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" 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).
During filming in Italy, one of the on-set jokes was about how a game called "John Sinclair - Voodoo In London" apparently took the Ben Jordan sprite and painted over it to create a new running sprite of John Sinclair. Because of this, Lovegrove decided to include a character called Sinclair in the film who "does a lot of running".
Unlike Le Chateau Macabre, BJ:MD is swamped with continuity errors. There are lots of AGS in-jokes, movies references & nods to Chateau Macabre. Lovegrove said "Some people found Chateau quite bleak - I wanted the sequel to be a lot more fun, more gothic looking, have a bigger adventure feel and a better payoff."
With a runtime of 81 minutes, BJ:MD is Lovegrove's first feature film, and currently the only feature film made especially for the AGS community. When asked about the next step of the BJ film evolution, Lovegrove explained; "I'd love to round it off with a final film for a full trilogy. I can assure you if that happens, BJ:MD is the second and last time you will see Ben sulking about some kind of mansion or house - any third movie will see Ben visit multiple locations and may require a much larger budget."
Lovegrove has also hinted at filming the final part in America, and has been looking into bringing a Hollywood screenwriter on-board. He adds "There is a chance the final BJ movie I work on will be completely standalone to the Screen 7 fan-films, and would be shot professionally in the States as an actual feature film, if Francisco (Grundislav) is up for it."
BJ:MD also features hand-drawn art by Grundislav in the style of the BJ games.
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.
Locations
The Italy section was filmed during Mittens 2010 at a privately rented villa a kilometre from Foiano della Chiana in Tuscany (near Arezzo).
The English (UK) section was filmed in Oxford City centre, Didcot, Benson and Wallingford, Oxfordshire. Lovegrove's guerilla film-making approach meant none of the locations were pre-booked - the crew & cast would just turn up and shoot. BJ:MD includes a Tesco, weir, the Radcliffe Camera and cemetery.
The team would like to thank certain local businesses for their involvement in the production:
Hong Kong House - Chinese takeaway featuring in a chase sequence.
Anokhi Cuisine - Indian restaurant featuring in a chase sequence.
Carfax Tower - For aerial shots during a chase sequence
Toby English - Bookshop interior for library sequence
Tesco - For sequence in their car park
Thames Travel - For a scene involving a bus
Boathouse - For the scene in the pub
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, Matthew Vinniecombe, Micheal Buckley, Berian "AGA" Williams, Jennifer Hook & Mark "m0ds" Lovegrove.
Deleted Scenes
1. "Rail Station at Night". Part of an original storyline in the UK, the rail station at night introduced Birkett & Lovegrove as freelance police set to investigate the story on the UK side. Simon Loveridge appeared briefly as Jack Slater (from Ginger In The Dark 2) before attempting to hunt down the "monster" and get killed. This storyline was scrapped.
2. "Chris Jones' Speech". When the guests give the speech in the AGS mansion, there was to be an extended speech about ghost hunting by Chris Jones. Unfortunately the audio had errors and the scene slowed down the pacing of the film, and it was removed.
3. "Ben In The Bedroom". The original phone call to Ben was filmed in his bedroom rather than kitchen, and had some different lines, but was re-shot.
Quotes
Ben: "Tank top and plaid shirt, pay attention to me, I'm Ben fucking Jordan!!"
The Boss: "John Sinclair... I WILL stop you running!"
Ben: "So it wasn't a dream. Why does my mouth taste of coleslaw?"
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
Parts 2 & 3 are expected during the summer of 2012.