Minecraft and the Search for the Sunken Treasure

What: An 11-minute Minecraft adventure movie, made with my son
Status: Finished

Two people in front of a green screen wearing square Minecraft character heads and holding pixelated toy swords — The cast, in costume in front of the green screen.

This one is my son’s movie. He wrote it, directed it, and supervised the editing and post-production. I helped him make it.

We filmed it in costume in front of a green screen, wearing the characters’ square heads and carrying pixel swords, so the two of us could be placed inside the world of Minecraft.

The adventure

Steve and JJ come across a secret treasure map. The path to the treasure is full of danger and mysterious creatures, and it tests their courage and their friendship.

Jungle mischiefThe trail starts in the jungle, where nothing goes quite to plan.
Snowy mountain battlesUp in the snow, the two friends have to fight their way through.
Underwater monstersThe map leads beneath the sea, where a giant squid is waiting.
The final showdownIt all ends in a battle with the King Ender Dragon.

Behind the scenes

The two cast members in their Minecraft heads, taking a selfie toward the camera, studio lights, and a monitor showing the green screen shot behind them — The view from the green screen: camera, lights, and a monitor showing the shot.

The finished scenes came together in Adobe Premiere Pro, eleven minutes of them, from the title card to the victory at the end.

The film open in a video editor: a frame with a giant red squid attacking the two heroes on a coral reef, above a timeline of scenes and sound — The edit: each scene on the timeline, here at the fight with the squid.

The whole film is on YouTube, or press play at the top of this page.

The sequel

A second movie, Minecraft and the Cursed Medallion, is already in the works, and my son plans these films in great detail. He storyboards them by hand, shot by shot: a drawing of each frame, with the dialogue for it written alongside.

From there the story becomes a full script, broken into scenes and shots.

An open storyboard notebook in a child’s handwriting: eight pencil drawings of stick-figure scenes, each with its lines of dialogue written beside it — Two pages of his storyboard for the sequel, and the first page of its script.

The first page of the script for Minecraft and the Cursed Medallion, with colored headings for each scene and shot and the characters’ lines beneath — Two pages of his storyboard for the sequel, and the first page of its script.

These truly are his films.

More fun projects

Have a role in mind? Let’s talk it through.

I’m always open to a conversation. Remote anywhere in the US, or in the St. Louis area.

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