Neill Blomkamp has a weird obsession with aliens. The South African director is however pushing the envelope in another way.
An experimental short film series created by his new venture Oats Studios is set to debut on game distribution platform Steam in the coming months. Back in April, Blomkamp first teased the idea on Twitter, asking followers for their thoughts.
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If I sold experimental short films on @steam_games as tests for potential full feature films, would people watch them?
— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) April 9, 2017
Users took to the idea like a duck to water.
I would!
— William Gibson (@GreatDismal) April 9, 2017
YES.
— Amber Osborne (@MissDestructo) April 9, 2017
Yes Neill. Yes i would.
— Ben Porter (@eigenbom) April 10, 2017
So, basically, yes. Yes they would. Naturally, Blomkamp obliged.
We’re not given much by way of details, but we are awarded a trailer. And it’s extremely Blomkampian.
An experimental short film series created by Blomkamp’s new venture Oats Studios is set to debut on Steam ‘soon’
Complete with forlorn children, visions of the world post-Donald Trump, and of course our alien overlords, all set the stage for various projects. And if you’re familiar with Blomkamp’s beginnings, his forte is short flicks.
District 9 began as a short film, and became one of South Africa’s greatest movie stories. And the likes of Landfall — a thematic Halo live action short created in partnership with Bungie — is another notable short.
Sticking with the gaming theme, Steam is an interesting platform for Blomkamp to latch onto. Shying away from the obvious likes of YouTube and streaming video services, Steam hasn’t received the greatest plaudits for its movie streaming offering.
Nevertheless, the Elysium director might be the catalyst the platform needs to make a bigger play in the movie distribution business.
