STAR WARS CHRONICLES: SEEDS OF DARKNESS

And here is post 100

GREAT JOB GUYS !!!!






Awwwww c'mon ...... you KNEW I had to do it.




JediTAC

 

anyone have a prob opening the first file.
i can open the other 2 just fine but not the first.

i tryd redownloading it to, still dosnt work.

edit:nm

edit2:

Wow, the story wasn?t at all what I thought it was going to be.
Completely different plot line.

Enjoyed the move a lot (although I don?t think I have ever not enjoyed a fanfilm)
Gj guys

 

Hi everyone,
Is anyone else having problems playing part 3? It plays fine up until about 5:24 and then I hear a pop and I get a error saying Quicktime has caused a illegal action. It lasts for about 20 seconds of the film but then I can watch the rest. I have tried the file on 3 differnt PC's but its always the same thing. Oh well I will just re-download part 3 when I get to work tommorrow.

I have watched all of the movie up to that point and I must say I am very impressed and I think you guys did a great job.

 

Hmm.. averagejoe, you seem to have a harder time getting over it than we do. It's all in good fun. Cheers,

 

The nitpicker has arrived.

Now, let me get it out of the way right now to say that I loved this film. It was great fun and I'm keeping it on my hard drive to watch again and again. But I want to make sure everything is out there.

"Oh, one more gripe, and you guys KNEW this one was coming, even with the "this isn't cannon" disclaimer:

CLOAKING?!!? (grumblegrumblegumble)"

Ahem:

"They can't have disappeared. No ship that small has a cloaking device."
--Captain Needa, "The Empire Strikes Back"

That leads me to believe that bigger ships DO have cloaking devices.

However, on the other side of this, an Imperial shuttle isn't really bigger than the Falcon. But whatever. It was a neat effect, IMO.

Random thoughts:

The scene with the Emperor's appearance was kind of unnecessary. The Emperor didn't come back at all, and I mean, come on. We know what the Sith are up to.

OMG, Darth Blight! Two of him! It's the Attack of the Clones! Or maybe that other one is Pestilence, Death, and Fire Ants.

These I assume were the bounty hunters. Um...what did they want and what purpose did they serve? Did I miss that? If they're after Master Rotal in an attempt to exterminate the Jedi, that begs the question of why Kaine (sp?) would go become a Jedi--and also WHERE he would go.

Speaking of Rotal, I actually thought he was especially convincing. A little over-the-top (the death scene made me giggle) but beyond that not bad.

It seemed like about everything Mira said was dubbed.

I second Daft's ants-in-the-pants comment. Guy needs to turn off his chair massage (I didn't know Brookstone made them for X-Wings).

Oh, the painted Sith. The pattern, mop of boyish hair, and bright white teeth made a very disconcerting image--and not in a way that fits the character.

"Notify commander Ozzel..." what happened to the top half of his face make-up?

And who the hell IS that other guy?

What was Blue Leader staring at that whole time off on the left side of her viewport?

The CG was, overall, pretty good. But man, the way the X-wing engines bounced around they sure looked rickety. And with the direction of some of the shots (notably the appearance of the first ISD in the battle flying over the camera) the effect was less "Whoa..." and more "Look at me! I'M CGI! WOO!"

The engine glows on the X-wings were better on the beginning shots. They looked too painted on in the later parts.

"WHAT...exactly...does a Jedi look like?" I like that line, and the delivery.

Is it really necessary to take lines from the films? I mean, I can give you "Ive got a bad feeling about this." That's, like, sacred. But other lines ("They will be no match for you," for one) sound forced.

Again in the choreography...so many chances for one combatant to kill the other. Openings a mile wide. But I digress. I really liked the speed of the fights, gotta say that.

Now that the nitting's done.

The animation for the CG ships--especially the sweeping of the X-wings on approach to the planet--was marvelous. The music was very fitting and the direction was very, very good (got a bit of the Steadicam in there, too, I see). No complaints about the saber effects.

The good far outweighs the bad, and I agree with much of the praise for this film, and my comments I hope may help you in the future, and help others in their own endeavours.

Or I just come off as a jerk.

Either way, I loved the film and can only hope my own might achieve something similar. I'm showing it to my whole crew to show them, once again, what we're up against.

i too would love to see some tuts up.

Great job, guys, and something to be proud of no matter what punks like me say.

M. Scott

 

Again we thank everyone for their input on the film. And almost all comments are valid and make sense.

I'd just like to reiterate that this was originally just an effects test for us. The fact that there was any story or dialogue at all was secondary. I added the dialogue and what little story there was just to tie the different effects shots together. There originally was no intention of putting it on the internet. We didn't even know about TFN when we filmed most of the acting. So originality of dialogue was very low on our totem pole. Ultimately through editing it all started to flow and move along at a "star Wars" paste and it began to become more of a "real" movie. At this point it was too late to redo any of the dialogue or reshoot any live action scenes.

So in short......yes the acting and dialogue were weak and maybe a little cliche. But this was never intended to be taken too seriously as a story. It was just supposed to be fun! And ultimately I think it comes off that way.

Thanks again,
Marty

 

I haven't read the rest of the posts after my last one except for Daft's and I just wanted to comment on it.

Daft, I agree completley, don't get me wrong, I loved SOD, it was a awsome fan film. It was VERY enjoyable. I was merely pointing out to the makers these points to inform them for future things, or if the knew that already, just to tell them I noticed, to speak my opinion on it. I think it worked really well with the OT stuff, I guess I forgot to stick in my compliments to the makers on a job well done. It was not my intention to imply that I didn't really like the film since it wasn't Canon, I did. I apologize to those that took my statements the wrong way, and again, Daft, I agree with you.

-AJ-

PS. Did I mention that I liked SOD a lot?

 

ice, I just wanted to mention, with all my gripes about the little zooming you have, most if it is really cool, especially for an f/x project.

And I don't give a damn whether the X-Wings were around when the whatever...I don't even really know if any of that crap is true! Who's to say whether the X-Wings were around in TPM or not? If what you care about it the films, then EU doesn't matter.

 

Well, I can chime in with saying KUDOS! A fine effort. And I agree that the bar has been raised once again.

Though I would have liked to have known more about why the jedi master was shunned/betrayed/screwed/etc. by the jedi council. It really isn't expanded upon to my liking. But that is a minor point.

My only other beefs are in Mira's makeup (very 80s) and the fact that the dog fights seems to be too fast - I'm attributing this to perhaps compression?

Anway, I was REALLY impressed. And I can't wait to see if who I think is the mole is really the mole! Can we say Sequel?!

BTW - this sucker needs a DVD. Let's talk some more!

Semaj

 

Ya know . . . . I think the bottom line is that most of us make our commetns with the best of intentions and respect at heart. Even though some of our criticisms may sound or appear as though we didn't like a film, in actuality, the comments are offered as opinions and suggestions toward fostering a learning experience for the respective filmmaker(s).

In this case, it is clear that icicle and Jedi_icicle[/b] understand this and are very appreciative of most everyone's insight and sugestions.


The more suggestions we all offer .... the better and better the films are going to get.




JediTAC

 

Oh, another great thing that no one has mentioned: COLOR CORRECTION!

I'm not sure if you did any, or you were able to get shots that all looked very alike, but no shot stood out as being "too red" or too yellow or anything like that. It all blended together into a very consistent look--the fact that no one thought about it means that it was a success. Great job again!

M. Scott

 

Dorkman Scott,
A great deal of effort went into matching all of the color as to create one seamless piece. It's one of those mundane tasks that if you work really hard and do a good job you get no credit for it!



Seriously. If nobody really notices then you've done your job. Thanks for pointing it out. However I will be the first to point out that some of the internal Xwing pilots are way out of wack. Poor source lighting made it impossible to match them exactly to all of the other pilots. Luckily there were some planet shots in between these particular scenes. I was hoping by the time we came back to space people would have forgotten the exact lighting scheme from last time. It appears to have worked for the most part. Although someone did mention it. Can't please everyone. Thanks!

 

Hey, I didn't notice it as well, good job!

(Boy, I can't wait till I have to colour correct my film...)

 

Only DieHard Special Effects people notice these type of things...

 

I don't know. I wonder if I should say anything at all. The CG was wonderful. And the space battles were excellent.

I gues s thats it for me though. To put it another way, the film ruined the trailer. Usually it is the other way around. In this case, the trailers were all fantastic. The films' formulaic fan film story really put me off. I just wonder when we are going to see some real attention to an interesting plot in a fan film, instead of "that Sith is gonna try to kill that Jedi."

Anyway, GREAT CG. I loved it. It's not easy to construct a space battle, and you did it wonderfully.

-tm

 

Without sounding too defensive I would like to make a small statement regarding originality in fan films. Most fan films are a long hard fought uphill battle to complete. We started SOD before most fanfilms were released. At the time a SITH vs Jedi thing seemed really cool and not overdone. However as we worked on the project further we discovered TFN and saw that there were other fanfilms coming out. Then as each one came out we started to see more and more Sith vs Jedi films. But when you have a years worth of work into a project you keep moving forward. And as it was I felt we made the space battles the primary focus as to get away from too much Sith/Jedi routines.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are probably several more sith/jedi films already well into production and probably going to come out soon. It will take a while before new ideas and stories come out. Because it takes so damn long to make them!

So try to go easy on some of the Jedi/Sith films. Not everyone is trying to make a huge statement and change the entire stage.

Note: if given the chance to do a fan film based on the current state of the market I would not choose a Jedi/Sith Based movie. It would much deeper and much more thought provoking. However by the time it would come out in a year or so it would probably be following up other films that had already done it! You almost can't win.

 

I understand what you're saying, ice.

I'm trying to go for a sort of new angle with my film.

 

Ok , the LonePadawans slow 56k review of SoD part one.
Here we go. <Warning as I am asssessing this bit by bit, there are a lot of spoilers as to the first part. If you have not seen part one stop reading NOW>

From the opening crawl which was a nice opening. This seems to be the only Original Star Wars music in the film. After that we scroll down to a nice non canon rebel fleet,which I personally don't care about. The radio chatting is nice with a real feel of the rebels being woried about detection. The pilots we see all seem to have some character, although I expect they will all be killed off at the end of the film. The coruscant space shot is really nice and the, well I suppose I could call it the new imperial theme is good. The hologram of palpatine was good, but I think I prefer the throne room and hologram shown in the first trailer. I have never cared about acting and can't see anyhting wrong with the way people portrayed their characters. The X-wing landing was nice but the forest walk got a bit tedious sometimes and could have been cut a little. Why Artoo? Why,why,why Artoo? Is it meant to be r2-d2? Or are all astromechs suddenly called R2? The gun battle was good. But was the roll supposed to be naturalal after tripping over or simply to avoid any more blaster fire. (Thats my little brothers comment not me, he is also desperate to see the rest of this film.)
We then cut back to the x-wings. This is my favorite piece of music. I really liked red 1. If he gets killed off.. IlKILL YOU OFF GRRRRR Anyway the sith lords were calm and controled like they should be. The master (Sorry can't remember his name) was good. He really acted like a jedi outcast. Overacting? Not really. Just melodramatic I think. One thing before the film cut off. A jedi robe? On a tree, In the middle of a forest? Hmm. Prehaps a cave or somthing would have been better, but thats just me.
Now to the itty grity bits. CGI and Effects have come on a lot since that first trailer. The sabers and blaster bolts are nice. And the ships were really good. I just want the next bit. I want it sooooo baddly. Then there will be my part2 review.
(Oh yes, this is in no way in competition to JudgeJediTAC's review. Oh nooo no TM, I don't know how to do TMs.. Nooooooooo *Runs and hides from the wrath of Nick "Shorty" Long*

 

JediTAC is right. We are by no mean offended by any comments. We appreciate the fact that you guys are sharing your thoughts and opinions about the movie.

When we post a reply it's by no mean because we're defending oursleves or trying to find an excuse. We're just trying to explain why certain things happened the way they did!

So please KEEP letting us know what you think!

 

Okay I guess I went over the top with my knit picking post. After looking at it again I was whining abit. Prior to my previous post I was reading along and I kept getting miffed by the SW scholars. I think I should start getting more sleep and less Caffine at the office. And it appears that no one really cared about the rantings of an averagejoe anyway. I need to get a life too.

 

by the way guys i liked the way you used mill creek. i live about 5 minutes from it. nice to see something good comes out of the mahoning valley

 

I had forgotten the cloaking device quote! I won't even claim to say that I was trying to make some type of "no ship that small" observation - skipped my memory entirely!

::tucks tail between legs and scampers out the door::

 

Let me just say one thing here. Great work guys and gals. The film was awesome. Listen not to the nitpickers.

I am also somewhat saddened though. Because I know that I will have some stiff competition when our Rogue Squadron movie begins filming. Don't suppose you know of any out of work CG artists do you? LOL

Again, great job and many thanks to you all for a great piece of film that I know I will not mind adding to my personal Star Wars Movie Collection.

 

Excellent film! A lot more impressive than I expected. I couldn't pick any faults with the sound or music. Jason Graves did a great job there. It just blended in so well. Great CGI work, good colour, brilliant dog fights, the editing and all. Nothing more to say that hasn't already been said.

BTW, I noticed a Canopus logo at the end. What card was that you guys used? A Raptor? Just curious because I've got a Raptor myself. It's DV codec seems to have a better look than a couple of the others I've used. Hard to explain why. But SOD did have a very nice clean quality to it. Actually, the video shots looked cleaner than most of the space/cgi shots.

 

SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE MOVIE








Icicle, I too thought you were gonna kill off all the pilots, and I was sorta dissappointed when they all (except one, I think) lived to the end. Was this you just deciding not to be mean, or was is it that you favour a more optimistic view of the way battles between Rebels and Imperials went?