Take 32

Yesterday was okay. Rob couldn't make it down due to swollen sinuses, but Ciarda joined Kev, Mike and I down in the woods for yet more practice. We couldn't have chosen a worse time - it started hailing while walking on the strand over to the site, and once we got there, it snowed for another half hour. Luckily it cleared up enough for us to get some work done.

The title of today's post is inspired by Mike's inability to pin a scene down... and I swear we must be up onto at least the thirtieth take. It's a simple scene in practise - and everyone else can do it. I may have to stand in for him... or I may not have to, as it turns out that Brendan, a friend of Ciarda's whom I met some few months ago, is keen to help with the movie. I feel guilty that we have no parts to offer Ciarda, and we have none either for Brendan, but he is around mine and Mike's size, and Ciarda is not. So lucky Brendan, eh? He gets to come down for a day or two, wear the uncomfortable mask, and be bored until we're ready to shoot.

There's nothing more to report, so I'll just sign off after posting some photo's from yesterday's session.

Some shots of Kevin and I...







Kevin and Mike working on their duel...



"I keel you!"



I think Ciarda may be bored already ;)

Budget Issues

Oh, dear. Already, we're going over budget. So far we have roughly €300 assigned to two costumes and all the props we need, but with two costumes and innumerable other purchases to make, I have a feeling that €500 will not be enough. Especially with Rob's intention of purchasing another DV camera! Not that I am complaining, hehe!

Since filming is still some months away, we have time to save and time to plan. Let's hope we don't go too overboard, huh?

One little tidbit of news is that I have submitted our film, such as it is thus far, to TFN. If we are accepted, TFN will be the only place to download it from the Internet, but we still intend to distribute it via DVD for free. Aren't you the lucky lot?

Good News

Today I've had some of the best news in all of our time working on the movie so far - our software options have been taken care of. We're so very lucky to be able to use what we're going to be using... things should run much better now. Huzzah!

We went down to the woods again today for more training and practicing. We're having problems with Mike - there's a scene we can't pin down, and nobody knows why! That's the second day he's failed to do it properly... hopefully he can work on it before actual filming or I'll have to stand in. Other than that, things are looking great. The three-way duel scene is looking brilliant, and Kev and Rob are pulling off some awesome moves for their duel, some of which you can see below.

We've had an addition to the crew today - Ciarda, a friend of ours, is going to be helping with filming by operating the camera's (and laughing himself silly at us, no doubt). He's been added to the blog as a member and we should be seeing some posts from him very soon... he'll be joining us on Wednesday when we go down yet again.

Some pictures from today -

We're very happy with the three-way duel...



Kev and Rob are also happy with theirs.



As you can see below!



Pepsi is fully endorsed by Fall Of A Jedi management. A drink enjoyed by all, even alien creatures like Oolroth Corral!



Jump Jedi, jump!



Laughing at some misguided move, Kevin takes his ease...



Edit - It's come to my attention that the default setting for anonymous commenting has been enabled in Blogspot... it's now been changed, so that non-members of Blogger.com can now post comments themselves. Whether that's to offer constructive criticism, or just to laugh at us, is your perogative ^_^

Emoting!

Kev, Mike and I went back down to the wood today for more practice and training - Rob couldn't make it, but nevertheless it turned out very well and we're all pleased with the test footage we got. My fight with Kevin is looking very good (though not approaching his with Rob's for a rating of sheer awesome ^_^) and he and Mike have started on theirs, or Oolroth Vs Jereth, if you prefer.

We also started doing tests of some of the scenes I have visualised in my mind - for example, Jereth announcing his presence to Yun and Rohan. Kevin looks much, much better than even he thought he might turn out. Other emotive stuff was the look on our faces when we're fighting... I definitely have to work on mine, heh. In other news, the software front is looking up, though it's uncertain as yet. I'm not giving details until things are a little more concrete, just be assured that they are very good. Also, Rob is planning on buying another DV camera - and that'll be a big help.

Some pictures from today's footage for your enjoyment (or amusement!)...

First up we have Kevin, in character and glaring at Yun and Rohan...



Next we have the extremely rare, Lesser Spotted Quiet Mike on location - a contemplative moment...



Here we have Kevin and Mike planning their duel.



Here I am fiddling with Oolroth's mask - I'm the wardrobe, co-director, co-producer and editor! How multi-talented I am!



And lastly, a closeup on Kevin. Two Jedi are no problem for this badass mo'fo!



That's an end to today's madness. More to come tomorrow!

More Shots

Some more shots today, only three I'm afraid. It was just Kevin and I, working on our duel out in the back yard. Apologies for the low quality of the shots, but the camera was only sitting on a table with nobody there to switch from automatic to manual, zoom in and out, and all that. One problem seems to stem from the movement of the shinai - as seen below, in motion the camera can't quite keep up. I hope Rob will be able to sort that out.







The budget seems to climb every day. I'm going to set a tentative budget of €500 but I'm not sure if we're going to be able to stick to that. So far that covers three costumes, spare shinai and other accessories, but we'll see just how long it stays at that.

In other news, I'm creating accounts for the others so they can post their thoughts and experiences on this blog, too. So hopefully you'll see them posting every now and then, too.

Lightsaber Tests

Just mucking about, practising outside the house. Tests of Rob's visual effects trickery...

Profile Tests

As promised, here are some of the test profile shots we took while down in the wood last week. This is all very early stuff - we don't have costumes sorted yet, hence why everyone's wearing casual clothes. Mike's wearing that mask only to test - I doubt we'll be using that one.

First up we have Kevin, playing the titular Jedi Jereth Ferian -



Next we have Rob, playing Jedi Knight Yun Sunrunner -



And here's Mike as the assassin Oolroth Corral -



And one more, a close-up -



I'd show one of myself, playing the Jedi Knight Rohan Ambrai, but Kevin was handling the camera while my shots were taken, and therefore there's bugger all to be seen. My foot was claimed to be in one corner of the screen for a few seconds - a new record for Kevin! Guess who's never allowed near the camera again!

Some more news - we've chosen some cloaks for the Jedi, though we won't be getting them for a while. We'll still have to get something under the cloaks, and Oolroth's attire will be difficult. I've no idea how to approach that one just yet.

First Entry

So, here I am, making the very first post on what I hope will be a frequently updated personal blog about Fall Of A Jedi, the mini-movie I'm helping to produce. At first, I started design on a web site, coded by myself in HTML and having all the advantages that it entails - being able to use Javascript, our own design, and all that, but I stopped when I realised that there's no use for such a site until we have something to show people. So this blog will do instead, for the time being - a personal diary about my experiences in creating this film.

Fall Of A Jedi is a small project I'm helping to create with several people - Rob, Kevin and Mike. Rob and I have been wanting to make our own Star Wars fan movie ever since we first came across TFN and the wonderful movies made by dedicated fans - movies such as Maru, and Knightquest. We don't, however, have the cast, financial backing and special effects team that Banshee Productions used to create Knightquest - all we have is ourselves, a DV camcorder, and our computers. We've seen other people's efforts with similar resources, so why not us?

So, that's what we're doing. The idea came to Rob and I years earlier - we planned to do one with our friend Paul, and even started training for the duel sequences. That didn't work however, and for years nothing happened. Until Mike got himself a Mini-DV camcorder! Until we realised that with just Paint Shop Pro 7, Animation Shop 3 and a few plugins, Rob can create visual effects with better quality than those seen on Knightquest. Until we realised that our computers are damn powerful and... well, the time, it seemed, had come.

So Kev, Mike and I sat down one night and over a few hours worked out a basic story about a Jedi falling to the Dark Side. I'll post the story some other day, as it's not set in stone and not even written yet, but suffice it to say, we're pretty happy with how it's turned out. Everyone gets to play a part, both on the acting side, and the production side. Though the credits list each person with a specific job, in reality we'll all help out...

Director - Rob and m'self.
Co-Producers - Rob and m'self.
Visual Effects - Rob, of course.
Editing - Mike and m'self.
Stunt Coordinator & Duel Sequence Choreographer - Kevin.

Sounds so serious, doesn't it? In reality, it's a laugh. I'm grinning right now as I read those titles. So, you might ask, where is the progress bar set to? Well, unfortunately, we are very much in pre-production. We hope to get filming done either in the summer or by it's end, but with school and unpredictable work days, who knows? As of right now, we're planning props, costumes and everything else, though we have agreed on the location. We've started working on the duel sequences, and we're looking into what software we may be using. Nothing is set in stone, however.

That's it for now - I'll come back tomorrow with some photographs of the test footage we've taken. See you then!

Brian