Publicity
De Anza filmmakers offer an 'Ultimatum'
By Robert Ramsey (as printed sometime in 1983)
Lots of people dabble with home movies but two De Anza students have taken the process a few steps further. They mobilized an entire San Jose neighborhood and spent two years making an hour=long science fiction film which reminded audiences of a cross between an episode of "Star Trek" and "Return of the Jedi".
Bud Robertson and John Ottman, both 18-year-olds who just completed their first year at De Anza, premiered "Ultimatum" at Gunderson High School recently before an enthusiastic crowd of neighbors, friends and relatives, all of whom seemed to have participated in the elaborate production.
Bud and John began "Ultimatum" when they were juniors at Gunderson. They wanted to make a film in the style of their favorite directors, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. What they committed themselves to unwittingly was the best education aspiring filmmakers can get - hands-on experience.
"Ultimatum" is the story of how the nations of the world unite when hostile aliens threaten to turn Earthlings into docile zombies with an insidious virus. The young filmmakers employed man elaborate animation techniques and special effects not commonly found in amateur films, especially ones made by high school students.
At the outset the boys planned to devote three months to the making of "Ultimatum." But they didn't account for the elaborate storyline and the 61 minute film ended up dominating the boys' leisure time for two years.
"The script was easy to write," John said. "It really just flowed. But we didn't realize how many sets we had written into it."
The boys had to construct 17 different sets in Bud's garage. Many required extensive futuristic details similar to those found in old Star Trek reruns. The process dragged on slowly because each set couldn't be disassembled until the film had been developed and found acceptable.
But "Ultimatum" isn't an unusual amateur film just because of its elaborate science fiction plot. John and Bud, unlike many young filmmakers, had adults play adult characters.
Jerry Mullins, a middle-aged counselor at Yerba Buena High School and Bud's next door neighbor, played the evil commander of the alien space ship. During the course of the production he endured loads of yellow make-up, several dustings of baby powder (Used to create smoke) and directions to repeatedly fall on a concrete floor.
"I guess I looked the evilest of anyone in the neighborhood so they picked me," Mullins chuckled. "But they had it well organized so that they pulled me in when they needed me. It was never a big inconvenience."
The duo chose the least expensive film stock available - silent Super 8. They couldn't afford an editing machine to put all the footage in coherent order, so they borrowed on. When it broke down they resorted to holding the film up to a light bulb.
"It was a tedious process," John said.