Superhuman

Hey everyone,

Ben Enke here, producer and director of the Superhuman web series.

Way back in June of 1938, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel penned the first superhero comic book which featured some guy in blue spandex wearing red underwear on the outside, with a red and yellow S emblazoned on his chest. They called him Superman, the fictional embodiment of everything the world needed in a time of pending war. The superhero craze grew exponentially, becoming everything we demanded of them in our darkest hours. They beat up bullies, dictators, and drug addicts as they slowly wove their way into the fabric of our lives, eventually finding themselves with enough real-world relevancy for Hollywood to pounce and capitalize on these worlds.

Historical blurb aside, my point is that superheroes and their stories are, at their core, about us and the world we live in. Those who have seen Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy can sense that Gotham city is an exploration of a modern-day post-9/11 United States – a country constantly under fear of people who want nothing but to sow chaos and destruction – from school shootings, to theater shootings, to bombings. The world of the superhero is more real than ever before.

These are the things we’ve taken into consideration as we’ve brought the Superhuman project to life. This is a web series for you, involving characters concerned with real-world threats and challenges that everyone faces. Our characters are the answer to the rarely-asked question that should follow when one asks “what superpower would you have any why?” That question being, “what are its implications?”

Our heroes will face the challenges that come along with bearing a heavy burden and shouldering responsibility in times that demand it of them, something we’ve all faced in our lives.

My parting request is that you share this series with your friends. Share it with your family. Share it with the biggest superhero in your life. As we try to squeeze our way into the crowded superhero universe, we ask you to come along for the ride, because these are heroes cut straight from the cloth of our world, and the remarkable journeys they undergo will tell us more about who we all are along the way.

Thank you,

Ben Enke

Pictured below: Kaija Pellinen as Theresa Tillman and Doug Sidney as Sean Driscoll

Trailer Shoots 1 and 2

Over the weekend of May 24-26 we began production on this beast.

Shoot #1 of the trailer began at 2:30am on Saturday, May 25 at Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis, MN. Thanks to a great cast and crew, who can officially say they've "lost sleep" over the project, the shoot went phenomenally. And, of course, thanks to Town Hall Brewery for making the shoot possible.

Pictured: Ben Enke being pensive and directorly at Town Hall Brewery.

Shoot #2 of the trailer took place on the evening of Sunday, May 26 at a beautiful house in St. Paul, and was another success. 

Superhuman is off to a great start. 

Meet the Director

Born in South Korea, Ben Enke first started writing stories while growing up in the Twin Cities area. Forever inspired by the Star Wars trilogy, his stories spanned notebook after notebook, always driven by specific characters. His first real filmmaking effort came in high school when he directed a World War I historical film for history class – an effort involving over a dozen people and lasting nearly five months.

Ben then went to the University of Minnesota to study cinema, media and communications, where he learned the technological and storytelling sides of production. He made numerous short films in college, many of the psychological thriller type, before taking on a project for an upper-level production class about superheroes in everyday life.

Superhuman began as a side project with high hopes, but grew into a passion for Ben. The summer following his graduation, Ben received his first feature film role as Director of Photography and provided cinematography for a variety to shorts, music videos, documentaries, promotional material and more. He then connected with Steven Hoff, one of the actors from his original, production class version of Superhuman, about potentially returning to the series. The rest is still to come.

Ben enjoys the creation of the entire cinematic aesthetic, and how it can evoke powerful raw emotion within viewers. As a cinematographer, he is always keen on creating strong visual moments that resonate with audiences, a combination of visual flair mixed with careful storytelling craft. He aims to inspire in his audience the sense of imagination he felt watching Star Wars as a kid.

While he's not shooting or editing, Ben enjoys watching and playing hockey, reading articles online, and drinking copious amounts of Mountain Dew.

Social Media Launch

We're really excited to be launching social media today for the upcoming superhero webseries Superhuman, created by Ben Enke. We hope you'll keep in touch as we move full speed ahead into production in preparation for a Winter 2013 release of the first season. We can be followed on twitter @superhumanshow and on Facebook. Stay tuned for updates.