*Announcing The Fan Film* SPIRITS OF THE FORCE

"So, Jerec can think forhimself, talk for himself, but when it comes to fighting, he uses Spence's 'same old moves'?"

LOL. Good point.

"Oh yeah, so, what happened to "A single saber swipe wont stop me"? It just did.

He got owned.

Good Review.

You obviously know your stuff.
Cant wait to see your next film,
sure theres tons of new stuff learned
since the last one.

 

Some general comments...

"Unknowing" in the title crawl should probably be "unaware", as unknowing is a gerund and unaware is an adjective...I think...could be wrong.

The acting is typical fanfilm acting. That's all I can really say.

Some of the architecture and buildings look too...earth-y...for me. This is a problem I notice in a lot of fanfilms; people see a building that they think looks kind of Star Wars-y, but to me, it doesn't look Star Wars-y enough. This is just a personal nitpicky thing, though.

Not that I'm usually one to comment on this, but the camera seemed reeeeaaaally shaky when Kyle and Bendin were walking and talking. They're heads seemed to be bouncing up and down around the frame quite a bit.

Do people still really say things like "Him and Mara must be going insane"? [/Grammar Nazi]

"There is no way to make that sound appetizing, is there?" That's going to be one of my new favorite fanfilm quotes.

"You are so full of it." Ehhhhh...not too SW-sounding, but whatever.

I kinda saw the whole Jerec-possessing-Spince thing coming...

Niiiiiiiice lightning-flying back against the wall.

Longest. Copyright disclaimer. Ever. (Okay, maybe not quite, but close)

All in all, like so many fanfilms, it had many flaws that kinda bugged me, but it was a lot better than anything I've done. I'd say B-/B. Can't wait for the next one!

 

Thanks Chris. Glad to hear your views.

 

The de-ignition of the saber. I actually laughed out loud. Kyle has every opportunity to decapitate this guy, and has every REASON TO DO SO. But nothing happens, he just stands there, he just circles him, lightsaber blade inches from his face. SHOVE THE BLADE THROUGH THE FACE. MOVIE OVER.

You know, this is something I kept meaning to ask Joel about.

And yes, the trademark "We can show he's evil by remixing his voice". Yeah, it was probably neccessary to differentiate between standard guy and evil possessed guy, but more could have been done.

Ever watch "Stargate"?

"Unknowing" in the title crawl should probably be "unaware", as unknowing is a gerund and unaware is an adjective...I think...could be wrong.

Those of us who know & love Joel Cranson have always tried to keep some of his wonky grammar, spelling, & word usage in check. Somehow, we missed "unknowing." Or if we did spot it, we weren't sure what to change it to and figured we might as well not say anything. (I'm just glad we got him to change "Yavin 4" to "Yavin IV.")

The whole scene between Jaina and the guy at the top of the stairs is, well, painful. The master's delivery is very monotone and unemotional, in a way that doesn't say "Jedi", it just says "Bad delivery".

OK, that's it! Webb, can I redub some of those lines? (The one reason I'm not offended by any of the criticisms of my acting here is because I recognize that it's not a particularly good performance. I cringe every time I hear myself say "Self made heroes." I knew what the right way to deliver that line was! Why didn't I do it?!)

 

Dain Bramage...

<runs>

 

Doggans wrote:

Some of the architecture and buildings look too...earth-y...for me. This is a problem I notice in a lot of fanfilms; people see a building that they think looks kind of Star Wars-y, but to me, it doesn't look Star Wars-y enough. This is just a personal nitpicky thing, though.

In all my travels, I have seen only one set of buildings that could pass for some really kick-butt Star Wars ones. Check out this site with pictures of the Empire State Plaza (even the name fits) in Albany, NY.

Growing up, we always said that those buildings would have looked more appropriate on top of the Death Star. Be sure to especially check out the Legislative and Judicial buildings at the bottom of the page. The practically look like the bridge of a Star Destroyer.

So if anyone is looking to do a fanfilm in the Northeast, you might want to take a trip to Albany to do some exterior shots!

 

I honestly dont think that can.. unless it had some serious cg additions.

 

good job man. i loved the lightning.

 

Happy Jawa review is up.

Overall Rating: Piece of Stuff ("Not bad if you overlook the broken bits.")

There is a disturbance in the force and I've never seen so many jedis who look like they've had too much coffee. Spirits of the Force takes place in the era of the New Republic at Skywalker's Jedi Academy which, apparently, is on the planet Paranoia.

In spite of this, this film, produced by the Phoenix Fan Force, is a fine offering. It makes excellent use of location. I believe it is shot on location at Arizona State University and the director does a great job of using the architecture to support the film. They obviously have paid attention to keep anachronisms out of shot or covered up. The internal shots, however, look like sets out of claustrophobic episode of Doctor Who.

The acting is ponderous and, well, uncompelling. The actors spend a lot of time staring off into space and being melancholy. It's earnest, but not very interesting.

Continuity is a problem with the magical changing fruit (see the photos) but on the whole, the production quality is quite good. The costumes are very good and the special effects are fun.

On the whole, Spirits of the Force is a flawed but enjoyable film and I look forward to more films by this production crew.

View all Happy Jawa reviews at happyjawa.com.

 

I haven't been back here to check on the thread in a while.. and wow, a lot of great feedback.

Thanks ChrisHanel for your review! Of course it always makes you feel good to get reviews like "Your film was great" and "Nice effect shot, blah blah".. but in order to improve you need to hear about the stuff that isn't necessarily the nice stuff. Thanks for being objective, honest, and straight forward with your comments. I DO appreciate everything you said, good and bad.

Thanks for your review HappyJawa. Thanks for accentuating the "great fruit conspiracy" with the screenshots, I love it. I still laugh about those shots..

Well, I've got a LOT of work to get ready for the next films which start filming in less than 6 weeks.

-Webb
Post Production SOTF

 

You're welcome.

Having had time to digest your film a bit more I think one of the things that bugged me about Spirits of the Force was its general joylessness of it. Even in the darkest moments of Star Wars there was a joyfulness to it. ("How are we doing?" "The same as usual." "That bad, huh?") This could be a script, directorial, or acting issue, you choose.

That said, I did really love the use of location. I felt you used your space extremely well and I'd hold it up as an example to anyone shooting a film on location.

So did you throw the magical fruit in there just to see if we were paying attention? Because we were.

Make more movies. I'll be watching.

 

I enjoyed this fanfilm, it was worth the
download.

It certainly did have lots of flaws, which
have been amply pointed out by the others
above. However, what made it enjoyable for me
was the simple fact that I wanted to
know what was going to
happen to the protagonist ..
I wanted to know what this "spirit" was ..
I was waiting
for the end with anticipation. There aren't
too many fanfilms I've seen that actually
have a story that has kept me very interested.

2 details: _great_ force/lightning throw. As for the
saber shadows that have been discussed above,
I actually did find them a bit distracting.
Next time, it would be a good idea to erase
them alltogether or, if you want to be
even more realistic, blur, widen, and soften them
(never seen this done by anyone, but should
be possible).

Nice job. Congrats on finishing a good
SW fan film.