I have a sci-fi short film for you to watch today called abandonfrom writer and director JJ Pollack.
The film tells the story of a restless young woman who sets off on a ship to fight in an interstellar war, only to have to contend with the effects of being cut off from her hometown through time and space.
This short is shared in partnership with FilmQuest Film Festival, where we hope to showcase some of the fantastic independent genre films and shorts filmmakers are creating.
We have also included interviews with the directors below.
What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with this idea?
Austin had a great (and unfortunately now defunct) sci-fi film festival called Other Worlds, which at one time provided sizable grants to filmmakers making sci-fi shorts. I thought it was a highly competitive process and never planned to apply until I mentioned it to a friend who knew some people who worked at the festival.
She told me that as many as two people had applied the previous year. So I knew my odds were much better than expected, so I wrote something that combined two themes I’d always been interested in exploring (science fiction and veterans’ experiences) and surprise, and got funded.
Tell us about yourself. What is your background? How long have you been a filmmaker?
Aside from a few early forays into screenwriting, and the occasional stint working on a local set as a teenager (stacking Mark Wahlberg’s special bottles of water in the production office on “The Fighter” was truly an experience I’ll never forget), Most of my background in film is as a viewer, not as a maker.
It wasn’t until I was in college that I really started getting involved in filmmaking, making student films every semester and directing my first short film my senior year. After graduation, I moved to the independent film utopia of Austin, Texas, where I continued making short films and now work as a freelance editor.
What inspires you to work in genre films and tell these kinds of stories?
Sci-fi has always been my favorite genre of media, one of my earliest memories is staying up late on school nights watching Blade Runner on VHS with my dad, and to this day I have a bookshelf full of sci-fi books to read that only change Got bigger.
For “Jettison” in particular, it was heavily inspired by Joe Hardman’s “The Forever War,” which will be obvious to anyone who’s read it. I also drew on some more down-to-earth media that dealt with military isolation and the effects of war and PTSD on combat soldiers, such as Sam Mendes’ Jarhead and Oliver Stone’s “Born on the Fourth of July”.
What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process on this project?
As is usually the case with me, writing the script was my favorite part. If only because as I type this, no issues have arisen, the movie is still perfect in my opinion. Once you start producing, reality hits you hard.
What are you most proud of about this film?
Despite the low budget and short shooting time, I think we did a pretty good job of world-building, not relying on cheap-looking CGI and VFX, and making the characters feel like they were inhabiting a lived-in but still futuristic universe . Science fiction can be a pretty expensive genre, but if that’s your intention, I think there are a lot of creative ways to work around budget constraints while still making something interesting and visually appealing.
What’s your favorite story or moment from the making of the film that you’d like to share?
I purchased, used, and returned so many props, costumes, and set decoration items from Amazon for this movie that they sent me a message saying they were concerned about the environmental impact of all the boxes I had to ship back and forth.
I don’t actually think they’re worried about the environment, but in case you’re wondering, yes, Amazon will ban you if you abuse the returns system within a short period of time. So if you’re a filmmaker reading this, make sure you spread your purchases out to a few stores and dupe Walmart and Target so no one gets suspicious.
What was the most challenging moment or experience you had while making the film?
Without a doubt, the biggest hassle we had on set was the costumes. Originally, the soldier characters were only supposed to wear jumpsuits in canteens and non-combat scenes, and enclosed space suits when out on patrol, as this meant that these were alien planets and one wouldn’t necessarily expect them to have breathable atmospheres.
Without going into too much detail, those costumes weren’t ready in time and we had to think of alternative solutions the morning we were shooting the scene where the soldiers patrol the beach.
Eventually, we moved on to an Annihilation look, repurposing jumpsuits and adding backpacks and sleeping bags purchased from Walmart on the way to filming (they have a great return policy for filmmakers!). While it’s certainly far from perfect, I think we did a decent job of cobbling together something usable in a few hours.
If so, how did your film change or differ from the original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How does this impact the way you approach future projects?
Aside from some minor tweaks in editing, the final film actually stayed very close to the story and vision of the original script. Probably the biggest change was the decision to make the film in black and white, even though we shot it in color.
Between the costume issues mentioned above, the lack of a huge budget to afford shooting in more exotic locations, and my desire for the visual effects to be as seamless and unobtrusive as possible, black and white was initially just a way for us to smooth out some of the rougher edges of the film .
But that’s the nature of art, limitations and mistakes in the production process can sometimes help, but also hurt, the final product. I ended up liking the monochromatic look of the film, even if that wasn’t always the plan.
Who are your collaborators and actors in this film? How did you start working together?
The film was shot by Garson Ormiston, who I worked with at a local equipment rental company. The cast is led by Madison Wilson, Lauren Bonetti, Zachary T. Scott and John Valley and includes new faces found through casting as well as people I’ve worked with previously on other projects actor.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received as a filmmaker?
If you’re writing your own directorial material (as most filmmakers do), develop your skills as a writer. Find people who are willing to provide honest feedback on your script. Be willing to listen to what they have to say. Don’t start pre-production on a project unless you really feel that the script can’t get better.
The script will ultimately be the blueprint for the entire thing and is an invaluable tool in getting cast and crew interested in working with you, so don’t rush the process just because you’re eager to start filming.
What are your plans for your career? What stories would you like to tell in the future?
My interests are very broad and I enjoy making genre films (sci-fi and thrillers) as well as simpler dramas and comedies. Therefore, I tend to choose projects based on how interesting a particular idea is to me, rather than what kind of label I put on myself or my career by doing so. If I could make a living writing, directing, or even editing narrative films, I would be ecstatic.
What’s your next project?
I’m currently in post-production on my first feature film, a two-person chamber comedy called Nightcap. If all goes well with the festival tour later this year, it should be released sometime in 2025.
Where can we find more of your work? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel? Social media handle?
My website is jjpollack.com and you can also find me on Instagram: @gutfeelingfilms
Bonus Question #1: What is your favorite movie?
all jazz
Bonus Question #2: Which film inspired you the most as a filmmaker and/or influenced your work the most?
When I was a kid, I watched Back to the Future so many times that my parents destroyed my VHS copy of it to get me to stop. I would say this is a good candidate.
