Garage Warfare - Lightsaber Battle

Hello all,

I've been a lurker here for sometime, watching everyone's movies and learning the tricks of the trade. I just graduated from college and decided to make a Lightsaber battle for my final project. I was given 3 months time to do everything from coreography, to prop building, to rotoscoping...so if you see any inaccuracies like the the sabers not retracting after someone lets it go, you'll know why. Well, here it is. I hope you guys enjoy it.

My initial dream was to make it RvD quality, but my time constraints wouldnt allow for such quality. I promise, if there's a sequel, it'll be epic.

Garage Warfare: Lightsaber Battle
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50D0N99Rq8o
Vimeo (higher quality than YouTube): http://www.vimeo.com/1055010
High Res Direct Download: http://www.pixelmana.com/gw/GWH264.mov

CC is very much welcome.

 

There are some really good parts in it. In general, i felt it was quite a bit better than your average duel, though i think that it was let down by the quality of the effects. The whole wand thing seemed entirely inappropriate but was done pretty well (though with dodgey effects).

 

Overall the pacing is pretty good, and some of the plotting and gags are well thought out.

I found the actual lightsaber choreography the weakest link in the overall mix, where as dramatic aspects and other stunts worked out well (i.e., nice backflip). If you're planning on a future lightsaber duel I would really challenge yourselves to up your sword technique and moves to be more convincing. Better footwork, deeper stances, higher speed, and more variety in strikes and styles would help.

The special effects are pretty good, but a few of the more ambitious particle shots fail in terms of tracking. Lightsaber effects on the blades are fine, but shadows are extremely noticeable in a few shots, which could have benefited from interactive lighting and perhaps shadow removal. Working with a more diffuse light source would have eliminated the shadow problems. Some more interaction of the lightsabers with scenery would be a worthwhile addition, since following RVD2 the idea of such a lightsaber duel not doing extensive damage to the surroundings feels a little off.

The audio mix isn't very subtle. I think people usually underestimate the importance of audio in projects, but we're so used to hearing amazing professional audio that when it's not 100% there, it's very difficult to sell the product as convincing.

On a technical note, your "high resolution" version is not very efficiently compressed. 300 MB for a 5 minute standard definition film is not very efficient encoding. If I were you, I'd try again with a better 2-pass variable bit rate H.264 encode. Something like 2.7 Mbps (2700 kbps) should be more reasonable.

I look forward to your next effort!

-Spiff

 

All criticism is very much well taken. This was really my first attempt at creating something like this. I actually realized when I started the rotoscoping process that the coreography would hurt us a bit. I'm glad to have posted it on these forums under such critical eyes. It really helps me learn for future productions.

Keeps the CC coming!

 

Spiff wrote;

Lightsaber effects on the blades are fine, but shadows are extremely noticeable in a few shots, which could have benefited from interactive lighting and perhaps shadow removal. Working with a more diffuse light source would have eliminated the shadow problems.
-Spiff[/quote]

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According to the Star Wars Technical Commentaries, lightsabers cast shadows.

At least in the original trilogy

 

(1)Spinning around during a duel makes you vulnerable, especially when your opponent is close to you.

(2) At around the 1:38 mark, Mr Green blade does an impression of The Rock with that hand signal enticing his opponent to advance forward. We've all seen The Rock do that. It's been done. Please think of something else.

(3) At around the 2:08 mark, when the blades touch the wall, there should be scorch marks on it.

(4) At around the 2:14 mark, when Mr Green bladed's lightsaber falls to the ground, there should be a sound of it de-activating.

(5) At around the 2:15 mark, Mr Green blade grabs the railing and does a "back kick, attempted horizontal cartwheel" type of a move, why does he do that? His legs could be chopped off, so why would he make himself vulnerable like that?

(6)At around the 2:16 mark, Mr Pink blade swings his lightsaber, but there are no sounds of it swinging.

(7) At around the 2:17 mark, Mr Pink blade's lightsaber blade hits the railing, but there is no apparent effect on the railing, like smoke or something.

(8) At around the 2:20 mark, when Mr Green blade Force pulls his ancient weapon to his hand, there should be the sound of it re-igniting.

(9) At around the 2:27 mark, blades are a-swingin', but there are no swinging sounds.

(10) At around the 3:34 mark, Mr Green blade does another impression of The Rock.

(11) Those wands would be cool if you were conducting an orchestra. Ask John Williams about that.

(12) At around the 4:11 mark, it's unethical and immoral to shoot someone in the back and/ or when they're down.

(13) At around the 4:41 mark, we can hear the lightsaber hilt belonging to Mr Green blade hit Mr Pink blade in the back of the head, why don't we also we hear Mr Pink blade falling on the ground?

(14) If you feel the need to have another duel in a parking garage, please use extreme caution around any cars, railings, those yellow, concrete vertical barriers, and concrete support pillars.

(15) There sure are a lot of Jedis, Padawans and Younglings hanging out in parking structures, forests and backyards.

 

And in fact, I don't usually have a problem with them. In this particular case however, the shadows are clearly visible against the wall, but there is no light from the sabers on the wall.

It gives a conflicting visual cue that the ambient lights are brighter than the sabers, but the sabers are blowing out all the footage... so they should be bright, but aren't casing light at anything but the camera... *brainsplodes due to high distractometer rating* and hence the criticism.

-Spiff

 

You have any better suggestions?

 

You need to change the settings in Vimeo so we can view it there. Right now it is set to Private.

 

Um, "better" is subjective.

How about "different"?

(1) In the produce section in a grocery store. One guy can smash lettuce in his opponents face as a distraction, then he rolls backward over a stack of oranges, a chubby grocery checker with hot pink hair gets in his way on the way out so he just clotheslines her out of the way, then he dashes outside, hits his leg againts the side of a low brick wall, trips over a speed bump, then hobbles over to a shopping cart and propels himself across the parking lot in his attempt at escape. Where it goes from there, I don't know. I'm just throwing it out there. That sort of thing. This could be in a possible sequel to Chad Vader.


(2) In a plane in flight. Lightsabers On A Plane. A sequel to Snakes On A Plane. We could get Samuel L. Jackson to help choreograph that one.

(3) From two different cars. Shot against green screen of course.

(4)On a top of a gondola. Like in the movie Moonraker, with that tall guy with aluminum foil on his teeth. Shot against green screen of course.

(5) A "duel" to see who can chop the most firewood.

(6) On top of an 18-wheeler. Shot against greenscreen of course.

(7) In a tortilla factory.

Wait. That's been done before.

Sorry, Dorkman Scott. Didn't mean to give away your idea.

Scratch that.

(8) In a rollercoaster.

(9) At a Star Wars convention.

(10) At a wedding.


How any these ideas would fit into an actual plot, I'm not sure.

 

I'm getting tired of these lists...

Great job for a first attempt! Once you start doing more, you learn tenacity in choreography, and how to effectively treat a busted knuckle. As far as effects go, simple lightsabers can be sufficient, but like Spiff said, RVD2 kinda raised the bar in regards to how a fight affects the surrounding environment. But you'll get there. It's a lot to take in. Can't wait to see your next project!

 

DaFireMedic: Thanks for the heads up, I was wondering why it had absolutely no plays...it's now set to public.

Thanks for the long lists! It only helps me learn, so please, pick away (but don't shoot me down completely =)

 

Good job. I really liked the way that you did the opening sequence with the flying through the garage effect. I also like the lightsaber props, and the ending move.

 

TaunTaunHerder, I think that was constructive, but a little harsh

Rynanca, that was fantastic for a first attempt, rotoing was good and choice of location is original-ish, keep at it.

 

really good first attempt, 10 points for not using LSmaker first time round

 

That was stolen from one of Andrew Kramer's promo's was it not?

 

Yeah, I know. I really should take out the bit where the chubby grocery checker gets clotheslined.


Wait.

Hmm.

Okay.


If you mean the first post, then I'm sorry if it was harsh.

Just tryin' to give a little feedback on some technical aspects of sound editing
and such, with a little bit of teasing thrown in.

Sorry if it was harsh.


If there was more security in parking garages, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

Lol...maybe, that tutorial was the first thing that came to mind when I saw it. But even if it was it was used to good effect.

 

Yes, ill admit the idea was taken from Kramer's promo, but it wasn't taught through a tutorial. I had to remake that in Cinema 4D myself.

TaunTaun: As for security in parking garages, a cop did roll by and asked what we were doing. Fortunately we were in the school parking garage, so it was easy to say that it was for a school project which cops normally are okay with.

 

hmm...that may not be such a good idea....