Plot

Under Gerudo occupation Castle Town has become a dangerous place. One young man, Link, finds himself alone and hunted by the savage Miniblins. He bears a mark on his hand, a mark that designates him as the wielder of a great power, a power that the King of Darkness seeks.

Development

Development of Castle Town began in mid-2010, in anticipation of The Escapist Magazine’s 4th Annual Film Festival. The Festival was a call for webseries pilots, which meant that not only did a pilot script have to be written but a whole series had to be planned out in the event that Basis’ entry won. A parody based on The Legend of Zelda was decided very early on, and over the course of summer and fall 2010 several ideas came and went until the concept of having a modern day dark comedy/drama finally came to light as something that would not only make an excellent pilot episode but also serve as a compelling series.

The project was put on the fast track when The Escapist announced their festival would take place several weeks earlier than in years past. Auditions were held less than 2 weeks before the shooting date and there was little time to put together all the resources that were needed.

Filming

Filming took place the night of October 15th in the garage and alley behind an old house in the city of St. Louis. Shooting lasted for 4.5 hours with the largest crew yet involved on a Basis production.

Post-production and Release

The initial cut of the film ran for almost 6.5 minutes, 90 seconds longer than the Escapist’s maximum runtime of 5 minutes. Two sequences were cut to bring the run time down to 5.5 minutes, while the remaining 30 seconds were shaved off of various shots throughout the film.

The online festival ran for most of November, and in the end Castle Town received an honorable mention.

Please note that Castle Town does contain some objectionable content, including strong language and a black and white color scheme.