The Universe Surrounding the International Post-Apocalyptic Franchise, Depleted
Gavin Hesterdale’s further research into what will lead to the deadly attacks may be derailed when new information about the Knight of Xeno arises, including their previously hidden symbol!
Three new entries in the Gavin Hesterdale Journal further tell the tale of a world on the unknowing brink of disaster!
New updates on the horizon from the Depleted team:
“While some of the setbacks on the post-production end of things for Day 419 have been very difficult for us all, it has permitted us to further improve other elements of the film, including the effects sequences, and to refine our production and post-production workflow. Readers of Viking’s imprint, MicroFilmmaker Magazine, can look forward to in-depth articles and tutorials about the workflow we’ve been developing.”
More on this as we know it!
– Day 419 Audio Work- 419’s new score composer, daVid Singleton, has been hard at work on the new score fo the film and, according to insiders, both John Howard (the audio designer) and director Jeremy Hanke will be listening to portions of the score this weekend. Additionally, John Howard has been laboring to sculpt the sonic landscape of the short in his studio at Oakwood Sound Design, which is made extremely complex due to the fact that the conclusion of the film was shot in a warehouse. In addition to the unique challenge of matching the sonic signature of this sort of space for the actual dialogue sequences (for which Howard is using plugins Speakerphone and Altiverb), there is the difficulties that come with a large scale gun battle (much of which is in some form of slow motion) and a knife fight.
– New Depleted Story Developers – World co-creator Jeremy Hanke has revealed that he is currently in talks with some talented writers to help assist the core development team of Depleted. While their duties may be varied, some of the early exploration would be in expanding the ARG (Alternate Reality Gaming) elements and in writing fully realized short scripts that other filmmakers could direct. For filmmakers who are interested in creating a film that is almost certain to be Canonized, doing so from a Canonized script would be a major boon. (So far, the only officially canonized script that hasn’t been directed by Jeremy Hanke is Blood of Martyrs, which is slated to be shot in Israel by Jason Frederick Gilbert at a future date.)
-Living in the World of Depleted – After much request, the Living in the World of Depleted page has now gone live. This page features many elements about the state of life in the world of Depleted after the Fall, which had hitherto been revealed only to a select few. Director Jeremy Hanke states that, technically, the information in this section could already permit creatives to sculpt fully realized stories and films set in the World of Depleted that could readily be Canonized. (With that said, he’s also exploring ways to allow talented creators to “unlock” secret canonical information which could augment their tales. )
– Depleted: Role Playing game? – While not an official Depleted role playing game, director Jeremy Hanke did state that much of the paper role playing game, Twilight 2013, could be readily modified to fit the world of Depleted. In its third iteration (this one released by 93 Games Studio), Twilight 2013 tells the tale of an apocalyptic world that has been destroyed through a cataclysmic war that has broken down the supply lines of the world and led to the deaths of billions of people. Hanke especially suggests using the set for developers who want to create fully realized characters, “because,” he went on to say, “the advanced character generation information for [Twilight 2013] is excellent for intuitively creating the sort of flawed, multi-dimensional characters that make incredible protagonists and villains for any sort of creative tale, but are especially necessary for film.”
For fans and developers who are interested in picking this set up, 93 Games Studios is making the .PDF version of the entire set available for $10 through the holidays–as opposed to the $60 it normally retails for. (If you’re interested in checking it out, click here.) Although Hanke did say that the Depleted development team are very open to discussing an official Depleted expansion for the RPG, which would allow fans to have the world elements of Depleted as part of the campaign rules, he did state that those talks have not yet been opened up with 93 Games Studios. Hopefully they will, as it would be pretty cool to be able to game in the World of Depleted in-between official chapters! (Plus, although the creative team will neither confirm nor deny this, I have to assume that they could also release new ARG components throug RPG expansions, which would be even cooler!)
New updates for the beginning of December surround the World of Depleted, include:
*The first map of the overall structure of the submission process for World of Depleted content, as well as the breakdown to Canon and Apocrypha has now been released. (See below) Director Jeremy Hanke has clearly stated that there will be a more polished map that will be used in the official release and that subsections will be more clearly broken down at that point. ( Additionally, he’s gone on to say that videos will be created to more clearly explain each step in the process for folks who prefer this to text and images.)
* Finalized contracts to open up the World of Depleted to creatives around the world are being beta tested by filmmakers currently. So far, with the exceptions of a few clarifications of the processes, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
*Day 419’s Jeremy Hanke and Sound Designer, John Howard, are slated to announce a new score composer for Depleted: Day 419 on December 3rd. (While his name has not yet been released, aparently the new composer has a lot of professional film and television scoring experience.)
*Ben Nash, of the upcoming short film “Forsaken,” is in the process of approving his contracts for submission for Official Canon Consideration. Once completed, the Forsaken trailer will be posted to the World of Depleted website. The film’s release is still TBD, but it appears to be closing in on its completion. Once done, the core Depleted team will review the film for inclusion as Canon.
*Editor Jeremy Hanke’s work on an advanced special effects sequence for Day 419 seems to be drawing close to conclusion as he’s now enlisted the aid of 3D artist Mark Bremmer to help him polish the look of the effects sequence!
*A large amount of work has now been done on the Depleted feature script, according to writer/director Jeremy Hanke, who is connecting even more elements of the ARG experience and the mythology of the world to the film. (Early rumors suggest that more than one feature film is currently being planned in the series.)
*In addition to vocalist Trista Mabry, it has been revealed that another band is in the process of coming on board for the Depleted soundtrack. While the production team is closed mouthed on who it will be until contracts have been officially received, they did reveal that this particular band has a cult following for an album that major studios tried to block from being released. If everything goes according to plan, most of the songs from this album will now be included in the official Depleted soundtrack!
The folks at Depleted have been burning the midnight oil on new updates for our viewing excitement:
Lots of new stuff happening with the World of Depleted:
