This past week, director Bil Richardson’s experimental cyberpunk movie, Ephemera, became free to watch on Plex. Using an innovative filmmaking technique, Richardson has put together a movie that makes use of existing stock footage to create a whole new narrative.

Synopsis –

In a strange future, a national security agent with pyrotechnic abilities is horribly burned in battle and develops a fear of fire. She returns to action but cannot shake her fear. She undergoes experimental procedures to gain new powers and sets out to get revenge on those who destroyed her life. This film is reminiscent of such science fiction classics as Blade Runner and Ready Player One.

Ephemera began life whilst director Bil Richardson was bedridden in hospital undergoing constant medical treatment. Unable to work physically, he began experimenting with stock footage, cutting together short scenes. Soon, he realised he could cut together enough footage to create the skeleton of a movie. Using this as a base, he wrote a narrative over the footage available to him and turned it into a movie – the production of Ephemera was basically kit-bashing, using parts to create a new and unique whole. 

We were curious how the director would be able to tell a satisfying narrative based around consistent characters using stock footage that would clearly contain completely different sets of actors. It turns out he uses some smart plot machinations early in the movie that allows him to use any footage he pleases whilst still being able to tell the story of his main character, a spy named Ephemera. 

Given the freedom to put his action hero into any situation he could find footage for, he sends his protagonist on a series of missions in locations around the world. This makes the movie feel episodic, but with a limited amount of shots available to him from each location, it was ultimately the best solution. There is a definite narrative story at the heart of Ephemera, which builds to a finale and conclusion, which is an achievement in itself considering how the movie was made.

Ephemera is not just stitched together from stock footage, though. The director did cast actors and shoot some footage to compliment what he had, and he tells us the film was made for just $7,000. The main character goes through a medical ordeal much like Richardson did, and it wasn’t until he had a finished film that he realised how much of his own story he had put up on screen.

Ephemera is available to watch now, free, on Plex. You can check out the trailer below –

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