KUALA LUMPUR: When Aiman Sany Mohd Ikhsan rounded up a group of friends with an idea of filming a reenactment of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War trailer, they did not think that it would be viewed by anyone apart from family members and friends.
After all, the short clip was to be submitted for their English assignment, which would not even be graded. Little did they know that the low-budget parody, shot in five days on a mobile phone, would garner international attention.
With 1.75 million views (and counting) on Twitter at the time of writing, their ‘trailer’ even drew praise from Anthony and Joe Russo, known as the Russo Brothers, famed for their work on Marvel megahits, such as Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.
The group’s creative (and extremely low-budget) take on the trailer — using home-made props, such as plates, clothes pegs and cereal pieces — amused social media users, especially Russo Brothers.
“Aiman. You guys are geniuses. Are you available to direct Aven-gers 5?” the Russo Brothers responded yesterday to Aiman Sany’s tweet on the video.
To Aiman Sany and his friends, all of whom are engineering students from Kolej Mara Seremban, it has been nothing short of a wild ride.
“We are all Marvel fans. It took us about four to five days, and we pulled an all-nighter on the last day for editing,” he told the New Straits Times Press.
The spoof of the trailer featured original sound bites, but with a refreshing twist. Clothes pegs were used as Infinity Stones, and dinner plates for Doctor Strange’s spell-casting effects.
No access to CGI? No problem. Meet the next best thing: a green piece of paper and a handful of cereal to portray a sea of warriors on the battlefield.
Aiman Sany played two characters, Black Widow and Thor.
“Each of us contributed ideas on how to make a scene work.”
Aiman Sany said they tried to reenact the trailer frame-by-frame but found some scenes hard to accomplish as it required natural lighting or darkness.
The scenes were shot on a single mobile phone belonging to resident Doctor Strange impersonator, Farhan Mirza Basir Ul Elmi.
Did they expect their little class project to go viral? Not at all, said Aiman Sany.
“We were shocked at how viral it became. Our friends said we should do more, but we need more support and budget.
“Oh, and Malaysia Boleh!”
Apart from getting the nod from the movie’s directors and Internet fame, Aiman Sany and his friends have earned themselves another bonus.
Golden Screen Cinemas offered the boys free tickets to the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War, which comes out on April 26.