About the Film
Love Drawn Dagger is an experimental motion graphics film that has been in work since 2004. The entire footage was captured using a hand held digital camcorder with nothing but a small crew, standard to natural lighting, and an aspiring actress who was fully devoted to the project from start to finish. The filming took place in various locations in and around Los Angeles, California. The principle photography was shot in about 3 days, with 2 to 3 days of rehearsal and casting that was put into place. The project was first started as a undergraduate thesis project for Art Center College of Design, where Christopher Takakura attended from 2001 to 2004. The initial goal of the project was to be a simple movie telling a story about love crossing over to the final limit of betrayal and hate. However in 2004, Chris decided to bring the school project as a Dream Infinity Studios execution, developing it as a multi-medium design project that consists of a web presentation, print design, and motion graphics.
Execution Series
"Execution" is an art and design creative series that was started in the year 2000. Under Dream Infinity Studios, the execution series brought much glory and popularity for it's emotional expression and thought provoking concepts from one series to another. The first execution titled "Synth" debuted on dreaminfinity.com in the Winter of 2000. Execution 2 titled "Atmostfear" debuted in the Summer of 2001, communicating the aspect of fear and devotion through aesthetic use of photography and imagery. In Summer of 2003, Chris released Execution 3, "Exiled from the System", which depicted and expressed emotional views of being pushed out of someone's life through hate and shame. As time went on and time started to become scarce for Chris, he decided to split the execution series from a web based layout into a seperate entity and presentation of it's own. In Summer of 2010, Love Drawn Dagger was debuted as the film portion of Execution 4, the first execution series in over 7 years. Although the initial release of Love Drawn Dagger does not complete the execution as a whole, Chris promises to bring the whole package as time progresses.
The Mind Games Initiative
The Mind Games Initiative is the official title of Dream Infinity Studios, Execution 4. The title will grow to make more sense as the execution matures, develops and begins to breathe on it's own. The initial goal of The Mind Games Initiative is to present a story, dualistic perspective of love and hate and the in-between, and a more detailed concept and explanation of the film through the use of web technology.
Nikki Almanza
Nikki Almanza is an aspiring actress that Chris recruited in 2004 as the lead starring role of the short film. Although Chris went through a few audition sessions of who is going to be the starring role, after a few rehearsals and test runs, Chris found the pure talent and the perfect match. The most important aspect for Chris was to find a good actress who can perform and act out a legitimate love scene, and the emotional response that was highly important for the film. With little to no experience in casting direction, Chris feels like he recruited the right person for the film. If you are interested in a actress who goes above and beyond for their rolls in a film or commercial (paid gigs only), Chris recommends her to the fullest extent. If you would like to hire her for a role, please e-mail Dream Infinity Studios.