SECRETS OF THE SITH - A new fanfilm

thanks Justin [Primrodo].

the fighter mark II is the one people see taking off in that CGI shot everyone raves about...

I tell you, I can't wait to release it cos if you guys like it so far then, well just wait until December this year [gbonkers thats when its out!!]

Thanks!

 

Ah, Thats what I thought. I really like how it looks "whale" like much how the Naboo N1 looks like a sleek fish.

Is that what inspired that ship or am I way off?

 

yeah, pretty much spot on, I had initially looked at it from a boat plane point of view, not because it would land on water, but because I liked those old style planes. The more I designed the more it took on features of a whale especially with the small taill at the back and large head...

cool

 

A quick post to share my new matte painting. Its almost finished.

Some of you might have seen an early version on the downloads page way back when I first started this thread. Here's the new jpeg:
[image=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/morganfilms/downloads/hanger.jpg]

N.B - There will be a ship taking off in the middle of the hanger.

Here's a test camera move in aftereffects:
Hanger test

More to come soon...

Thanks!

 

You are a man after my own heart MM.

2D compositing rules. I've got a very similar shot in my film that's a push in toward a planet that uses nothing but 2D elements composited in 3D space. Sort of 2 1/2 D. Cool stuff. Can't wait to see more.

 

looking good....the troopers look blurry....is that just the compression?

BTW Your deadline is looming....feeling it yet??
tick-tock tick-tock LOL

Chy

 

To keep you all up to speed, here's some stills from shots I've been working on.

[image=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/morganfilms/downloads/a_08.jpg]

[image=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/morganfilms/downloads/a_96.jpg]

I've just noticed that because the image preview on the boards is 4x3, the images above are 'Cinemascope' as they are stored on an anamorphic print before the lens uncompresses the image to give your the full 2.35:1 frame...

Things are progressing slowly but surely. I would like to say that the deadline will be met, but a number of things have started to accumulate and will result in the released date to be moved to the end of January.

The biggest reason is that we are expecting the arrival of my son on the 22nd of November. His due date is 1 day before his older sister's birthday who will be 3 on the 23rd of November.

What with the new arrival and things getting panicky at work and Christmas around the corner, its meant that I can only be comfortable with a release date in the new year. So I hope you all understand.

In the meantime I'll post some of the shots, but we're at the point where if I show to much then I'll give the whole story away.

This month [next week] we will be filming our pickup shots of missing shots and new sequences. The story has progressed really well that siome new shots and indeed characters are necessary. I can't wait, its gonna be great to eb behind the camera again...

Anyways, thanks for reading in.

[image=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/morganfilms/downloads/footer.jpg]

 

Girls are cool.

~Neszis~

 

Thanks Neszis, I was gonna ask them if they wanted to be in the Durbnpoisin's poll, but thought it best to get the film out there first...


On another note, we might be on the lookout for voice over artists to replace some of the ones we shot. We have to ADR or 'loop' the whole thing anyway as the sound was shot just for reference so that actors could replace cleaner and better voices later. A long process I know, but where we were shooting was way too noisy to record the final dialogue.

We are looking for male and female voices in a British accent [can be english, scottish, welsh or irish] in a range of ages. If you are interested, please can you record your voice and send an MP3 to morganfilms@hotmail.com. You don't have to be British as you might be able to do a great accent wherever you are from.

I don't want to say what we are looking for in a voice as the actors we have were very good, but if there is a voice out there that fits the characters better then we're interested to hear.

Oh but we are looking specifically for Yoda impressions just in case our Yoda artist isn't available.

Be sure to record four types of dialogue:
1. Start with your normal voice [doesn't matter whcih accent you have] and state your name, age and what country you are from.
2. Accent - A relaxed calm voice like casual conversation.
3. Accent - An urgent voice like one in charge of something.
4. Accent - Lastly an 'Oh crap I am in deep deep s%^t, panicky voice'...

Its not definate we'll find anything, but we're trying to keep the production values high so we are looking!!

For a successful voice artist, we can offer you a copy of the final movies on DVD in PAL or NTSC, your name in lights on the official site, along with an invite to the opening screening if you are in London on the night. There's also a very special secret surprise for all of the actors which will be revealed on opening night. and then shared with the fanfilm community afterwards...

Thanks for your time.

 

Could you PM me with some Yoda lines?

 

Thanks Funk-E.

Its should be with you now...

Thats only a couple of examples of lines we need.

Thanks!

 

POST PRODUCTION UPDATES:
I now have a 'crawl' that we won't be using for the trailers, but serves to fill in the story and set the piece. Its gonna be used on the opening night to get the audience into the mood and then go straight into the three trailers back to back. It'll also be on the DVD.

Anyone interested in seeing the crawl? Its not key to watching the trailers, but some people might like to see it...


ADDITIONAL SHOOT:
Tomorrow we start 3 lunchtimes of additional shooting, all with our new greenscreen made up of a framework 2 metres by 2 metres made out of 32mm plastic pipes. A simple and lightweight rigid structure [cost about £17 [$30] for the piping and joints] and first thing in the mornign me and one of the co-producers are picking a 9foot by 36 foot roll of chromakey paper and gaffer tape. Ideal for using as the background and also trimming of fan amount to use on the floor.

We've got new characters to put in as well as some pick up shots of the exisiting characters made interesting by the fact that everyone is now two years older since we first filmed... oh well... it'll be a challenge to get it all to match...

Just finished the helmet that the guys are gonna use for the fighter/cockpit scenes and Tim [the writer] is as we speak putting the final words to paper for the shoot... nothing like making changes up until the last minute... lol... we all do it...

I'll post details of the shoot and images behind the scenes by the weekend...


Talk soon!


BTw - Funk-E did you try out the voice for Yoda?

Justin, can you email me the mp3 of your friend doing the Yoda voice...?

thanks!

 

BTw - Funk-E did you try out the voice for Yoda?

Oh, holy crap, I forgot about that. Will do.

 

Hey Richard, just pop online and I'll transfer to you...My email cannot send such large files...

 

Holy crap, Morgan, this is really something. Your effects are wonderful! These are some of the few that can match up with the pros... others will be catching up for years! Just out of curiosity (and because I mainly skimming this thread for other awesome fx shots), what programs did you use, and how much time did this require? I'm really looking forward to the debut of this film. Looks like it could have the same hype of Broken Allegiance, only stay that way. Man... I'd dare someone else to pull this kind of trailer project on this kind of quality. Nice job Morgan- double thumbs up, you've actually done "what few men could dream..." Keep up the good work.

 

If anyone sent me a personal email to my morganfilms@hotmail.com account marked 'SOTS' in the header, I deleted it by acident before I got to read it as it ended up in my junk mail pile... sorry.... If you sent it please can you send again - thanks!!


Jedikes1138, many thanks for your enthusiasm. At the moment it is taking a lot of time as we are generating or painting all of the environments. Its all done as a digital backlot...

We're using:
Photoshop for the matte paintings and shot corrections

Aftereffects for all of the compositing, rotomasking of characters from backgrounds when we didn't have a green screen, lightsabers rotoscoping, virtual camera moves.

3DS MAX with either the Brazil renderer or VRAY renderer.

We got the second round of shooting done today which is most of the pick up shots and I;m reviewing the footage as we speak, so I might be posting up soem stills soon... watch this space...

 

Richard, pipe and a crepe?

Glad everything seems to be going smoothly. Really looking forward to seeing a British film, not to many about as far as I can tell.

So what percentage of completion would you say you were currently at? In the grand scale of things?

Keep up the good work, always nice to see some updates on your progress.

Adam

 

Adam, its going well. I've smoked all the Crepes I ever could...

We've shot the section 2 pickup shots and in about a weeks time I'll shoot the final section 3s.

We've had a lot of people who've been interested in the film come forward to be new characters for the story which is now rock solid and set in stone...

In the meantime here is a test shot of the new mini-DV footage that we shot. Orignally Secrets was shot on BETA SP and so the trick is to match in the new footage. It appears to be working well.

This shot doesn't have the actual take I'm using, but instead was one with the most challenging aspect to it - his dreadlocks move at the beginning of the shot.

MINI-DV chroma key test 3.2 Mb]

Let me know what you think of the composite and what I could improve on with the keying.

Also I would like to take the chance to welcome Nicaolas Garcia of NG Musique who's joining us to write an original soundtrack in the Star Wars style so we can enter the movies into the AtomFilms/Star Wars competition.

He is busy writing 5 distinct themes for the trailers that once we have the initial cut, will then be composed together to play out the highs and lows of each trailer. His biography and pic will be up on the site soon.

Many thanks!!!

 

Flawless.

 

nice.

nice.

 

Looking good as always.

 

hello everybody,

I'm very proud to do this soundtrack it's a really great HQ project.
I hope you will love my music.

See you soon

ciao

 

Looks good.

 

It looks like the edges are bit too feathered. It gives everything a very soft, etherial look.

Also, to my eye, it seems like the background is a bit too blurred. They key you pulled looks great.

--Jamball

 

NICHOLAS
We're glad to have you onboard and I can't wait to hear the new music themes you've been working on...

Nicloas is an exciting addition to the crew in that with his original music we'll be able to enter the final films into the fanfilms contest.

Nicolas' style for Secrets is to have a Star War sounding epic score, but written as new music that echoes the star wars themes. The stuff he's been writing so far is soudning very good and I can't wait to hear the finals once he has the rough cuts of the trailers...


On a seperate note, we have more people who have joined the team.

Please welcome JAMES PARR who has been helping co-produce and wil be providing key matte paintings and compositing work.


JAMBALL
Yeah I know what you mean, I'm gonna blur the background in a different way. Instead of fast blurring in aftereffects, I'm gonna take the background plate and lens blur it in photoshop to give a better more accurate-looking camera blur. That way I can reduce the blur amount a bit.

I had purposely tried to blur the jedi on the left to help with the focussing effect, but I think I need to make him sharp again. Also on the edges, yeah I can reduce the softness of the outer matte, but with the guy on the rights dreads I might have to keep in the softness. I'll have a play and post up the new version.


MINI DV & BETA SP
We have been testing the new footage shot from the SONY PD150 mini DV and its keying absolutely great! [if the test shot in my last post is anything to go by] I have more but they give away key plot points.

But just to say that my fears about cutting the new mini DV footage in with the BETA SP original footage have been alayed.

DV is great!!

thanks!