SciFi Action Web Series Seer: Death Sight by Sandun Seneviratne 

The Seer: Death Sight is Sri Lanka's first high production value sci-fi action web series written, directed and produced by Sandun Seneviratne. It stars Hollywood actor Joey Ansah, who played the bad guy opposite Matt Damon in the hit film 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. It also stars Christian Howard, who was the lead actor in the hit YouTube web series 'Street Fighter Assassin's Fist'. 

Seer: Death Sight is a Hollywood style series with brilliant action and stunt sequences choreographed by Joey Ansah himself, who is also a renowned British action choreographer; the short series also encapsulated dazzling special and visual effects sequences in it as well.

In short film form The Seer had a successful festival run where it was screened at many top Sci-Fi film festivals including the Phoenix Comic Con film festival, Intl Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Festival of Athens and Fantastic Planet: Sydney. 

I was in conversation with Sandun to dig deeper on the Sri Lankan who made it big! 

Tell us a little about yourself. 

I wanted to be a film maker since I was very young. I was drawn to it because I am drawn to stories. Film making is about telling stories using images. I believe humans are genetically predisposed to enjoy stories and tell stories. That's how we make sense of the world around us. I believe the most accessible form of story telling is found in Hollywood movies. I am also a huge fan of science fiction. Science fiction looks to the future. It lets us examine the limitless potential of humankind. So I wanted to put these two passions of my life together and make Sci-fi genre movies inspired by Hollywood. After completing my studies at St. Peter's College and then later at The Institute of Technological Studies, I decided to attend the London Film Academy in London in order to learn how to make movies. I studied there for four years before returning to Sri Lanka in 2010. 

What enabled you to shoot this short film? 

I shot this web series as a short film back in 2008 as a thesis film for my course. Film schools generally encourage you to make art-house type of movies but I wanted to prove that I could make a genre film with high level production value, stunts and visual effects with a small budget. I found several students there that wanted to do genre films and we decided to band together and shoot it. 

How has the response from the audience been so far? 

Seer: Death Sight sci fi action web series is targeted towards an international audience that appreciates sci fi and comic book movies. But we found that a lot of Sri Lankans have taken a liking to it. Because of the internet young Sri Lankans even outside Colombo have been exposed to Hollywood films. I believe the scope is there for a film made in that style, like a horror or sci-fi action film, using Sri Lankan actors and crew, to find a massive audience here.Seer: Death sight, in short film form was screened at many prestigious genre film festivals including The Phoenix Comic Con film festival, Intl Sci-FI and Fantasy Film Festival of Athens and Fantastic Planet: Sydney.The audience reaction so far has been great. Grindout Productions, the Sri Lankan company which is distributing the series, and I are now in the process of expanding the Seer universe in order to tell multiple stories through multiple platforms. We are developing feature films, tv series and even comic books that takes place within the same story universe. As a first step we have released the web series which can be viewed for free on YouTube on any device. 

What's your plan for the future?

My goal is to make Hollywood inspired genre films in Sri Lanka using Sri Lankan resources and talent as well as international talent that will find a global audience. I believe the industry is rapidly changing because of digital technology and the way people make movies and watch movies is going to change drastically in the coming few years. The costs of making genre movie in a country like Sri Lanka is quite low compared to western countries. And Video On Demand is going to change the way people consume media products. I think in the future anyone anywhere would be able to make a Hollywood style movie and be able to connect with a massive audience online.My next project is Sci-Fi action short film inspired by the post independence ethnic situation in Sri Lanka, starring well known Sri Lankan actors Ashan Dias(Sarigama) and Bimsara Premaratne(Appachchi). It will be released mid next year.

What's the storyline and how did you manage to get Hollywood celebrities involved?

The story is about a surgically enhanced psychic hitman on his latest mission. He meets a little girl on this mission which changes his entire world. He has to decide whether to save the girl or complete his mission. While we were looking for actors for the lead role I saw British actor Joey Ansah acting opposite Matt Damon in the brilliant action film The Bourne Ultimatum. The fight scene they were part of is still one of the best ever put on film. I contacted him and sent him the script. After having read it he wanted to be a part of it and brought along some his stunt team and choreographed an incredible action sequence which can be found on episode 3. Joey is also the creator of the massively successful web series Street Fighter: Assassins fist. In his next film he will be appearing alongside Nicole Kidman. He has also acted in Snow white and the Huntsman.

5 things you'd like the the world to know about yourself?

1. One goal is to make the first truly international global blockbuster that is not made by Hollywood. 

2. My next project is a sci fi action short film which takes place in Sri Lanka and the UK. 

3. I think Virtual Reality and Video On Demand will have a massive impact on the industry in the future. 

4. I am currently developing several genre feature films one of which I hope to shoot next year. 

5. Directors who inspired me to become a film maker are George Lucas and James Cameron. 

The entire first season is available on Youtube for free. Here is the link: 

This is the link for the trailer: 

www.facebook.com/TheSeer.movie/videos/1285174954889181/ 

Link to Seer: Death Sight Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheSeer.movie 

Here is a behind the scenes video we did for the action sequence: