Makazie One is up...

They've got it up for download:

http://www.makazieone.com/download.html

 

KICK ASS!! Nice work guys!

 

I'm not sure if the people who made this film go here, so I'm not going to give a full review, but nevertheless this is a very entertaining, very well shot fan film. Lots of stuff here Star Wars fans love to see with great production value, so it's definitely worthwhile to watch.

 

i'm pretty sure there was a WIP thread by the creator...i'm surprised they didn't make an offical release thread.

 

Does anyone have a mirror of the HD version? I'm getting between 1 and 2 kB/s... and estimated download times of 2 days. The host is obviously limited in bandwidth.

-Spiff

 

Actually, I put it up Sun night for that same reason...

http://fanfilms.phispace.net/Makazie_One_720p.mov

 

Kuat's da man!

 

Hi everyone, this is Clutch, the writer/director for Makazie One. Thanks for posting the film and the kind words. We just rolled into town coming back from Dragon Con which is why we haven't done an official online "release". We decided to post the film shortly after the world premiere at D*C and are aware of the download issues and will be taking care of that this week.

Thanks again.

-Clutch

 

Hooray for phispace! Thank's kuatengineer.

-Spiff

 

Really cool flick, loved the Mando vs. Stormie battle.

Only thing I didn't really like was the trooper using a lightsaber, felt like a gimmick to me.

 

Spectacular film - I'd say it's my favorite out of every Star Wars fanfilm I've seen, and that it was also the best in terms of just the individual components (Music, special effects, camera work, acting, etc.) I thought some of the Stormtrooper voices could have been done better, but other than that it was really great. I loved it, though I'm a Mando'ad so I'm a bit disappointed the Mandalorians died.

 

I saw it as a Jedi in armor, not a trooper using a lightsaber. Just like they did during the Clone Wars.

 

No, it was a professionally trained Force Sensitive Stormtrooper also trained in the Force. The girl at the end was apparently another trooper from his unit who does the work he does, letting him know that "Target 4" has been acquired and a transport is inbound to pick them up and take them to it.

Also, I thought the trooper fighting with his helmet off looked totally BA. He looked seriously cool with that saber and doing that sword combat - it reminded me of that SWBF 3 leaked footage with the unhelmeted ARC trooper fighting a Jedi with a vibroblade.

 

I saw it the same way, and I thought it worked well. I've seen occasions where it didn't work so well, but I though they pulled it off here.

No, thank YOU!

 

Hey Laaminui, you've got it exactly right. If there's ever a sequel I want to add a little back story on Makazie One and show that he once was one of the Empires best troopers (maybe even a royal guard) who hand picked to be trained in the force and saber combat. The idea with the female is that they both work together almost like a pair of raptors when on missions. Again, if we do a sequel you'll see more of this. The big deal with this one was to show a trooper going head to head with a Jedi using a saber and having that big "reveal" at the end when he grabs the detonator which the audience was fooled into thinking was just another detonator.

Overall thank you everyone for the great comments and I'm glad everyone seems to like it for the most part. From the beginning we wanted to pack this film with stuff no one has ever seen before but always wanted too. After working on this for so long it's cool hearing and seeing other peoples reactions.

-Clutch

 

And THAT, ladies and germs, is how you do a Star Wars Fan Film In A Forest!

Clutch, this was great - your production values and technical accomplishments really really led to great storytelling and this is something that I wish people strived harder to achieve. I had a few quibbles with the film, but overall it was an entertaining watch and always impressive. Very nice work.

 

Mini-Review w/ spoilers:

Mackazie One has a good opening set-up with a large battle scene. I was a little confused as to whether the troopers we were watching were supposed to be the bad ass ones referred to in the crawl, since they didn't seem to be doing much that was particularly competent or co-ordinated. Evidently they weren't. Following the battle we're introduced to the character we're supposed to be interested in, and treated to an extended walking montage. To be honest, I thought the trooper was heading into some kind of well-choreographed ambush with the Mandalores, and thus all the boot leather was buildup. I was quite disappointed when it ended up being a lightsaber battle in a cave, that was significantly less memorable than the opening. With no real character introduction to the Jedi, I couldn't care less as to whether he won. Likewise Mackazie One wondering around didn't endear me to him.

Generally all the out door shots were treated with good cinematography and a gritty desaturated look. Some of the compositing of smoke and fire was a little dubious, but the flying Mandalores, TIE bombers, and laser blasts were well done. Lighting and cinematography in the cave was very limited compared to the outdoor shots. This is not surprising considering caves are generally cramped and dark, but the use of light-casting saber props would have helped with this significantly.

In the scheme of things, this is another fanfilm that seems to be an excuse to have a lightsaber fight. While the opening is strong, the second act is fairly empty (pretty though), and the final act is relatively standard fare. The film has many technical accomplishments, but a stronger script would seem to be the next thing to work on.

-Spiff

 

Agreed with -Spiff-, my only quibbles was that the film makes the same mistake my fanfilm did - production values added power to the story that was there, but suddenly you became aware of how little story actually existed and this was sorely lacking. I also felt the lightsaber battle was unneccessary, I don't hold too much to the idea that if you use the Force then you need to have a lightsaber. Great looking movie, can't wait for the next one which hopefully will be chock full of story and tension!

 

Thanks for the critiques Spiff, you have some good points. From the start of the project I made it clear to everyone that I wanted a Jedi to be the absolute LAST thing the audience was expecting to see at the end so on that front I feel we accomplished exactly what we were trying to do. That being the case I couldn't go into any back story of the Jedi since it was suppose to be a shocker at the end and you weren't suppose to know that the trooper was hunting with a saber. We set out to pack this film with as much stuff as we could that had never been seen before and being a long time member of the 501st I had always wanted to see a trooper go head to head with a Jedi. Again, something no one had ever seen happen. I admit it, I'm all about the bad-guys. I also had another HUGE dilemma as I was trying to change perspectives and make the Empire the good guys and the Jedi the bad. All that being said, now that this has been released and the "cat is out of the bag" I'm now free to go into much greater detail with the characters themselves and always thought of this as a trilogy and you just watched the first part. Btw, it's spelled Makazie...not Mackazie.


-Clutch

 

First let me start off with saying BRAVO! This is one of the best films of 2009 so far by a long shot. Please go forward with a sequel.

The things I liked: battle was superb in how it was shot, edited, and look. I liked mysterious trooper concept, kinda reminded me of Master Chief of Halo fame with his silent or electronic voice and mysterious nature. I was hoping you would never show a face, but oh well.

The lightsaber battle was nicely edited, but was it necessary probably not. The sequel gives chance to move away from the Jedi stuff and into Empire. The ending setup promises a great story especially if you dive into more personal history with the last character shown.

Overall, I give this a solid 8.5/10 easily. I hope you continue to make more of this series.

This gets me excited for Versus II which promises the same level of quality. Well done!

 

This review contains spoilers, for anybody who hasn't watched it yet.

I was REALLY enjoying that up until the jedi showed up. It was on its way to becoming my favorite fan film of all time, and then... lightsaber duel. I was so excited to be seeing something Jedi-free for a change, a Star Wars fan-film that was just a futuristic war, with actual humans on both sides. And it was fantastic to look at, as well. Once the Jedi antics kicked in I felt like the cinematography and editing weren't as strong as the rest of the film. In addition to that, I wasn't really digging the choreography, either. And the cave... looks like a lot of crinkled up plastic.

But the first ten minutes or so, and ESPECIALLY the first five, some of my favorite fan-film material yet. Good costumes, good cinematography, and solid effects work. I loved the high energy of the battle sequence, and I loved it even more when you slowed things down after the TIE bombing and just had the two Mandalorians stalking the wounded trooper. I just wish it had stayed about that stuff and not gotten into the Jedi material.

But still an enjoyable experience.

 

Exactly how I was feeling. Amazing just seeing a kick butt sci-fi battle with amazing costumes and pretty solid FX work. But then the lightsaber duel happened and the quality of the FX dropped (alot) and it actually lost my interest. But a great fan film non the less.

 

You took his helmet off! Storm trooper etiquette man!
Thats what lost me right there. sorry. Also like i said in you're previous thread, the tracking still needs some work.

 

Redeye, Producer of Makazie One here.

We truly appreciate all of your comments and critques. Makazie One was produced on a zero budget which made it a bit tough at times. We had an awesome team, around 80 or so. The film would not of happened without all of them. If Makazie One brings just an ounce of pleasure to anyone watching it (especially a Star Wars fan) it makes all the hard work well worth it.

Now we are in the process of getting the film out there for all SW fans. If you enjoyed Makazie One, please tell your friends about it so they might get an opportunity to check it out.

For those of you that I have not already met, I hope to get a chance to meet you face-to-face in the future and chit chat a bit.


Redeye out-

 

I was going to say the exact same thing.

As a fan film, this holds it's own. It's strong, powerful, entertaining and the high production values, which for a fan film, makes all the difference.

As a filmmaker (a wannabe filmmaker), working on set of features and attending film festivals, etc... I'm surrounded by short films with high production values. I'd also like to think what I do has some high prod values as well. So to me, when watching, I enjoyed the shaky cam, great editing, and sound design (some of the best sound design I've heard in a long time), however was greatly let down by the script. To me, the script is the backbone to any film, and a bad script will bring the whole thing down.

A few problems I had with it was the "sections" of the films really had nothing to do with each other. The first act really was exceptionally good. It captured the raw gritty war style that we see in hollywood films. Perhaps at times it was a bit dull and could have developed and changed, and the explosions could have used some on screen practical effects (such as dirt flying), but it was strong.

However, my biggest problem with act 1 is that it seems to have NOTHING to do with the rest of the film. So much so that the protagonist wasn't even there (unless I missed something?). This time should have been taken to help introduce the protagonist and show us some backstory, or just the classic "set-up." I too expected this elite stormtrooper to be amongst the group and I kept looking for him, only to find out he was never there. Maybe there's a backstory you haven't explained, and there's a reason for showing us this battle for the first 1/3 of the film, but right now it's a big flaw IMO. As my scriptwriting teacher once said, everything in a story is there for a purpose.

In the second act, we follow Makazie One walking around a forest. Okay, interesting, seems to show a compassionate/detective side to him, but it started to drag. Again, nothing really developed. We just saw one dead body, then another. If we were following him as he discovered more clues, more than just a footprint, perhaps a broken branch, a dead fire, then we'd feel more engaged. Also it needed to be a bit tightened up for pacing sake.

The third act I have to agree is the weakest. As a fan film, this has been done before. Yes, the stormtrooper wielding a lightsaber is new, but this exciting revelation gets tiring fast. It was 5 minutes of so-so choreography between two people. That's all it was, and to be honest, I was skipping over. Just like any aspect of a story, the fight needs to develop, change, go furthur along, but I didn't see that. Just a bunch of lightsabers clashing for 5 minutes.

Anyways, if this sounds harsh, you should hear what I think of other fan films. For a fan film this is great, and you should be proud. The production value is at the level of which I strive for (which I'm not sure I've reached yet), and you have something good going for you. Can't wait to see some sequels.