count Nefarious Vile |
| Daniel Pesina | Sasori |
| Carlos Pesina | Lei Gong |
[edit] Production
The film was shot in Champaign and Chicago, Illinois.
Press Start is scored by American video game music composer Jake Kaufman.
[edit] Bonus Levels
While in production and post-production, a series of web shorts called Press Start: Bonus Levels were released on the film's website and Newgrounds. The series was created and animated by screenwriter Kevin Folliard and produced by Press Start director Ed Glaser. The pilot episode was directed by Folliard, while the following episodes were directed by Glaser. Original music is composed by Jake Kaufman.
They premiered on April 28, 2006. Since, there's been a new episode on the last Friday of every following month. The episodes feature numerous visual gags and video game parodies.
The cartoons were created as a way to generate hype for the feature film by introducing people to the world, characters, and humor of Press Start. They are also noted by their lack of budget constraints allowing more artistic freedom to be taken with the action and effects than that seen in the feature film. Back story, inside jokes, and running gags are further flushed out in the animations than what could be used in the film.
A number of notable videogame voice actors have guest starred in the series as well, including Mortal Kombat's John Turk, and David Humphrey, the original voice of Shadow the Hedgehog.
The animations take place before the events of the movie, similar to two made-for-DVD animated prequels: Van Helsing: The London Assignment and The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. The animations started out being nonlinear and do not progress after one another. Notably missing is the character of Zack Nimbus who, in terms of the film, has yet to be made aware of his destiny. However, on November 24, 2006 the shorts began a five part miniseries which would lead directly into the feature film.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Surette, Tim. "GameSpot: Mortal Kombat actors get film work", GameSpot, 2006-03-10.
- ^ Gaudiosi, John. "Yahoo! Games: The Hollywood Byte #15: The Comedy of Gaming", Yahoo! Games, 2006-04-21.
- ^ Press Start Website: Synopsis. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
