****Film Release: Showdown****

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Boys and Girls,
Dudes and Dudettes,
And anyone I haven't mentioned.....

Dragonware Studios is proud to present it's second fanfilm!

Showdown - the faceoff between Matrix and Star Wars. In the left corner, the Agent vermin who spread like rats. In the other corner, the ever-more-closer-to-extinct Jedi. Who will win? Watch and find out!

Liberally inspired to many films, as we thought that in a Matrix vs. Star Wars film we HAD to make some sort of tribute. So expect some deja-veux.

This film is linked via filefront. Click download, wait for the link to be established, choose the server closest to you and download to your hearts content!

[http://files.filefront.com/Showdownmov/;4758350;;/fileinfo.html

Any constructive criticism would help. This is only our second fanfilm, and is really a training experience for our third, upcoming one, in which you will see a head-strong Jedi pitted against a 2.7 metres tall Mech!

Thanks to all and one.

Dragonware Studios

 

Any chance of a compression?

 

lol it took me ages to upload it too...

I'll see what I can do but it might take a while...an hour or two before the new one may be up

 

WOW. 179mbs. It'll be awhile 'for I can watch this.

 

Well, this took so long that I ran out of edit time.

Uh...

This is not a fanfilm. This is a lightsaber duel.

And it wasn't really worth the 179 meg download. Your roto-ing is really poor. Next time focus on keeping the blade mask lined up with prop while you're roto-ing the sabers. Also, use a 6 point mask rather than a four pointer, it takes longer but trust me, it makes a huge difference. You need more sound effects during the hand to hand section. Also, how can you call that a draw? You used STARWARS music, props, effects, and sounds the entire time. The only remotely Matrixy thing about it was the sunglasses. I wouldn't call THAT a draw! I'd call it, STARWARS wins 'cause this had nothing to do with the matrix. Oh yeah. Since when did the Jedi gain the power to throw green ripply things at people, or conjure up glowing blue clouds? Why did the color go all weird a couple of times while we were looking at the Agent? If that was supposed to be an effect from the movie, I'm at a loss to figure out what you were going for.

Anyway, not too shabby. Next time, keep this stuff in mind:

1. Compression for small file size.
2. More accurate saber-scoping
3. 6 point saber masks
4. Better sound effects.
5. Give a little more thought to story.
6. Give a little respect for the canon. Jedi don't shoot green ripplys from their hands.



Bgii_2000

 

I must have downloaded it from a slow server because it took a full day to do. I couldn't get my head around the fact they both look like they're 12 yrs old.

I had a pretty good laugh but that was about it. Placing the blaster fire with a huge pause between it and the supposed kickback was hysterical. The green ripley thing was pretty silly.

If you're going to do something like this again I suggest trying to show what would happen if a Jedi was actually jacked in to the Matrix. Being in a simulated environment would he still be able to use the force? There's a lot of potential there but I would certainly involve more of the matrix into it. Composite the whole thing in greenish tones etc.

 

First of all, an apology.

Sorry for the huge download. The new link to the 20mb version is here:

http://files.filefront.com/showdown_propermov/;4761920;;/fileinfo.html

Hope that speeds things up a bit

As for effects - well, we're sorry. We are pretty new to film-making, and some things went wrong during filming. The lighting, for example, was not want we expected - or wanted.
As for acting - hmmmm.....one of us does drama studies, but best not to tell who. I'm afraid the organisation in this movie was pretty poor. I apologise about that.

Sorry it didn't come out how everyone would have wanted it - we promise to do better next time!

(btw do we REALLY look 12 yrs old?)

Dragonware Studios

 

Yeah ya do lol. Don't worry about it though. Looking young is a good thing. If you can keep that trend going into old age, all the better.

I will give you the same advice I give all people who are new to film making. Don't apologize if there's nothing to apologize for. This is a film forum. We're all here to network with one another share ideas and provide feedback.

You don't have anything to be sorry for. As long as you learn from something, it's never a mistake, unless of course you repeat it lol.

 

The concepts and the points in which the battle was fought out weren't bad, but for choreography I highly suggest footwork and a larger range of motion, and not to speed up the shots... other than that, keep going, remember special effects won't make it a good film...

 

Choreography will be improved on in our next film We aren't exactly gymnasts...but we can try

 

Yeah well the duels between Dooku and Anakin in ROTS and between Anakin and Obi Wan for the most part never required any gymnastics.

It wasn't the fake CGI jumping and flipping that gave those duels flavor. It was the varied use of many different attacks and blocks.

It's not just the mechanical following of the same moves over and over. There's creativity, the occasional punch, kick or trip. They are scrapping and it looks like they are just going at it doing anything they can to genuinely hurt each other.

Be creative with your duels. Light saber duels are a dime a dozen so putting something original in there is not just important, it's vital. There's always room to give the audience something they haven't seen. It helps to understand the duelists motivation.

In our film for example, there's specific motivations for the characters to fight a certain way. Vader wants to keep Aliska from escaping or she's trying to do some damage to him. Also taking into account what style these opponents will have is important as well. We sat down and figured out what kind of Jedi she was concerning her personality, her background and so on.

It makes you believe in what you're watching.

Take Ryan vs. Dorkman for example. Just a light saber duel. No story, no B.S. Simply two guys going at it with an individual style. Dorkman favors the fencing style and they establish this early on. Ryan is a little more martial artsy in ways.

And they did something original. Scooping sweeps, rolling on the ground etc. It was fun to watch for those reasons. You guys will learn to pay attention to stuff like this in the future. Take your time and go back to the root whenever possible.

 

I personally thought these guys showed a LOT of creativity in the movie. It was a comedy, and they established that right away, so taking it too seriously is a silly idea from frame 1... I liked the green ball/energy stuff--so what if it's not canon... it provided some more effects for them to test out... the sunglasses "returning" was a fun and creative little idea... and sure the choreo was sped up, but I thought that made things even more hysterical and "comedic" for the piece's sake!

Granted, no one is winning awards for: acting, roto, sound variance (it was too much of the same sound effect), nor would they win awards for choreo since it was sped up and most actions were not aiming at targets--just blade bashing...

But I think it was a pretty good experiment for a bunch of folks under 16 (I'm guessing... hope I don't offend!)

Good job boys, keep it up.

 

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement they will help...and for the record...when we filmed I was 15 and my friend was 16, he is 17 now The camera makes us look younger doesnt it

 

Oof...took me ages to dig this thread back out

Just wanted to say...the 'green ripplys' were inspired from Essence of the Force, with the Jedi there doing that really cool force 'explosion'. We thought they looked cool there and tried to adjust it to our own film...with varying degrees of success

As for our next fanfilm...ideas are in the thinking phase, and we won't even start filming till late June cause I have GCSE's in a few months...

(free bump too )

 

Well I admit, EotF did have some ripplys in it. But they were more subtle. And not green.