Upcoming live-action PSU-themed fight film

[CaptainPlanet]

I was going to do this several years ago, but I hit a snag and the project went on indefinite hold. Now however, the idea has miraculously risen from the grave an is now in full swing! I am fortunate to be able to work with such a devoted cast for this major project. One of the actors has years of training in weapon martial arts and will be spreading his knowledge to the rest of the cast. He is also trained well in Korean martial arts and another actor is experienced in UFC-style kickboxing. Of course, we will be dealing primarily with weapons, so hand-to-hand combat will be of little to no use for this project. We will begin crafting the weapons in the next few weeks and, once that is finished, we will begin practicing choreography. The live-action project will likely be filmed by Epic Media Studios, depending on where we will be shooting. Epic Media has over 25 years of filming, special effects, and pyrotechnics experience, however, I will likely be rotoscoping the film myself. This project is too close to my heart to let anyone else do the beam effects for the weapons, unless of course they know what Phantasy Star is and are familiar with the weapons. We will likely begin shooting sometime next month, or later, depending on what's going on. The film has a targeted summer release date, though it will probably be done before then. I have recently posted a promo on YouTube about this project and have provided a link below, as well as links to my other animation test videos. Enjoy!


Epic Media Studios Website
www.epicmediastudios.net/

"Ultimate Beam Weapon Fight: Weapon Candidates" Promotional Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhbmikZQDJE

Why we won't be wearing costumes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pEirhYuGcs

Photon Axe Rotoscope Test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As8S9JQ-Gto

NanoTransformer Weapon Draw Test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSPrxlORGE

Foie Animation Test Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYqvyISS2WE

Megid Animation Test Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCdQZeH5v3w

[pizzagirl]

Looks promising. Claws claws claws!

[Legendwolf]

what program did you use for video

[CaptainPlanet]

Adobe Premiere Elements 7

[Legendwolf]

Thats really good nice work

[Ail]

daggers! ^^ (and double sabers, and mechgun, and xbows.. ^^; )

[tadtwisted]

all the first video did was make me sad :( So many kick @ss looking weapons in PSU that alot of people havent seen because they are weak c, b, or a rank even some s-rank weapons are dust in the wind now.

[-Zephyr-]

Don't do it, people will hate you.

[PeskySaurus]

*inserts gun in mouth shakily. a single tear drops from his eye. pulls the trigger.*

[Gunslinger-08]

Looks interesting enough. Good luck on this!

[Omega-z]

lol it will give the JP a OGM lol... hey we did transformer`s why not Phantasy Star:)
Be carefull you mite be the next Michael Bay and have all the JP girls ninja jump you to have your babies lol:)

[Gibdozer]

Good luck with this, and it better have knuckles in it!

[ashley50]

Don't do it, people will hate you.

I second this.

[CaptainPlanet]

Well, we are likely going to stick with the simpler designs (ex: C, B, or A class styles) for several reasons. One, its the first film ever like this, and if it's popular enough, we can make another one with room left over to outdo ourselves. Two, the guy who is doing the metalwork to actually create these weapons is good, but he's not THAT good. It would take some serious skill to produce some S-ranks just by using the simple tools at his disposal. We would have to REALLY do some research on different techniques on how we could build these things. In case any of you were wondering, there aren't going to be any costumes or anything like that in this film. The people are going to look like ordinary people (kind of like they did in Ryan vs Dorkman). Just to set it off, if it's not too much of a pain to rotoscope THAT many glowing things on-screen at once, we may decide to trick out our clothing with "line shields." You may also be happy to know that we are going to be implementing nanotransformers for the ability to switch out weapons on the fly, and there will be a lot of switching out, trust me. ;) We want to showcase as many weapons as possible without overdoing it. We are also going to try and add cool particle effects to the materializing weapons when they are pulled from the nanotransformer. I'm thinking something that looks similar to the wispy green aura that surrounds your character when they level up.

[landman]

To differentiate it from any star wars similar fan film, it is better to use the most different weapons from that saga. Claws, Axes, Machineguns... the problem would be crossing some of the weapons in a combat (you could always look at soul calibur lol)

[Delete]

Really looking forward to something like this. I myself wish I could do something similar but I don't have the time or skill. Good luck and be sure to keep this thread updated when ya start adding some more stuff :)

[CaptainPlanet]

I will be sure to keep everyone here up to date on the progress of the project. I just started attempting to rotoscope an axe in some medieval fight scene a couple hours ago, and it's coming along nicely. I'll be sure to post the finished product up on this thread. It's such tedious work! I thought those two sabers were hard! Of course, that was my first rotoscope flick, and it was only four seconds in length, and each saber only needed one mask. The axe fight scene I'm currently working on is 10 seconds long, and a single axe blade requires a minimum of four masks, double the amount I used in the saber film! Basically, making beam weapons is a lot of work and VERY time consuming (we're talking frame-by-frame editing), but my faith in this project is unwavering. I will do whatever it takes and work as long as I have to to make sure this comes to fruition. There's no doubt in my mind that this film will be completed by summer and that it will be done right! :)

[biggabertha]

Good luck!!

I wish you all the best and it'll be good, VERY good to see some choreography that isn't a Yuen Woo Ping, Hollywood or anime style.

[CaptainPlanet]

Sorry for how short this video is, but I have been working on this all day and I wanted to hurry up and see the results! I'll probably make this one a bit longer. I just realized that I should have probably put this on the front page, but I don't see where I can delete a post, but I guess this video will just have to go up twice. lol

Photon Axe Rotoscope Test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As8S9JQ-Gto

[Tek[+]Lok]

Its always funny how light sabers never cast any actual light on anything. You got to figure out how to get some decent light reflecting off your body.

[CaptainPlanet]

You make a really good point, Tek[+]Lok. I will begin researching techniques to do just that. In the meantime, I will be working on my next photon weapon test video, the photon whip, which I will post at the beginning of this thread as soon as it is finished, which will probably be tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest.

One of my star actors, who is also the experienced weapons martial artist I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, has never heard of Phantasy Star until today. I sent him the "Ultimate Beam Weapon Fight: Weapon Candidates" video, as well as my beam weapon test videos, and he was impressed by what he saw. I brought him here to this thread and he had no idea that there was this much support for our film. He was so excited once he read all the posts from you guys that he cannot wait to get started filming!

This is also the same guy that will be crafting the weapons using his metalworking skills. He says he cannot wait to start spinning the weapons. He tells me that the melee weapons will be really easy to make based off the designs he saw, however the guns will take a bit longer, but he says they are well within his capabilities to replicate. He will begin work on the weapons on Wednesday, January 27th. Once they are crafted and painted, I will be posting a few pictures of them up on this thread for all to see.

Once again, thank you guys for all your support! It really means a lot to us! Please check back with this thread frequently for updates on the film's progress!

[Danny_Dark]

Huh,...What...?

[SuperRygar]

I didn't see any mention of offical support from SEGA. How is this gonna happen without lawsuits?

[pinkace]

I think weapons will be the least of your problems. you are very good at that rotoscoping thing. you dont even need a metal worker, just cut the weapons out of thick plastic, they will be covered up by the photon effect anyways... youi are wasting money.

Your real problems will start with the COSTUMES. what will you do about FULL BODY CAST SUITS? it has to look convincing. You will need several extremely hot girls to wear ridiculously revealing suits; this whole thing will just phail if you don't have at least two hot girls wearing the voloyal or CASoyal sets.

Also, the NEON emblems and accents on cast outfits... how will you do that? can you rotoscope that?

Honestly, to teh naysayers, how can you turn down a chance to see a live-action Voloyal set? thats one of the hottest gaming outfits. Ever.

[CaptainPlanet]

SuperRygar > The same way Ryan vs Dorkman and the other 50,000 lightsaber fan films did. It's freelance and totally non-profit, therefore, no lawsuits can me made. :)

pinkace > That won't be a problem because there will be no elaborate costumes. I know that may disappoint a lot of you, but this film is primarily meant to show off real-life rotoscoped photon weapons, the first of their kind to show up in live-action choreography. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record using this specific reference, but Ryan vs Dorkman (and most other lightsaber videos) have no jedi outfits, just lightsabers, as this video will be guys in normal clothing using photon weapons from the Phantasy Star franchise. The closest thing we may to do costumes will be adding a glowing line shield effect to our clothing (the glowing lines on your characters clothes that change color based on the element of your line shield). rotoscoping the line shields on clothing will be a snap. I'm currently rotoscoping a beam whip video as we speak, and if I can rotoscope THAT with as many segments as it takes, I can rotoscope anything. :)

Also, about the weapons being made out of metal, we just wanted to make props that had realistic weight to them. Plastic is rather light. We want the weapon handles, and especially the guns, to appear that they have the weight they would have if they were real weapons. Plastic can be whipped around with ease, while metal causes a minuscule, yet noticeable lag in the user's movements. We're going for top notch, so why settle when we can take the quality up even higher? Besides, They would make cool little mementos to hang on to after the video is released. :)

[Omega-z]

Just wondering have you thought about doing Tech base weapon`s , could some flashy moves when casting the spell was just a thought?:) oh on the clothing and p0arts you could just design your own new looking one that way you don`t have to worry about lawsuits, even the community could help with designs. Be could cool to have monsters in it too:), but mite asking to much. would be sweet if you did tho even if the monster(s) were your own creation.:)

[CaptainPlanet]

When I first thought of this project several years ago, I had one person ask me if I would be willing to put techs in the film. At most, I may throw a Zonde in there or something just to throw people off, but this film is mainly focused on fight choreography and the weapons. Please note that this is NOT going to be a Phantasy Star film. If it were, we would be doing costumes, monsters, green screen, the whole nine yards. This would fall more under the category of a fan film considering the only thing from the franchise featured in the film will be the weapons, and of course, there will be nanotransformers (the thing on the back of your character's neck where they supposedly store and draw their weapons from) and probably line shield effects on the clothing and maybe even a tech thrown in.

On a side note, I want to point out that I love the idea of using nanotransformers in the film! We could have simply put weapons in the actors' hands and said "Here you go, now go at it." The use of nanotransformers adds a whole new dimension of possibilities. The level of versatility alone would go through the roof with the ability to switch out weapons on the fly! Imagine someone charging their opponent firing photon rounds from a handgun. Once they get near their opponent, they jump into the air and, without missing a beat, reaches behind their head and draw a saber to come down hard on their opponent as they land. The possibilities are endless!

[SuperRygar]

i see...then its not really live-action PSU movie, its just people fighting with PSU-style weapons. it would be cool to see those weapons, but if they are just low rank weapons most of them won't really be familar.

the title is a bit misleading, and that ryan vs dorkman thing doesnt really interest me. i never liked star wars becuase it had light sabers xD so if its not star wars characters, then light saber fights are really uninteresting, IMO.

good luck though, i may give it a watch when its done but i wont be interested becuase of its slight relation to PSU

[CaptainPlanet]

I can see how one could be mislead by the title of the thread. Sorry about that. I did make sure to put "PSU-THEMED Fight Film" rather than "PSU Fight Film"

The reason, however, that it's simply the weapons is because we are trying to reach a wider audience, not just the fans of Phantasy Star. We were doing to do different types of beam weapons anyway, but as soon as I thought of that concept, my mind immediately lead to, "Why not do a film fighting with Phantasy Star weapons? It's a rich world with lot to offer as far as weapon design." Plus, I used to play PSU every waking moment, so I already had a vested interest in the franchise. We are trying to reach the widest audience possible, and rather than just targeting the general public OR the Phantasy Star community, why not target both? The general public will probably love it because of the new varieties of beam weapons and concepts being used, and the Phantasy Star community should have a special appreciation for it because the weapons are more or less "theirs."

We may also throw in a photon art or two... ;)
I've already decided that if we use photon knuckles that we are going to do the photon art that has the character doing insanely rapid jabs with a single fist (I forget what the art is called, but I used to spam it all the time when I played PSU religiously). We'll probably throw in a few more photon arts for different weapons too. Perhaps if this film becomes popular enough, we can do a second one with even more PSU influences. :)

[Zeek123]

I've already decided that if we use photon knuckles that we are going to do the photon art that has the character doing insanely rapid jabs with a single fist (I forget what the art is called, but I used to spam it all the time when I played PSU religiously).

Do the Falcon PUUUUUUNCH!

http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/characters/images/hidden05/hidden05_080222i-l.jpg

[CaptainPlanet]

I agree, the Bogga Zubba would be a great addition to the film.

[Dragwind]

This is looking pretty rad so far, can't wait to see more! :-)

[CaptainPlanet]

I've run into some pretty good software that would do wonders for this film, so it may end up being more Phantasy Star-influenced than I originally thought. The new software is made specifically for particle effects, and from what I've seen the program do so far, it is FAR too tempting to pass up! I'm definitely going to throw in some techs! :D

[biggabertha]

Awesome - please keep the dream within sight!

It will finally be satisfying to see the weapons I love being USED for SOMETHING. (Crea Longswords to be specific)

Finally - your metalworker may stumble upon the same problem I did when I milled out the parts to a long weapon... and that is the actor's ability to wield it. Seriously, it's HEAVY if it's not a good, lightweight design but if your actors are the martial arts equivalent to a drummer then there's probably no problem.

(P.S. Don't forget to wear gloves if you're holding onto bare metal... it HURTS the hands for several days if you swing something metallic in your grip for a few days so be careful of that..)

[CaptainPlanet]

Thanks for the tip. We'll be sure to keep that in mind when we sculpt... well, I don't want to give away any of our selections for big weapons... but thanks!

In the meantime, I've uploaded another animation test video. You know the lighting effects around your hands when you draw a new weapon? That's what this test video is for. It's a very simple design, but I will elaborate much more on the effects as time goes by. For now though, this should do. Enjoy!

Oh, and sorry for the lack of sound effects for the actual weapon draw, I'm still trying to figure out a way to get some PSU sound effects, which are obviously very hard to come by. If any of you have any leads as to where I might get some, please let me know!


NanoTransformer Weapon Draw Test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSPrxlORGE

[Bomber The Cosmonaut]

Thanks for the tip. We'll be sure to keep that in mind when we sculpt... well, I don't want to give away any of our selections for big weapons... but thanks!

In the meantime, I've uploaded another animation test video. You know the lighting effects around your hands when you draw a new weapon? That's what this test video is for. It's a very simple design, but I will elaborate much more on the effects as time goes by. For now though, this should do. Enjoy!

Oh, and sorry for the lack of sound effects for the actual weapon draw, I'm still trying to figure out a way to get some PSU sound effects, which are obviously very hard to come by. If any of you have any leads as to where I might get some, please let me know!


NanoTransformer Weapon Draw Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSPrxlORGE

Whoa. VERY nice. I can't wait to see this when it's done.

[CaptainPlanet]

Thanks. I just cranked out another special effects video. Testing some Technics now. Here's a few tests I did with Foie. We may just use it in the film. ;)

Oh, and I thought you guys might like the song in the video. It seemed appropriate... ;P

Foie Animation Test Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYqvyISS2WE

And to all those who are still in the dark about the costume/monster/etc. situation, I made a video just for you. Check it out. :P

Costume Announcement"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pEirhYuGcs

[SuperRygar]

And to all those who are still in the dark about the costume/monster/etc. situation, I made a video just for you. Check it out. :P

Costume Announcement"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pEirhYuGcs


HAHAHAH that's hilarious! i lol'd at how you bleeped out the words and it sounds like they're using curse words. its a very relavent message, though as i was listening i imagined other words bleeped out xD

oh for the love of god dont put in Tornado Dance? amiright?

im slightly interested now, those special effects looked decent. i didn't really feel the foie was foie, but i need to see foie in game again to compare

[RadiantLegend]

Cant wait to see the final product.

pls include kan yu or kan yuc.

[pinkace]

You do realize that the video explanation for the lack of PSU costumes is GENIUS right? I like your sense of humor.

Fine, at least get 2 or 3 hot girls who just so happen to wear hotpants and leather chaps on a daily basis. Please. Please. Please.

At least make note of the photon arts and try to nail those. That would be a solid nod to the series. The weapons can be made of plastic and retain most of their weight. You can glue sheets of plastic siding for example and then cut out the exact shapes you want with a dremel. if you use 5 or 6 sheets a sword will be plenty heavy, strong and flexible enough to survive REAL impact, and you will save a fortune.

If you save some money then maybe you can hire some actresses to play Voloyal Casino girls. Please. Please. Please.

[CaptainPlanet]

I've Managed to create an animated Megid! This is just the orb stationary, but let me know what you think! If you think you wanna see it in the film, let me know. :)

Megid Test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B6qt2teDeA

[Tyreek]

That's not bad. But I think you should add more murky, cloudy effects to give it some accuracy. It looks kind of... Sparkly as it is now.

[Kion]

When I saw this thread, i instinctively thought it would suck; I`m actually quite impressed. When you do the actual video, make sure anyone in front of the camera has good posture. In the test videos you guys are hunched over.

[CaptainPlanet]

Don't worry, the people in the test videos are not us, they are just videos I got off YouTube to test special effects with. :P

[Kion]

Nice, looking forward to it.

[CaptainPlanet]

That's not bad. But I think you should add more murky, cloudy effects to give it some accuracy. It looks kind of... Sparkly as it is now.

You are indeed right, Tyreek. I was in such a hurry to rush Megid onto the thread that I didn't yet have time to add all the other effects associated with it.

I have just finished the FULL Megid test video, with smoke trail and all. I will be replacing the previous Megid video with this new one on the front page of this thread as well.

I thought the music would be appropriate, considering Megid is pretty much the PSU term for "death."

Megid Animation Test Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCdQZeH5v3w

[biggabertha]

Do want Megid..!

I hope you are crafting and practicing/filming at this point - it sounds like a VERY long time away (June..? July..?) but I've taken on projects where the days and the weeks just literally FLY past.

Heh heh, I'm amazed at how you can keep things going and not be fazed by naysayers. I would have already buckled to their opinions and such at this point and gotten discouraged or made THEIR dream/video thing.

Keep it up..!

[CaptainPlanet]

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've hit my 12-hour-a-day 7-day stretch at work, so I've been pretty busy. I haven't been able to make any more animation test videos to hold you over until the next update, but I do have a little tidbit of good news: Weapon construction has finally begun! The metalworker says it takes a bit of time to craft each weapon, but so far, no problems. He wants to get the simpler weapons out of the way first so he can focus more on the complex models later on. He is almost finished crafting our first saber, and he assures me that his design is, in his words, "bad-ass." I'm not sure if he followed the design from the weapon candidates video to the T or not, but if not, no big deal. We could simply pass it off as a new design never before used in the franchise. He tells me that the saber will be ready any time now and that he will bring it by my place when it's finished. When he does, I promise I will take a picture and post it here on this thread for all to see, though bare in mind, it will still need to be painted.

Oh, and on a side note, a certain commenter on YouTube has pointed out a few obvious facts about my Megid video. When I created the video, I haven't been on PSU in a long time and for some reason I was thinking of Diga when I gave it the arch trajectory, so sorry about that. I will correct this in the final cut of the film. Also, he mentioned that Megid penetrates and that it does not collide with anything. While this is true, remember that ANY tech you throw at a wall in-game penetrates the wall seemlessly rather than exploding or showing any signs of impact, be it a Foie fireball or a Zonde bolt of lightning. If we do use Megid, I promise it will penetrate PEOPLE, but if it comes in contact with a wall, expect a pretty sparkly explosion just like the one shown in the test video. :)

[Tyreek]

If your craftsman can pull out an Exam out of the weapon maker, it'll cause tears in my eyes lol.

[Volcompat321]

This is great, do keep us updated!

[CaptainPlanet]

Thank you all for keeping up with this thread, even during infrequent updates. Don't fret though, pretty soon, updates should be more frequent. This project was in it's slow moments, but it's about to switch over into the express lane! We now have 2 metalworkers and a third one is interested. Making the weapons and getting the construction out of the way will be MUCH faster now, albeit, a bit more costly.

The newest member of our crew is William Runyon, a 33-year-old blacksmith/metal artist with 20+ years experience in fabricating weapons. I have been talking to him for a little over a week via e-mail and have been educating him on the project and even gave him a link to this thread. He is VERY excited to work on these weapons because they are unlike anything he has ever worked on before. On a side note, he neglected to mention early on that he also has lots of armed and unarmed combat experience, so I told him that if this film takes off and we decide to make another one, he could possibly have a role.

The following is the latest e-mail I received from Runyon. In the e-mail, he is referring to the weapon candidates video on the first page of this thread, and the weapon numbers are based on what order they appear in the video. For your benefit, it may be best to open up another tab or browser window and follow along with the video as you read his e-mail. It gives you a good idea of what to expect as far as weapon designs.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: William Runyon

I went back through the vid on weapons designs. Flashy is nice but you have to keep in mind functionality for the users, many of the designs are disproportionate but that can easily be remedied. What I am going to do is draw the design templates for a couple of these and see what you think. I am actually going to combine a couple of the designs from the screenshots to make them more usable. weight is a primary factor along with balance. Durability is also my concern if therse are going to be functional props they need to be able to get banged around a little bit. i think I am going to do a claw and a spear to begin with. I want to finish the weapons with a fair amount of detail. Is there any particular color for the blades that makes them more suitable for rotoscope effects? I have alot to do this week workwise but will try to have something to send you by the weekend with I will start with.

Looking at a hybrid of saber #2 and #4, Saber #6 will never balance but might refine the idea some

double saber#1/2 is pretty simple, number 7/8 will not be functional unless you move it more to a look like #3

Sword I am looking at hybrid of #3 and #5

Spear is going to be interesting, I think a hybrid of #1 and #3 would be more practical

Axe I am going to look at #1 and #7 for a design, it will have to operate like a klingon style battleth to be of any practical use

I like both #2 an # for dagers, I am thinking I can actually fabricate #3 to hinge so it will operate in the shown position or in a straight dirk style, will look into that more

Claws are pretty straight forward, only adjustment to #1 would be a longer guard/gauntlet for leverage( dont want any wrist injuries)

knuckles I will have to tihnk on, they just dont seem to be in the same operating class or function as the other items

Whip is simple if just a hanlde. kind a low priority

Guns I will deal with later, guns are easy, I can cast anything for them, they are simple to work with in function, balance and weight arent as much an issue

I think I will do a claw or a spear to go for first round. Like I said, I will do some drawing and get them to you. Also, I like to know some stats on those that use them, as a sword for me would be maybe to small for a guy much taller than me but I can use base stats for most of the work.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, my original metalworker says he has finally completed the first saber, but hasn't had a chance to swing by with it yet. As soon as I get a first glimpse at one of these designs, so will all of you. Stay tuned to this thread to see the pictures!