INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING – CASE STUDIES
Sanctuary (TV series)
Sanctuary is a Canadian science fiction-fantasy television series, created by Damian Kindler.
The show is an expansion of an eight-webisode long series that was released through the Internet in early 2007 and sold directly to the viewer. Seeing the success of the web series, Syfy decided to pick up the series for a more traditional television-based 13-episode season. It has finished airing a second season of 13 episodes, and was renewed for a third season of 20 episodes on December 12, 2009.
The show centers on Dr. Helen Magnus, a 158-year-old English scientist, and her team of experts who run the Sanctuary, an organization that seeks out non-human intelligent creatures, known as Abnormals, and tries to help and learn from them, while also having to contain the more dangerous creatures.
The series premiered on October 3, 2008, in both Canada and the United States, and on October 6, in the United Kingdom. The premiere drew in more than 3 million viewers making it the highest rated original series premiere since Eureka debuted in July 2006 for Syfy. The premiere's two-parter, "Sanctuary for All" was a combination and rewriting of the first four webisodes. Amanda Tapping with all of the original cast from the web series transitioned to the television series. The second season premiered on Friday, October 9, 2009 in the 10pm timeslot.
Paranormal Activity is a 2007 independent horror film written and directed by Oren Peli. It premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival in the U.S. on October 14, 2007, and was shown at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2008. The film received a limited release in several U.S. cities on October 9, 2009, and had a nationwide release on October 16, 2009.
The movie centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. The movie is presented using "found footage" from the camera set up by the couple to capture what is haunting them. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on December 29, 2009.
The film has earned over $100 million at the U.S. box office alone, on a reported budget of $15,000. However, such figures are difficult to verify independently and exclude marketing costs.
