At the end of May, DISTRICT 9 / ELYSIUM / CHAPPIE director Neill Blomkamp announced that he had started a company called Oats Studios and would be releasing a series of experimental shorts under the Oats Studios banner. A couple very intriguing trailers were released online (see them HERE and HERE), and now the release of the shorts has begun.
During an exclusive chat with JoBlo's own Paul Shirey, Blomkamp revealed that we will be getting everything he has made for Oats Studios Volume 1 in a very short period of time – by the middle of July, the director will have released four short films, along with "a bunch of other weird stuff, like these strange comedy vignettes and just weird pierces that are interspersed in amongst there that are 2-3 minutes long."
The first Oats Studios release is RAKKA, a 22 minute short that centers on the survivors of an apocalyptic invasion of nasty reptilian aliens. Directed by Blomkamp from a script he wrote with Thomas Sweterlitsch, it stars Sigourney Weaver, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Robert Hobbs, Carly Pope, and Brandon Auret.
If you're a fan of Blomkamp's style, RAKKA gives you a good taste of it and might leave you wishing it was much longer than 22 minutes. A feature expansion is something that may happen; Blomkamp has said that making features based on Oats Studios shorts is absolutely something he would like to do.
Oats Studios shorts will be available to watch for free on YouTube or through the entertainment platform Steam. On Steam, you can also purchase extra features that will give further insight into the making of the shorts – for example, right now there is a bundle of RAKKA assets that can be purchased on Steam for $4.99. For that price you get
Downloadable video file of Rakka including a 5.1 surround sound mix
Rakka Concept Art
Rakka Scripts
Rakka 3D Models
More content to come as we package up CG assets, footage, sound etc.
Check out RAKKA in the YouTube embed below, and if you want to show support for Blomkamp's Oats Studios endeavor, you can click over to Steam to purchase those assets.