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We saw the film on Sunday, before it was released, and it was worth the wait!
The story will focus on Katniss's involvement in District 13's war efforts, with a glimpse of fancy Capitol life thrown into the mix. Scenes will be directly inspired by some chapters of "Mockingjay", but we're confident our vision will still surprise fans!The film's release was delayed due to special effects work that took time to complete. After seeing the film, we're sure it was worth the wait! The final release date was confirmed by Leo Kei Angelos on social media.
Mastering the final export of our fan film #MockingjayBurn. Final runtime is 13 minutes. Appropriate for us being #District13 rebels!
— Leo Kei Angelos (@leokeiangelos) May 10, 2015
While you can watch the full film below, we've gotten the wonderful opportunity to ask both the director and lead actress, Kristen Brancaccio, some questions about the film and what it was like being in the story!D13: Why did you both create the film?
LEO: We are both such passionate fans of the books. I wanted to make a female-centric action film using military gear. We found that the scene we chose perfectly encapsulates Katniss' journey from an innocent bystander transforming into an active warrior rallying people behind her cause.
D13: Kristen, your acting was amazing and it was nice to see another Everdeen face. What do you think of Katniss and if any, what ways does she inspire you? KRISTEN: Thanks for the kind words. I love Katniss, although I'm not sure she'd love me back, ha! She's not always the most friendly, but I like that she doesn't try to be someone she's not. She's very real. I most admire her tenacity and grit.
D13: Do you have plans to create another film? As for another Hunger Games fan film- we are still waiting to see what the response is with this one!
BOTH: Maybe if the fans demand it, we'll be forced to deliver... But in the mean time, we are actually currently working on a feature film together with 10 other finalists from HBO's Project Greenlight! It's going to be an anthology project, which means that each director will direct a short film that will be part of one feature film. (Anyone who wants to find out more should sign up for the email newsletter on the tumblr page)
D13: Kristen, if you didn't do this scene, what is another scene you would've like to do?
KRISTEN: I would love to do the final, epic battle in the 3rd book. So much action! And all the best characters fighting together.
D13: Leo, why did you choose this scene in particular? What is your favorite The Hunger Games Scene?
LEO: When I first read book 3, the District 13 propaganda scenes really stuck out to me. I wanted to do a found-footage type action film (inspired by Cloverfield and District 9)... the idea being every camera angle is motivated by an actual cameraman or security cam in the movie universe. This scene was perfect for utilizing that style of filmmaking. We tried to stick as close to the description of the scene in the book as possible!
D13: Have you seen Mockingjay - Part 1 yet?
KRISTEN: Not yet, but now that we've finished our own vision, we can allow ourselves to go watch the official movie... Needless to say we're extremely excited!
D13: Kristen, what is a funny, sad or happy memory you shared on set?
KRISTEN: Funny memory: We didn't have the budget for too many hotel rooms, but we needed to spend 2 nights near our shooting location (because we shot in the desert a few hours away from LA). So we crammed like 8 people to a room each night and it was hilarious!
- Sad memory: On one of our shoot dates, my car TOTALLY DIED on our way there and we had to abandon it with a mechanic in the middle of the desert for like a week! That was pretty sad.
- Happy: Leo was dog-sitting the weekend we shot in the desert. Brucie (the dog) became our mascot! And, we later made Brucie famous by giving him a lead role in the Capitol Cook-off scene :)
D13: Where did the name Mockingjay: Burn come from?
LEO: From Katniss' line: "If we burn, you burn with us!" We played with the theme of Katniss being "the girl on fire" and becoming a fierce warrior. We wanted to light a fire against unfair authority figures!
D13: What was the hardest part about filming?
BOTH: Editing & visual effects (the post production process) was a long, difficult journey. We had to learn a lot as we went along, but we made it!
D13: How long did filming take?
BOTH: We filmed over the course of 4 days total.
D13: Is this the only stuff you shot?
BOTH: There's always some stuff that ends up on the cutting room floor, but the majority of what we shot made it in!
D13: What do you want fans to take away from this?
BOTH: As fans ourselves, we wanted to immerse ourselves in the world of Panem and follow in Katniss' journey as close as we can possibly get... So if the fans watch our vision and become more immersed or get to enjoy the story in a fresh take, we've succeeded!
D13: Where did you get the idea for the Capitol Crazies?
LEO: It was important to me that the Capitol scene was sufficiently "out there" enough that it contrasts with the grittiness of the Rebels' scene. I turned to one of my favorite movies, The Fifth Element, for inspiration on a bombastic futuristic society.
D13: The post-credit scene was really beautiful. Peeta, bruised and sleepless, gives a 'warning' to Katniss. Why did you choose to include this scene?
BOTH: You gotta have Peeta! We wanted to end on an ominous note, and show the audience that war is never as black and white as one side makes it seem.
A special thank you to both Leo and Kristen for letting me see the film early an allow me to interview them!
Without further wait, Mockingjay: Burn will be posted TODAY on Leo's YouTube. Check it out HERE! Let us know what you think.
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