Sci-Fi Short Film 'Stratosphere' | DUST | Online Premiere

A soldier must keep herself and her new crew alive as they are dropped onto a distant planet during an ensuing war.

"Stratosphere" by Braden Kimble

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Director's Statement:
In short films you have such limited time to establish your characters and your world. My approach for Stratosphere was to make it as experiential as possible–to throw the audience headfirst into the protagonist's situation and let the characters develop through their efforts and abilities to stay alive while minimizing dialogue and exposition.

This approach also reflects the greater world our characters are in. Stuck in a cycle of violence and considered largely disposable by the powers that be, they hardly know what they're fighting for anymore. The only thing that matters is survival.

"Stratosphere" Credits:
Crew:
Ramón Martínez Viota
Jonny Mancini
Nina Zhu
Quincie Neale
Sam Brown
Tina Bui
Raghav Puri
Kaila Gutierrez
Dani Wolf
Dazzy Shah
Ophelia Castellitto
Elizabeth Martinson
Josh Snyder
Austin Warren
Brianna Chapman
Joseph Lim
Thomas Pallier
Zhongyang Lyu
Valerie Royer
Andrew McUne
Zoe Wang
The Pinkava Brothers

Cast:
Giana Califano
Levi Bernhardt
Gabriel Gonzalez

#DUST #scifi #shortfilm

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[BradenKimble]

Hey everyone! Director Braden Kimble here. Thanks so much for checking out our film. The entire cast and crew really appreciates it, and we hope that you enjoy it. Let us know if you have any questions about the process and production, as we always look forward to chatting about film :)

[John-ybmx]

This had potential but I could not figure out what the story was. A lot of effort went into this but if you are going to have decompression then you should at least have a neck seal to the helmet. I did not understand who the characters were or what they were trying to do.

[robertkirschner]

Well, I’m a sci Fi junky…and I liked it. It’s her ump-teenth mission, she’s calloused, she’s seen soldiers live, she’s seen them die. She know the routine and the disregard to the safety of the recycled equipment that they are using. This time things went really wrong, but again, she lives go put one more mark on her helmet.

I liked it. Left me to fill in the blank places with my own imagination.
👍🏼👍🏼

[jasonsatterfield]

No neck seals on the helmets attached to O2? Carving into a helmet? A total blackout of information regarding the mission parameters? Camera work that is as shaky and dark as the plot. Face lights on a helmet? I understand wanting to jump right into the scene but there need to be clues as to what we are watching.

[debbielee]

I liked it even though I had no idea what was going on.. couldn't look away..👍

[NastyFood]

Perhaps called The Transporter, it would have shifted from is it the ship, or the person. Great use of everything, we know its low budget but other than literally finding fault, flawless

[morgan]

Didn't care for this. The film itself does little to tell us (the viewer) anything about these characters, who they are (apparently soldiers per the description), or what they are doing.

[krashd]

"How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?"
"Thirty eight"
"Nice!"
"..simulated."

[gslludc]

That's 9 min 42 sec of my life that I'll never get back.

[guyh]

With a small budget and only 3 days to shoot this actually isn't bad at all!

[SynthoidSounds]

Remarkable acting via facial expressions and atmosphere, but unfortunately that did not compensate for rather gaping holes in the story, starting with, what was the actual story? I understand from the description what it was supposed to be, the ideology of war and expendable soldiers, etc., but this was far from clear without that description. Also, things like the helmets were not at all airtight (very obvious), lighting inside the helmets (???), and numerous other tech flaws made it very hard for suspension of disbelief. I get the idea of going for a certain type of aesthetic and so on, but attention to detail does count for a lot in this type of story. As said previously, though, the acting was very well done.

[dzojunior]

can someone explain what the movie was about

[djr]

Braden, thanks to you and your crew for a memorable sci-fi experience. Great videography and acting. Kudos to all!

[gbart]

The perspective of the one that has made it through a reentry more than once, unlike her fellow mates?
Which because of the stress of travel, only a few make it through?
I liked it, keeps it loose.

[haroldmanary]

I think it is a simulator ride at a grungy amusement park. The have all the technology of toggle switches, video screens, and a shaker machine. They edit out the part where the two guys say, "That was lame.". The woman says, this is my favorite ride.". She gets back in line to ride again.

[korbendallas]

Film makers do everything in their power to make everything as realistically as possible, and then, almost without fail, they add these ridiculous face-illumination helmets.

[draconity]

I loved the way it looped. Really would have preferred an understanding of what they’re doing and why it takes so many human lives to do it.

[vjet]

I really wish you’d gone into more depth as to why they were doing these suicidal planet descents. A bit of back story goes a long way.

[AcapulKero]

Wow! I would like a full-length movie! Great visuals!!!

[grahamrich]

Very atmospheric and excellent acting -- deserves to be made into a longer film! 👏 👏