most flew south.
the first short film by zach busch.
nyu tisch grad film 2020.
Most Flew South (2020) is a short post-apocalyptic romance film I wrote, directed, produced, & edited as my first semester project at the Grad Film program at NYU Tisch.
logline
In a city left desolate by years of plague, two doomed New Yorkers break their lockdown for one last chance at intimacy.
synopsis
A horrific plague has wiped out half the population of New York City, leaving it in a perpetual state of emergency. After years of lockdown, a young man, PAUL (James Baksh), puts on his hazmat suit and ventures into the abandoned streets to meet JUSTINE (Erika Toderic) - the first person he has met offline in years. Will they be able to overcome their anxieties - and is it worth the risk?
Final cut of "Most Flew South," completed December 2020.
director's statement
Most Flew South is a very personal film for me. It is also my first film. It doesn’t technically take place during Covid — this is an alternate world struck by a far worse pandemic — but it’s certainly *about* Covid. More specifically, it’s about Covid in New York. It’s hyperbolic, because that’s how it felt. It takes place in a New York that is as empty and desolate as New York seemed during the spring and summer of 2020. The world is ending because, to us, it was. And I believe this is where the film derives its power: the shared experience of the cast, crew, and audience.
The male lead, James, later described the shoot as “run-and-gun.” I find that accurate. We shot Most Flew South in a single day with a crew of 4 (myself included) and a cast of 2, with equipment set up for maximum mobility. All footage was shot using a Sony FS7 with a Zeiss zoom lens. All audio, with the sole exception of the sirens, was taken on location using a Zoom H5 Recorder hooked up to a boom.
It was important to me to shoot the scenes in script order and in a real physical space. I think this comes from my theatre background. As much as possible, the geography of the film reflects that of the real location. It was shot in a single cold and sunny day in Brooklyn, NY — November 14, 2020 — when the city was a little more alive than it looks in the film, but not by much.
the assignment
The entire first semester of the Tisch Grad Film program is focused around each student writing/directing one film from start to finish, called the 1st Year MOS. In our year, the MOS had the following parameters:
-No dialogue or music. This is what truly defines the MOS.
-Runtime: 4 minutes max (excluding credits). Strictly enforced.
-Black-and-white.
-Shoot duration: 2 days max (up to 10-12 hours per day)
-Crew size: 4 (including director). Crews assigned.
-Cast size: 2 actors max. Could be non-NYU.
-Heavy Covid-19 restrictions and lots of paperwork.
Select images from my original storyboard.
specs
Camera – Sony FS7
Format – Digital
Resolution – 1080p HD
Sound recorder – Zoom H5, one 416 boom mic
Runtime – 00:04:32
Color/B&W – Black-and-white
Language – No dialogue (English titles/credits)
Shoot location – Bush Terminal Piers Park, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Length of shoot – 1 day
Edited + color graded in – Adobe Premiere Pro
Budget – approx. $650 USD
cast
'paul'
'justine'
crew
writer / director
producer
producer
director of photography
assistant director
camera operator
sound recordist
editor / colorist
awards & screenings
Official Selection – Naked Angels Film Festival 2021 (NYC)
Official Selection – Brooklyn Short Film Festival 2021 (NYC)
Honorable Mention – American Filmatic Arts Awards 2021 (NYC)
Official Selection – American Filmatic Arts Awards 2021 (NYC)
bonus: color version
Despite being in color, it was no easier to color grade than the black-and-whtie version; as you can see from the BTS photos, it was a warm and beautiful sunny day when we shot the film, and for this version I had to make it look cold, gray, and generally post-apocalyptic.
