No, but We’ve Played the CD-ROM Version

Two brothers are proving there remain a few unexplored tricks to getting a foot in Hollywood’s production door.

Brentwood-based producer Adam Berns and his writer-director brother Michael are shopping “Fox Hunt,� an action comedy they describe as a blend of Ace Ventura and James Bond. Three-quarters of its footage comes from a mildly successful CD-ROM project by the same name they completed more than a year ago.

Through 3Vision, the production company they founded along with co-writer Matt Pyken, they have secured theatrical distribution deals in Korea, Italy, Brazil and Germany for the broadly spoofy “Fox Hunt� film. Pursuit of domestic distribution is on hold, Adam Berns says, pending development of a TV series loosely based on the film.

Not bad for a project that began as no more than an ambitious video game two years ago.

“At that time CD-ROM was like the Wild West,� says Adam Berns, a former entertainment lawyer with Latham & Watkins. “You didn’t have to have a lot of experience to get your foot in the door, so [the game company] Capcom was willing to take a risk.�

About $1.2 million worth, it turns out, high by CD-ROM standards. From there, a combination of luck and the more cinematic tendencies of the creators (Michael Berns graduated from USC’s Peter Stark Production Program and Pyken had written for television) gave 3Vision unexpected entry into the industry.

“We weren’t content to sit around and wait for our big break,� Adam Berns says. “We pitched this project to Capcom in November of ’95. Three months later we were shooting. How often does that happen in Hollywood?

“But to be honest, we didn’t know ‘Fox Hunt’ would turn out to be a film, much less our break.�

After seeing the game at Cannes, a foreign distributor encouraged the producer to cut a trailer, which they were able to do only because they had shot the game on 16-millimeter film, another CD-ROM rarity (most are shot on video).

“We’re filmmakers at heart, so we decided from the start to shoot this like a film,� Adam Berns says. “That included incorporating some semblance of a three-act structure.� But Michael Berns discovered that combining the elements of celluloid with the fundamentals of a game was not easy. In fact, he expects traditional filmmaking will be a breeze in comparison.

“The script for a CD-ROM is like some sort of diagram,� the “Fox Hunt� director says. “And there’s just so much you can do when filming without compromising the real reason behind the project: to create a fun and challenging game.

“It’s like having a piano with 20 keys when you want the full 88.�

For example, the CD-ROM version of “Fox Hunt� involved 2,200 camera setups, about eight times more than an average film, and more than 20,000 edits, compared with a standard 8,000 to 9,000 in a cinematic production. (The game has sold about 50,000 copies in CD-ROM and Sony PlayStations.)

And editing was a nightmare. Along with a former USC classmate, Michael Berns said he spent 20 hours a day for two months cutting the project. CD-ROM edits by necessity have to be quick. A fight scene, for example, requires each punch and each possible consequence (either a block or a hit) to be filmed.

And all such scenes have to be shot with a still camera, since the focus is on just one thing: winning the fight and progressing to the game’s next level.

“I remember we did 72 setups in one day, which is unheard of,� says Andrew Bowen, who plays reluctant spy Jack Fremont. “I’d do a kick, then stop. Throw a punch, then stop.�

Going in, Bowen and the other actors--including former 007 George Lazenby, Rob Lowe, Timothy Bottoms and Gary Coleman--knew character arc, for one, was an afterthought when filming a CD- ROM.

“You really had to commit to the way that character was and just stay with it,� says Bowen, who estimates he filmed nearly 20 death scenes for the CD-ROM version.

Fortunately for the filmmakers, spy spoofs don’t demand much in the way of three-dimensional characterization. And the suspension of disbelief commonplace in games carried over well in the film version of “Fox Hunt.�

“We had all the elements needed to make a movie,� Michael Berns says. “You couldn’t do this with a drama. This genre was perfect for it.�

The brothers were able to secure the remaining money needed to make their movie from Capcom after showing the trailer to enthusiastic response at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996.

With eight days to shoot additional footage (which accounted for a little more than one-fourth of the finished product), a precedent was underway. Movies based on video games (such as “‘Mortal Kombat� and “Super Mario Brothers�) were not unusual, but this was the first time, according to the producer, that CD-ROM footage was being used in a movie.

What you get is a film whose blink-of-an-eye cuts make for a frenetic, MTV pace. This was an unavoidable style choice, according to Adam Berns.

“Essentially what we did is took our best footage from the game and wrote a story around it, using the general plot of the CD-ROM script,� he says.

As successful as this formula has been for the brothers, it’s one they don’t plan on repeating. And don’t expect it to become a trend for young filmmakers to get their start in CD-ROM.

“I don’t see that happening for two reasons: First, the CD-ROM market isn’t as hot as it used to be,� he says. “And second, most of the people who make these games aren’t filmmakers and they really don’t have an interest in crossing over.�

And, adds a still-weary Michael Berns: “It’s just way too much work.�