Midnight Ransom (2005)

Director:

Nicholas Zebrun

Writers:

David Sowden, Nicholas Zebrun

Stars:

Leilani Taylor, Samuel Threatt, Nicholas Zebrun

Cast

Credited cast:
Leilani Taylor	...	The Damsel
Samuel Threatt	...	The Villain
Nicholas Zebrun	...	The Hero

Storyline

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Genres:

Short | Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Midnight Exchange

Filming Locations:

Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Esoteric Productions, Pie Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

4 min 3 min (original) 4 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Stereo (DVD Release)

Color:

Color (MiniDV)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was conceived, shot and edited in 12 hours. It was made for a three-minute film competition that director Nicholas Zebrun found about the day before the deadline. Zebrun, David Sowden and Samuel Threatt where all supposed to hang out that evening, so Zebrun decided to find a film project that could be shot and edited quickly in one night. They got together around 8 p.m., went through a series of ideas, found the ransom plot to be the best, contacted Leilani Taylor, and started shooting. After completing the shoot somewhere around 1 a.m., Zebrun and Sowden spent the rest of the night editing. They finalized the cut at 8 a.m. the next morning and drove to Dallas to hand deliver the tape for the contest. The film went on to gain honorable mention.

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Goofs

In the next-to-last shot where the Hero picks up the Damsel, you can clearly see the shadow of the camera operator on the ground beside her.

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Crazy Credits

After the last credit of the movie is seen, a brief flash frame is shown of the Hero shooting the Villain.

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Connections

Followed by Final Ransom (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Requiem: Dies Irae"
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

User Reviews

A goofy, silly, fun movie

I watched this film without quite knowing what to expect. I was delightfully surprised how, after the brief run time of 3 minutes, I immediately wanted to watch it again. Sure, the tips of the guns are red (obvious toys) and the acting is sub-par and hammy at best, but there is more energy and style packed into those 3 minutes than a lot of big budget blockbusters. The director's help the audience understand the geography of the locations by doing away with rapid cutting and extreme close-ups (*cough* Michael Bay) and the chase scene, limited though it is, is interesting enough and short enough to hold one's attention.

The only problem I had was the basic premise. SPOILER ALERT: A random guy kidnaps someone's girlfriend and demands $50,000?!? Why? This is never explained and, at the end, all I wanted to know was why this hero had upset the villain so much. END SPOILER.

It's the kind of film where you turn your brain off and simply enjoy.