The Jedi Trials - A Welsh Fan-Film

This weekend, wasn't it? Got a list of who's turning up?

 

Well they will need to get marked by the examiner but I'm not sure exactly when

-any idea of when you will need them for the shoot?

I could bring them down myself if you want to but I will need to get them back.

Oh I've added a coiled wire from the handle of the prod which extends to a kind of pack which attatches to a belt-It is removable if it is to awkward to wield with it on.

 

Right, just to clarify everthing so we all know whats going on. It has been decided that the best place for us to meet is outside Virgin's in Cardiff at 1.30pm, Saturday 15th March. When were all assembled we shall mozzey on over to Starbucks for a chat and some damn fine coffee (wasn't Twin Peaks really good?).

I don't know if anyone would like to go and watch a movie or something? I guess we'll play that one by ear tomorrow. A quick rundown on the people that are confirmed for the meet (other factors permitting of course) are - Myself, Fall-on-Jin, Tantiv and Terra. I grant that its not a massive list, but then we're not exactly the biggest of countries. But what we may lack in numbers we shall make up for in extra muffins!

Of course anyone else that would like to attend is more than welcome to join us. Now the tricky bit, how do we recognise each other without scaring the bejesus out of total strangers??? I shall be wearing a black jacket, blue jumper, navy trouser, holding a rolled up newspaper. Hope that will help.


CGI-BOBAFENT - We probably won't need the props untill Summer (July-August) time. Maybe we can work something out with your course. Time the shooting schedule for when you've finished the year. Unless of course you would need the props for continued use, in which case we will time it for when your on Summer hiatus and can come down and help us film. Sound good?

 

hey guys, Hope to see you at the meetup tomorrow.


Welshguy- I dont think you have to worry about looking for me. I'll be wearing a leather trenchcoat with some dark blue Jeans and a poloneck Jumper. lol I should stick out like a sore thumb

 

Fall-on-Jin: Long leather trench coat eh? Are you going for the Neo or Spike look?

 

Turns out my girlfriend is here this weekend, so I'll be with her - we'll probably go to Starbucks though - I'm not hard to miss, I'll have a black hoody on with lots of patchs and badges...feel free to come up and say hi if you see me

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure what is wrong with the video Welshguy. Ah well I guess its just one of those things. Can anyone else see it?

 

Hi all. You will be pleased to hear that the meet did in fact take place on Saturday! Only myself and Fall-On-Jin were in attendance, but 2 people are better than no people I suppose.
Over all I think it was a highly productive and important meeting. We had plenty to say about the fan-film, as well as other subjects (including my massive crush on Gillian Anderson). We talked for over 3 hours on eliments ranging from how we could make the speeder bike from a bike with boxes on, to sets, locations and character development.
I'm not used to talking for such a long time and decided to get some refreshments for my poor voice. So I made the mistake of buying the only drink in Starbucks that tasted like cats pee. I'm telling you people, stay away from "authentic old style lemonade". Its bloody EVIL!
But lemonade (yuck) aside, the fan-film seems to have picked up some mementum again and a rough filming date has been decided on. We have decided that it would be easier for everyone involved if we shoot it in July-August. Not only will most people have some time off in that period, but the all important Welsh weather should be good.

ODJ-310388: Managed (finally) to get your movies to work and I must say that i'm very impressed. What programme did you use to create those effects and how long did it take you? And how many frames per second is it rendered at?

 

Summer would be good -I finish late june and will have them all back for you to use by then!I'd love to come down and help -I seemed to think you were making a start in Easter for some reason so there should be no problems with Summer -I was getting worried I would have to let you down but it doesn't look that way now

 

Managed (finally) to get your movies to work and I must say that i'm very impressed.

Thanks. I've also posted it in the FanFilms forum to see what people thought.

What programme did you use to create those effects and how long did it take you?

I used Adobe Premier to turn it into a filmstrip and then edited it in Photoshop. I think it took me about 1 1/2 hours in total. But it was over the space of a few days.

And how many frames per second is it rendered at?

I think that it was at about 30 fps. That is the usual amount.

Edit: I noticed that you said this in your first post. I even shot some test footage last weekend. Did that shot include any saber footage by any chance? As soon as you get some footage of a saberfight off your camera small or long send it to me. I want all the practice I can get.

 

Aye, a good meetup it was. Lol yea, even though i didnt by any lemonade, i could tell the look on welshguys face it wasnt his best purchase.


With that aside, it was a pretty good meetup. We discussed the movie in great detail, and had a good old chat about things in General. Another meetup is definately in order, anyone interested? I hope we could get a few more people this time, perhaps a few contact numbers so we can see who's where.

On another Note, this one goes out to CGI-BOBAFENT: did you manage to find any suppliers of sintra, or indeed a british equivalent? I think we would need it if we are building larger props... EG a speeder bike.

Yes, You heard me, Speeder bike. Nothings confimed yet, allthough it would push the film that extra mile if there was one in there. Also, we could rip off the famous "pissed off ani" scene in episode 2, where hes tearing through the Desert with a look which would make even the most hardened marine corpral shudder.

 

CGI-BOBAFENT: This is exactly the reason why we pushed back the filming date to July-August. Generaly people have less commitments at that time of year and would be more willing to help out. Plus its also a big boost to have another member of the team actually working on the movie. Picture it now, you spend half the day trying to explain to us why we can't use the cattle prods as pool cues. Look forward to working with you.

ODJ-310388: Well, if its lightsaber test footage your after, then i'm your man. I got a 2 minute test movie that has been fully edited (including lightsaber sound effects and music). All it needs now is the actual lightsaber blades, which is where hopefully, you come in
I just need to figure out how to send you the movie? I sent the Adobe Premiere file to you via email, but without the original video file i'm not sure it would work. Any ideas on how we can get around this?

Fall-On-Jin: I was thinking about that speeder scene at the end of the movie. I think that if we expand it, as in having Anakin riding back to his ship, have the right piece of music and film it right then it could look really cool. But its importnat that we make it different from the scene in AOTC. I think if we have it more of a angry, frustrated and sad Anakin, then it should still look really cool and not be to similar to the AOTC scene.

On a slightly off topic note i'm actually making a movie on saturday! Its just a little comedy sketch for the Atom Films Star Wars comp. I don't want to give to much detail away, but it will involve Anakin and Obi-Wan. This movie should be a nice little test of my directing abilities (as in trying to get people who have never acted before not to suck). Plus this will be the first time that I will be playing Anakin "in character", so that should be a nice little taster for me, see how the role fits etc. I would have liked this to have been a introduction to the people interesting in making the Jedi Trails movie, for us all to get together and just get some experience of the art of making a movie. However, due to the fact that everyone would have something better to do on a Saturday and the time and distance involved, I have decided that for such a short and simply movie it wouldn't be in the groups best interest. I think our focus would be best served in organising another meet and getting more ideas and development on the Jedi Trials.

 

Good luck

 

Any ideas on how we can get around this?

You were right about it not working. If you get your file up and then export it as either a .AVI with Divx encoder or Quicktime with Soreson 3. If you need any extra help tell me.

Also I noticed Tera you got the 1,666 post in this forum. Spooooooooky!

 

LOL, cool, go me

 

Come to think of it they would make quite good pool cues

Would you like me to try and get some of the Plymouth lot involved -they may take a bit of convincing but they're a good bunch


CGI-BOBAFENT THE "DANCING" PILOT
[image=http://www.exewing.btinternet.co.uk/day7zebig.JPG]

 

CGI-BOBAFENT- Awesome costume there. What helmet did you use, Classic action or Standard Version? I had the chance to buy a standard version, although i bought a trenchcoat in the end. I heard that its much smaller than the Classic... Oh well, no matter which it was on your costume, it worked well.

Plymouth... how far away from wales is that? And we are not talking about the boder here, one of the shooting locations is somewhere near Merthyr (Merthyr sands) and should proove useful. I noticed a stormtrooper in the background, is he a friend of yours? Perhaps we could use them for a possible project, allthough i think its best to concentrate on the film at hand first.


Welshguy- Good news concerning speederbike. Im going to pop down to a scrapyard sometime soon, and see if there is a motorbike seat anywhere.... i think that would be the best place to start.

So, you are filming that star wars spoof eh? It would be interesting to see how that turns out. Shame i couldnt have came along and helped, but there will always be a next time.

 

ODJ-310388: A big yes on the help thing dude. My main stumbling block is how exactly do I send it to you? The limit on my email is tiny so its going to be neigh on impossible to send it that way. If its possible could you please explain to me step by step on how I can get something thats one meg big to you?

Terra: I always knew you were evil!

CGI-Bobafent: Thats a realy good idea mate. Right now we BADLY need more people to get involved. There are many lead roles still up from grabs, so if anyone has any acting experience or could add something to the movie, then they will be welcomed with open arms. Also we are in desperate need of people to play the slaves. I know its not the most glamorous of roles, but without a believable, large group of slaves the movie might not work. I would be very grateful if you could send out some feelers and see if anyone is interested. I'd be very suprised is the role of Kander is not snapped up right away, his a really cool bad guy and has some great dialog and scenes. If any of them would like to read the script just pass on my email address and ask them to get in touch with me and I will send it to them.


Well, i'm sure that you have all be wondering how the shooting for my little movie went on the weekend? Well, not to badly actually. it was nice to get some experience of directing and acting, and I got into the Anakin role pretty much straight off, so if ever Mr Lucas has any problems with Mr Christensen, i'm in man!
It was really cool directing, I actually got to use the line "faster, more intense"! So thats antother one of my great ambitions in life done, now whats the next one... Get a date with Natalie Portman. This could prove slightly more difficult.
But anyway, about the movie. Considering that it is only a short 4 minute sketch, I ended up filming for around 3 hours! It doesn't help when your actors can only remember one scentence of dialog a time, and you have to shoot each scene 7 or 8 times cause they keep forgeting their lines or looking at the camera!!!!! But, still, a good director must always get the best out of his actors and I like to think that the end result will more than stand up to other movies that did not have the handicap of a first time director, non actors, failing light levels and the fact that the guy I had to play Obi-Wan was more interested in watching the rugby than "expressing empathy though a subtle glance of the eyes". Still, everyone has to start somewhere, don't they?

By the way everyone, i'm going away for a few days. Off to West Wales, where I shall be touching up the script and generaly having a good think about the movie. You could call it a journey of self discovery. Anyway, i'll talk to you all soon and i'll bring you back some rock too, if your lucky.

 

Hooray

 

I've contacted a few from the Plymouth group -Ones got back to me -he's interested but can't promise anything yet .

Sorry I don't know the trooper in the pic-He's one of the memebers of the UK Garrison and the pic was taken at Honiton Star Wars day- more pics can be found on their site
It was a fantastic day -you'll have to go to the next one if you can.
In case you wondered which Tie Pilot I am ,I'm the one with the reflectors on the gloves.My costume wasn't quite as good as the other ,but since then I've replaced the life support pack and am changing the pipes as well as trying to get hold of a proper flight suit.
If you do need a trooper for the next project try the replica prop board there may be a few troops willing to help,it's also a great place to find tips for making your props -ask about the speeder bike you'll probably get some good suggestions.

 

If its possible could you please explain to me step by step on how I can get something thats one meg big to you?


Right well I think that we would have to send it over one of the messaging services like yahoo or msn. If you have onw of them tell me what your user is and then we will have to arange a time to meet up, if you don't have those I'm not sure what to do.

 

Use an online Yahoo Briefcase

 

CGI-BOBAFENT: Hey dude, nice costume by the way. I got a message from a friend of yours, a guy from Devon that goes under the name of Ripper. Big thanks for getting more people on involved in this project. I sent him back a message just letting him know where in the world I am, possible meetups in the future and possible locations. That reminds me actually. It has been decided that we shall shoot the movie on the Merthyr Dunes. The amazing sand/vegitation scenery will make the movie look all the better, and of course this type of location has (to the best of my knowledge) never been used for a Star Wars movie. So if its good enough for Laurance of Arabia, then its good enough for us. Theres also a cool looking old castle there that would make a great slave compound. Now all we need is permission to film. Shouldn't be that hard, i'll just use the old Jedi mind trick.

ODJ-310388: Too bad about not being able to upload that video file to you. Guess we have to accept that MSN messenger just sucks. Maybe we should try Terra's suggestion of the Yahoo briefcase (whatever that is). I'll do a little digging and see how it works.

Fall-On-Jin: As you will remember I recently told you about the fact that my Bro will be in posession of a DVD writer in approx. 10 days! The great thing is that now we can really look forard to getting some decent end results. Which, lets face it, is the most important aspect of filming. Whats the point of getting the right script and actors etc. if your final movie looks like it was shot on a 15 year old analog camera. So its onwards and upwards for the Jedi Trials!!!

Also got a new hard drive. 120GB of free space to edit and upload movies. I'm going to start work on editing "Relationship Therapy" very soon. So if anyone wants to reserve their DVD copy of this short movie, let me know

By the way.

COME ON WALES!!!

Portugal here we come baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey dude, how was the trip to west Wales?

Good to hear about the DVD writer! With a few emptied out DVD cases from AOL that get dropped though the door every week, the finished product should look something cool. Speaking of which, how goes the Editing on Relationship therapy? Perhaps once The main film is finished, "Relationship therapy" and the test footage would make some cool Added Features.

Speaking of Filming, I've decided to spend every day after school this week making a very low bugdet Matrix fanfilm/interview. Its for a school project, and needs to be in by Easter, so it should be finished pretty soon. All i have to do is find parts of the school which dont have crappy little drawings scribbled by some first year 15 years ago stapled to the wall. Mind you, there seem to be a few pretty decent Star Wars paintings attached to the walls in school, so if no-one is looking on the last day of 6th form i might pay them back for overpricing all those awful recycled school-lunches. Sounds fair.