We’ve had the opportunity to work with some absolutely amazing people these last few years! This reel is just a tiny sample of some of the cool projects we’ve worked on for Apple, The Oscars, Amazon, IBM, Harper Collins & HarperOne, Reflective Democracy, Expedia, Facebook, Meta, Amalgamated Foundation, Mission, Imaginary Forces, Mocean, and Google to name a few.
BackSpace Returns, the sequel to our award wining short film BackSpace, is the first sequel we’ve ever created. As creatives we are always excited about doing new things. Since we’d never written or directed a sequel before - it was really exciting to think about a continuation. One of the best parts of course is doing research into other sci-fi sequels.
BackSpace and BackSpace Returns are short films, we in no way want to say that this is like crafting a sequel to a feature - but what we did was analyze a lot of sequels that we enjoyed and tried to understand what we loved so much about them.
The first BackSpace is a really simple story. This was our first time jumping into Unreal Engine and we needed something small enough that we could wrap our heads around as we learned how texturing and lighting and just rendering were done in this software we’d never used. With this accomplished we started to discuss where else the story could go. Now that we could do even more this time around, we jumped in and started discussing the universe where this takes place. What are the rules of this world? And not just the fictional universe but the language of the film from the LUTs to the music to the sound design.
What we found in a lot of our favorite sequels, whether that’s Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Back to the Future Pt. II, Terminator 2: Judgement Day or Blade Runner 2049, they expand the world in every direction but explored it through the eyes of the main characters. We get to go to new places and learn more about this thing that we already loved while staying true to the original. So that’s what we set out to do. Having these discussions and really digging in was an absolute blast.
The second thing that we really loved about a lot of sequels including The Matrix series and Star Wars series is that they end on cliff hangers. This tells you you’re no longer watching just a sequel, but that this is now part of a larger adventure. That was a really fun thing to come up with too! So with that said, enjoy BackSpace Returns and be on the look out for Part 3!
So excited to announce the next film festival in Europe! BackSpace will be screening next at an actual castle in Slovakia! The film festival takes place over two days and also includes a programs on film, music, theater, dance, photography and more all on the old medieval grounds of an actual castle. We’re thrilled that BackSpace will be screening under the stars at this amazing location.
For more information check out the official site here:
We have two more festivals to announce! BackSpace has just been invited to screen in Europe at two awesome venues! The first is Summer Film School, an incredible festival in the Czech Republic! The film festival features both classics and modern films as well as retrospectives, Q&As, programs, concerts and so much more to enjoy!
Make sure to check out this video recap from last year’s festival:
AND make sure to check out the official festival site here:
BackSpace just finished screening in Brazil yesterday and next week it’s screening in France!
BackSpace is an Official Selection of The Red Event which is screening the award winning films from the RED Movie Awards. The screening will take place May 6th, 2023 in Reims, France. The venue is the Degermann Salon. The event will be overseen by an amazing international jury of filmmakers. Make sure to check out the official site below for tickets and dress code (since this one is fancy).
For more on our award winning film, you can check it out right here on the site and after that you can check out the sequel, BackSpace Returns, right here.
BackSpace will be screening twice next week at the Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival in Brazil! BackSpace will be screening Tuesday at 4pm followed by an additional screening Wednesday at 7pm.
Fantaspoa was just named as one of the top 50 Film Festivals in the world by Moviemaker alongside other festivals such as Locarno (Switzerland), Tribeca (USA), Warsaw (Poland), Slamdance (USA) and Fantasia (Canada). We’re thrilled that BackSpace will have a second screening next week!
For more information, make sure to check out the official website here for information on more great films and screening locations:
BackSpace will be making its South American Premiere on the big screen at the Fantaspoa Film Festival in Brazil! This marks our second time at the festival after our feature film, Danger! Danger! made its South American Premiere there as well!
The festival takes place on April 13 - May 1 in Porto Alegre at cinemas and online.
Fantaspoa is the biggest Film Festival in Latin American featuring Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Adventure, and Thrillers. We’re really excited to be part of the festival a second time!
Make sure to check out the official festival site here:
BackSpace Returns is being released today by Dust to their amazing and massive audience of sci-fi fans that numbers in the millions! So excited for everyone to see the sequel to the original BackSpace!
The first BackSpace was released on Dust, the sci-fi brand at Gunpowder and Sky last May. The film was viewed over 100K times in 24 hours and has gone on to receive even more views since then!
BackSpace Returns, the sequel to our award winning film BackSpace, is out today! The short film is available to be viewed right here on the Adventure Company site or over on Dust, the sci-fi brand of Gunpowder and Sky.
Also, if you haven’t seen the first film you can also watch that right here so that you’re all caught up!
This has been one of the funnest projects we’ve ever worked on and poured a tremendous amount of passion into it. Creating entire worlds is something that we have always wanted to do since we first decided to become filmmakers!
With BackSpace we had started out in C4D, After Effects, and Photoshop. For BackSpace Returns however, we jumped right into development with Unreal Engine 5. Now out of beta, the full release was amazing to work with.
The first thing we did was go on virtual location scouts. We’re used to location scouting live action sets and sound stages - so we did the same here. The only difference is that if you don’t like where a mountain is you can move it. Not a fan of that tree? You can move that too or even just delete it.
After that we began lighting tests. These include time of day and the mood. Since we’re creating far-off worlds, these can be anything we want. Then we headed into the color grade. For BackSpace Returns, we wanted a more adventurous look than the original BackSpace which was more muted as we were going for more of a sci-fi feel. This time around however we wanted Indiana Jones.
Excited to announce that BackSpace has been invited to screen at iShorts this year! The Film Festival takes place Feb 17 - 21st in the beautiful city of Prague and the surrounding areas at three great locations.
“Get ready for sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and comedy – as well as events where past meets the future, technological innovations meet ancient myths, and everyday routine meets fantastic adventures.”
If you haven’t already seen BackSpace, you can watch it right here on the site! And if you enjoy it, come back March 13th for the sequel BackSpace Returns! - iShorts
For more information on iShorts make sure to check out the official site here:
With BackSpace Returns, the sequel to our award winning short, arriving March 13th on Dust, we’re so excited - that we wanted to share a second batch of stills! There are over a hundred shots in this new short film that we’re really excited about and we wanted to share each of them! BUT instead of a hundred new images, we decided on just a few favorites.
Here’s the next glimpse of BackSpace Returns!
BackSpace Returns, our sequel to the award winning BackSpace, will be released by Dust, the sci-fi division of Gunpowder and Sky! We can’t wait to share this next adventure!
The first BackSpace was released last year in partnership with Dust and the film quickly became a hit. It racked up 100K views in its first 24 hours of release!
The Dust audience represents some of the best sci-fi and horror fans out there, with millions of subscribers and a great community. For more info on Dust, make sure to check out their official site here:
Here’s a first look at our brand new sequel, BackSpace Returns!
It was really important for us that the film look like the original BackSpace - but take it even further. We really feel like we upped not only the quality but the overall world of the BackSpace universe with this sequel!
We’re thrilled to show off the new worlds, new characters, and new adventure. Check out this first batch of stills!
BackSpace has just won Best Animation at the RED Movie Awards! We’re thrilled to be a part of this wonderful film festival in France!
BackSpace is our first short film created in Unreal Engine and features Paul Haapaniemi, James Brinkley, and Holly Standbrook. The film was released by Dust and has screened around the world. The sequel BackSpace Returns will be released this year (2023)!
For more information on the Red Movie Awards, make sure to check out their official site:
BackSpace has just been nominated for Best Animation at the RED Movie Awards! As a Finalist in the Awards we’re even more excited for this event and can’t wait for May to arrive! The RED Movie Awards take place in Reims France celebrating films and filmmakers from all around the world.
Here’s the official statement from the RED Movie Awards:
“OUR MISSION is to give back what too many film festivals out there have forgotten to continuously provide to the filmmakers: attention and respect. We want to find, cultivate and celebrate the very best in international and home grown talent across all departments of independent film.”
The annual ceremony will take place in Reims, capital of champagne and the French "art de vivre".
Adventure Company is excited to announce that BackSpace has been invited to the RED Movie Awards in Reims France as an Official Selection! The RED Movie Awards is a fantastic Annual Event featuring some incredible films!
BackSpace most recently screened at FilmQuest, LA Sci-Fi Film Festival, the International Comic and Animation Festival, as well as festivals around the world! It’s received several awards and nominations - which has us over the moon. The film was released by Dust and also highlighted on Stash.
The RED Movie Awards will take place May 6, 2023 in Reims France, at the Degermann Salon.
Make sure to watch this recap of last year’s beautiful event:
For more information make sure to check out the official site:
BackSpace has just been released on Stash! Stash holds a very special place for us. Its where we get a ton of inspiration and is often our go to for amazing works of creativity! Our Stash DVD collection goes back to the early days (Stash 20 with those amazing black crows designed for MTV by Psyop) and we’ve been a fan ever since!
You can read the full article below:
BackSpace Returns is currently in production and we wanted to announce the cast of this awesome project bringing these characters to life!
First, it was great to work with Paul Haapaniemi again, who previously starred as Hunter. In the past we’ve worked with Paul on both of our feature films (The West and the Ruthless, Danger! Danger!), our series Tales from Black Manor and most recently - the award winning short film BackSpace!
Also returning is James Brinkley as Mono - our wonderfully upset robot. This will be our 6th collaboration with James (The Umbrella Factory, Jack the Ripper, Around the World in 80 Days, Tales from Black Manor, and BackSpace!)
And finally, Holly Standbrook will be returning as Jet! This will be our third collaboration with Holly after Tales from Black Manor and BackSpace!
We’re also really excited to announce that Benedict Mazurek will be playing Rival. This is our 4th collaboration with Benedict! Along with our two feature films (The West and the Ruthless and Danger! Danger!) we also just worked together on the pilot for Love’s Gate!
For BackSpace Returns, another new character we’re introducing is B-Team, played by the ridiculously talented Chris Harris-Beechey. This is our first time working with Chris and we’re super excited to have him be a part of the BackSpace world!
More on BackSpace Returns to come soon!
Love’s Gate is heading to the Sacramento International Film Festival this December! Not only that but it will also take part in the competition for the American Screenwriters Awards! Alexander Harris wrote an amazing screenplay that we were lucky enough to direct. Here’s to hoping he takes home the grand prize!
The Sacramento International Film Festival will take place December 14 - 17, 2022.
For information on the festival, make sure to check out the link below!
