We are proud to present the trailer for Arms Race: Escalation.  Episode 1 will be available on YouTube on 10th November 2012.

Giant Robot Invades Norfolk Beach!

Arms Race Escalation – A series of short films by It’s a Trap!
Preview/Press Screening and Photo Opportunity
Saturday 10 November, 11.30am

Cinema City, Norwich

Following the success of their short film Arms Race, local film-makers It’s a Trap!   unveil their latest offering; a short, follow-up series Arms Race Escalation.

Their first film Arms Race, was made on a shoestring by a group of friends in their spare time – little did they realise how much its reputation would take off.

First the film was snapped up by the Adelaide Film Festival in Australia in March 2011, who showed it as part of their Steampunk Spectacular – if you are not familiar with steampunk, imagine sci-fi, Victorian-style.    In April 2011 it was showcased at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival followed by a screening at the Balticon Film Festival in Baltimore, USA. Then in April 2012, American cult band Abney Park  requested  the use of clips from the film in their latest Music Video – Steampunk Revolution.   The team have just received a further request to screen the film at Phoenix Comicon, Arizona, USA, in May next year.

Over  80,000 YouTube hits later, the team have got together again to do something altogether more ambitious. Continuing the theme of the first short they have put together a mini-series consisting of six, five-minute episodes which include a host of special effects, explosions and of course, giant robots!

Without any funding, every one of the 45 + people involved, generously gave their time and expertise for free with the meagre budget for necessary spending coming out of the director, Nigel Clegg’s own pocket.

Filming was a lot of fun, but a lot more hard work, with one weekend on a freezing cold beach, another spent building the rudiments of the cockpit of a zeppelin in the script-writer’s garage and another running around in the pouring rain in private woodland in North Norfolk. This has been followed by months of work, editing and creating special effects.

Now the team are looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labour, with the preview screening on 10 November followed by release on Youtube.

To see the trailer for Arms Race Escalation visit http://tinyurl.com/armstrail

To see the original Arms Race film visit http://tinyurl.com/armsracefilm

To see the Abney Park music video visit http://youtu.be/yeEI-hh3MG0

Comments on Arms Race:

“One of the craziest shorts I’ve ever seen! Well done, that was really, really well shot and edited. Zulu meets Metropolis via Dad’s Army…or something. Anyhow, congratulations!”

“Brilliant…. very Terry Gilliam.”

“Finally! I’ve been waiting ages for this and I’ve got to say I’m not disappointed! This short film was amazing– I’ve never come across steam punk before but I think it’s a brilliant idea.”

“Bloomin mental! In a completely positive way. Well done guys!”

And my personal favourite:

“Skikkelig imponerende!”

ENDS

Press/media enquiries:

For press tickets for the screening, or more information contact James Harvey on james@itsatrap.co.uk

For more information about It’s A Trap! visit their website www.itsatrap.co.uk

The latest music video from awesome steampunk band Abney Park features a couple of clips from the Arms Race short film!

For Steampunk Revolution’s music video Abney Park put out a call for steampunk images and videos from the community. The music video is a collection of amazing steampunk clips (including our favourite, a giant steam elephant thing). We’re very pleased to have Arms Race featured among such inspiring creativity.

We’re big fans of Abney Park and hopefully this won’t be the last time we get to collaborate with them on a project…

This short scene was created to test some of the new props created for the upcoming Arms Race web series. We’ve also got a whole range of guides to building your own props, arranged into a useful YouTube playlist.

If you’re new to Arms Race, here’s a quick bluffer’s link guide:

• Watch the original short film.
• Find out about the Making Of Arms Race.
• Find out more about It’s A Trap’s short films, podcasts and audio dramas.

We’ll be saying more about the web series soon!

Also coming this year is an Arms Race web comic, bridging the gap between the original short film and the web series.

And, of course, it’ll all be free to watch and read.

Stay tuned.

That’s why we uploaded a pristine, 720p 5.1 WMV version. You can download it for free here.

Alternatively you can of course switch to 720p HD on YouTube, although you won’t get the surround sound:

Here’s a 15 page preview:

The Making of Arms Race by SIMON JONES | Make Your Own Book

You can buy it direct from blurb.com in hardback or paperback by clicking the ‘buy’ button just above, or by clicking here. We’re selling the book at production cost, so we don’t make any actual profit from it.

More information can be found here.