Channel -11 News (film)

Channel -11 News is a short murder-mystery film produced by Oliver B. Productions. The film was released on December 15th, 2019 and stars several recurring actors from OBP's history. The first project taking place in the Negative Zone, this short follows the cast and crew of the Channel -11 News station as they try to continue their broadcast while a serial killer is slowly murdering them all.

Plot
'''WARNING: The following section contains spoilers. Read on at your own risk.'''

The film switches between scenes framed as the news broadcast itself, and cinematic segments showing events occurring during commercial breaks. These two styles are broken up by a vintage television commercial each time. The film opens at the beginning of the nightly news broadcast with anchors Miller Meemstar and Alejandro Castro reporting on a serial killer on the loose in the broadcast's home city of Toronto, Canada. Suddenly, in the middle of the broadcast the power appears to go out in the studio. When it turns back on, Miller is shocked to see what appears to be a stabbed and dead Alejandro next to him, and quickly segues to a commercial break to deal with the situation.

During the break, the crew convenes at the news desk to discover Alejandro's body is missing. Sports reporter Eli Najoud suggests they all leave, before economist Donald Bogard realizes the only way out of the studio is locked. Fearing the killer is among them, the crew rules out calling the cops and decides the best course of action is continuing the show as normal as to not alarm viewers.

The crew's idea turns south as meteorologist Darryl Johnson is electrocuted and killed on-air while reporting on the weather. Reconvening, the crew's spirits diminish as Eli writes his last will and testament and a reluctant Donald is forced to continue with his stocks report for the day. He is then strangled and hanged on-air. During the crew's next meeting, the de facto leader of the group Miller succumbs to cyanide poisoning from his water bottle. Realizing they are the only two left, Eli and Robert accuse each other of being the killer before considering the cameraman as well. Robert is then forced to go back on-air for his entertainment segment, where the cameraman dies halfway through. With the cameraman dead, Eli and Robert prepare to fight in the middle of the studio, both convinced that the other must be the killer. Just before they can fight, however, Robert is shot in the back, revealing Alejandro was the killer all along. Alejandro, holding Eli at gunpoint, explains to him that he faked his own death to get the opportunity to kill off the rest of the crew and prevent his other murders from being reported. Eli successfully distracts Alejandro long enough to disarm him. They fight on-air during what is supposed to be a sports segment. Eventually, Eli grabs hold of Alejandro's rifle and shoots him, ending his reign of terror once and for all. He finally leaves the studio, only to be immediately arrested by police.

It is currently unknown how Channel -11 News connects to its successor Channel -12 News, however it is confirmed that they both take place in the 'Negative Zone'.

Project Background
The film was created as part of a Communications Technology course at the crew's school. The assignment was to make a short mock news broadcast video, however the group turned it into a short film instead.

People
Noah Ryan - As Miller Meemstar

Danny De Castro - As Alejandro Castro

Russell Johnson - As Darryl Johnson, writer

Sean Montgomery - As Donald Bogard, writer, director, editor

Oliver Beckwith - As Robert Richards, writer, director, editor

Ethan Aita - As Eli Najoud, writer, director

Music

 * News Intro - D_Cooper
 * Global News - WideCloudProd
 * Killer (From "JoJo's Bizzare Adventure") - Yugo Kanno
 * Knives Out! (From "Knives Out") - Nathan Johnson
 * The Game's Afoot (From "Knives Out") - Nathan Johnson
 * The Glory Days (From "The Incredibles") - Michael Giacchino
 * The Dumbest Car Chase of All Time (From "Knives Out") - Nathan Johnson

Trivia

 * This is the first OBP project to use the Abbey Park Film Studio.
 * With the exception of Oliver Beckwith, this project features all new actors who had never appeared in an OBP project before, but all of whom would go on to appear in a later project.
 * The Negative Zone franchise idea was not conceived at the time of filming, and the film was originally intended to be a standalone production.
 * This is the first OBP project to use a green screen and real DSLR cameras.

Script
The full script for Channel -11 News can be viewed here.