YOU MAY FIRE WHEN READY
by Russell Johnson
As the post production on our Star Wars project moves along we are on the verge of making the jump to light speed. I gathered with David last night in the editing room where he has been working non-stop on the opening crawl. By the way, it looks great. I know we aren't the only fan film makers to do a Star Wars crawl but you still can't help not being proud or getting excited about the whole friggin' thing. We watched several passes and are more than happy with the results.
Enter special effects. Jason, who I have spent much of the last few months calling James, my apologies again, who is working in L.A. has finished up the opening sequence where the Stromtrooper transport shuttle leaves the Death Star and heads to Alderaan. Now I'll admit this is my first time working with special effects so I'm still feeling my way through the process. A week or so ago I see an early version of the shuttle leaving the Death Star and I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed. It was cool and all but I just thought it would look more realistic, all the while never doubting Jason's skill. This is where my ignorance really came shining through, and shows you, and myself, my utter lack of knowledge of the whole process. Last night I see the crawl plus the complete fx shot of the ship from Death Star to Alderaan and this time I was a bit more than overwhelmed this go around. Obviously the first look I saw was for position, speed, etc. Much like an animatic only with slightly more detail. But last night's shot was perfect! I was just astounded.
At this point things are going along well and we hook up via video conference with Jason in L.A. We need to discuss the bullet holes in the wall behind the troopers. So we shoot him off a still frame with placement for the holes and then we continue to shoot the shit amongst ourselves via web cam. Anyway, this whole time he's working on a few rough placements for bullet holes and then shoots them back over. Fucking awesome I tell you and maybe it's because this is the first time we are really using digital effects and I am so excited about it that my perspective is a tad skewed, but I can't get over how good it all looks. David has even done some very nice work in removing some characters out of a shot and Jason also worked on a small piece that I don't even want to give away. Needless to say that the term "we can fix it in post" really means something entirely different in the digital age. One more reason digital kicks films ass. And all this is not so much the "big" effects, the gun blasts, the space ship or planets but the ones you'll never know about unless they are pointed out to you. That's the beauty of it all.
So on to the jump to light speed. We have the poster almost complete. The images are put together all we need to do is tweak credits and title. Which reminds me, I have been hunting for the font used for the credits portion of the poster as well as the official "title" and have had no luck. I had almost given up hope but this morning I gave it one more shot. I open my font book and say to myself, "I am going through this one last time and study ever page, ever font in here." And damned if it wasn't like a slap in the face but right there on the first page is the exact font I've been looking for for a week. I know it probably means very little to you, the reader, but I nearly blew a nut. Lesson here; Never give up kids!
Next week we are in the studio working on the voice over work, the behind the scenes interviews and the making of featurette. The whole thing has to be done in 2 weeks. Here's hoping that crunch time on EPISODE IV.V doesn't push us all to the Dark Side! But if it does we've already got the wardrobe!
As the post production on our Star Wars project moves along we are on the verge of making the jump to light speed. I gathered with David last night in the editing room where he has been working non-stop on the opening crawl. By the way, it looks great. I know we aren't the only fan film makers to do a Star Wars crawl but you still can't help not being proud or getting excited about the whole friggin' thing. We watched several passes and are more than happy with the results.
Enter special effects. Jason, who I have spent much of the last few months calling James, my apologies again, who is working in L.A. has finished up the opening sequence where the Stromtrooper transport shuttle leaves the Death Star and heads to Alderaan. Now I'll admit this is my first time working with special effects so I'm still feeling my way through the process. A week or so ago I see an early version of the shuttle leaving the Death Star and I have to admit I was a bit underwhelmed. It was cool and all but I just thought it would look more realistic, all the while never doubting Jason's skill. This is where my ignorance really came shining through, and shows you, and myself, my utter lack of knowledge of the whole process. Last night I see the crawl plus the complete fx shot of the ship from Death Star to Alderaan and this time I was a bit more than overwhelmed this go around. Obviously the first look I saw was for position, speed, etc. Much like an animatic only with slightly more detail. But last night's shot was perfect! I was just astounded.
At this point things are going along well and we hook up via video conference with Jason in L.A. We need to discuss the bullet holes in the wall behind the troopers. So we shoot him off a still frame with placement for the holes and then we continue to shoot the shit amongst ourselves via web cam. Anyway, this whole time he's working on a few rough placements for bullet holes and then shoots them back over. Fucking awesome I tell you and maybe it's because this is the first time we are really using digital effects and I am so excited about it that my perspective is a tad skewed, but I can't get over how good it all looks. David has even done some very nice work in removing some characters out of a shot and Jason also worked on a small piece that I don't even want to give away. Needless to say that the term "we can fix it in post" really means something entirely different in the digital age. One more reason digital kicks films ass. And all this is not so much the "big" effects, the gun blasts, the space ship or planets but the ones you'll never know about unless they are pointed out to you. That's the beauty of it all.
So on to the jump to light speed. We have the poster almost complete. The images are put together all we need to do is tweak credits and title. Which reminds me, I have been hunting for the font used for the credits portion of the poster as well as the official "title" and have had no luck. I had almost given up hope but this morning I gave it one more shot. I open my font book and say to myself, "I am going through this one last time and study ever page, ever font in here." And damned if it wasn't like a slap in the face but right there on the first page is the exact font I've been looking for for a week. I know it probably means very little to you, the reader, but I nearly blew a nut. Lesson here; Never give up kids!
Next week we are in the studio working on the voice over work, the behind the scenes interviews and the making of featurette. The whole thing has to be done in 2 weeks. Here's hoping that crunch time on EPISODE IV.V doesn't push us all to the Dark Side! But if it does we've already got the wardrobe!
posted by Twenty One Productions at 11:58 AM
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