Indie Oz is amazing!

Remember sometime back when I said that costs of making a really good-looking movie were lower due to readily available HD-ready cameras and a wide variety of video editing software? Well, some people are out there with independent Oz projects, proving me absolutely right.

Within one week, I've watched two short films by Oz fans. First up is The Wheeler of Oz by Metro City Films. The film follows the story of Maliphet, a discontent Wheeler who longs to just be accepted. He heads to Oz to look for a friend, but a terrible accident proves to be the key to his surprising future. At 11.5 minutes, I can't say much more without spoiling it. Using a mix of real photography, costumes, set design, and CGI, it's a visual delight. Maliphet's costume brings to mind Disney's Return to Oz, and the director has mentioned that Pons Maar, the head Wheeler from that movie, offered advice on making the wheels work correctly.

The Wheeler of Oz will be screened at a variety of film festivals, but if you can't make it to one of those, he also sells the film on DVD for $10 (shipping included).

Another film is a 23-minute adaptation of the Tin Woodman's tragic origin from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from Whitestone Motion Pictures. Although Baum nuts like me might get put off by no references from The Tin Woodman of Oz, it quickly draws the viewer in, and hits an emotional high note.

I could not find out if the film will be shown at film festivals, but it is available for free viewing at Vimeo, so here it is, below.

Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

Finally, we've been seeing progress on an independent adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from Barnyard Films. The writer has given us a lot of feedback and answered many questions fans have had, and what we've seen so far looks quite promising. Here's a video in which they show how they will pull off the Scarecrow in their film:



Because these films are independent, they don't need to pander to certain demographics, and the two short films I saw feel very Ozzy indeed, maybe moreso than anything a major studio has released. Keep up the great work, people!