Jedi Council Forums - RECIPROCITY

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Author	Topic: RECIPROCITY
JediTAC Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 11/15/02 11:14pm Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY - Date Edited: 11/16/02 5:56am (3 edits total) Edited By: DaftMaul
	JediTAC’s Official Review: RECIPROCITY Intriguing, yet confusing . . . original, yet familiar . . . ingenious, yet naïve. These are all words I would use to describe Scott Zier’s RECIPROCITY – a most interesting journey into the psyche of a would-be Jedi-Assassin. This is going to be a different kind of review than those I have previously written . . . primarily due to the fact that RECIPROCITY is a different kind of FanFilm. Where many other FanFilms' focus are usually centered around visual effects and more familiar scenarios, RECIPROCITY's focus is one of story and style. Also, I wish to re-iterate that the opinions expressed below are my own and not intended to overcast or influence anyone else's opinions about RECIPROCITY. Further, my opinions and comments are intended to be taken as CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS - toward the purpose of providing my personal and honest feedback to the Director and his crew on their FanFilm project. With that being said . . . . on with the Review. While, as a whole, I very much enjoyed RECIPROCITY, my main problem with the movie is that I felt as though I was watching three different films ... with three distinct styles ... all rolled up into one conglomerate of a FanFilm. The very first thing that struck me as I watched RECIPROCITY was the creativity utilized in the opening title sequence. I very much enjoyed the prologue cutaways between the Republic Senate and the title credits. The compositing work within that opening sequence was, in my opinion, seemless – very well done. While I personally felt that some of the 3D work in the opening minutes of the film were not as refined (texture and lighting wise) as it could have been, I nevertheless was very impressed with the very “Star Wars-esque” world that the film’s Effects Artists created. The shot composition and animations were very well done, as was much of the editing and shot continuity between the live action and the CGI. I was especially impressed with the sequence in which the two Inquisitors are riding on the transport to the launch pad. (I don’t believe I have seen that type of forward motion animation depicted in any FanFilm to date.) This same type of technique was later used as the Inquisitors took off from the launch pad . . . a very nice effect achieved. In fact, as a whole (throughout the entire film), I felt that most of the computer generated animation (i.e. spaceship flight sequences, planet renders, hyperspace-jump, computer readout screen, etc.) was very well executed. Additionally, I very much liked the ominous Darth Rann character, with one exception . . . . . While the costume choice and dialogue fit the character very well, the voice-over (in my opinion) did not depict the sense of dominance and power that I feel such a character needs. The voice-over utilized sounded a bit more like the Robot from “Lost In Space” than an ominous Sith Lord. Nevertheless, I liked the idea of a Sith Lord “supervising” the Inquisitors. I simply feel that his aire of power and evil would have been better depicted with a deeper, more Maul/Vader esque delivery. THE JEDI SEIGE/EXECUTION: It was at this point where, for myself, RECIPROCITY turned into a completely different movie. I cannot help but feel just a bit disappointed in the fact that where the filmmaker(s) obviously put very much time and thought into the fantastic fantasy environments they created/presented within the first five minutes of RECIPROCITY, this same element and feel was simply not present on the planet surface. As soon as I saw the “soldiers” in t-shirts, sunglasses and army fatigues, the suspension of disbelief that I had very much enjoyed within the previous five minutes was gone. Further, the choice of dialogue utilized within this “second” sequence seemed to completely switch gears in terms of the haphazard use of slang and tongue-in-cheek wit. This is not to say that I did not like the underlying story idea and progression – which remained compelling. I will also say that, by this time, it was quite obvious that Scott Zier has a keen sense of creative visual cinematography and shot composition – as evidenced by the montage of the soldiers storming into the building (with the low-angle, slow motion shot of the soldier’s boots as they run in). Still, where the first part of the film was very much (and skillfully) “Star Wars,” this second part had much more of a World War II/Nazi SS feel. In my opinion, the two styles did not mesh well together. THE JEDI GHOST MONTAGE(s): As I stated above, Scott Zier obviously has a talent for creative cinematography. I can also see that he is a fan of the “subconscious introspection” type of scenes. I very much enjoyed the “Jedi Ghost” montages between Soontar and Nomi. The scenes were definitely a departure from your “average” Star Wars FanFilm . . . but well within the context of the storyline of RECIPROCITY. In my opinion, they worked very well. I was impressed with the choice of obscure camera angles and color saturation – used to depict the “subconscious/dream-state” of Soontar as Nomi communicates with him through The Force (I assume). These sequences, I feel, represented an “out of the box” way of telling a story which was both refreshing and intriguing to watch. THE FINAL CONFRONTATION: Here is where, for myself, the “third movie” began. Firstly, it was not altogether clear why Soontar was on that planet in the first place. I would surmise that one is meant to assume that he is there to hunt down the boyish Jedi hiding away on the planet. However, as Soontar made his way through the forest, he seemed as though he was there for an entirely different purpose. The "artsy" style of the first minute (or so) of “Soontar’s search”, once again, depicts Scott Zier’s filmmaking creativity. However, in terms of continuity with the overall story … I felt, once again, somewhat lost. Perhaps a bit of additional pre-expose’ as to why Soontar was on that planet and who he was looking for might have helped the set-up of this final sequence of the film. As for the youthful Jedi . . . I, personally, had a hard time believing in him. Perhaps it was his performance, his appearance, or the somewhat telegraphed/haphazard lightsaber duel choreography – I’m not sure. I do think, however, that the character was not developed enough for the audience to get a true sense of his importance to the story. I mean, I feel like he is supposed to be important . . . but I am not clear as to why. SPOILERS - Highlight to Read The final confrontation between Soontar and Darth Rann had it’s moments. I did very much like the power with which Darth Rann used the Dark Side of the Force over Soontar (i.e. the “Force choke”). Again, the choice for Rann’s voice took a little bit away from his ominous presence … but I do think that the actor portraying Rann (within the cloak) delivered a good performance in terms of body movement. While I felt that the “Jedi Ghost assist” from Nomi was a clever idea . . . what would have made it even better is if we had seen the affect it had on Rann (in terms of affecting his “Dark Force” powers). Although the affect is implied (in that Soontar is able to get up and more effectively battle Rann), I personally would have liked to see some kind of reaction out of Rann when, mysteriously, his power was short-circuited. CONCLUSION: As a whole, I enjoyed Scott Zier’s RECIPROCITY. The story is definitely intuitive and insightful, as are many of Scott Zier’s cinematography skills. I do feel that more attention needed to be given to the film’s transitional continuity – in terms of the “style” and “feel” from one section to another. I think the film could have been a lot stronger and tighter had the style and feel of the first five minutes been carried through the entire movie. Nevertheless, RECIPROCITY is a very interesting and thought-provoking film …. with many imaginative cinematographic styles and elements that set it apart from it’s predecessor FanFilms (and that’s a good thing). I want to especially mention the opening and closing title/credit sequences - which are among the best I have seen in any FanFilm to date. This does not look like it was an easy film to make . . . and I feel that CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Scott Zier and his crew in seeing this project through to completion. In my opinion, RECIPROCITY is a welcome and diverse addition to the TFN FanFilms library. JediTAC
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Jedi_Master_dude Registered: Sep '01	Date Posted: 11/15/02 11:22pm Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	MY REVIEW. I think that this is one of the best Fan Films ever made, THE STORY was great, it wasn't just Saber Fights and FLASHY EFFECTS the whole time, not that I'm dissing that, its just it get tiring after a while. And it had STORY EFFECTS AND SABER FIGHTS! The acting was good, some of the extra work was so so, but the main charecter i thought was great. Sound was eh, but i could still here everything. Editing, I thought the music choice was great! The scene editing, a few things just FLASHED when it should of faded in, unless they meant to do that, in that case, there trying something new, THATS COOL! Overall, 12 Out of 10, I Think i'm going to watch it again tonight! JMD
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DaftMaul Title: Former TFN Fan Films Staff Registered: Feb '01	Date Posted: 11/16/02 12:07am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY - Date Edited: 11/16/02 5:55am (2 edits total) Edited By: DaftMaul
	The Sorenson movie file is now ready for download to. It is a smaller image size (352 by 176) but it is also a much smaller download - 88MB. EDIT: No biggie, but I thought it best to Spoiler Highlight part of your (very thorough!) review JT, since it pretty well explained the climax of the movie... -----signature----- DARK SKIES : http://www.darkskies.info STORM AHEAD : http://www.stormahead.com I hope Obama gets in. I really hope you don't shoot him if he does.
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MaxVeers Title: TFN FanFilms Staff Manager Emeritus Registered: Apr '00	Date Posted: 11/16/02 2:34am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	Wow, I really loved it. Great job guys. -----signature----- Kurt Luther TheForce.Net FanFilms http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/
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odj_310388 Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 11/16/02 4:53am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	Wow, I realy liked it. And it was not just saber fight saber fight saber fight, it had a great storyline! I loved it! -----signature----- leads to leads to leads to Poster designer for "Threads of Destiny".
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WhisperingDeath Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 11/16/02 5:46am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	Downloading but I have to go check out the University of North Texas Campus right now I will watch my precious when I return in 8 hours... I WANT IT NOW... my precious... -----signature----- http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
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el_director Registered: Oct '01	Date Posted: 11/16/02 6:34am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	She's a downloading captain! Thanks scott, I'm really looking forward to this a lot! -----signature----- "We're on a mission from God."-Elwood Blues Spoof Wars is now online. Download it! http://www.geocities.com/el_chancellor
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Tempestjonny Registered: Aug '02	Date Posted: 11/16/02 7:04am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	i have downloaded the divx version and all it has come up with is a picture telling you to chqange the brightness of your screen. the audio on the other hand works fine. could it be this was ment to happen at the start but he renderd it wrong for the divx -----signature----- My Blog http://jphillips.tempestcreations.net My Projects http://www.tempestcreations.net What IS Meatball?
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JediTAC Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 11/16/02 9:42am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY - Date Edited: 11/16/02 9:56am (2 edits total) Edited By: JediTAC
	ABOUT THE EDIT TO MY REVIEW: I guess that's okay, seeing as how the film was just released yesterday and a lot of people haven't seen it. Although, I will say that most "professional" film critics have their reviews published the day of (or even before) a major motion picture is released. Then again, I'm not a "professional" critic and these aren't "major motion pictures." So, like you said ... no biggie. You know me ... I just tend to be real thorough when I write my reviews. JediTAC P.S. (Is Scott Zier ever going to create a website for RECIPROCITY? With stills, BTS stuff ???)
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el_director Registered: Oct '01	Date Posted: 11/16/02 10:00am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	I liked it very much....but I have one gigantic question. What was with that little movie box in the credits? I recognized some of the scenes in there from the trailer. Were they cut from the movie? Or are they parts of the (raises voice) sequel? I was really looking forward to the part where Soontar ran and forced-grabbed his lightsaber (from trailer), but that got cut I see. JediTAC certainly has the right to be critical. Yes, this was not a academy award wonder. But Reciprocity is a fan film and one of the best released so far. I give it a thumb up and so does my dog Luigi! -----signature----- "We're on a mission from God."-Elwood Blues Spoof Wars is now online. Download it! http://www.geocities.com/el_chancellor
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dan005e Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 11/16/02 10:58am Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	^Do you mean when he was running from Rahn and grabs his saber out of the air? It was in there. I really enjoyed Reciprocity. It had a great storyline and the fights were quite intresting. And the way the movie ends leaves an option for a sequel. The F/X were very well done and the sound was kinda off and on. I had to alienate my parents by cranking up the sound to hear one of the bits of dialogue but other then that the movie was great! The only thing I didnt like was Rahn destroying Soontars lightsaber by stepping on it. The fights were all well made and kudo's to the stunt directors. All in All a great film, congratulations to Scott Zier and his team! Reciprocity definatley lived up to my expectations and I am left with one question. Is there going to be a sequel?
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Azeem Title: TFN Staff Manage r Emeritus Registered: Apr '99	Date Posted: 11/16/02 4:03pm Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	Very nice guys. It is good to show again that jedi in forest films do work, if the script is interesting , the characters are developed and the actors are believable. I am really happy to have this on TFN FanFilms. -----signature----- Jeff - Carnor Jax / Kir Kanos TFN FanFilms - http://www.fanfilms.com Azeem2000 - http://www.azeem2000.com 501st Legion - http://www.501st.com
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SZier Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 11/16/02 5:32pm Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	Hey guys! Now that the film has finally been seen I can post some commentary about the things I liked and disliked, as the director. First let me thank everyone for the feedback, it's been really constructive and good to hear. Keep it coming! Reciprocity, from the start, has been a learning project. Our main team goal has always been to learn what we can do better. ;-) "I felt as though I was watching three different films ... with three distinct styles" I had a good chuckle when I read this, as it's quite true. We had a very laid back shooting schedule, in which I basically worked around everyone's schedules. In fact, it took nearly two years to complete shooting, doing maybe a scene every 4 or 5 weeks. Some sections of scenes that cut right together (like the troops shooting Nomi, and then Allen and I talking after) were nearly a year apart. What this means is that I grew over the production of the film, and changed many of my ideas about what we could do, and the style the film was shot. One of the first major scenes that was shot was the Jedi siege. It is, in my opinion, the weak point visualy of the film because of the earth feel it has. Costuming wasn't that good, we used what we could grab. Actors were called up pretty much the day of the shoot. Heck, by that time we hadn't even developed the costume for our villain yet. Our goals were more basic, and not as refined. If there is one scene I could go back and reshoot, it would be that one. I would probably shoot the same shots, and could cast the same troops, but would bump up the quality of costuming, setting, and environment a great deal. (That being said, I really liked the white walled environment inside the container a lot. Just the outside bothered me.) The very last thing that was filmed was the opening Senate assembly, and some of the dialogue between Allen and myself for the cliff scene. By that time, my focus and confidence in our ability to do effects and style was much stronger. The lesson here; work with smaller projects as you progress in skill. ;-) It's better to have a strong idea of what you are doing before you start, and not build as much as you go. Still, it proved quite fun, and I learned a lot. BAD SHOTS: The film is full of shots I wish I could reshoot now that I've actually had film and effect classes. I did a lot of things wrong, but learned a good deal from it. One shot that I particularly cringe over is the shot where I run and jump off the cliff. The original idea for the shot seemed golden at the time, but just wasn't refined enough to allow a seamless morph. In addition, much of the early footage with the troops on the planet had some major color saturation problems. A screen to block sunlight was badly needed. Just about anything inside the cockpit was a major frustration as well, due to horrible lighting on the inside green screens. Especially on the back doorway. I'll give a tutorial and a half now about how to better light things. I think there is a huge progression in quality from my early chroma work (the cockpit) and the later work on the Senate scene. SHOTS I LOVED: Believe it or not, one of my favorite shots in the film is the 2 second clip where I throw Colin's light saber in the air then split it in half with mine. Colin's saber was totally CG, but I thought it sold the shot perfictly. I also really enjoyed some of the shots during the last action scene, with the fighting. It's really hard to get a lot of smooth motion into camera movement with the equipment we had, but our Camera crew did a great job. As a director, I try to change the camera position a lot in fights to make them more intense. The more motion the better. I really wanted our fights to cover a lot of ground, and have a lot of movement in them. As a fencer in real life, I don't like to see people really stiff and not advancing one way or another. Cut Scenes / Missing Story Elements: About 25min was cut off the final film from what should have been included. I'll mention a few sections, which people have noticed are missing. Originally there was a night time Inquisitor mission, which was in place of the Senate scene. The Senate assembly wasn't in the original script. That mission was the one where Soontar wouldn't kill the extra guards, and stopped Allen's character from doing so. It was cut do to poor quality of video, and a really weak introduction to the state of the galaxy, in my opinion. Putting in the Senate scene placed the timeline (Palpintine is chancellor, but the senate still exists) and also the mood of the Republic. Plus, in the original mission, Soontar brutally kills a Jedi... which I thought was to much imagery for the character I was trying to portray. Originally much of the story was told though a monologue by Soontar. When I decided to turn against that approach, much of the dialogue that explained Soontar's final mission to hunt the Jedi (Colin) on the forest world was lost. There wasn't an option to go back and reshoot more dialogue with Allen before he leaves, because the cockpit set was destroyed immediately after the original shoot. (Also for technical reasons.) So we really just jump into the next mission, with only the line "One Jedi, alone on a deserted planet? It won't be a problem." Darth Rann: "While the costume choice and dialogue fit the character very well, the voice-over (in my opinion) did not depict the sense of dominance and power that I feel such a character needs." I agree. We ended up using the voice of the Senator in the opening scene for Rann's voice... and a loose connection is made between the two characters. The time we had for laying down the voice dub was very short, and the dialogue ended up being to casual in my opinion. I never wanted the character to be anything less than a "sophisticated evil" (so no Maul voice), but there just wasn't enough of an edge or hate on his breath in my opinion. However, I think that actor played the opening senate scene perfectly... and I think the Rann voice got much better as the film went on. SOUND: To be honest, I was never satisfied with the sound either, and a lot of that has to do with the quality and methods we used to capture audio during the shoots. Actually, the original layered Premier cut of the film sounds a lot better than when the audio tracks was merged together for the release version. The amplification of a lot of the sounds is completely different coming through the computer speakers than through the monitor TV I used. That was a little bit of a lesson to me to work more with temporary computer files and tests during production. Also, to get a better monitor speaker setup. I would also recommend everyone to build up the visuals and sounds together. Reciprocity went completely cut and visual effect finished long before I ever added in the first sound. This really hurt the progressive build of the scenes. Editors should build up the parts together evenly. It will help a lot. OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST: A long time ago, someone asked me what Soontar's partner's name was. The truth is, we don't know! Originally Soontar's partner had a much smaller role in the film, and as it grew we just never realized that we had failed to name him. That is why Allen is listed as "Inquisitor #2" in the credits. The cliff scene where we first meet Soontar and his partner was originally on a floating platform over a forest world. When I release the behind the scenes look, some of that original CG is included. It later changed to a desert planet, and then changed again for aesthetic and technical reasons. The desert planet was later used for Allen's departure. One thing people may be interested in hearing, is that the entire final fight sequence was completely choreographed in three hours one night, and then shot in six hours the next morning. Allen and I worked it out together. We had absolutly no real lighting. Other than the Christmass lights from the cockpit of course. The Sun, and changing the angle we shot at, was all we had to work with. Now that I've actually had a lighting class... there is so much I would like to do! "Will Reciprocity have a website?" I'd like to. We are a bit busy right now, but I do plan something in the future. (Also, a gag reel coming soon). "Reciprocity definitely lived up to my expectations and I am left with one question. Is there going to be a sequel?" I'm glad, Dan! We were hoping people would enjoy it. We haven't planned a sequel, although we did toy around with the idea of entering the lightsaber choreography competition with something based on Soontar and his partner. Honestly, I think Reciprocity had more frames of lightsaber rotoscoping than any fan film to date (and more than TPM for that matter.) Plus, nearly every shot for the first fourth of the film was bluescreen. In other words, there was scarcely a scene that didn't require hours of effects work. I think we want to do something now that requires a bit less clickling in post. ;-) ...And besides, I'm almost bald now! Soontar would look a lot different. I do think we could make a much better film now... but not for a while. -----signature----- www.sourceentertainment.net www.prolificgames.com -> Sneak peak: sf.prolificgames.com! SWFanFilms: "Reciprocity"(TFN), "Recruitment" (AtomFilms), "Real Men of the Empire"(AtomFilms), "Inside the Empire"(?)
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Jedi_Cougar Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 11/16/02 9:14pm Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	Great great fanfilm. I think that this one gets as close to a starwars film as any other fanfilm in taking you from place to place. I think that there was some really good, realistic travel and the CG shots depicting the coming and going fit perfectly. Sure, some stuff throughout the film like costuming, lighting, sound could all be improved on, but for the resources you had, I'd say it is pretty good. I can tell a great amount of effort went into it. Gotta say that I love the way the Jedi guy near the end is so good at fighting he doesn't really rely on his saber...haha, until he loses it. The other shot that was great is when Soontar hears the girl Jedi say "Have you forgotten how to be a soldier?" and he says "Heck no!" And runs down and catches his twirling saber....great stuff... Great fanfilm. Make another one sometime. I daresay that this one comes pretty close to the "Hall of Fame" fanfilms. -----signature----- Jedi_Cougar
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MrYoda Registered: Dec '00	Date Posted: 11/16/02 9:37pm Subject: RE: RECIPROCITY
	Wow! A most pleasant disconnect from the standard sith-jedi fanfilm. Great style and originality. -----signature----- Director/Producer - "The Invisible Enemy"
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