Terminus

November 21, 2007 6:20 PM

Terminus. "After inadvertently offending a strange entity that accosts him on his way to work, a 1970s businessman quickly finds himself in the midst of a bizarre predicament." 205.2 MB Quicktime available here. [Via Neatorama.]
posted by homunculus (16 comments total)

If he had taken the Soul Link talent, he could have avoided some unpleasantness.

On a more serious note, NICE compositing job!
posted by Scoo at 6:31 PM on November 21, 2007

awesome. wicked strange. Do the concrete man and the businessman trade places when he hits his head at night? Thus explaining the change in attitude of the man?
posted by leotrotsky at 6:43 PM on November 21, 2007

duel
posted by Senator at 6:54 PM on November 21, 2007

Someone should warn the Foundation that they have been found.
posted by Sangermaine at 7:01 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

Visually really neat. Structurally oblique in that way that makes me think this was all about being visually neat.

Also, whether the fisheye was real or virtual, it needed to be 10mm shallower and full-screen. All that visual skill and they dropped it on the opticals.
posted by abulafa at 7:38 PM on November 21, 2007

[this is good]
posted by Skorgu at 7:54 PM on November 21, 2007

Most of the interiors in this short film were shot in the Montreal subway network: the Metro. The opening sequence was shot at Sherbrooke station. This afternoon I was actually sitting where the businessman sits! I never had any problems with the Concrete Man. I just throw him a handful of quarters and he leaves me alone. I'm not sure what I would do if I had a conveyor belt following me though. The Crouching Man sculpture that follows the little girl is situated at the corner of St-Denis and Sherbrooke street. An interesting but paranoid look at my city.
posted by Martin Lemm at 8:22 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

Pretty cool stuff. Thanks!
posted by maxwelton at 9:56 PM on November 21, 2007

I grew up in Montreal in the early 1980s — this is exactly how I remember it. Great find.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:39 AM on November 22, 2007

Awesome video, but what's the point of him hitting his head on the table and getting hit by the bus?
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 5:46 AM on November 22, 2007

Original. Scary. Really good. The concrete man. Yeah. I been there.
posted by Faze at 6:17 AM on November 22, 2007

Oh, now wait second. I thought this was actually made in the 1970s. According to IMBD, it's a 2007 film. The director, Trevor Cawood, worked on the Matrix and a bunch of other films.
posted by Faze at 6:20 AM on November 22, 2007

-He starts at Metro Sherbrooke
-he gets off at Metro Namur
-the building with the round information board is the lobby of Place Ville Marie (I think)
-the metro with the orange and yellow decorations is Villa Maria, but it looks like he is exiting from a different one (in Old Montreal I suspect), and the name has been replaced by a fake one.
-The metro after the doctor is a pastiche from a couple of metro stations - he first one is I think Peel, and then Sherbrooke as in the first one.
- the tunnel after hitting his head is off of Metro Bonaventure. The round orange item chasing the woman is from Villa Maria metro.
posted by Billegible at 6:41 AM on November 22, 2007

This was great. I'd forgotten just what a completely spaced-out experience the Montreal Metro can be. Abstract orange plastic panelling, and fantastic eerie lighting; a sixties vision of the future (but in a good way).
posted by hydatius at 8:27 AM on November 22, 2007

It's all in Montreal, odinsdream. That building looks familiar but I can't place it offhand.
posted by Billegible at 8:55 AM on November 22, 2007

odinsdream and Billegible: That building is on Papineau street, facing the Lafontaine park. What about the exterior scene at the end? Could it be Vancouver? The end credits say this was shot in both cities, although I don't think they get a lot of snow over there.
posted by Martin Lemm at 6:01 PM on November 22, 2007