Trailer for Parallel Lines: five short films that use the same dialogue

Parallel Lines is a project by from Ridley Scott Associates that will be released April 8. It's a neat premise!

Five directors were each challenged to create short films in different genres using the same dialogue. The five 5 beautifully diverse films are by Greg Fay, Jake Scott, Johnny Hardstaff, Carl Erik Rinsch and animators Hi-Sim and their genres range from drama, animation, action, to sci-fi and thriller.

Trailer for Parallel Lines

• [Ceronomus]

  Looks like it will be pretty entertaining.

• [milovoo]

  See Also, Hal Hartley’s Flirt. Although certainly not his best film.

• [Anonymous]

  Watch “le greenboy”, made for the parallel lines contest:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCdjJSRvSaU

• [Maximillian]

  As bad-ass as Carousel was (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3D4CqHbJM), I’m looking forway to seeing these films, even if they are a big ad for Phillips.

• [Anonymous]

  hi!

  We entered the contest. If you want to see our take on the mandatory script ;)

  it’s the story of a young boy educated by a computer.

  http://bit.ly/watchbug

• [Anonymous]

  Interesting! The ViewPoint Film Challenge released 8 short films using the same premise last year, then again later that year.

  http://viewpointfilmchallenge.com

  The next challenge is coming up, I suggest anyone who would love to try this to submit their own point of view.

  -VFC

• [Phikus]

  There are millions of ways to tell a story. There’s only one way to watch one.

  And according to Sammy Hagar, there’s only one way to rock.

• [Phlip]

  It’s not exactly an original premise. We did this in acting class, a couple decades ago. Running the result thru the Big Budget Machine is the original part!

  • [Ambiguity]

    t’s not exactly an original premise. We did this in acting class, a couple decades ago. Running the result thru the Big Budget Machine is the original part!

    As Cory opined in a tread the other day (on IP), when you get down to the brass tacks of making something, it’s largely about execution, not ideas.

• [Quothz]

  Sounds like a nifty concept; it’ll be interesting t’see how it comes out. But since when is animation a genre? It’s not, at least not in the same sense as the others: It is in the same sense that film is a genre, but not in the sense of drama or sci-fi.

  Still, I’m looking forward to it.

  • [Lily]

    I took it that the animated version was the kid movie genre.

    Looks very cool to me, love the music they used in the trailer :). Anything would sound epic set to that!

• [DelicateFlower]

  This sounds sort of like The Five Obstructions (2003), made by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth, in which von Trier challenges Leth to remake his most famous film five times, each time with a different “obstruction”.

• [Anonymous]

  I NEVER get tired of BB comments like “meh, that’s whatever.”

• [Anonymous]

  Looks great, but animation isn’t a genre, it’s a medium.

• [Anonymous]

  A concept very close to this was done fantastically well in Jeff Wadlow and Beau Bauman’s award winning short film “Tower of Babble” (2002).

  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318766/

• [Blaine]

  I’m sold. Cool concept, I subscribed the the YouTube channel to remind me to download it when it comes out.

• [yupgiboy]

  What the hell is it with Ridley Scott and unicorns?

• [Loraan]

  Sometimes clever execution is more important that originality. Just for the record; pointing out a lack of originality is not original either.

  Also, pointing out that lack of originality is not original, is not original. Neither is my comment.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc

• [JoeKickass]

  Well of course you did it in acting class, every acting class in the history of acting classes has done it. Not to mention every time someone produces a “reimagined” Shakespeare play for the stage or screen. I have seen A Midsummer’s Nights Dream set everywhere from Studio 54 to a Prison.
  Sometimes clever execution is more important that originality. Just for the record; pointing out a lack of originality is not original either.

  • [ian71]

    I’m with JoeKickass (#13)
    “Sometimes clever execution is more important that originality. Just for the record; pointing out a lack of originality is not original either” sounds like a perfect way to defend the moveie Avatar from its detractors.

    Same words + different context = different meaning. Just like these 5 films.

• [Susan Oliver]

  RSA couldn’t find a single woman to participate?

  I’m sure they tried; I’m sure all the gals were all booked up with major studio projects. I’m sure.

• [Grey Devil]

  I concur that this isn’t necessarily an original idea, but that’s not the point of it. It’s an exercise in creativity, to take a concept that others have (and will do) and seeing how you can filter it through yourself and make it unique.

  And i have no illusions that Parallel Lines will be a masterpiece of cinema, but it certainly looks fascinating. I would love to see this, except that there appears to be no website for the project nor mentions of it ever being released on DVD or anything of the sorts which is a disappointment.

  I’m sorry but pimping this just through facebook seems like a bad idea.

• [sorahn]

  Trailer + Shazam = 蒙古人 by 騰格爾
  蒙古人 by 騰格爾 + Google Translate = Mongols Tengger
  Mongols Tengger + Google = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGYRfw64zOE

  I love technology!