turbo

Back in April news made the rounds of a new USC Graduate Thesis project by the name “Turbo”, being made by 4 guys for $100K with a Red One camera.  The description:

TURBO is a high adrenaline short film in the tradition of The Karate Kid and Tron. It tells the story of Hugo Park (Justin Chon, Twilight) a misspent youth whose only outlet for angst is a 4D fighting videogame called “Super Turbo Arena”. When Pharaoh King (Jocko Sims, Crash the Series), the Michael Jordan of cyber-sports, announces a tournament to determine who will join his pro-team, Hugo sets his eyes on the prize. But, Hugo isn’t the only gamer who wants fame and glory. If Hugo wants to win he’s going to have to beat Shamus (David Lehre, Epic Movie), the all time Turbo champ at the local Pandemonium arcade, and Ruse Kapri, a feisty prep girl that knows how to win. Realizing he can’t win on his skill alone, Hugo turns to his brother Tobias a former kick-boxer whose last match left him wheel-chair ridden. Together the two will mend old wounds and see if a washed up street fighter can teach a troubled teen how to become a virtual gladiator!

The movie was shown in some venues and got great reviews, and now you can check it out yourself online.  Using After Effects and Illustrator for effects, and Shake & Nuke for compositing, it’s a fun and exciting look at what the future of video games could be.

See the entire 23-minute short after the break, and be sure to check out their website.

TURBO from Jarrett Lee Conaway on Vimeo.