I was excited as it started,cuase I love short films.
As the film progressed, I was a little surprised to see that the story was quite familiar and within a few seconds my brother pointed it out too and then I knew it was not JUST my imagination!
As the film progressed its story seemed amazingly similar to my graduating film called "MOMENTS"which i made at Sheridan College in April 2004.
Not only are the story and plot the same, the similarity in portrayal of character interaction is striking...just one of the characters was different...a bird instead of a little girl and a different ending.
While watching First Flight today the thought going through my head was, "Wow! what an amazing co-incidence!!" But soon the surprise turned to shock when the film finshed and the credits rolled!
It was directed by Cameron Hood ...who COINCIDENTLY was representing Dreamworks at the Industry Screening of Graduating Films at Sheridan College,Canada in April 2004 where MY film,"Moments" made its debut as a student film!!!
For those who have seen my film and know what i am talking about...make sure u get there well in time to catch "First Flight" before Over The Hedge and let me know what u think!!
I mean...there is even a paper plane symbolising the bird being run over by a car!!!!
Will locate and post my April 2004 film shortly!
Like i said...i am pretty shocked...dunno what to make of it!
Stuff from my Short Film "Moments"
I can't say it's a coincidence, because it is very strange. This things happen all the time. Nobody cares because we (students) are not big enough to fight for our rights, but I would make sure that I have "copy rights" of my story before starting any process. Just make sure it is not a coincidence anyway.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck
Javier
I am not surprised at these A-holes - I would find out the details and cause a bruhaha about this - I support you ENTIRELY.
ReplyDeleteWhatever help you need - or ruckus making you need - you know I will be there.
-Anita
Had u show them ur film while they came to ur collage last time.
ReplyDeleteYes...my film was part of the Class Reel of April 2004 which Mr.Cameron and other industry people sat and watched in an auditorium!!!
ReplyDeleteNo doubt about that!
Dearest Kushal,
ReplyDeleteWhile I may not get a chance to see the Dreamworks film, having known you for the last 10 years I know you are not capable for merely imagining such a major creative transgression.
Being naive about the animation industry, I wonder if its possible to write to Dreamworks and highlight this. You know what happened to Kaavya V/Harvard when it was discovered that she did not acknowledge her bestselling work being inspired/copied from existing authors.
Your short film brought tears to my eyes. While I am happy that Dreamworks thought it worthwhile for their inspiration, I hate to not seeing your passion getting broader recognition.
While creating a ruckus may not be your usual self, I would urge you to do so.
Cheers !
Darpan
UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE!!!!!!! gosh...just saw this....will spk 2 u today itself......have u spoken to Sheridan about it??? can they help??? m at a losss for words...will call u asap
ReplyDeletesanatan
After thinking about this for a little bit, you might be able to turn this into a positive. If you can get a positive dialogue going with Dreamworks and get them to admit that Mr. Hood, lifted (stole) ideas from your short film, and contact the right media outlets with this story (i.e., Toronto Star, NY Times, CNN, etc.), some industry exec. might hear your story and think "Hey, this Ruia guy, seems like someone really interesting and with some great ideas. I should contact him and offer him a job. If his student film was good enough to copy, imagine what other big ideas he's got in his head."
ReplyDeleteYa, its probably wishful thinking, but you never know until you try right?
Anyways, I think Sheridan has partial ownership of your film because it was produced there, meaning you might need to contact the school to see what kind of rights you have to the film and if they'd be willing to comment on the whole event.
If you can get the school to back you up on this, it would give a lot of weight to your arguement because they would not bite the hand that feeds them unless they believed your arguement had merrit.
I guess the first thing you have to do is contact some at Sheridan, to find out what your rights are, then contact Dreamworks, and try to get a statement out of them, if they blow you off, then you need to talk to a good copyright lawyer to see if its worth pursuing this for damages and finally the media to get some exposure to your story.
Best of luck, and keep us posted.
There's no shortage of people committing these white-collar crimes specially if they are backed by such big organisations. I feel bad and good for you in many ways. Good in a way as out of all those ideas he only picked yours (your the best!!)
ReplyDeleteFelt bad, because I'd have loved to see your name under the credits list. But don't loose heart; true talent never gets unnoticed.
Cheer up..:)
CAMERON HOOD SAYS...
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear you saw "first flight" .
As far as all of this copying your film goes I am disappointed to read what you are accusing me of. Let's set a couple of things straight. ff has been on my desk since I was at Sheridan in 1997. I was even working on the story about differnt events at one bus stop as far back as Prince of Egypt. The Current version that was written by Kyle Jefferson and myself started way back when I was on Stuart Little 2. I chose to not pitch ff to Sony when they were looking for shorts. They made Chub Chubs at that time. Kyle and I really flushed out the story while on Sinbad. 2001-2002. We took it to Dreamworks officially once it was up on reels models,rigs and animation tests had begun in February 2004.
The trip to Sheridan in 2004 was with recruiter Debra Blanchard ( she is head of recruiting at IDT entertainment if any of you need to track her down ). Her and I were discussing FF on the plane ride because she had heard about it and was excited about the production.
This was happening on the plane on the way to " an amazing co-incidence!!" and rip off "moments" at it's debut. I WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO YOU OR ANYONE. This is just unfortunate I've been blogged about in this way, but it's what you've decided to do. There are universal themes in story and we probably have the same tastes. I was brought to your blog's link from some of the "ff" crew who were shocked by your claims and see that your accusations and dates don't quite add up to the charges you have laid before me and others in the industry.
Hope it's cleared up.
peace.
Cameron Hood
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletePlease Refer The Main Home Page To The Post "First Flight & Moments"
ReplyDeleteYour website has a useful information for beginners like me.
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