Timespace

Timespace is a 2014 science-fiction/drama feature film that follows physicist James Pratt on an existential journey following his invention of a time machine. The film was the debut feature of director and writer Daniel Ziegler, and stars Bryan Raiton, Jessica Mirl, Ben Miller, and Sarah France.

Plot
A young James Pratt sits in church, listening to the priest recite Genesis 1. In present day 1985, the older James Pratt, who had been thinking back to this event, disposes of a syringe and a gun and proceeds to pickup his girlfriend Caroline for a date. They spend the evening laying on the sidewalk, discussing their pasts and their goals, including that James Pratt has come back from the future using a time machine he created.

After an awkward end to the night, James visits his machine, prompting him to question the meaning of his life now that he has accomplished his primary goal. He returns to his apartment and further reflects on his childhood discoveries and his announcement speech at the National Administration for Time Research & Manipulation (NATRAM), the time travel research organization he works for. He appears on television interviews, shows off the machine to his friend Felix, uses it to win back Caroline, and basks in the glory of being a man out of time, and the most significant scientific figure of his day.

But just as everything seems to be going well, he's called over to Felix's apartment to calm down Mara, a once famous pop star now reduced to one-hit-wonder status. Mara threatens to take her own life in response to concerns over the multiple parallel dimensions created by James, echoing the concerns of much of the world. He successfully talks her down, but is left thinking about the negative influences of his selfish action. In order to follow all the news on himself simultaneously, James sets up a wall of television sets in his apartment.

No matter what he does, including a visit to a museum and a bedtime chat with Caroline, James can't seem to get some negative images out of his head. Following a mysterious nightmare seemingly showing the origin of the scar across his face, James is called over to Felix's once again to assist as Mara is taken away to a mental facility. Mara is highly resistant to the motion, dipping in and out of pleasure fantasies and bouts of screaming and flailing. She is finally coerced into leaved by imagining that she is instead heading out to a concert to greet the millions of fans she wishes she still had.

Things continue to spiral out of control in James' life as he is called in to meet with Administrator Dryden, the head of NATRAM who rules with a clinched fist. He unloads on James for going against the company's policy of secrecy and accuses him of being irresponsible with his power. He reveals that NATRAM has located the time machine and plans to confiscate it. Dryden further demands that James record a video message to the world, to alleviate their fears by saying that the time machine was just a hoax and does not actually exist. James and Caroline visit a raucous protest outside the NATRAM building when one of the protesters recognizes James in disguise. They question why there isn't another James Pratt on their timeline if he was merely copied back into it.

That night, at the end of the TV broadcast day, James mulls over whether to record the video. Following The Star-Spangled Banner and a long period of static and white noise plastered across his wall of TV screens, he chooses to record and release the video. The world is finally at ease, but James Pratt is more on edge than ever. He can't sleep as the images flashing in his head turn more and more violent. He reluctantly returns to a vice from his past, cocaine. His snorting wakes Caroline up, at which point she pushes him further to reveal his past, after the suggestion from the protester got her thinking.

James flashes back to his arrival on this timeline. The time machine drops down and he immediately heads to NATRAM, but runs into Felix just leaving the building. Felix is confused, having just saw "James" inside a few moments ago, but the future James reassures him he will explain later. It sets in that both past and future James can't exist on the same timeline. Future James enters the lab to find past James working on an experiment full of wires and electricity. Quietly, he grabs a vial of cyanide and a syringe and sneaks up on his innocent self to stab him in the back, killing him. In the struggle, future James smacks into the experiment causing sparks to fly and form his face scar.

Back in present day, Caroline confronts James about being a murder, but he pushes back on the terminology. Finally, he explodes, screaming in her face admitting to the killing but comparing it to suicide since he killed himself. Caroline is disgusted and begins to walk out, but the drugged up James won't let her. She slaps him across the face, and he backhands her in return. She finally bolts out the door as the severity of James' action weighs in. Angry at the leave of his girlfriend, James returns to the coke, flashing back even further to the events that led to his time travel.

Back in the past, James and Felix are experimenting out in the desert when a time machine from the future plops down. Out comes Future Felix, saying that he created the time machine and wants to give it over to his past self to keep working on, since they can't both live now. Past Felix refuses to shoot his future self, so an angry James does it instead. He returns to his apartment in a rage, destroying the place having lost the race for the time machine. But then he is hit with an idea. He visits Felix and gets him black out drunk, then steals the keys to the machine. James hops inside and heads to the past to take credit for the creation and no one is the wiser.

The next day following their altercation, a sad Caroline returns to James wishing to forget about the past. James tries to make things normal, finally feeling happy that the weight of the truth has been lifted off of his shoulders and his love has returned, but Caroline is in a constant state of depression. They go to work together but nothing seems to help. Caroline sets up a strange looking experiment that James doesn't think anything of. But then she grabs his attention by saying "you did this" and clutches the wires, instantly electrocuting herself. James leaps to the ground but it's too late as Caroline is dead.

He goes through a period of mourning, crying into her pillow, regretting his actions, and visiting her body on display at church. He prays next to her corpse, a rarity for the non religious James, who questions the existence of God, asking that if He does exist, He come to him in his time of need, whenever that may be. The church bells chime, echoing in James' ears, driving him home. As he thinks about his possibilities, James devises another plan.

James and Felix break into the NATRAM Center and steal the machine. He hops inside as Felix watches for the coast to be clear. James travels back in time to a bit earlier, the night he and Caroline visited the museum. Future James follows past James and Caroline around, finally breaking into their apartment that night with the intention to kill. But he can't do it. Instead, he writes a note "For Caroline's Eyes Only" and leaves it at the bedside. He revisits his machine and heads back even further, way back into the past, before he was born - so no killed would be needed.

Out in the uninhabited open desert, James' health is deteriorating. He sees visions of the people he has hurt and contemplates suicide between fits of coughing and passing out. At the end of his rope, he screams out to God for the answer, then remembering the sermon from his childhood about creation and the beginning of time, he packs up his things and hops in the machine to head back to the very beginning.

The time machine drops down on a surface of nothingness. James Pratt exits, seeing nothing but infinite darkness. Frustrated with God's absence, he screams out once more, eventually exhausting himself to death. But just as his eyes close, they reopen, now in a lush and beautiful field, Caroline leaning over him. She wipes away his tears and brings him to his feet as they walk off into the sunset together.

This leads to a montage of James' life and various lives across the many timelines he has created, showing that no matter what the circumstances, he meets up with and marries Caroline, fulfilling their destiny. They grow old together and die, and on his death bed, James finally reveals that he understands the meaning of life and that he wishes he hadn't wasted so much of his life looking for the answer. Back at the beginning of time, James and Caroline walk past the infinitely repeated number of time machines from the many times this event has occurred. They turn around and hold hands, smiling as a bright explosion of light heads their way, eventually consuming them and all of existence.

Cast

 * Bryan Raiton as James Pratt
 * Jessica Mirl as Caroline
 * Ben Miller as Felix
 * Sarah France as Mara
 * Tim Younger as Administrator Dryden
 * Justin Vaught as Young James
 * David Kruse Coste as Reid Ackerman
 * David Cagnetti as Priest
 * Charles A. Poslosky Sr. as Old James
 * Ann Poslosky as Old Caroline

Writing & Pre-Production
The concept for a time travel feature film arose from a conversation between writer/director Daniel Ziegler, producer Tristen Bagnall, production designer Nick Cagnetti, and actor Bryan Raiton in the back of a limo in January 2014. Hot of the heels of the release of their fourth short film, Tangled Wire, the men thought they had enough ambition and experience to take on the longer format. At the time, only vague story ideas were thrown about, the fact that it would feature competing scientists racing to discover the key to time travel. Perhaps the single lasting detail from this conversation that made its way into the final product was the ending, in which the time traveler abuses his new-found ability to the point where he end up at the very beginning of time.

Immediately following the agreement to pursue the project, Ziegler and Cagnetti spent the next couple weeks holed up in "The Dan Cave" simultaneously contriving the story details, the rules and physics of their version of time travel, and the look and aesthetic of the world and its machinery. The broad strokes soon fell into place, having a nonlinear storyline following two men and their girlfriends as they all come to terms with the reality of time travel. Throughout the writing process, all the various members of Black Box Films weighed in with ideas and feedback.

February neared and the men had to part ways and return to college. Daniel Ziegler traveled back to Hofstra University in New York to finish out his Freshman year. during this Spring 2014 semester, Ziegler spent the majority of his down time locked away in his dorm, obsessing over the details of the developing screenplay. A few drafts later and Summer was approaching. The crew reconvened in Phoenix, AZ and began hiring more crew members to help finish out pre-production. Kyle Hrabe was brought on as producer and helped give the screenplay the final clean up it needed to move forward.

The next order of business for the group was finding the funds to produce such an expensive project. They decided to attempt a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo with a goal of $4,000. The goal was successfully exceeded in May with over $4,100 and additional funds were brought in through local business sponsorships bringing the total budget to around $5,000 (a lot of money for Black Box Films at the time, but relatively nothing compared to the majority of feature films).

An open audition call was placed and the main crew members went through a large number of local talent. Finally, they selected Bryan Raiton, Jessica Mirl, Ben Miller, and Sarah France to fill the main roles. After prompt notification, the actors immediately began rehearsals, memorization, and costume fitting. The production was expected to wrap within 2 months, so every department of the film was constantly working simultaneously to ensure they were on schedule.

The majority of the props and costumes in the film were purchased from the local Goodwill thrift store, in an effort to keep costs down and create an authentic period look.

Filming
Principal photography began on June 16, 2014 in Phoenix, AZ. The first week of shooting covered all scenes taking place in James' apartment, which was converted from an extended stay hotel that was rented for the week.

Post-Production & Release
Timespace premiered to a sold out crowd on August 14, 2014 at the AMC Ahwatukee 24 Theatre in Phoenix, AZ.

Critical reaction
Timespace received mixed to positive reviews following its release.

Examiner.com indie films reviewer William Pierce listed the film as the highlight of the three features of Phoenix Comicon, calling it "a very good offering from fresh faced filmmakers right out of the gate, with promising production techniques and some clever photography" despite finding issue with the "superficial and trite" handling of some of the film's topics.

The film currently has 5.9 stars out of 10 on IMDb with 17 recommendations on Vimeo OnDemand.

Accolades
The film was screened at the 2015 Phoenix Comicon Film Festival.