Ben Jordan: Must Die

Ben Jordan Must Die is the second fan-film based on the popular AGS game series by Francisco "Grundislav" Gonzalez. It was filmed in Tuscany Italy in 2010 and also the UK in 2011, although only the director was involved in both locations. It stars the AGS community and the director's friends from Wallingford, Oxfordshire. The video is directed & edited by Mark "m0ds" Lovegrove, but as of March 2012 has not been fully released.

The "movie sequel" has a runtime of approx. 80 mins and parodies "straight to DVD" films. Two storylines occur during the video. It is also a crowd-source funded project thanks to members of the adventure game community and fans of the Ben Jordan series (and Le Chateau Macabre). The sequel's budget was roughly $400 (£250).

Synopsis

Two years after the Chateau incident, successful investigator Ben Jordan is on holiday to speak about his work and the paranormal at a specially organised break by Mr Henry Hollywood.

Meanwhile in the UK strange phenomena seems to be following John Sinclair, who seeks information whilst being hunted down by untrustworthy thugs. He turns to Ben Jordan, who in turn agrees to fly out to the UK and help tackle the case.

However - Ben is forced to stay at the event and soon finds himself struggling to sort out his own problems, as matters become darker and the reason for his stay becomes a matter of life and death.

Pre Production

In 2009 ideas were formed for a new Ben Jordan fan-film to be shot in Miami, USA. This did not come to pass but some ideas were transfered to the next possible meet-up in Italy in 2010. Lovegrove was assisted by co-writers Gonzalez and Stedham (Malay) to form an idea of Ben Jordan becomming a ghost.

Early characters planned for the sequel included the return of Eric Feurstine as the crazed fan, and Jess Fink playing a new disabled (but funny) character. Andail was lined up to play the bad guy. Sadly these people (and others) could not make it.

Lovegrove worked on a script, and had to take into consideration his friends wishes to be in the next Screen 7 film. He devised a two story element to make BJ:MD his longest work to date. The final draft of the script was written two days before shooting began in Italy.

Production

The film was shot on a small camcorder purchased from ebay, as Lovegrove had recently had a fault with the camera used for Le Chateau Macabre. Recording in Long Play in Italy caused various sound issues which have delayed the editing process.

The UK side of filming changed dramatically from the script, as it became apparent it would be too costly to create the visual effects in the final draft.

Miez created a brand new prop for the film in just a few days, the centre-piece knife. Other visual effect ideas included shadowplay, exploding watermelons and ghostly effects, though none of these came to pass.

Post Production

Le Chateau Macabre was edited and released within 48 hours of being filmed, however BJ:MD, not only almost three times the length of Chateau, has also undergone new post techniques including stabilization of shots and of course re-working on sound which was faulty during shooting in Italy.

These have improved the quality of the production but cast a long delay over the release.

Characters

Ben Jordan is played by the games' creator Francisco "Grudislav" Gonzalez.

John Sinclair is played by David Birkett (Ginger In The Dark).

Mr Hollywood is played by Gunnar "Snarky" Harboe.

Lucietta is played by Kimberleigh Heilman.

The boss is played by John Goodwin.

Prof. van Laatum is played by Misja Miez van Laatum.

Vinnie, thug, is played by Matt Brownlie.

Winston, the butler, is played by Matt "Tier" Frith.

Prof. Blomqvist is played by Christian "Chrille" Blomqvist.

Mario is played by Charlie Spence.

The doctor is played by Nick Loveridge.

Rufus, henchman, is played by Simon Loveridge.

James Sinclair, father, is played by James Drew.

Chris "CJ" Jones (AGS) appears as himself.

The production also stars Davy "Creed Malay" Stedham, Katerina "cat" Wallech, Darren "Quintaros" Reid, Jake Hoggans, Marco Oojier, Francesco "bicilotti" Ariis, Gary Lambourne and Ken Rickfels.

There are also cameos by Lily Cheung, Saj Majumdar, Stein Cato "Esseb" Blastrumopen, Berian "AGA" Williams, Jennifer Hook & Mark "m0ds" Lovegrove.

Music

The video uses different music to LCM. This time Lovegrove has opted for a much more cinematic feel and has attempted to keep the soundtrack consistent and above all - epic. Music from the following composers and soundtracks feature:

Alan Silvestri - Night at the Museum 1 & 2, Predator, Van Helsing Basil Poliderius - Under Siege 2, Starship Troopers John Debney - End Of Days (also used in the BJ:MD trailer)

Trailers

Two trailers have been released relating to BJ:MD - The 2010 trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqYTtzEclpY The 2011 trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POXim_spPtI

Releases

The first 25 minutes (as a screener) is online since January 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDYich3ei-g