Movie: Phantasy Star Prime

[CaptainPlanet]

Hey guys! Some of you may remember me from the thread about the upcoming PSU-themed fight film. For those of you who followed that topic until it fizzled out, I'm back with a bit of news. First, the bad news. The project has been canceled.

Bummed out? Don't Be! It worked out for the better! Rather than simply creating a fight film with Phantasy Star themed weaponry, my co-producer and I have decided to create a feature-length Phantasy Star movie. I was originally all for the fight film until a few nights ago when I was bored at work and talked to my co-producer, William Hartshorn, on the phone. We were discussing cool ideas for our fight film when he mentioned that he really wanted to work on a project with more narrative. At first, I was optimistically cautious about this idea. The original plan was to make a short film that featured a couple of average guys duking it out with photon weapons. At the time, I felt the best course of action was to keep it simple so that we could appeal to the widest audience possible.

But needless to say, Will planted a seed in my head that night. So, bored at work with nothing to do between rounds, I began to scribble story ideas. It avalanched from one or two cool scene ideas to a rough outline of an entire feature film very quickly. I just got off from my third night of work in a row and I am excited to tell you guys that I have a rough outline for a good and proper Phantasy Star movie fresh out of the printer!

I submitted a copy of the movie outline to Will this morning as he was coming on the job and I was going off. He is going to read it over a few times today and call me later with his thoughts and ideas on the film. I never truly put my writing skills through their paces until these past three nights and I think we have an instant winner on our hands! I was so excited to get home and get this message out to you guys this morning! The only problem is... I wish I could tell you guys everything about the movie so far, I really do! I just don't want to A) spoil the entire movie while it's still in its early production stages, and B) give someone else the chance to take my story material and use it for themselves before we get our movie out to the public.

But alas, I want to share all this material with at least ONE fan here! So that's what I'm going to do. I'm really not sure of an appropriate way to go about this, but if you are not concerned with spoiling the movie for yourself, are trustworthy, and would like to see the rough outline of the story material thus far, send me a PM and I will send you the material to look over. In return, I ask for your honest opinion to be written here in this topic (without spoilers!).

What I CAN tell you about the movie is the following:

* The name of the movie is Phantasy Star Prime.
* The movie is an original story of the events that take place on Earth from the time the Alisa III arrives to the point where Earthmen destroy Palma.
* We will be putting a modern twist on the franchise while staying true to the source material.
* Staying true to the tradition of the franchise, Dark Force (Dark Falz) will play a pivotal villain throughout the movies.
* There are three main characters, Neon, Michael, and Rose.
* There will be at least one CAST in the first film alone. After that, there will be hundreds.
* Neon fills the role of the Hunter.
* Michael fills the role of the Force.
* Rose fills the role of the Ranger.
* Quality over time. It will be done when it's polished to perfection.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iexHNcdJ3Y

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 5/7/10

We've never been so happy to be back in business, especially now that we have a full story, a bigger budget, and a script that is coming together fast! Last night I created this rough cut of the credits. This video is for demo purposes only and is not the final version, as many more people will become involved in the project over time. These are the people and actors that have signed on so far. Enjoy the credits!


Phantasy Star Prime: Ending Credits Demo
(Please be aware that after dwelling in this idea, that I too agree that the music was a terrible choice, and I have posted a later version just below it, and that even that isn't entirely up to date and does not feature the final version of the credits music. The final version of the credits music is posted below that video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTzPJ9me3OY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BltYG4GVvyQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtDNcSnrB6M

[Fhin]

Sounds verrry interesting. :o

[Angelo]

Quite possibly the most un-Phantasy Star song you could have picked.

[Kent]

A demo of the ending credits of a movie?

I'd also have to recommend using music that actually fits the source material.

[Max B]

Quite possibly the most un-Phantasy Star song you could have picked.

I know relay .

[CaptainPlanet]

Without giving any spoilers, the song lyrics fit perfectly with a main event that happens in the story, and also, I was going for an ending somewhat like that of the end of Transformers. I have also considered just putting an upbeat techno song instead at the end rather than the song presented above. What do you guys think, would that fit better?

EDIT
You know, after going back and listening to some techno... you guys are right, the song really doesn't fit at much as I felt it did.

I don't want to make any more slip ups with any element of this film so I would like to have two or three of the fans here on the pso-forums to be my 'content advisers'. What I would do is send you the content as it is created so that is triple-checked for consistency with the source material. I have been playing Phantasy Star since Phantasy Star III, but since I am making this movie for the fans mostly, I want to make sure that it meets the fans' standards.

So, if you feel you are well-versed in Phantasy Star details and lore, please write me and I will remain in contact with you until the very end of production, sending you content, footage, scripts, screenplays, etc. You must promise not to leak any of the material we send you however.

That was the problem with Hollywood making video game movies, they didn't work with the people who actually MADE the games, so they wound up butchering the franchise. That is a mistake I do not want to make.

Any takers?

[gratefulgriz]

that song was horrible!!

[CaptainPlanet]

that song was horrible!!

I got the jist of it. ^_^; It is being replaced by a much more fitting techno beat. I have a few picked out and one has lyrics. I will probably post separate versions of the previous video, except with the different songs I selected so that I can get a feel of which direction is the right direction. I personally feel that a techno-ish theme fits Phantasy Star much better than the song I used on the video I posted.

EDIT
By the way, I still haven't gotten any messages in regards to anyone wanting to read over the script for 'fan approval'. If I'm confident that one thing in this movie will deliver, it's the story that has been written for it.

[CaptainPlanet]

Today I went to the house of my new metalworker/prop maker to meet face-to-face for the first time. All I can say is that I was blown away by this guy, there really is no other way to put it!

I started the meeting by asking him about his past metalworking experience. He has been creating his own knives and working with many different materials for (I forget how many) years. Next, I opened up my laptop and presented him with all the content that we have to offer so far regarding the project, including pictures of all the weapons that we have outlined to be in our movie.

This is where I started getting excited. With every new weapon design that I presented him with, he took around 10 minutes to explain exactly how he would craft each weapon and what materials he would use to make them. The weapons that have moving parts will be fully operational! I wanted to avoid shattering the excitement I'd gained from hearing his plans for the weapons, so I cautiously pointed to a CAST in one of the pictures and said, "I now want to really challenge you. We need one of these for our movie..." Before I could finish what I was saying, he cut me off by saying, "Hang on, I'll be right back." Nearly a minute later, he came back and tossed me a black piece of clothing. I held it up and it turned out to be a spandex-like material with foam padding. It was a vest he designed for use with defensive tactics training in police school. I asked him how this would tie in to the CAST design and he said that he could create a full-body suit of this stuff and then custom-create armor to go over the padding. This suit, obviously, will only fit the actor it's designed for, since he will need the actor present nearly at all times when he is creating the armor so that he can get the sizes of the plates just right. He also has great ideas combining the armor, which he says he will make out of VERY sturdy substances such as Concealex and Kydex, with a different material and a layer system he has in mind so that the actor can last in it much longer without overheating.

This guy is really great, and definitely professional, and he says he can't wait to see his creations in action! So now, without further adieu, I give you the full list of weapons that will be present in Phantasy Star Prime!

Axes:
Ank Tomho
Stec Axe

Claws:
Misaki
Zanshu-Misaki

Crossbow:
Yurasogi (Thanks to Patrick's awesome idea for a spring/pin system, the arms will fully extend when the trigger is pulled, and will completely retract and clip into position when the trigger is released!)

Daggers:
Asami-zashi (1 pair)

Double Saber:
Double Agito

Handguns:
Handgun (1 pair)
Pistatore
Beamgun
B'duki Biso

Knuckles:
Knuckles (1 pair)

Machine Guns:
Beam Vulcan (1 pair)
Machinegun
Muzzlefever

Rifles:
Assasin
Raihoh

Sabers:
Apocalypse
Exam
Jitseen
Seva Cresa

Shotguns:
Shigga Baret
Shigga Boma (Patrick wants to make the top 'pop up' a little every time the trigger is pulled for a kind of pressure exhaust effect. If you don't think this is fitting, say so now)
Shigga Desta

Spear:
Muktengek (Preferred)
Mugungri

Sword:
Sodad

Whip:
Vish

All the weapons will be painted using a special electroplating technique that chemically bonds the special paint with the metal, allowing it to appear as if the metal is naturally that color, and still retain its natural shine.

Oh, and I've gotten a couple requests to include Sweet Death in the film way back before it became a movie idea. I'm on the fence with that one, but if you want to see Sweet Death in the movie, say so and it may be enough to change my mind. ;)

[CaptainPlanet]

The first costume pictures are done. Today I will be showing you Neon in full costume. The top has somewhat of an Illuminus cloak influence while the bottom has a bit of a Cloud-from-Advent-Children influence (black pants that get a little wider at the bottom). This is the first run of Neon's costume and is currently missing the line shield design, but I will add that effect soon. This will be Neon's appearance toward the end of the movie. He will still wear the Cloud-influenced pants throughout the film, although with a dark T-shirt or something of the like. If the studs are too much, they will probably be covered up by a line shield effect.

Neon in full costume:
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1977/1020402.jpg

Neon in full costume (3/4 view):
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7323/1020397.jpg

Looking to see if a studded neck collar is too much for the outfit:
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3766/1020396.jpg

Neon trying on the hood:
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8600/1020400b.jpg

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

ok, this is gonna be AMAZING! u better post it here wen its done, i actually kinda like the song.

[CaptainPlanet]

ok, this is gonna be AMAZING! u better post it here wen its done, i actually kinda like the song.

I sure will. It will most likely be around a 90 minute movie though, so I need to figure out how to put an hour and a half film in a single video on YouTube.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

just put it in parts thats how a lot of movies on there r done. dang i wish i could be in this but that int gonna happen

[Ce'Nedra]

You know you could get Sued by Sega if they find out right?

Also your going for Real Life lookings? i though you would go with graphical stuff like how Advent Children was made.

[CaptainPlanet]

It's a non-profit fan film. There is no infringement if we're not selling the stuff. We have kicked around the idea about possibly buying the rights to do it properly though. It's something we're going to look into. And no, we're going with real flesh-and-blood actors, not CG.

[CaptainPlanet]

I've just finished adding the line shield effect to the costume. Check it out, I made 6 different colors.

Green
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/597/lineshieldneongreen.png

Yellow
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4559/lineshieldneonyellow.png

Blue
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5314/lineshieldtestneonblue.png

Orange
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/7379/lineshieldtestneonorang.png

Purple
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6200/lineshieldtestneonpurpl.png

Red
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/152/lineshieldtestneonred.png

I think we'll go with the green for Neon.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

GOD THAT'S COOL, THIS IS GOING TO BE AMAZING, i support live action completely

[Legendwolf]

sounds cool

[CaptainPlanet]

Hey guys, I'm back. I tend to either go on 3, 4, or 7 day periods of disappearing from the boards due to my job, but I'm back to provide updates for the next four days. :)

I have been spending every inkling of my spare time writing the script and trying to come up with conceptual designs for the costumes (I really love how Neon's costume turned out). I can honestly say that the script is about 4/5 complete and the more story that I cram into it, the more I fall in love with it. I'm always finding all kinds of ways to tie this prequel in to other chapters in the franchise and I think that when this film is finished, that the fans will probably love it as much as I do. I am more than confident that this film will win the hearts of at least 80% of Phantasy Star fans' hearts, both light-hearted and hardcore alike. Of course, there are always going to be skeptics and haters, but I accept that and wouldn't have it any other way. Skepticism and questioning are good for refining a quality product. In fact, I'm surprised that the Phantasy Star fanbase hasn't crucified me for trying to do this so far. Maybe that's a good sign? :P

Anyway, like I said, the script is now 4/5 complete and I'm just now scratching the surface of the most climactic parts of the story (something I've been excited about writing since we first thought of the general outline of the story!) Within these next four days, I'll try to get some pics of Sarah's costume out to you guys, both with and without the line shield effect.

It's gotten to where I spend all my free time either with my friends and actors discussing the project and going over the details of the script and getting suggestions from them, or spending late nights at work glued to the computer screen typing away at the script itself. I have never been more consumed by a single project in my life and I can't wait until it's done! :)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

yes, i can't wait till u guys start filming!

[Katy]

It's a non-profit fan film. There is no infringement if we're not selling the stuff. We have kicked around the idea about possibly buying the rights to do it properly though. It's something we're going to look into. And no, we're going with real flesh-and-blood actors, not CG.

Actually Sega may not sue you but they do have the authority to shut you down. This was a non profit Legend of Zelda fan film that was recently shut down by Nintendo.

http://digg.com/gaming_news/Nintendo_shuts_down_Fan_made_Zelda_Movie_Hero_of_T ime

I'm not against anything you're doing, just informing. I'd like to see this movie.

[CaptainPlanet]

Actually Sega may not sue you but they do have the authority to shut you down. This was a non profit Legend of Zelda fan film that was recently shut down by Nintendo.

http://digg.com/gaming_news/Nintendo_shuts_down_Fan_made_Zelda_Movie_Hero_of_T ime

I'm not against anything you're doing, just informing. I'd like to see this movie.

I appreciate you looking out for our best interests. You are right. At the very most, they would have the authority to shut us down if we didn't request the rights first. I have some friends who created a very good Capcom-based card game and they approached Capcom directly to ask for permission to use their name. Capcom told them that if they paid $10,000 that they could legally be allowed to use their name for the card game. Unfortunately, money was an issue for them and the project was put on indefinite hold. If I alone saved a chunk out of every paycheck, I could probably have enough to meet that price in about two years. We are all very passionate about the project, especially the co-producer and we are willing to spend big bucks to keep this movie in production. We have already slated a couple thousand dollars to be funneled into this project. At it's current legal state, yes, Phantasy Star Prime can be shut down if Sega saw the movie and didn't like what we did...

But I say, let them come. They can shut us down if they want, but one way or another, this movie is being made. Everyone involved in this project is so passionate about it that we aren't going to let anything stand in the way of making this dream of ours a reality. If we have to, we will just go the way of Team FourStar. Toie Animation shut them down (mostly) on YouTube, but now they have their own .com where they share their creativity with the world with a more backdoor approach. If this is what we wind up having to do to share this production with the world, then we will. They can shut us down on one site after the next, but they will not kill our dreams for this movie.

And, if the movie is a hit, then we WILL be going about it properly and over the next couple years taking the steps to legalize this film. I hope you all enjoy the movie as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

this sounds cooler every update, is it gonna be about only psu or about pso and psz as well?

[CaptainPlanet]

this sounds cooler every update, is it gonna be about only psu or about pso and psz as well?

It is a prequel to the entire Phantasy Star series. There are references throughout the movie to the Algo System, the system in which the events of Phantasy Star 1 take place.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 5/24/10

Three days ago I finished writing and editing the script, and believe me, it was murder on the printer! Twelve 47-page scripts is a lot of paper and ink! :P It's looking like the runtime for this movie is going to be around two hours. I can't wait for filming, but I ESPECIALLY can't wait to film the final fight! It's going to be epic!

The actors and I have been running lines constantly for the past two days and getting into character. Once we have purchased all the equipment we need, filiming will begin. Filming is currently scheduled to start sometime in mid-August, but we may begin earlier if we get all the camera and lighting equipment in before then. The weapons and CAST costume may carry over a little longer than that, but in the meantime we can start filming the scenes that don't require these things.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 5/26/10

More production pictures. Sarah, one of the three protagonists, had her first costume shoot two nights ago. We were going to shoot photos of her in an area that would look similar to Forest 2 from PSO. It was even cloudy, but we waited too long and it got dark. That wasn't about to stop us from shooting and having a good time. :P I haven't had the chance to add Sarah's line shield effect yet.

Sarah 1
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9949/1020651.jpg

Sarah 2
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7722/1020652.jpg

Sarah 3
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7520/1020653.jpg

Sarah 4
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/2654/1020683.jpg

Sarah 5
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/8153/1020680.jpg

Sarah 6
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/3778/1020678.jpg

Sarah and Neon
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6186/1020667.jpg

Michael (no costume) and Sarah
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/3284/1020670.jpg

Michael (no costume) and Neon
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2445/1020691w.jpg

Michael (no costume/miming a TECHNIC in his hand) and Neon
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/6004/1020697.jpg

Michael (no costume) miming a bare-handed TECHNIC cast
http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/3403/1020725.jpg

Michael (no costume), Neon, And Sarah (the protagonists. NOT a movie poster, don't worry)
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8264/psptriowallpaper.jpg

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 5/26/10

Even MORE production pictures! This time, I will be showing you the character Ark. He is a mercenary and a very charismatic and lovable antagonist. Yesterday, he had his first photo shoot in full costume.

Ark 1
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/9256/dsc00163al.jpg

Ark 2
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1847/dsc00164tr.jpg

Ark 3
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/5645/dsc00165t.jpg

Ark 4
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/2862/dsc00167mmw.jpg

Ark 5
http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/2066/dsc00168sf.jpg

Ark 6
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5180/dsc00169g.jpg

Ark 7 (This structure has significance in the film)
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/8679/dsc00170p.jpg

Ark 8
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/9784/dsc00172t.jpg

Ark 9
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2441/dsc00174h.jpg

Ark 10
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/1945/dsc00175sw.jpg

Ark miming a summon fire (mini Foie) from his fingertips to light his cigarette
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/7739/dsc00177i.jpg

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 5/27/10

The cast of Phantasy Star Prime will be attending NekoCon 2011 and will be giving away free DVD's of the movie, which will be packed with bonus featrues such as blooper reels, the making of the movie, alternate scenes and endings, and a very special alternative version of the final fight scene! Don't miss out! Watch for our kiosk next year and pick up your free copy!

And if we're ready soon enough, we will try to make it to AMA 2011 as well, which should be around the beginning of May.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 5/28/10

So, reviewing our inventory with the co-producer, we now have all the materials we need to start filming, save for the camera itself, a few more green screens, and the weapons and CAST suit! We will probably begin shooting within the next few weeks.

[StormBlade]

To Mike,

This is Dallas. I joined the forums to keep in touch whenever we're not hanging out with the guys.

I've begun pulling together music for the soundtrack and will have a demo CD ready within the next two weeks. Found some pretty fitting techno/futuristic themed music already.

I'll be in touch.

[CaptainPlanet]

Wow, this is a surprise! Good deal, Dallas! I already have a lot of the soundtrack figured out but maybe some of your stuff would fit the film even better. definitely keep me posted!

Everyone, meet Epsilon, our CAST in the movie, played by Dallas AKA StormBlade.

[StormBlade]

Hello. I came abroad yesterday after taking a look at the script and getting a brief rundown of the storyline.

All I can say without revealing too much is this: I listened to the story for two minutes and immediately jumped on board. It's going to be extreme!

To add on to the awesomeness: I've never played a Phantasy Star game! What?!

[CaptainPlanet]

We'll have to change that sometime. I've gotten Neon and Sarah hooked on PSO. They've grown to love the source material. lol

[StormBlade]

I'll get to it. I'm going to download me a Sega Emulator and play the original Phantasy Star, to get some of the basic background, because this IS a prequel.

[StormBlade]

Update from Sound Department to Mike: I read through the script fully (blew my mind: I love the story you created) and made notes on several songs you had mentioned. In regards to asking for permission on several songs and finalizing the music, I estimate...two weeks until I can present my creation.

As for my fitting for Epsilion's costume: When we have an idea for shooting dates, I'll let you know.

- Dallas

[CaptainPlanet]

Sounds good Dallas, thanks! I look forward to seeing what you have in store!

[StormBlade]

Update: Sent out the requests for usage today. I've also begun a thread on the Newgrounds forums, inviting others to contribute tracks to the cause. Hopefully, we'll have a good selection to listen to and choose from.


Also, I was curious. How decent of a camera are we using to shoot this? Is it a moderate, usual Youtube camera, or did we somehow pull together with a decent one that at least takes away the home video look?

[CaptainPlanet]

We're going all out. We are setting our standards at 720p resolution or higher. Preferably higher. We want the best picture and sound quality that we can afford, and I know those high-def cameras aren't cheap, but for a fan film, this is a high-budget project.

Message to the fans:
Again, I would like to reiterate that this is not going to be your run-of-the-mill fan film. Hundreds of dollars have already been spent on this project and possibly thousands more will follow, especially if, in the future, we decide to take it further and cut a deal with SEGA to purchase distribution rights for the film or even, god willing, get them to back the film for a possible remake in the distant future if they really like it. There is a good chance that if and when we approach SEGA with this film that it will cease to be made public, and if so, that's okay. At least we can say that we had a great run, but we will wait a few years and let the film be enjoyed by the fans for a while before we take that kind of a risk.

The film leaves itself wide open for a sequel and the hidden cliffhanger (shown after the first half of the credits) will leave some of the more knowledgeable Phantasy Star fans burning with questions and wanting to know more! For an independent film, I URGE you all to set your standards high and expect nothing but quality from this film.


UPDATE: 6/03/2010

Here is another demo of the credits with an updated roster and more fitting music than the previously selected music. Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BltYG4GVvyQ

[StormBlade]

Fan-freaking-tastic, Mike! That's the news I wanted to hear! I love how far we're taking this.

Also, we have the support of the Newgrounds Audio Community! Almost everyone is allowing us to use their original works, even with the chance of them not making the cut, which they have said is prefectly fine. We have a large list of contributors from Newgrounds already and tomorrow, it'll only getting bigger!


On that note: Did you compose the song on the new credit demo? If you do, that's pretty sweet. I've gotten enough songs so far to have the credits by instrumental.

[CaptainPlanet]

No. That song is called Castle In The Sky by DJ Satomi.

[StormBlade]

Update: I asked the Newgrounds community to remix some Phantasy Star music and alter some of the existing tracks we already have, but it's ultimately up to them to decide what to do. That is all.

I'll be searching for a cheaper professional camera sometime tomorrow. Just FYI.

[CaptainPlanet]

Nice, Dallas. Keep me informed. The sooner we start shooting, the better! I've also had some really great epiphanies for the second installment lately and I can't wait to continue the story where the first movie leaves off! I won't get too far ahead of myself though. Let's just say that the first sequel to Phantasy Star Prime will have some very interesting story mechanics as far as each character having their own sub-plot development going on that will tie in neatly with the main plot. I'll fill you in at the next cast meeting. Next time you're on Newgrounds, ask if anyone can remix the song "Revolution To The Origin Part 2". Orchestral would be preferred, but adding techno and electric guitar influences would be awesome! That is the ONE song I have big plans for. Oh, and be sure to set aside that soft music I pointed out to you at our last cast meeting. I really liked that one and there are some parts in the movie where it would tie in very well. Keep up the good work, Dallas!

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

so, do u guys know wen the shooting's gonna start?

[CaptainPlanet]

Probably within a few weeks. We are gathering a camera crew now, and they all sport HD cameras. We are also having auditions for the villain and a couple side characters. One of the people auditioning was in 9 Playhouse plays and 3 indie movies, so he is well established in his acting.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

ok, cool, im still looking forward to this

[StormBlade]

We're currently planning out the shooting order (due to a friend joining the military) and getting the fight scenes practices. This week is going to be productive to say the least.

In my related activities, I'm still working on the soundtrack and due to inactivity (on my behalf), I haven't gotten much done.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 6/18/10

A camera crew has been hired and we recently held auditions for several different roles to make sure we choose the best actors to play the most fitting characters. We ran through the entire script twice, one with two new people and once more with an older actor. The older actor is in his thirties and has been in numerous stage performances and supporting roles in three movies. Needless to say, this guy was amazing. We still want to hold at least two more character auditions before our decisions are final.

That doesn't mean we have to hold off on shooting, however. Sunday, we are all going to hit the road and hunt down one of the last few remaining filming locations and Tuesday we will FINALLY begin shooting. Pre-production is finally over and PRODUCTION officially begins Tuesday.

[Akaimizu]

Sounds cool. Wish I saw these topics earlier. Though if you're really trying to go for some original Phantasy Star music that hits the style as well, I could lend a hand to this, you know. I'm kind of an experienced soundtrack designer, myself. Check out some of my Phantasy Star themed stuff in this topic, if you're interested. That way you don't have to go with all licensed cuts and have something designed specifically for the scenes. Anyway, just a thought, if you wanted someone who may be able to also capture the PSO style to make original tunes that aren't remixes of old material. Though I do any style, and pretty much play any instrument for the style.

The samples of PS-specific style stuff is here.

http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178574

[CaptainPlanet]

I really appreciate that. right now, the most golden music that we want to use for the movie is a remixed orchestrated/techno-ish version of Revolution to the Origin Part 2, the battle music in the Ruins in PSO Ep1. If you can pull that one out of your hat then you sir will be held in high regard in the credits of this movie!

EDIT:
After listening to (and downloading) your two tracks I was quite impressed. You really do have a feel for Phantasy Star music. Would you like to be our main go-to music guy for Phantasy Star Prime? We haven't come across any other music that fits Phantasy Star as much as yours does.

[Akaimizu]

So you actually want to go with a more licensed track there? Hmm. Sounds pretty simple, actually. When would you need it.

As an aside, here's a snippet of a slightly techo remix of Jack's Theme from Headhunter, I did. Just an example of a techno-orchestral mix I did.

http://files.me.com/akaimizu/p8dttz.mp3

Not really Phantasy-star styled though. Something I would create for this would still have the Phantasy Star formulas in it, though. I'll take a listen at that song you mentioned and see what I can do with it. How long do you need it to be?

[CaptainPlanet]

We are looking for original Phantasy Star-like music for the film. The big one however IS pre-existing. We badly need a remastered, orchestrated/techno version of Revolution to the Origin Part 2. We want to do with that track something similar to what FF7 Advent Children did with One-Winged Angel. Guitar would be great if you have the means, as long as it doesn't clutter the orchestra and subtle techno. If you can do any of this you will be featured in the credits as a source of musical talent. We won't rush art, so take the time that you need to create something that really wows and sounds polished. From what I just heard, that should be no problem for you. I think Dallas is going to love your work as well when he hears it.

[StormBlade]

So, I have a feeling the soundtrack assistance has pretty much died. I'll be checking all that later though.

Also, bumping. :3

[Delete]

Still looking forward to this. Be sure to send me a PM when you get some more info out because this topic here is the only one I care about in Fan works lol. Probably the only one in fan works I ever commented on tbh.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

so, has filming begun?

[Akaimizu]

So, I have a feeling the soundtrack assistance has pretty much died. I'll be checking all that later though.

Also, bumping. :3

Not at all. Just getting started, actually. Some parts of the work really don't have much to post here. It was only less than 5 days ago I've even heard of this project proceeding. So there has been a bit of discussion and plenty of brainstorming on it. I already had other things, on my pallette this week, so I'm squeezing in time to do what I can. Thus my question on how fast he needed it, since I'd have to adjust other life things to fit more time in. I'd get more production work done during this weekend.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 6-26-10

Shooting has not commenced quite yet. As posted earlier, we planned to begin filming on Tuesday, however we have run into a few minor snags. Either we have everything we need, but not the location for a scene, or we have the location, but not the props needed. We have just secured several more locations in which to shoot and we really only need one more.

Also, I am glad to announce that the parts we needed to build a CAST suit from scratch have finally been ordered and some have already been delivered to the home of our craftsman.

As far as the music goes for this movie, I believe that the long-time fans of Phantasy Star will be in for a real treat! We will be adapting several reinterpreted pieces of music that originate from games as far back as the very first installment of the Phantasy Star franchise! By the way, Akaimizu, I'll e-mail you copies of the original game music tracks that we need to have recreated. I'll send you one at a time.

All right everyone, if you haven't subscribed to this thread yet then it's time to start, because things are finally about to get interesting! Apparently, this thread has gone somewhat unnoticed under Fan Works, so if you are interested in this thread and support the movie, tell your friends to check out this thread!

Who knows, if we can get more fans, maybe it will encourage us a little more to get the first in a series of teaser trailers out to you soon. We already have one entirely planned out. ;)

[Akaimizu]

Ok. Just to show a bit of a snippet of one thing I'm working on, might as well show you a little of what I'm piecing together. A little section of the asked for piece, so I can get a feel for what some might think about that section. I figured, this wasn't an exact match but more of an orchestral remix of it. It's actually very close to the exact tempo, but sound a little different since I'm not trying to imitate the same electronic rhythm, with that one sound that's double time. Still, it has some double time rhythms in it, but a little more sparse to give a different dramatic pulse to it. It's also a bit heavier on some of the kettle style drums though I pulled it back a little since I have to move around to truly test the sound levels on different systems.

Often when I'm balancing it with headphones, they make the bass sound a little softer. Then when I put it on a real system. BOOM! (cue beginning of Back to the Future, when Marty turned up the amp) I guess I put too much bass in it. This time, I kind of anticipated the bass boom and took it back a little, for a first sound test.

http://files.me.com/akaimizu/ugndrd.mp3

These will likely be somewhat big and consuming works, as you may have guessed by the sound, I will be self-arranging and recording various live instruments into the mix. Some you're already listening to.

[CaptainPlanet]

Dude, I am highly impressed by your skill, you just blew my mind! I love the piece! The only thing I'd like to see different is the dismissal of the twinkle sound in the track, other than that, it's TOTALLY solid! I'm guessing that you will be adding more to this section? Electric guitar as a support sound maybe? ^^

Oh, and I love your spin on the last part of the orchestra! It definitely says that it's new, even though it's retro. But in short, for the purposes we will be using it for in this movie, it will need to sound a bit harder and more energetic, even though I love your style.


In case some of you can't identify what exactly the music is that he is remixing, start listening to the following Phantasy Star track at 0:25.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irqogIOQ8vk

[StormBlade]

Dude. The music is awesome. I like what I'm hearing and I want more of it. :D

Also, thanks for all the interest in the film so far, it's good to know we're not the only ones who want to get this done! Your support is worth more than words to us. We promise not to disappoint.

[StormBlade]

Update (from a conversation with CaptainPlanet): We need to rewrite a few quick lines in the script, but nothing too dramatic.

Update (From my knowledge): We're trying to pull together the cast to shoot several of the simpler scenes, but due to recent 'breakup tension' between two of the main characters, things haven't been going smoothly. Don't fear: we're working through it and getting everyone to focus on this film instead of themselves.

[Akaimizu]

Understood. I'm currently taking this night off to celebrate my birthday. Had to work all day, today. I've brain stormed some ideas for what replacements sounds I use for some parts of the song, and at the same time, come up with ideas for other new songs due to some other PSO style patterns I've yet to utilize. Those style patterns may be useful for some of the *ahem* "way retro" revamps suggested here. And yes, I love going way oldschool, because they tend to be sparse due to limited instrumentation and audio channels. Gives me a whole lot of room and ammo to build them up. (Kind of like when some Orchestra gets a hold of doing an old Zelda song or something)

[Delete]

Happy Birthday dood. :wacko:

On topic though, still waiting for this. Can't wait for a trailer :D

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

do u have any idea whe a trailer will be coming?

[CaptainPlanet]

Well, I must say that we're extremely excited to showcase the CAST armor, so we decided we will make it centric to the first trailer. I've ordered nearly all the supplies needed to have the armor made and so far has cost me nearly $200. We will begin custom-fitting the armor to the actor sometime next week when the materials arrive. It may still be some time before the armor is completed however. The craftsman projects the armor will take around four weeks to make, and some additional time may be required to make the helmet due to the level of detail involved.

We have plans for several trailers prior to release, beginning with more subtle ones (you know, J.J. Abrams style, where he teases the audience by showing something really cool, but then leaving them wanting to know more by simply showing the release date ;D). The trailers will reveal more and more about the movie as time goes on, but we just want to tease people at first. :P After all, our entire budget is going straight into the CAST armor and we want to get a legit trailer out to the community as soon as possible. Once the armor is complete, we will immediately start having the weapons themselves made.

On another note, I've received some suggestions that my cast and I should host a panel this year at NekoCon. I will discuss it with my crew and see if we can't come up with some ideas to promote Phantasy Star Prime at this year's NekoCon.

And one final tidbit of information...
This will be a trilogy. ;)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

...THATS AWESOME!!! TRILOGY YAY!!

[StormBlade]

I'm personally liking the panel idea. Great way of promoting our film. But yeah, the detail going into the armor is ridic. It's definitely worth the wait.

On a side note, I will be writing some short stories relating the universe and the films. They will mainly be bridging stories between the films, or focus on secondary characters who don't get much screen time.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE:

The Phantasy Star Prime Facebook Page is now live! Visit us there frequently for news and updates on the movie! We will be posting any new news here on this thread as usual, however there will always be a little extra media waiting for you on the Facebook page whenever we release any. ;)

Phantasy Star Prime Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phantasy-Star-Prime/#!/pages/Phantasy-Star-Prime/135319923162726?ref=sgm

[Akaimizu]

Ok. I added the page. I should be back from my 4th of july break with folks. (But I got a phone to post here with). Should have more music in the next few days.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

i "liked" it too.

[CaptainPlanet]

Today Dallas and I went to the home of Patrick Crowe, our weapons and armor crafter, and finally began construction of the CAST prototype robotic armor. Below are a few shots of our day. Enjoy! Can anyone guess which armor style we're building? Go ahead, take a shot in the dark. :P

Since I'm having trouble uploading the pictures individually, I have posted a link to the CAST Prototype Armor photo album on the movie Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phantasy-Star-Prime/135319923162726?v=photos#!/album.php?aid=23754&id=135319923162726

[Akaimizu]

Ok. Here's a full length version of the Rev to the Origin 2 song. All parts intact. Pretty much the length that is shown on Youtube. Still thinking about what to add, but I'm being careful not to overdrive it.

http://files.me.com/akaimizu/g2f601.mp3

[CaptainPlanet]

Ok. Here's a full length version of the Rev to the Origin 2 song. All parts intact. Pretty much the length that is shown on Youtube. Still thinking about what to add, but I'm being careful not to overdrive it.

http://files.me.com/akaimizu/g2f601.mp3

It's definitely more epic, however I would like to make a few requests for this piece:

1) Faster tempo
2) Much more energy while keeping the orchestra
3) When you get around to adding the guitar, we are aiming for something along the lines of speedmetal orchestra. This is meant to be used for an awe-inspiring fight scene, so we need a lot of energy, a lot of wow, and a lot of epic.

We do like it a lot more without the twinkling that the demo had. It's definitely going more in the direction we're looking for.

[FOkyasuta]

WOWOWOWOW! Why Only One Double Saber? Ps The Whole Idea Is Full Of Win.

[Akaimizu]

It's definitely more epic, however I would like to make a few requests for this piece:

1) Faster tempo
2) Much more energy while keeping the orchestra
3) When you get around to adding the guitar, we are aiming for something along the lines of speedmetal orchestra. This is meant to be used for an awe-inspiring fight scene, so we need a lot of energy, a lot of wow, and a lot of epic.

We do like it a lot more without the twinkling that the demo had. It's definitely going more in the direction we're looking for.

The question is. Do you want the tempo that much faster? As of right now, it's already a bit faster than the original.

[CaptainPlanet]

Actually Akaimizu, after further review of your latest piece, the tempo does seem about right. I guess what I was trying to say was that I was looking for more energy. The gong was a welcome addition I might add.

I would however like to request subtle changes in volume levels too. I would like the drums and the chorus orchestra to be slightly more front and center in the volume department. The key to great energy is great drumwork after all. ;) Rapid, powerful drums and hi-hats are great for amping up any track.

[Akaimizu]

Not a problem. It's all in the balancing act. I may have to adjust some post-recording effects as well. Just so that they balance. Once I raise the levels of those, there will be a host of adjustments to keep it clean sounding. The gong, cymbal swells, several drums, and the trombone section are entirely new instrumental additions. There's also lots of new snare parts and rolls. They're also pushing ahead the rhythm and driving it. Amping up those will also amp up the energy as well.

[CaptainPlanet]

Sounds great. Also, if you listen to the original Revolution to the Origin, you can hear some creepy tones that seem to really fit the tone of "infectious, intimidating space god." Is there a way we can preserve that feel in the music as we push forward with the remake?

[Akaimizu]

I'll have to see. At the moment, this is sort of pushing an orchestral thing where it replaces some of the somewhat electronic sound effects they used. Of course, the big part of the initial creep factor was to go with the Cymbal Swells and the quick crescendo trombone stutter tongue parts. The combination purely inspired by the effect used in the movie Aliens. But if space god is what you might be looking for, I may come up with something. Maybe a bit different than the original. I kind of like to draw some inspiration from the *big* movies before just the videogames. Might as well shoot for the top. That's what I like to do.

[CaptainPlanet]

WOWOWOWOW! Why Only One Double Saber? Ps The Whole Idea Is Full Of Win.

For this film (movie #1), that particular model of double-saber is going to be Neon's trademark weapon more or less (depending on how often he will be using it). I can assure you that the combat sequences are going to be epic, however. We are going to be utilizing Phantasy
Star's NanoTransformer technology at its fullest potential for this film. Imagine being able to materialize and dematerialize weapons in your hand on the fly in combat, allowing for split-second weapon-changing. We are going to make the most of this ability in the film, allowing for some pretty impressive combination attacks.

[CaptainPlanet]

I kind of like to draw some inspiration from the *big* movies before just the videogames. Might as well shoot for the top. That's what I like to do.

Likewise. We're going all out with this film and we want to blow our audience away, especially since this particular piece is going to be reserved for the most over-the-top, epic fight scene in the entire movie. As far as tone for the music, take these keywords to heart: dark, black, pure evil incarnate, infectioius, intimidating, godlike, omnipotent, last hope, all or nothing, climactic. That should give you a good idea of our desired tone.

Your current piece reminds me of what it would be like if the characters were fighting the villain at the end of a turn-based rpg, which I love by the way. That's just not the tone we're looking for with this, is all.

[StormBlade]

Chiming in with some information on my end: Annnnnnd not much has changed. :/

Music's still getting hammered out, but I've begun drawing out an outline for the tie-in novel in my head and will present a rough synapsis to CaptainPlanet (Mike) when I have it finished.

Also, hey Mike. :D

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

SO HYPED!, nee...eee...eeed....... trailer.......

[CaptainPlanet]

SO HYPED!, nee...eee...eeed....... trailer.......

Don't worry, as soon as the CAST armor is completely built, we will begin working on the first in a series of many teaser trailers without delay!

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 7/13/10

I was just browsing the thread this afternoon and thought I might toss in a little information about the film for good measure, that way everyone has a good idea what to expect.

Again, this movie trilogy is written as a prequel to the entire series. It takes place on Earth, and happens approximately 1,000 years before Alis' quest in the Algol System. Yes, this trilogy is written as if it were main-cannon, and we would like for our audience to think of the story as if it were main cannon when they watch the movies. The first movie, Phantasy Star Prime, will introduce the birth of photon weapons and NanoTransformer technology, as well as the first CAST ever created (and a few other firsts if you keep your eyes peeled).

Writing a story for a movie trilogy that weaves in and out of the classic series' main continuity has been fun and exciting. We are going to be fleshing out some elements of the classic series and will be introducing one particular well-known Phantasy Star character in such a surprise-twist method that it will blow the minds of Phantasy Star veterans everywhere! The first impression of any Phantasy Star veteran will likely be that we overlooked several elements that ruin the original continuity of the classic games, but I can assure you that in the first film, it only APPEARS that way. As the series unfolds, everything will fall together perfectly and add a depth to the original stories that nobody has ever been aware of before.

"But the people of the Algol System weren't from Earth!"
We know.

"They didn't even use photon weapons in the classic games!"
We know.

But don't worry, the story of the Phantasy Star Prime trilogy will keep true to every element in the storyline and will add much depth to an already deep series and will have a far-reaching effect in the games, even as far as Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe! Only until the third movie is released will you have questions unanswered... And I like it that way. ;)

[Akaimizu]

Which is why I've sort of taken a bit more of a slightly lesser Techie approach to the current form of the song. I knew this was being sold as a prequel, so I kind of felt that it should sort of act that way musically, for some of it. Case in point, not everything that uses real orchestra instruments means that it's turn-based RPG faire. Loads of movies actually use this stuff.

However, perhaps the Final Fantasy example wasn't the best example to use. It's pretty much RPG with some extra lead guitar thrown in at parts. (Something that, in the very near future, will not even be a distinction anymore from turn-based RPGs)

But perhaps some freaky keyboard sounds will be needed for this (which would also bring in the unrealistic high-hat type sounds given the current speed of the song). I have to be a little lenient on how to use the Guitar, though. It's very easy to throw in too much and mess up the song. I'll have to probably finish that next week, though. My 5 day break is coming up though I'm already coming up with some sound-engineered ideas to add. One of them is sort of a "Breath from hell" sound, I'd like to have at parts. Both kind of Biological, but disturbing in the way that it sounds like it comes from something you don't want to be near. Done in rhythm and maybe with a frequency limiter, it could sound just artificial enough to almost hint something partly mechanical is at work. Hard to describe, but I would like to have something more akin to something disturbing enough to make you get the feeling like, "Oh man. We really shouldn't be HERE!!!!" Added along with my Cymbal swells and quick Trombone crescendos (ala. Aliens), it should be a surprise for even Hollywood film standards.

The original piece tend to use a sound that was kind of akin to some movie underwater sonar ping. Which is a lot of what they used. They did use a reverse slam in there, but I think I replaced that idea of the cymbal crescendo. Perhaps I was trying to go more movie score with that idea.

Of course, in actual movies, often times, extra sounds, like that, aren't engineered into the music, but is done as a different audio layer. Music is only part of what you hear behind dialogue. It's when it comes together, that the sound for the scene sounds specific only to a movie production.

Also, I think that also means that Nanotransformers mainly work for hand-held weapons and such. The technology to do advanced placement things such as clothing changes wouldn't have been invented.

[CaptainPlanet]

Your ideas sound good, and you are correct! The NanoTransformers ARE only used for weapon storage in this film, save for one minor deviation for the sake of comedy in one particular scene.

Also, I know that you recently put a link to the music piece up on this thread, but I put together a little montage video to go with it so that I could put the music up on the movie's Facebook page. I figured while I was at it, I would put it up here too.

Regardless of what this video suggests, the character in the sunglasses is a mercenary in the film and not the actual villain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iNnyt3juJ4

[StormBlade]

Cool montage, bro.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 7/17/10

Today, Dallas and I drove to Elizabeth City, North Carolina to check out a potential bar for a bar fight scene in the movie... with photon weapons! This place was great for our needs, and there is plenty of room for fight choreography when the tables are rearranged. We already have permission from both owners of the bar to shoot the scene we need there, so it seems we're all set!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phantasy-Star-Prime/135319923162726?v=photos#!/photo.php?pid=300729&id=135319923162726

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phantasy-Star-Prime/135319923162726?v=photos#!/photo.php?pid=300730&id=135319923162726&fbid=139004752794243

[StormBlade]

Would have been better if we could have gotten a look upstairs, but the manager was gone for the day. We didn't stay long, but I love the location and space it offers.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

that video was pretty awesome

[StormBlade]

Stormblade here with a little sneak peek at the tie-in/bridge novel, or short story depending on the length.

...lifted his hands before his eyes, seeing the damage he had caused to them in his rage; focusing on them until they balled into tight fists; and turning his breathing into a vicious growl and vengeful scream. The true effect of his loss had finally caught up with the young man. His sanity had been strained too much by what he had endured; the only thing he could manage to process was how he was going to make that man suffer like him. He would pay for what had happened, what he let happen, and he would suffer the same feeling of helplessness. With a kind of twisted grin, sinister and psychotic, he stood up from his chair and walked past the wreckage he caused to his home, seeking out the one who took everything from him. Opening the broken door, he looked out into the storm that brewed over the city and let a single phrase slither past his lips. "I'm coming Neon: Brace yourself."

[CaptainPlanet]

Good stuff Dallas. I'm thinking about telling this part somewhere in the beginning of Phantasy Star Prime 2. After all, the audience will need to fully understand the emotional transition of said character. As far as the entire side story, I'm debating whether or not to include it in the movie, considering that the time gap between movies 1 and 2 are only a weeks apart. Either we tell it in the movie, or we can make it a standalone story as an anime short or something. I agree that we should expand our horizons and explore other artistic genres for side stories.

Again, good stuff! Be sure to send me the full version of that scene as soon as you're done writing it.

[StormBlade]

Quick update: Production-y stuff going on, still working on the suit whenever we can. CaptainPlanet will be on some point to give you a little more information.

[CaptainPlanet]

Not really much in the way of new updates at the moment. It's a brief dry spell. We all took a little two-week break to get our RL affairs in order seeing as how there just aren't enough hours in the day to manage both at all times. We're now scheduling our second and third visit to Patrick's house to work on CAST armor fitting some more. We're also going to be ordering the materials to hammer out the first few weapons so we can go ahead and get a couple teaser trailers out to you guys.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 7/24/10

Today, I bought nearly $140 worth of equipment so that we, the cast and crew of Phantasy Star Prime, can interact even more with the fans.

I bought an XBox 360 Wi-Fi adapter, a text pad for the controller, and a headset. In a few moments I will be logging on and starting up a Guardians License, as well as downloading the AOI expansion so that we can better communicate with and spread awareness among the fans of our work through the gamespace.

Every week, we will hold a mini-panel to discuss updates on the film's progress (just like we do here, only through the medium of the gamespace), as well as answering any questions you may want to ask us in-game about the movie itself. I can tell you now that if it doesn't reveal too much about the plot to ruin it, then we will answer it... But you never know, we may reveal some things about the story that might raise some eyebrows. ;)

I will be hosting the weekly public mini-panels under the character name "Director Hebert." Sharing the mic will be Dallas Landreth (Co-Producer/Actor - Epsilon/Jeff), or as you know him on this thread, StormBlade, Theodore "Neon" Irwin (Actor - Neon), and Jake Perry (Actor - Ark the Mercenary) in any combination, depending on who is available on the day of the mini-panel.

Each time we pass the mic, we'll be sure to let you know who's speaking. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the movie, our characters in the movie, or a little insight as to to where we are taking this trilogy as a whole. We love questions! Our goal is to raise awareness of this prequel trilogy to the fans and more questions shows that we have raised more awareness!

In the meantime, you will most likely spot me wandering the landscape leveling my TECHNICS, as my movie character is a Force. :P I will report back within the next day or so to let you all know when and where we will be holding our weekly announcements in the gamespace.


EDIT: Okay, so apparently the Chatpad was a wasted investment... I really need to get with the times! I'll have to go secure a USB Keyboard tomorrow. And the mic only works in a party apparently. Perhaps there is a way for us to invite everyone at a specific location to a single XBLA party and hold the mini-panels that way.

[StormBlade]

I has USB keyboard.

[CaptainPlanet]

We will be holding our weekly mini-panels and answering your questions about the Phantasy Star Prime trilogy every Thursday at 8:00PM EST at the Guardians Colony Central Table in Universe 10: Draco.

We will be holding our first in-game gathering tomorrow (Tuesday) at the same time and location mentioned above. Bring an in-game friend with you!

We will wait 5 minutes or so after 8PM EST so that everyone has a chance to show up, but a little lateness is okay too. We will be adding all guests to our dedicated XBox Live Party so that players with microphones can chime in. If you do not have a microphone or a USB keyboard, be sure to type your questions up ahead of time, possibly even saving them as a chat shortcut.

We hope to see as many people as possible tomorrow and Thursday!

[CaptainPlanet]

So, The mic I have works, I know for a fact. Today however, I invited a player to a team who didn't have a microphone of his own and I couldn't talk to him. My name didn't even light up when I spoke. Then, I invited him to an XBox Live party, but he still could not hear me. This little technical problem does not bode well for our in-game panel tonight. The idea was going to be to invite everyone who shows up to an XBox live party so the cast members and I could talk to them and answer their questions by speaking to them through the mic.

Let's say... 10 people showed up to the GUARDIANS Colony Central Table for the panel tonight and we wanted to do this. Could anyone reading this tell me if it's possible? If so, how? I really hope to get an answer before tonight's in-game panel. Thanks guys!

[StormBlade]

According to forum posts I've found, the max limit for people in an X-Box live party is 8.

[CaptainPlanet]

If we get more than 7 guests tonight (which would be nice) or if we can't get the mic to work for everyone through the XBL party, then we'll simply have to use the keyboard method. In order to maintain as much order as possible, we're going to ask that everyone hold off on speaking until we begin taking questions. If you have a question, simply emote a 'wave' and we will call on you. We will make it a point to answer everyone's questions about the project.

[CaptainPlanet]

Well, last night's in-game movie panel went well. There were only 3 people that showed up, but with the cumulative discussion of the movie with the players, the panel lasted about 3 hours! The feedback was great too. The only negative remarks we got about the movie were from a few pessimistic trolls that happened to be hanging out in just the right Universe, at just the right place, at just the right time. Healthy skepticism is one thing, after all, it's what helps to polish a quality product, but to bash a concept without any knowledge about it using ammunition such as, "fan films suck" and "who would want to watch it?" makes for a completely invalid argument, so we simply ignore such banter. In my personal opinion, a film created BY fans, FOR fans sounds like it would be a lot better than most of the video game movies we've seen in the past decade or so. At least we know that if fans made it, the information must be SOMEWHAT accurate, seeing as the ones involved in the production of such a project would have been already fully immersed in the source material.

Fan films suck? My rebuttal is this:

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/686/uwebollh.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/i/uwebollh.jpg/)

... any questions?

It's not like we have much to compete with as filmmakers when you have guys like this running around giving the gaming community the middle finger.

So anyway, we hope to see you guys at the in-game movie panel tomorrow night! :) Co-Producer Dallas Landreth and I will be sharing the mic with special guest Theodore Irwin, who plays the lead protagonist Neon, the Hunter/Fortefighter in the movie.

Thursday, July 29th
8PM EST
Universe 10: Draco
GUARDIANS Colony - Central Table (near the elevator)

[CaptainPlanet]

Getting an estimate from one of Nicolas Cage's agents to see how much the booking fee would cost for him to make a brief cameo in Phantasy Star Prime 2. The booking fee is guesstimated to be around $5,000, give or take. That will take a lot of hardcore saving on our part, but we have at least another year before we begin shooting the sequel. Wish us luck, guys!

http://a.imageshack.us/img217/7402/hiringnicolascagecensor.jpg

It's definitely a long shot, but it's definitely worth a try!

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 8/2/10

It's almost 5am EST and it's been a few days with no word back from Nicolas Cage's agent. Oh well, we tried.

On the up-side however, a certain celebrity DID agree to make a cameo, possibly in our first movie. Kyle Hebert, a popular voice actor from shows such as Dragonball Z, Naruto, and Bleach, has agreed to make a cameo appearance in Phantasy Star Prime! Shooting for the scene he would be in is still far off, so it would depend on how his schedule looks at the time of shooting, but so far, so good! I sent him the script for the movie and he is considering voicing the CAST character, Epsilon. Once he sits down and reads the full script, he will get back to me on whether or not he is interested in the role.

The following is a list of anime/video game characters he has voiced over the years:

ANIMATION

Naruto - Kiba Inuzuka, Inoichi, Mizore, Ebizo
Bleach – Sosuke Aizen, Ganju Shiba
Dragonball Z – Narrator, Teen Gohan, West Kai, Pikkon, Ox King, General White, Pirozhki, King Furry, Captain Chicken
Gurren Lagann – Kamina
Fullmetal Alchemist – Vato Falman
Resident Evil: Degeneration – Zombie, Newscaster, Bodyguard
Ghost in the Shell – Munei, Detective, CSI tech
Blade of the Immortal – Shido
Magnum Farce: A Shot in the Park – Blivit the Sniper
Ghost Slayers Ayashi – Hozaburo Ogasawara
Ouran High School Host Club – Soga
Blue Dragon – Legolas, Gilliam
Yu Yu Hakusho – Karasu, Okubo, M2
Eureka 7 – Ken-goh (season 2 and movie)
Moribito – Sun, Jiguro Muso
Monster – Maurer
Blade of the Immortal – Shido
Fruits Basket – Takei
D. Gray Man – George the Mayor
Big Wind Up – Miyagawa
Darker than Black – Kikuchi
Honey and Clover – Ippei, Asai, Lohmeyer
Digimon: Data Squad – Belphemon
Samurai Seven – Mosuke
One Piece – King Cobra, Higuma the Bear, Nola
Kenichi – Tsukaba
Shigurui – Naotsugu
Megaman: Starforce – Omega-Xis
Ergo Proxy – MCQ
Freedom – Gosche
Buso Renkin – Hiwatari
Hell Girl – Yoshiyuk
Tweeny Witches – Luca
MAR – Peta
When They Cry – Tomitake, Kumagai, Kimiyoshi
Baki the Grappler – Hanayama, Vladimir, Kinryuzan
Blue Gender – Seno Miyagi, Sgt. Robert Bradley, Takashi
Burst Angel – Detective Masa-Yan
Lupin III – General Headhunter, Burton, Butrakari, Goering
Basalisk – Hattori Hanzo the First
Zatch Bell – John Owen

VARIOUS ROLES
Hellsing, Evangelion, Shin Chan, Monster, Lucky Star, STRAIN, Vexille, FLAG, Stellvia, Melody of Oblivion, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Mermaid Forest, The Third, Case Closed, Galaxy Railways, Sakura Taisen, Kodocha, Desert Punk,
Ragnarok, Romeo X Juliet

VIDEO GAMES

Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV – Ryu
James Cameron’s Avatar – Rai ‘uk
Final Fantasy XIII – Cocoon inhabitants various
Wolfenstein – Hans Grosse, PA Voice
Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight – Xaviax
Devil May Cry 4 – Bael, Dagon
Dynasty Warriors 6, 7, Strike Force- Sima Yi
Dragonball Z – Narrator, Teen Gohan, Ox King, Pikkon
Naruto – Kiba, Manda, Ebizo
Bleach – Sosuke Aizen, Ganju Shiba
Mad World – Big Bull Crocker, Scissors Man, Ninja
Desperate Housewives – Carlos Solis
Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles – Narrator, Nose Demon
Persona 4 – Mitsuo Kubo
Baroque – Archangel
Wild Arms 5 – Volsung
Riviera: The Promised Land – Ledah
Armored Core: For Answer – Otsdarva/Thermidor
Tenchu – Kurogawa, Ninja
Everquest II – Voidman, Stone Golem, Skeleton, Ogre, Werewolf
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade – Blood Elf
Red Alert 3 – Imperial Nanocore, Allied Mobile Construction, Allied IFV
Soldier of Fortune: Payback – Thomas Mason
.hack GU Part 2, 3 – Krewhaha, Skumumu
Baten Kaitos: Origins – Juwar
Digimon World: Data Squad – Masaki Nitta, Beezelmon, Belphemon
Growlanser: Heritage of War – Zeikwalt
Dawn of Mana – Masked Guru
Infinite Undiscovery – Sigmond, Held
Star Ocean – Dias, Arumat, Crowe
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World – Richter Abend, Dirk the Dwarf
Chocobo’s Dungeon – Marris the Fishmonger
Guilty Gear 2 – Blade, Roller
The Last Remnant – Zuido
Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament – Karasu, M2

VARIOUS ROLES

Resident Evil 5, Watchmen: The End is Nigh, Golden Axe: Beastrider, Bloodrayne 2, Valkyrie Profile 2, Enchanted Arms, Yygra Union, Summon Night: Twin Age, Rondo of Swords, Magna Carta 2

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

thats cool that you got him to cameo.

[CaptainPlanet]

I realize it's been a while since I've posted any media for you all to look at, so here's something to hold you over until the next media update, which will probably be more pictures of the CAST armor being made, since we are scheduled to see our craftsman this Wednesday for further fitting.

In the meantime, I've been trying out different voices in case Kyle Hebert decides that he's not interested in voicing Epsilon. This one was kind of for kicks. This is what it might sound like if Peter Cullen were to voice Epsilon in our movie. :P

Most of these lines are taken right from the script, save for the last one. That one I just threw in. :P

Also, please excuse the bad sound quality. I recorded the vocals through my piece-of-crap cell phone.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2z-5aWQHRc

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 8-6-10

I just got an e-mail response from Kyle Hebert and he has agreed to voice the character Epsilon for our movies! We have a celebrity on the cast, how sweet is that?!

I also noticed that he is missing a role in his credits. He also played Wario in, "There Will Be Brawl." I literally just got finished watching that entire series and it was pretty sweet. I really liked the writing, and Kyle's character was my favorite. Him and his retarded brother, "Wa" (Waluigi).

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 8/17/10

It's been a while since there has been an update and I know that some of you are curious as to what's going on with production. Basically, we have been devoting all of our time to building the CAST armor and It's coming along great! We would post pictures of how it looks so far, but we don't want to reveal too much of the armor before we release the trailer.

On a side note, we have focused heavily on the first four weapons we are going to build and have compiled the materials in an online shopping cart and We will probably order them by the end of this week. The materials aren't cheap for four weapons!

[StormBlade]

As for other things, as Mike said, we've been building the armor and working around various schedules, including my own (which is the most hectic at times). To dismiss any concerns, we haven't "lost interest" or "burned out" at all; we're focused heavily on this project and know we've come far enough in terms of networking and hyping to fail you guys. Everyone who wants to see this movie are our motivation.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

As for other things, as Mike said, we've been building the armor and working around various schedules, including my own (which is the most hectic at times). To dismiss any concerns, we haven't "lost interest" or "burned out" at all; we're focused heavily on this project and know we've come far enough in terms of networking and hyping to fail you guys. Everyone who wants to see this movie are our motivation.

Good to hear it! I've told practically all my friends about this now and at least one or two of them are going to watch it with me.

[CaptainPlanet]

Good to hear it! I've told practically all my friends about this now and at least one or two of them are going to watch it with me.

It's feedback like this that drives us to continue pressing forward. Thank you. In fact, you will receive a free copy of the DVD when it is released. We'll get your mailing address from you closer to the time of release. After all, by inspiring us to push forward, you are inadvertently involved with the creation of the film. :)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

Awesomeness! I can't wait i thought I was going to be watching it on a whatever site you pt it on but this is way better! THANKS!

[CaptainPlanet]

No problem! Thank you for the support! Fan feedback is very important to the development of a good product. We will be taking feedback from the first movie and use it to polish the second. When the movie is released, it will be broken down into a web series so the mass public can still experience the film while DVD owners can enjoy it as one full feature length film. The DVD will come as 2 discs: The movie disc and the bonus disc, which will come with a plethora of features, such as deleted scenes, an extensive blooper reel, production footage, bonus commentary, a music video(s?), and more!

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

wait, there's a special features disc?! H*** YES!!!!!! i love blooper reals

[StormBlade]

Just dropping a line to tell you guys that the proposed and experimental in-game panels will be cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Mike will probably add a little more, but that's the jist of it. It didn't really work out with the work schedules and other little things that came up...

[CaptainPlanet]

Just dropping a line to tell you guys that the proposed and experimental in-game panels will be cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Mike will probably add a little more, but that's the jist of it. It didn't really work out with the work schedules and other little things that came up...

And by little things that came up, he means that only one person ever really showed up. ^_^ It turns out that the gamespace wasn't as fruitful of a place to advertise as we hoped. I am considering starting a video blog of our up and coming production company, Done Right Productions, giving weekly/bi-weekly video updates of what's going on in the works of Done Right. That's right, that means that when you watch your Phantasy Star Prime DVD, you will see "A Done Right Film" in the opening credits. A bold statement to say the least, but we are that confident in this project, as well as the other projects we have lined up further down the pipeline.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

besides the PS Prime trilogy, do you have any toher movies you're planning on making yet?

[CaptainPlanet]

besides the PS Prime trilogy, do you have any other movies you're planning on making yet?

Why yes, as a matter of fact, we do! With the formation of our new production company on the horizon, we have already accumulated a whopping 8 movie projects in the pipeline for the future (besides the first Phantasy Star Prime film)! Our project lineup over the next few years is as follows:

Rotting Moon
Phantasy Star Prime 2 *non-profit*
Dice
Phantasy Star Prime 3 *non-profit*
Roanoke (Working Title)
Falcon *non-profit*
Castle Crashers (Permission Pending) *non-profit (unless the creators wish otherwise)*
Dick Wade (Working Title)

This is a rough order of their scheduled production and is subject to change. Considering that you all are primarily the Phantasy Star demographic, we weren't going to impose the other more distant projects we have planned, but now that one of you has shown curiosity, I will go ahead and give a brief description of each movie project.

Rotting Moon:
Rotting Moon is the name of a zombie survival RP campaign that our friend Jake Perry (AKA: Ark of Phantasy Star Prime) devised long ago and has been working hard on it in his spare time ever since. The premise is of an alternate reality where Y2K actually happened and all the computers of the world simultaneously shut down. This causes all the world's nuclear power plants to undergo meltdowns, inevitably causing a zombie apocalypse. These particular zombies vary in type based on their abilities. They range from feral, to psionic, to these nearly indestructible creatures that are like a cross between the creatures from the movie Alone in the Dark and the Verdrugo monster from Resident Evil 4. It was Jake's idea to adapt this roleplay to a movie.

Dice:
For those who are unfamiliar with how RP's work, They basically work like your standard video game RPG, only there are almost no limits to how the game's actions, battles, and story can play out since you dictate your actions with words and dice rather than with scripted video game mechanics. Generally in an RP, you roll a dice to determine a lot of things, whether it be to see if an attack meets with its target, to see if you land a critical strike on your enemy, or simply to test the odds of whatever simple task your character is doing at the time. Needless to say, a dice holds a lot of power in the world of roleplay. The odds are suddenly much more chaotic... and fun. The movie project known as Dice will be unlike any other movie you've seen before. Period. Why? Because the movie will be truly unpredictable. This movie will not be written with the logic of storytelling in mind. The direction of the story will be based off the roll of a dice. Here's how it works, we will first write a story that we want to tell, we will then construct an RP based around this story, and we will play the RP from start to finish. We will document how the RP played out and then translate it into a movie. Unlike the movie called Gamers, which was based around the RP Dungeons and Dragons, Dice will not deviate from the plot of the RP from which the movie was derived. The movie will be centered around what happened in our RP session, which we used to write this unpredictable story. and since the odds of an RP are generally ruled by the roll of a dice, the name of the movie seems quite fitting. This will leave the movie wide open to some wacky odds and scenarios. Let me put it this way, I sat in on a session of D20 that my friends were playing one day. Due to the dictation of the dice they rolled, one guy's character, who was a high-level sniper with a ridiculously strong sniper rifle, shot through a steel floor and sent the round through an enemy's spinal column! There was another instance where a character got 9 whole seconds of air time on a Ducati motorcycle while holding his pistols over his head in a ridiculous pose while shooting and killing 5 guys in the process. In a more comedic instance, an enemy was being interrogated and one of the players was going to kick the guy in the ankle in an attempt to break it. The player rolled a 1 and wound up missing the enemy's ankle completely, slipping backward and falling to the floor! A movie plot dictated by these kinds of odds would be truly unpredictable, and thus a paradigm is born.

Roanoke (Working Title):
We may never know what really happened to the settlers of the lost colony of Roanoke, Virginia, but we can write a suspenseful thriller based on it!

Falcon:
This was a kind of epiphany I had one day. I had an idea for a movie about F-Zero's famous bounty hunter, Captain Falcon. That's right, him. I know a lot of you are probably facepalming at this point, but hear me out. This is another prequel Idea I have. It will be a movie about the origins of Captain Falcon, told in the dark, gritty style of, "Dark Knight." Borrowing a plot device from the anime, "F-Zero: GP Legend," Captain Falcon will be considered a title passed down from one pilot to another. This movie will not be centered around the famous Captain Douglas Falcon (as his full name was recently revealed to be) from the current F-Zero and Smash Bros. games. This film will revolve around a man who eventually takes on the title of the first Captain Falcon. It takes place in a modern day setting, where F-Zero starts out as an underground racing ring and the 'machines' that the pilots drive are modern cars. Don't worry, there won't be any beaten up jalopies on our race track in the film, they will be decent to high-end looking cars (the first Blue Falcon will in fact be blue). The man who later becomes the first Captain Falcon is trained in the art of pyrokinesis by a monk with a pet falcon. It is through this friend/mentor that our protagonist hones his skills in the fiery arts and, you guessed it, eventually uses his famous Falcon Punch!

Castle Crashers:
My co-producer, Dallas Landreth (AKA: Stormblade), came up with a rough idea for a dark and edgy live-action reimagining of the famous Newgrounds Flash game, Castle Crashers. I know, I know. It was the cute comedy and cartoony antics that gave the game it's unique charm, however, I'm interested exploring his ideas further and seeing what he comes up with. He claims to have some epic mental images for the live-action Castle Crashers armor, so we'll see how it pans out.

Dick Wade (Working Title):
Dick Wade was one of the first things I ever did that was even remotely close to filmmaking. About 8 years ago, my high school friend, Sam Perry, and I would get together and make improvised 'movies' using only the Nintendo 64 game Perfect Dark, a blank video cassette tape, and a portable audio cassette recorder. Though the story had a general direction and a general outline of each scene was planned beforehand, every scene in the Dick Wade 'films' was completely improvised, which lead to some of the funniest moments in my personal history of involvement with the visual arts. I may write an entire script for this film(s) or I may just write a general outline and keep true to the original method to our madness and improvise each scene in accordance to the general outline of the film. That seems to be where the funniest stuff tends to come out. The movie is centered around a character named Dick Wade (of course) who is a secret agent for a top-secret U.S. government agency called DI4. His partner and sidekick, Simon Biscuit, is an undercover agent who is a master of his craft. The two characters often have a tense rivalry and a love-hate relationship and often times just annoy each other to no end. The man giving the orders around DI4, known only as Johnson, has a strange disorder/gimmick where he is physically unable to walk or sit. He just... stands there and talks. It's kind of a running joke with the character. Dick Wade's arch nemesis, Doctor Finkelstein, runs an evil corporation called F.R.E.A.K. Labs, where he conducts questionable experiments while bolstering his army of freak soldiers (in the game Perfect Dark, these soldiers were represented by DataDyne Soldiers (green) with alien heads). There are also a number of lesser villains for DI4 to contend with, but I won't elaborate on those. Needless to say, this is a comedy. If you want to compare it to "Get Smart," then you are rightly justified to do so. It is a secret agent comedy in every sense of the term.

In short, yes, we have a few other projects lined up in the future. Thanks for asking! :P

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 8/27/10

In light of the fact that the formation of our Production Company, Done Right Productions, is likely to be happening within the next few months, we have decided to go ahead and take the 100% legal route with the Phantasy Star Prime project and approach SEGA directly. We will formally ask them for permission to market this as a non-profit fan film. We will bolster our request with facts such as, "it would be free advertising for the franchise" and, "by reaching out to a wider, more general audience, our film could potentially broaden their demographic." The fact that there is an entire part of a forum dedicated to fan fiction on SEGA's main website, the odds seem a bit more favorable for us getting permission to distribute free copies of the DVD to the public. Wish us luck everyone, it is now all or nothing!

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

*luck wished*

[StormBlade]

Correction: The Lost Colony of Roanoke wasn't in Virginia. It an island around North Carolina. Fix that.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 9/1/10

Not much is new. We went to Patrick's again to work on the CAST armor some more and got a bit more done. Here are some pictures of our progress. Forgive the bad quality of the photos. They were taken with my crappy cell phone:

http://a.imageshack.us/img337/9051/0901101338b.th.jpg (http://img337.imageshack.us/i/0901101338b.jpg/) http://a.imageshack.us/img521/9471/0901101338c.th.jpg (http://img521.imageshack.us/i/0901101338c.jpg/) http://a.imageshack.us/img84/6194/0901101339a.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/i/0901101339a.jpg/) http://a.imageshack.us/img299/4580/0901101341b.th.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/i/0901101341b.jpg/) http://a.imageshack.us/img534/4249/0901101421a.th.jpg (http://img534.imageshack.us/i/0901101421a.jpg/)

And we have finally started the weapons. The following picture is of the end of the handle of a Sabra:

http://a.imageshack.us/img375/5282/0901101457a.th.jpg (http://img375.imageshack.us/i/0901101457a.jpg/)

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 9/12/10

We have begun our video blog series for Done Right Productions and will be posting them here as they come out so that you can keep up with the goings on of the company and Phantasy Star Prime!


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

[Kion]

Just wondering.

What's your budget?
How many people are working on it?
What kind of equipment are you using for shooting, recording?
Licensing?
What's your plan for distribution?
Advertising?

Looking good. Can't wait to see it.

[CaptainPlanet]

Thanks for the questions, Kion. I'll be sure to address them in my first video blog for the company over the next few days. I'd do it today, but we'll be shooting our first episode of Ask Gibby today. :)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

cool video blog, i cant wait until this comes out!
this will be the best fan movie ever!

and now, i cant wait for the captain falcon movie either

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 9/16/10

Kyle Hebert finally got back to me on his voicework for the character Epsilon for the movie. He did an amazing job! I don't even think he's heard of Phantasy Star before, yet he managed to pull off CAST attitude quite well!

In case you missed our previous posts about him, you may know Kyle from such roles as the narrator/Adult Gohan/Pikkon from Dragonball Z, several characters from Naruto, and Akaizu from Bleach!

I whipped together this little teaser to give you a small taste of his voicework for Epsilon. I can only listen to this so many times before my head explodes from the level of awesome. This clip I made gets ME hyped for our movie's release! :P

When the music picks up, just imagine a cast (HUcast style armor) fighting a guy who is posessed by Dark Falz one-on-one. (yeah, it ends kind of quick, but this is a teaser, what do you expect? :P) Also bear in mind that this is NOT from the movie, rather just a teaser clip I put together for you guys.

And yes, those are the sounds of photon weapons clashing. Epic, isn't it? ;)

Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_thQoDsLW0

[StormBlade]

Ugh, dry spell.

Mike's been busy going back to work. I was in Baltimore last weekend and got involved in chasing a thief through the streets of downtown, so that's taken up my time (police and finding new information).

We'll have any new updates posted ASAP.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

StormBlade, did you get to play an PS games yet?

[CaptainPlanet]

For those of you who are interested in our other endeavors, we have just released the first episode of one of our new YouTube series, Ask Gibby! Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHiUND4_5F4

[StormBlade]

I haven't played any games yet. Been busy with work and other games: Borderlands, Resistance, etc.

Just got my PS3.

[StormBlade]

Sorry for lack of an update. We'll have information on our progress up soon.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 10/14/10

Today I wrote a long letter to RubyEclipse of SEGA about Phantasy Star Prime. I gave him a rundown of what we're doing and what legal precautions we're taking as far as distribution is concerned. Ruby seemed like the ideal candidate to contact since he is a really big Phantasy Star buff from what I can tell and he is a primary go-between when it comes to having the fans' voices heard. I asked if there were any extra precautions we should take before we went any further with the project and that if he himself is interested in the work we're doing, we would be honored to have his support. Having someone like RubyEclipse on our side could prove valuable in the future.

I know I for one would be stoked if he showed an interest! We already have Rob Miles, the head of SEGA of America's Customer Service behind us all the way on this, and adding Ruby to that group would bolster our efforts even more! So far, Rob has given us invaluable advice as far as who to talk to in the event that we decided to go all the way to the top and ask for permission to distribute.

I know that Ruby has read the letter I sent him, but he had to log off when he was finished. I'm currently awaiting his response and I will inform you all of his verdict as soon as he responds.

[CaptainPlanet]

Dallas' second video blog for Done Right Productions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1wvMDY9r7A

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

so, how's filming coming along?

[StormBlade]

Nearly halted due to a variety of circumstances. We're discussing where we stand with the film in terms of the near future for the most part, and will continue with shooting after everything going on settles down.

We've been discussing CGing Epsilon instead of finishing the armor due to the time restraints with our armor-smith, but haven't settled on a judgment yet.

We haven't given up on filming, but it's been hard to continue. That's all we can say right now, because we're still uncertain how long it's going to take to finish.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

well, at least you're still going to make it

[CaptainPlanet]

Among all the chaos, we managed to pencil in a day to work with Patrick (Weapon crafter) this Sunday. It's not much, but it's progress. To be quite honest, If he had the weapons done, we would be just about ready to begin shooting. We've put the CAST armor on hold so that we can focus strictly on crafting the weapons. In the next few days, when I get a chance, I am going to begin searching for a second craftsman to double up our efforts on crafting the weapons.

On a side note, and nobody in production knows this yet, so it will be a surprise to them too, but in light of the rapid progression of my recently diagnosed disease (Multiple Sclerosis), against my own wishes, I am forced to recast my role in the film. This film has been my baby from day one. I wrote it after all. I had my heart set on playing the lead character, Michael (the Force character in the film). When I wrote the script, I based his personality off my own, and I was excited to fill the character's shoes, especially since he has such a unique story arch in the upcoming films. I am very... very saddened by this decision, but unless I miraculously recover, which is highly unlikely, I'm afraid that I will have to resign from the cast and stick to writing and directing. I occasionally need to rely on walls or a cane to get around now, and while I may be able to pull off the action scenes on my 'good' days, I fear that it would be a gamble that likely would not pay off, as I would probably not be in the condition to continue that kind of physical effort over the next few years of shooting.

I will begin recasting myself soon... :(

Also, in regards to RubyEclipse, he has logged on to the SEGA forums countless times, but has yet to reply to the messages I sent him last week. I'm actually surprised that he of all people within SEGA seemingly decided to ignore the long letter I wrote him. Oh well, we still have Rob Miles supporting our efforts. :)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

well, that kind of sucks that you can't be the force.

[Akaimizu]

Sorry to hear that you can't be the force. Hopefully things will turn out as the year comes to an end.

On a different note, I've been rapidly closing out projects and things I had to do, by this weekend. The Faire, I worked for, has it's final days of the year, this weekend. So until next year, I'll have more time on my hands. I plan to start cranking out more songs. I have a different rendition of an earlier piece, shown here, in the works. But before that, I have a bit of a bigger surprise in store, which I just have to get finished with first. I don't want to lose some of the ideas, as they've been in the works for the past few weeks.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 10/24/10

In reference to an earlier post of mine, I've felt a bit better lately, so if my MS continues to have its ups and downs like this, then I may play the role of the Force in the film after all.

*CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT*

Seeing as how we have put off shooting until we get all our props and affairs in order, I was going through the cast's wardrobe for the first movie recently and realized that I completely forgot about putting thought into the attire of one of the characters! Mine! I was going to draw up some concept designs for his outfit, but I decided to have a little more fun with it. Since this is a movie made by the fans for the fans, I've decided to let you guys have some influence on the film as well.

I am hereby starting a costume design contest for the force's outfit. Post scans of your artwork for the design in the official Costume Design Contest thread (the link is below) and the winner will have their design as a mainstay in all four films, as well as receive $100 American currency (sorry, we don't have much to work with, especially when we're trying to get this film off the ground).

I was originally going to use this design from Magic the Gathering as a conceptual jump-off point because I liked the hood and cloak (without all the rips and tears).

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6156/stf99jaceserasure.th.jpg (http://img530.imageshack.us/i/stf99jaceserasure.jpg/)

I still really want the design to have a cloak and hood, but if your design is awesome enough, it may even change my mind. I wanted to do something like a cross between what was in the above image and a design that resonates with Phantasy Star. When designing the outfit, remember that this is pre-Phantasy Star 1, on Earth, in the somewhat near future, like within the next century or so.

The deadline will be January 1, 2011. After that date, I will no longer be accepting entries.

I hope to see a lot of entrants! Good luck to you all!

Official Costume Design Contest Thread:
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2560738#post2560738

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 10/29/10

Not much of an eventful update, but I'm spending the rest of my evening doing deep research and observing playthroughs of the original Genesis titles to make sure that my general plot of the Phantasy Star Prime saga is consistent with our ideas. Once I finish viewing the playthroughs of Phantasy Star 1 and 2, I will begin writing the script for Phantasy Star Prime 2. At the rate the weapons are getting worked on due to conflicting schedules, we may wind up shooting the first two movies at the same time, which would mean they would be released closer together. This delay may turn out to work in our favor after all.

I am going to review all of our brainstorming notes on the story of Prime 2 and select the ideas that I feel would work the best. Then I will begin writing the second film's script.

[CaptainPlanet]

NOT AN UPDATE: 11/2/10

In other film news, the Sprint 30-second film contest has begun and we at Done Right Productions have decided to submit an entry. We would appreciate it greatly if you would vote on our submission! :) The top 10 videos will be judged by Michael Bay himself and the winner will receive $25,000 cash. If we win this contest, we would be putting the reward money towards the Phantasy Star Prime project and to get our production company off the ground and legalize our name. The video is below. This would be an instant switch from snail pace to full-throttle for the Phantasy Star Prime project! If you REALLY want to support us, you can vote on the video once a day until November 15th. Thank you all for your unwavering support!

This video stars two people from Phantasy Star Prime:

Jake Perry (Ark the Bounty Hunter)
Dallas Landreth AKA StormBlade (Jeffrey Sykes)

*note that these two actors are not portraying their Phantasy Star characters in this submission*

http://now.sprint.com/e?xTGe2m6sS34

Oh... And also, if we win, I would be increasing the Costume Design Contest's reward money from $100 to $500 US currency. So if you were thinking about submitting artwork for our contest, voting for our entry in the Sprint contest would pay off big for you. ;)

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 11/5/10

Well, it seems we're being demolished in the Sprint film contest. Oh well, we're not too worried about it. In case you were wondering, yes, the costume design contest is still going on, however the prize money is still only $100 (unless I run into some money between now and the deadline).

In other news, in my long, hard search for detailed information about the lore of the classic 4 Phantasy Star titles on the Genesis, I have run into many inconsistent sources with differing details. I think I have the truthful sources pinned down now and will begin writing the script for Phantasy Star Prime 2 utilizing those details.

Also, in order to narrow down the true sources, I began a thread under Phantasy Star Classic General here on the boards and have had a discussion there with one member in particular who was very helpful in verifying these sources. You know who you are and thank you! After careful consideration, it was there that I released the entire backstory to the 4 Phantasy Star Prime films.

Why?

Because, now that I think about it, the backstory that drives the Prime films will be more often referenced and occasionally reenacted in flashback/montage sequences rather than being portrayed as the up-front meat of the film. It is merely a tool to put the films into context for the viewers and I believe that after reading it, the first film would make MUCH more sense to its viewers due to its generalized portrayal. I used this portrayal technique in writing the script of the first film in order to introduce viewers from the general public to the Phantasy Star franchise, as if slowly easing into a pool. You know, to reach a broader audience.

You can read my post containing the synopsis of the backstory, as well as a small excerpt from Phantasy Star Prime 1 (that adds to the backstory but IS IN FACT A SMALL SPOILER) here:

!!!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!!!
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2565189#post2565189

P.S.
I won't be releasing spoilers of our work very often. This is a very rare occurrence.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

wait, 4 Prime movies??? i thought there were only 3, this is even more awesome, AWESOMESAUCE!

[CaptainPlanet]

Yep, it went from a trilogy to a four-part saga. Awesomesauce indeed. Also, we will be filming Prime 1 & 2 at the same time, so they will be released a little closer together. Did you read the article I linked in my last post? There you can find the extensive backstory that drives the entire saga, as well as a few voluntary leaks from the first and fourth films. :)

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 11/10/10

For those of you who may or may not have been following the conversation in the above-posted link to the PSI, I, & IV Q&A thread, there has been extensive research done in the past 2-3 days on the source material for the classic saga. There has been some heavy discussion on that thread as to what would be valid continuity material for the films and what might be considered taking artistic liberties too far.

Well, I learned a lot in the past few days from that thread and, after swallowing my pride for the goal of creating a saga of films that would truly do the classic PS saga justice, I have decided to re-write Phantasy Star Prime. Well, about 85% of is roughly. The backstory I had set up for the films was not consistent with the classic continuity in a lot of ways, and once I discovered all the comparative flaws, the current backstory felt like a broken adaption. So after a few more exchanges in the other thread, I will be going back to the drawing board with the Phantasy Star Prime 1 script and writing the backstory for all the films (whether it be 3 or 4 films) from scratch.

I know this may be disheartening to those who were hoping to see the first film come to fruition in the near future, but believe me, this is for the best. We consider these films to be by fans, for fans, and with this level of collaboration from the good folks here as PSO-World, and your continued support, this will surely be a story to remember!

And don't worry, we will be caught up again in no time, now that I have a good idea of where to take the story. :)

EDIT:

Also, for those of you who were previously unaware (like I was, sadly), the four Genesis games are in no way related to any of the online iterations, so if you were looking for plot tie-ins with PSO or PSU, I'm sorry. However, there will still be heavy technological influences of the PSO/PSU technologies within the films, albeit, they were created by Earthmen hands in this universe (or perhaps I should say, the adapted classic universe). Photon weapons, NanoTransformers, CASTs, all created by Earth in this universe. These films will spin a new story within the Milky Way galaxy, until the final film, where the story makes the leap into the Algol System.

[biggabertha]

Everything so far looks extremely promising - there'll always be setbacks, that's just how life works!

(Well, unless you chance win the jackpot lottery or something...)

Please..! Hang in there and keep going! It's going to so awesome to see this in action!

*Continues wishing Good luck!*

[CaptainPlanet]

NOT AN UPDATE: 11/24/10

Not Phantasy Star Prime related, but while I have been rewriting the script for the first film, we have been hard at work on filming other works in the meantime. Here is the first episode of our new YouTube series to run alongside Ask Gibby. I give you, 'Tom's Special Place.'

Warning: This guy may creep you out a bit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBQhtFI4_Mw

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 12/6/10

Hey guys, long time no update! Sorry for the lack of updates on this thread lately, but there hasn't really been much to report. As I'm sure all of you know by reading this thread, what was the first film (primarily, the backstory that will drive all the films) is currently undergoing a massive overhaul in order to correct a few inconsistencies with the lore of the games. We were more than willing to throw all our work out the window and start fresh with the story in order to get every detail right and make a good product, and that's exactly what we did. I am currently laying out the main plot points of the classic Genesis titles that would be relevant to the films and building the backstory from there, brick by brick. It's coming along slowly, but beautifully. I was relieved that I didn't have to throw out any of the characters I fell in love with when I wrote them (Two characters in particular who both have questionable allegiances at some point during the first film). Kyle Hebert is still on the cast as Epsilon (as the CAST, pardon the pun).

There are going to be a few mainstays besides most of the characters from the original screenplay to the new one. The main plot from the screenplay of the original first film, fortunately, only needs to be modified and reconstructed here and there in order to adapt to the new story, and is still directly relevant to the backstory driving the films.

In doing what I personally feel would appeal to fans of the classic Genesis titles (which is the reality that these films reside in) and the online iterations, there will be heavy influences from both realities. For example, (I'm sure I explained this before at some point), NanoTransformers, photon weapons, TECHNIC disks, and CASTS, in this reality, are all technological achievements of the inhabitants of Earth. They didn't acquire this technology by any special means like time-travel or interdimentional travel, they just reached that point in their technological evolution. The blatant transfer of such concepts from PSO/PSU to the concept of Earthborn technologies are an intentional tip-of-the-hat toward the online iterations, which I love as well. If this idea rubs any of you the wrong way, I would really appreciate some feedback here on the thread before we go too far with the story again. On a side note, we understand the obvious hurdle of "steel vs energy," but we have that covered.

Also, after weighing the options, we have decided to make Epsilon, and all other CASTs that will appear in the films, entirely computer generated. The only exception would be any CAST with a human-like face, in which case, it may turn out to be a blend of both live-action and CG.

On a final note, seeing as how Newmans, in this particular reality, were created in (and only relevant to) the Algol System, they will not appear in the first film or two, or at least not until the Earthlings encounter the people of the Algol System, and anyone who played the classic games knows how that little encounter turned out. One of my biggest excitements is that we will be reenacting that famous cliffhanger scene in the final movie!

Since Newmans will not be playing a major role in these movies, you can expect to see an entirely new race filling their shoes.

EDIT:

It's 2am and I just got off the phone with one of my actors who also is the head of artistic development for the films. We discussed what directions we want to take the new race both artistically and and story-wise. It turns out that we may have another refreshing treat in store. I like the idea of reaching into the unknown and pulling out something that's new and refreshing for the franchise. Not only did we discuss the new race, but we also discussed an entirely new class that fits very well, flavor-wise, into the Phantasy Star realm.

[CaptainPlanet]

FACEBOOK UPDATE: 12/7/10

The Facebook page that was formerly dedicated solely to the Phantasy Star Prime project has been renamed and is now the Done Right Productions page. Under the info tab, you can find a complete list of all the movie and skit projects we have in the works and they are categorized as either under development or future projects. If you like the things we're working on and you have a Facebook account, be sure to 'Like' the page so you can get the latest updates. :)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Done-Right-Productions/135319923162726?ref=sgm#!/pages/Done-Right-Productions/135319923162726?v=info

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

Need.... phantasy star.... movies............ but dont rush em, just do the Blizzard thing "it'll come out when it's read"

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 12/7/10

After continued collaboration with hardcore Genesis-era purists in an effort to write a flawless script that would appeal to all Phantasy Star fans, yet still be completely loyal to the classic saga, I believe I have finally reached our goal. After a few months of collaboration with the early fans, we finally have a 100% approval rating from one of the biggest Genesis-era purists I've met. As I learned more and more about the details of classic Phantasy Star lore, I would submit adapted backstories for the films to him to get his take on them. After the latest submission, we finally have something that he likes. Some quotes from this person after reading the latest backstory model are as follows:

"I actually begin to love and feel this could make sense... if one of the most well known PS website back then did it, you can do it too, and still stay cannon... I think you understand enough of the Lore now, your premise look really good to me, and I'm satisfied."

Now that we finally have a solid backstory, we can begin to rewrite the script for the first film based on the latest model.

We're finally back on-course with Phantasy Star Prime.

For the complete discussion and the current backstory model, follow the link below:
[spoiler-box]http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2576396#post2576396[/spoiler-box]

[zacriac]

I d'ont know if you have retalk about the music ...but why not create your own???

[CaptainPlanet]

At present, we are creating our own music for the film. Akaimizu of PSO-World is currently heading development for the soundtrack of the first film. He is creating an entirely original piece for the actual theme of the film and he will also be scoring the film's background music once we have the footage together. He is also working on pieces that are a nod to the classic games. One that you may have heard already earlier in this thread was, "Revolution to the Prime Origin," where he takes the original Ruins battle theme from PSO Episode 1, "Revolution to the Origin: Part 2" and revamps it to sound more fitting for an epic battle with Dark Force. Other, more subtle musical tributes will also be found throughout the trilogy (the way it's looking at this point, it will once again be a trilogy, and not a 4-part saga).

As far as the song, "Castles in the Sky" by DJ Satomi goes, we really liked that song and it is intended to be more of an epilogue/ending credits piece than it is an actual theme song for the first film. Plus, the theme of the song itself, Castle in the Sky, is our little nod to Lashiec's floating castle in the sky, from Phantasy Star I. We were hoping that fans of the classic saga might say, "I see what you did there." Plus, the lyrics throughout the entire song seem to fit the theme of the film.

The metaphor, Castle in the sky, in the case of the film itself, can also be seen as referring to Fiest Tower, the tall tower of the corporation that the heroes in the first film are fighting against. It's our subtle way of slightly twisting the context and making a mention that William Fiest literally has his own castle in the sky. It's the tallest structure in the city and he could look out his office window and see everything. In a sense, feeling the glory of knowing that, being the CEO of the most powerful technology/munitions corporation on Earth, he pridefully "owns" all that he surveys. On top of that, You can literally see this tower, and this tower alone, from almost anywhere in the city. It's that tall! You will likely see Fiest Tower in the background of many outdoor shots in Phantasy Star Prime 1. It won't be Photoshopped into the scene either. When you see the tower in the background, it's actually there.

We'll have to take some pre-production shots of the tower for you guys to see and post it here on the thread sometime soon.

[Akaimizu]

The current theme is being worked on. It'll be a pretty big theme in terms of what's going into it. I still have to glue some pieces together for it, but it should definitely be worth it.

[CaptainPlanet]

Awesome, take your time with it. I'm sure it will be great when it's finished and hopefully when the new script is finished you won't need to change too much.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 12/8/10

In order to get the astronomy of Phantasy Star Prime right, I'm having to do deep, deep research into the structure of our known galaxy, particularly our position within the Orion Spur, as well as the position of the Gliese 581 system (which I'm having to find manually!) within the Libra constellation in order to triangulate a third star/system at a location within the galaxy that I'm not even aware of yet. I had no idea just how many stars there were within our local region! It's truly mind-boggling! The Gliese 581 system, which contains the planet Zarmina (Gliese 581 g), is within the Libra Constellation, roughly 20.5 light-years from Earth. Once I find that, I will need to locate a solar system that is roughly between 20 and 20.5 light-years from both Earth and Zarmina, in order to form a perfect triangle within the galaxy. These stars are very hard to pinpoint manually, even when you have internet resources giving you hints on where to look, but I like the challenge. I don't mind doing this much research in order to get the films right. Looks like I have my work cut out for me as a writer. Time to get started.

[MaximusLight]

UPDATE: 12/8/10

In order to get the astronomy of Phantasy Star Prime right, I'm having to do deep, deep research into the structure of our known galaxy, particularly our position within the Orion Spur, as well as the position of the Gliese 581 system (which I'm having to find manually!) within the Libra constellation in order to triangulate a third star/system at a location within the galaxy that I'm not even aware of yet. I had no idea just how many stars there were within our local region! It's truly mind-boggling! The Gliese 581 system, which contains the planet Zarmina (Gliese 581 g), is within the Libra Constellation, roughly 20.5 light-years from Earth. Once I find that, I will need to locate a solar system that is roughly between 20 and 20.5 light-years from both Earth and Zarmina, in order to form a perfect triangle within the galaxy. These stars are very hard to pinpoint manually, even when you have internet resources giving you hints on where to look, but I like the challenge. I don't mind doing this much research in order to get the films right. Looks like I have my work cut out for me as a writer. Time to get started.

Hmm... interesting idea. My old major was in astrophysics, however, I think I'll just use amateur techniques. Believe it or not you'll be able to narrow down your search a lot by using a star-chart and some trigonometry.

so we know that Gliese 581 is 20.5 light years away and that forms one side of the equilateral triangle. So we want something that is at a 60 degree angle from that in either direction on the galaxic plain, now all we need to do if find out what that works out to on the star chart. Luckily they are designed with degrees so if you use a bit of trig and a star chart program you should be able to narrow it down to two spots on the galatic plain that you can research for your star. The hard part will be going through all the stars in that direction to find one that roughly matches your distance, as you have discovered there is a enormous number of stars to look at.
still looking at 2-5% of the sky is better than searching through random information. Also just thought of this, you might be able to use an online library to narrow down stars at the right distance. I would recommend you don't look for small Earth-like planets in your search as that information is just starting to be discovered. However, many systems have gas giants and you could pick a system with one of those fairly easily.

Anywho, that's my two bits on how to narrow it down. Also, go for the simpler option when you get it, trust me it saves on headaches. I may be able to lend some help over Christmas break, but not before the 14th. Other than that I hope that helps.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

every time i see one of these updates, i get more and more nostalgia

[zacriac]

nice:)

[StormBlade]

StormBlade update: I've found some music from the good old folks over at Newgrounds. Don't know if we're going to use them, but I like some of the music for specific scenes.

Also, I've read the entire finished summary and basing it off of little to no knowledge of the games, I found it amazing as a story. Single-handedly the one thing, if made into a Hollywood film (fingers-crossed for the future), to completely decimate Avatar's level of epic...then eat some cake.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

The wait is killing me.......... dont worry, not literally

[Akaimizu]

Hopefully I should have the main theme submitted soon. Like I said, it's a big one. Whether this is something to be picked up by Hollywood, at least the music is going to be right up there with it. No holds barred here, I'm not looking for it to just compete with Sonic Team's efforts, even if there will be some ode to previous Phantasy Star styles in there.

I've been aiming for John Williams since day one. Years and years ago.

I almost want to post what I have, but I think it'll be better to submit the full finished idea than unfinished snippets. As the Captain may have noticed before, a rather major change in impression happens with a finished product. Plus some instruments are currently filler for live instruments I play, in the final.

[CaptainPlanet]

I'll have to send you a copy of the overall summary for all the Prime films that I wrote 2 nights ago. Like StormBlade said in a previous post, the level of Epic crammed into these films has been bumped up about ten teirs. He came up to me today and said that the summary actually brought him to tears. :P I figure the summary will help you in your future projects.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 12/19/10

The new outline for the story of the Phantasy Star Prime films has already received some great feedback from a hardcore fan of the classic Genesis titles, the series that the Prime films will be running parallel to. He is so knowledgeable in the lore of the classics that we wanted the new outline to pass his palate, as well as one other hardcore fan. We made sure that the people we selected would be relatively tough to please when it came to handling and adapting the lore of the classics.

You can read the full report by following the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/done-right-productions/121910-phantasy-star-prime-early-impressions/184610481550644

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

Hopefully I should have the main theme submitted soon. Like I said, it's a big one. Whether this is something to be picked up by Hollywood, at least the music is going to be right up there with it. No holds barred here, I'm not looking for it to just compete with Sonic Team's efforts, even if there will be some ode to previous Phantasy Star styles in there.

I've been aiming for John Williams since day one. Years and years ago.

I almost want to post what I have, but I think it'll be better to submit the full finished idea than unfinished snippets. As the Captain may have noticed before, a rather major change in impression happens with a finished product. Plus some instruments are currently filler for live instruments I play, in the final.

sounds awesome, any chance you can give me a shout when you're going to show them publicly here or somewhere, i wanna hear the music really badly

[CaptainPlanet]

sounds awesome, any chance you can give me a shout when you're going to show them publicly here or somewhere, i wanna hear the music really badly

I'll send you a message. :)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

awesome, thanks cap'

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 01/01/11

Great news for those of you who are waiting for some actual footage to be released for the Phantasy Star Prime films. The very first teaser trailer for the first Prime film is now being written. It will be filmed as soon as the writing for it is complete.

For details about the upcoming teaser trailer and when to expect it's release, you can read the full report by following the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/done-right-productions/010111-phantasy-star-prime-first-teaser-trailer-in-the-works/188131877865171

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

AAAAWWWWEEEESSSSOOOOMMMMEEEE!!!!

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 01/01/11

Now that I think about it, this probably should have been edited into my last post. Oh well.

I have finished writing the script for the teaser trailer and we are currently scheduled to film it on 01/02/11. I will begin editing the footage the following day, followed by sending it to Akaimizu so that he can compose and apply an appropriate soundtrack to it.

I am very excited to present this first trailer to you guys! :)

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

wait..... BUT THAT'S TOMORROW!!!!!! *faints out of fanboyism*

[CaptainPlanet]

Shooting is canceled today due to adverse weather. The weather looks promising for tomorrow though. I'll keep you guys posted. I finished up the storyboard last night for it. I would love to show you guys, but that would just be a poor move on my part.

[CaptainPlanet]

The weather is clear, there's not a single cloud in the sky. I've got my character's outfit on and I'm gathering all our filming equipment, getting ready to head out the door to go shoot this teaser trailer for Phantasy Star Prime.

Amped.

[FOkyasuta]

Awesome. Cant wait for the results.

[CaptainPlanet]

A very successful day of shooting for the first teaser trailer. We got all the footage we needed and we got some pretty good shots. I have my crew over to do some voice over work and such and I will begin editing tonight.

[CaptainPlanet]

Just got finished editing the movie trailer and I'm about to send it to Akaimizu for the music score once I review what I've got.


EDIT:
I Just finished watching the trailer in it's entirety and tweaking it several times. For a trailer with almost no special effects or action scenes, it really is epic. The more references you catch, the more excited you'll become. I still get amped whenever I hear the end of the trailer, it just turned out so well! I plan to make fanboys squeal when it's finally finished and I post it all over the "Classic General" section. XD

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

you're going to post it here too right?

[CaptainPlanet]

Here, there, and everywhere.

[Nicktendonick]

We'll be waiting.
I'm quite psyched to see this. This definitly will be worth the wait.

[CaptainPlanet]

I can tell you this much, if you have ever played Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom on the Sega Genesis, then you will geek out at this trailer more than anyone else. Phantasy Star III spanned three generations and the path that played out was based on who you married. This film takes place in the reality in which you finished the game as Aron. In that ending, you defeat Dark Force (the American translation of the Japanese "Dark Falz") and he sends your worldship, the Alisa III, into a black hole, sending you through space and time. You come out on the other side and approach the Earth, where the London Communications Center contacts the inhabitants onboard.

You can watch this scene from the game below:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kDx3kiul3g

EDIT:

In fact, I HIGHTLY recommend that EVERYONE watch the above video before I release the trailer. It will put the trailer into context for you. Don't worry, the video is short. With the knowledge given in this video, I get chills whenever I watch the trailer.

Speaking of video length, I originally projected the trailer to run about 30-45 seconds, but in the end, it wound up having a runtime of 1:36! Yay for a longer-than-expected trailer! :)

[CaptainPlanet]

I'm so eager to get the teaser trailer out to you guys. I added some epic music from another movie to it for my own amusement and it's level of epicness and Genesis-era fanboy service nearly brought me to tears. Sadly though, I don't think it would be right to post a version with music that is not our own as the first impression teaser, so in the meantime, I whipped up the first movie poster made with footage from the trailer. Sorry about the fuzziness of the poster. I'm not sure what went wrong in the rendering process, but I didn't really feel like fixing it since this is my temporary way of venting since I can't share the trailer yet.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/2554/movieposter1.png

[Akaimizu]

Thanks. Because it's very important on the first impression. What we release must be important on both a new PS fan and old PS fan spectrum, so it's imperative to hold off on releasing it until we have an idea that the whole thing, put together, will do just that. Being that the edit of the video was just done, give me a bit to put it all together. This is a big project, I'm one person, and the ideas for what it'll sound like just started yesterday.

[CaptainPlanet]

It is for that reason that I again ask that EVERYONE who keeps tabs on this thread scroll up and watch the video I posted of the events of Phantasy Star III that lead up to the trailer. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you understand what happens in that video in order to put it into context for you, otherwise, you may look at the trailer and be like, "... huh? How does this tie in with Phantasy Star?"

Please don't look at this trailer with expectations of seeing something even remotely related to PSO, PSU, PSZ, or any of the Phantasy Star titles that came out after the year 2000. They are all in their own continuity, completely separate from the continuity of these movies and the four classic Genesis Titles. So, in a sense, you will have to empty your cup of it's current contents before you can fill it with the new. I can promise you that the actual films themselves will be padded with enough references, throwbacks, and homages to the later iterations such as PSO and PSU to make even the most loyal PSO/PSU fan giggle with delight. These movies are a fan service and pleasing fans of two different continuities with one product is almost like an art. It's tricky, but not impossible. Don't worry, all tips-of-the-hat to the later titles will be put well into context for the movies themselves. They won't just be forced in there flavorlessly.

Sadly, a great number of Phantasy Star fans aren't aware of the epic story that was told in Phantasy Star I-IV on the Sega Genesis. Heck, there are some fans that aren't even aware that they exist! It's a real crime. These films are going to bring that continuity back in a BIG way.

The Genesis titles told a very epic tale and the story deserves to be preserved.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

I heard that the end of one of the PS games tied into the story line of PSO, something about sending dark force/falz off in a spaceship into deep space, and then you find dark falz in an abandoned spaceship on a random planet in PSO, is that just coincidental?

[FOkyasuta]

I heard that the end of one of the PS games tied into the story line of PSO, something about sending dark force/falz off in a spaceship into deep space, and then you find dark falz in an abandoned spaceship on a random planet in PSO, is that just coincidental?

Nope. Thats planning in advance my friend.

[CaptainPlanet]

... Idunno who told you that, but I wouldn't rely on them for anymore information on the Genesis titles. lol Don't worry, that never happened. The closest thing to that would be Dark Force slipping aboard one of the refugee ships from Palma just before Palma exploded, thus haunting the refugees for the next few thousand years as they drift through space looking for a new home planet. That game had alternate endings, however, and no one ending is technically "true".

the movies are following the ending where they are sent back in space and time by Dark Force through a black hole to Earth.

Trust me, the classic games are in no way related to PSO or PSU.

[FOkyasuta]

Trust me, the classic games are in no way related to PSO or PSU.

Except the weapons.

[CaptainPlanet]

In our films, they are introduced as the result of technological advancement of mankind and are in no way related to PSU besides artistic design. Blending multiple concepts into one neat package for the fans of both continuities.

[Drac_Mazoku]

I'm not going outside the Classic Saga sub-forum very often (I live like an ermit there), but I wanted to say congratulations for all your hard dedicated work. You truly have a work of art that truly respect the Classic Saga, something even Sega cannot do these days (and if they do it one day, it will surely be butchered). Keep up the good work, I'll continue to track your progress in the project (now to return in my confort zone before going crazy mad over too much PSO, PSU, PSP stuff)...

[CaptainPlanet]

Thanks Drac. I'm glad you liked my synopsis of the overall story of the Prime films. By the way, I have been spending a lot of time in Classic General since I've started rewriting the films, and Drac is probably the most classic saga-obsessed member on these boards (sorry Drac, I mean it in a good way! :P) So, Drac's vote of confidence, as well as Zorafim's, means we are definitely doing something right with these.

I will also say that it wasn't easy writing a script that contains concepts from ALL major Phantasy Star entries and blending them into a single saga, especially when the first four games and the rest of the series are from different realities. Just to keep the record straight though, the films ARE following the classic series and ARE NOT tied into PSO, PSU, or PSP. HOWEVER, it is my hope that the fans of said series' will be just as pleased seeing as there will be heavy artistic influences from those titles (Again, PSO/PSU technology is introduced as a creation of Earthlings over the course of their technological evolution, this includes Photon Weapons, NanoTransformers, Technique Disks, and even CASTS, all created by Earthlings in this reality. It was the only way to introduce those elements and not break the classic saga's story. They aren't just forced in either. Their very existence is a major plot device in the first movie. Let me put it this way, when I sent Drac my overview of the backstory of the Prime films, I included pictures throughout it's entirety to help along the mental visualization so that we had vaguely the same idea playing through our minds. I included several images, including an image of one of the main CAST characters, Epsilon. Epsilon's model can easily be built in PSU. In fact, I used PSU to design his character model for the movies. Drac hates PSO and PSU with a passion and how they have changed Phantasy Star since the classic saga (and I know different people have different opinions on this, so I'm not trying to alienate anyone), but he still loved the concept regardless of the PSU influences. I'm not saying that he's right or wrong in his feelings toward the recent titles, that's his personal opinion and everyone here is entitled to their own. But anyway, Thank you again Drac for your vote of confidence.

The music for the trailer is still being worked on and I'm not sure when it will be finished. I haven't heard from Akaimizu for a few days now, but I'm sure he's hard at work on it. I have submitted the trailer to a select few members here on the boards to get their opinion on it, just to see how it will be taken. Again, it will be posted here as soon as I get the proper music for it.

I will also be submitting Drac's full report on the overall synopsis of the films on the Done Right Productions Facebook page fairly soon.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

no chance you can send me the trailer is there?

EDIT: after watching the trailer (thanks very much for sending it) it really finally hit me that there would be a Phantasy Star Movie, that Phantasy Star Prime was coming, it wasn't just a far off thought, it's most definitely real, and not only that, its absolutely amazing, the second i heard the voice of what i assume was epsilon, the smile on my face was about as big as the moon's from LOZ: Majora's Mask. When the next version of this trailer hits and it's released to all of us, you'll like it as long as you're sentient, its absultely incredible

[Akaimizu]

Funny that. Your timing of your post, just there, is well... Very interesting, I'll say.

[CaptainPlanet]

Akaimizu's music for the trailer is pretty much finished. It's currently undergoing some last-minute tweeks, then I will post the trailer once I edit them together. The music is amazing and sticks to a more PSO style.

EDIT:

The music is finished and I've just got finished applying it to the HD version of the trailer. It will spend the next 15 minutes rendering, then I'm going to upload it to YouTube for all to see. As soon as I have the chance to actually post it here, I will.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

Funny that. Your timing of your post, just there, is well... Very interesting, I'll say.

huh? mine?

[Akaimizu]

Yeah. You made that post right during the time I was submitting the music.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

well, that's coincidental

I have now watched the trailer with the music and must say, it becomes that much better when you put that to it, great music!

[Akaimizu]

Cool. It's already up. And thanks.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

also, about the cast picture (proly epsilon) that flashed by, was that a PSO or PSU screenshot? cuz it really looked like it

[CaptainPlanet]

Our first Phantasy Star Trailer. Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iexHNcdJ3Y

[CaptainPlanet]

Also, even though the video quality is fairly decent in the trailer, you can expect much better for the actual movie. I am stockpiling money for an actual movie-caliber video camera.

@Kyrith - I used PSU to create the model for Epsilon and saved it so that I had something to go by when rendering the CG Epsilon (and maybe the suit if we continue that route) for the film.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

when is filming the movie actually going to start?

[CaptainPlanet]

Shooting is still pretty far off yet. I still need to finish fine-tuning the script for movie #1, and as soon as I land a job again, I'll be going back to see Patrick Crowe, our weapons designer, frequently until we get enough weapons to work with to start shooting, or at least to make a more fleshed-out trailer with some action sequences thrown in.

I'm already considering shooting Teaser Trailer #1.5 fairly soon, in which there will be an added segment to the first trailer that actually introduces the villain.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

i want to see action sequences sooooo badly!

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 1/10/11 (#1)

Earlier today I finally received a response from RubyEclipse on the official Sega forum in response to my message that contained a link to the trailer for the film. It wasn't much, but I was just glad that he finally responded to one of my messages regarding Phantasy Star Prime. His response is as follows:

"Thanks for the link Cyber Sonic! I'll check it out this afternoon. :)"

I have known that he has been aware of this project for quite some time since I messaged him months ago about it, partly to make sure that we weren't overstepping our bounds with this project. Surprisingly though, his 'smiley face' gesture suggests a positive opinion, and Rob Miles has already voiced his opinion to me personally, stating that he finds the concept of a live-action Phantasy Star movie to be interesting and that he looks forward to seeing the finished product. If RubyEclipse responds again, I will post it here in a project update.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 1/10/11 (#2)

The last member of PSO-World who was given the outline for the Phantasy Star Prime films has responded with his personal review of the overall story. If you follow this thread regularly, I'm sure you already have an idea of what his opinion of the films is. He responds with a lengthy review, detailing the things he likes the most about the story and execution without giving too much away.

You can read the full report by following the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/done-right-productions/11011-phantasy-star-prime-early-impressions-drac_mazokus-review/190603017618057

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

i read it all, and now my anticipation grows

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 1/13/11

I received another message from Aaron Webber, aka RubyEclipse, today on the official Sega forum on Sega's main website in response to the Phantasy Star Prime trailer that we recently released to the public. He had this to say:

"Had a chance to check it out today. Really enjoyed the way you tied everything together at the end. :)"

I feel as if my team and I can finally relax and take a sigh of relief as two of Sega of America's most publicly influential voices seem to be enjoying the work we're doing, regardless of the big disclaimer message at the beginning of the trailer that can easily be misconstrued as being a passive aggressive gesture towards Sega. I'm glad they are being light-hearted about it and that they seem to be enjoying the work we're doing. I can now put all paranoia behind me and work at full-steam on writing the scripts and planning for props and shooting.

[Akaimizu]

It would be interesting if this starts getting some international attention. Kind of the like the "much less serious" Monster Hunter Live Action movies they've been putting on over there.

A lot of folks are daunted by putting on a project such as this. Even though the tools and the talent are there, nowadays, to produce such a thing. Thanks to all of us having computers that put the super computers of the late 80s (doing CGI and genlocking) to shame.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 1/18/11

Not much substance in this update, but I thought it might be worth a mention. Upon numerous reviews of the overall story that will be told within the Prime films, and considering several different methods to tell the story within three or four films without deleting too many relevant plot/character development scenes, It seems that these films will probably last much longer than your typical 90 minute feature length movie. In fact, it is safe to expect that these films will be comparable to "Lord of the Rings" in length. Each film will likely be 2+ hours in length in order to tell the story in the depth in which it was intended to be told.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

HELL YES, 3 hour movies are awesome

[StormBlade]

Been about a week since the last update, so I'll be filling you all in on what's been happening.

Currently, Michael (CaptainPlanet) is rewriting the script. He hasn't been in the best condition due to illness, but the rewrite has been started and we can expect a good amount of progress on that over the next few weeks, depending on unforeseen events (as anything is possible).

Also, we have been renewing contact with our weapon and armor designer after a kind of 'radio silence' for the last few months. We will be beginning work once again on the CAST armor soon (hopefully) and will have two designers and craftsmen for the weapons, so expect some photos and teasers involving the weapons in the near future.

That's really it, and I apology for the lack of relevant information. We should have more updates over the next few weeks as progress on the script increases and the armor and weapons begin to come together.

- Dallas of Done Right Productions.

[CaptainPlanet]

In conjunction with that, I would also like to add that I have been collaborating all my writing very closely with Drac_Mazoku. He has no official standpoint on the writing itself or where the story goes, but he's more of a voluntary consultant than anything. He's been helping me refine the accuracy (in relation to the source material) of my work a great deal.

I would also like to add that it was my decision (this morning, in fact) to press forward with building the armor. Originally, the idea was to have the movie consist of JUST the armor, then the armor with an assisted CG model, then, up until very recently, we were just going to have Epsilon be entirely CG (as well as every other CAST in the films). Our close friend Jake Perry, aka. the head of artistic development for this project (and possibly most of our future projects as well), has been trying to convince me to go back to the physical model so that it would have more of a visceral impact in the film. In a way, he has a point. Modern Hollywood is currently oversaturated with CG work, albeit very good CG work, but it also takes away a small bit of the feeling that what you're looking at is really there. What Patrick has been working on (what you've seen in the pictures) was a prototype leading up to the actual suit of armor, but I will still keep CG as a fallback, just in case his craftsmanship with this particular thing isn't as spectacular as I imagine it. He has my full confidence in his weapon and metalworking designs however.

I am currently loosely scheduled to meet up with the next weapon craftsman this coming weekend. Theo Irwin (the character, 'Neon' in the films) just happened to know this guy who is very good with making custom weapons and chainmail, which will also be scantly integrated into some of the costume designs for a few select characters. I plan to get a glimpse of some of his handiwork this weekend. I will then show him some of the weapons we plan on building for the film. If he gives us the thumbs up for the designs, which sounds like it would be no problem for him, then we can go ahead and kick the weapon-crafting into high gear. We are lucky that the guy is willing to craft the weapons for us for only the cost of the materials.

[Akaimizu]

Makes sense. In quite a few ways, it's actually the science fiction that actually suffered the worst when it comes to overuse of CG. Sometimes, it kind of works, when the *too clean* look is what you're going for. Star Wars is almost a prime example of something done better with physical models in plenty of places they eventually made CG. Funny enough, the CG actually lost the authenticity of the look of the film. Yes, too remedial makes it look a bit funny, but when done decently enough, it actually brings a gritty realism to the film.

Star Wars was such a series. A lot of the models, of those films, hold very true to this day. It's because you see how they look and move with gritty *direct filmed* detail. It doesn't look as *perfect* as the CG, but that actually adds to the illusion that what you're seeing actually exists more than what the CG produced.

From the difference of actual Storm trooper costumes and actual molded alien latex and hair (complete with liquids to show a sense of body-fluids), to the CG that actually showed none of those details that show the imperfections (and the aspect that living creatures just have to live with secretions as a regular part of their appearance). Even the original Jabba had this amazing impact, because those secretions actually showed the gritty reality of how unnerving it really has to be, to be close to that guy. Like you felt you had to shower just by being in his presence. Unlike the CG Jabba that looked like you could stand right next to him, feel clean, and not even smell a bit of stench.

CG has a lot of place in Science Fiction, though it really helps to have whatever good models you can spare, for it. And I do mean spare. It's very true that when you go for more and more live model projects, depending on your resources, it can get to be very expensive. So it makes perfect sense to be very selective to what you include.

[Drac_Mazoku]

I don't know if you can call me a consultant :) I mean like we talked in the Classic Saga subforum, I was really having a blast just talking about the Classic Saga with passion, which is something we rarely can do nowaday (except on places like the Fringes of Algo and the Phantasy Star Cave), even less on a site dedicated to the Online titles. It was really just having fun and talking to someone who was interrested by the Classic Saga in details.

By now you know more than enough to handle the thing alone, I'm just glad to be able to read a new story related to the Classic Saga...it's like a resurection of the TRUE Phantasy Star series finally, while being in its totally distinct setting. If I'm a little nit-picky on some tiny details, I'm truly sorry :(

[Akaimizu]

Well, actually, you've been a great help. I've also enjoyed reading your take on how the story fits together, in the original Phantasy Star Saga. This is something I never did, to such detail, myself. So reading it really helped to fill some blanks. I didn't really post in those topics because I was pretty much 100% in listen mode.

What so many movies, that try to do something like this, do is completely ignore the story the fans actually know about the game. They really needed the right consultants. Those with distinct knowledge of the lore and details beyond the superficial level or even the (oh yeah, I played through that) level. They need to be those with a "passion" for it. You used that word, yourself. And to be truthful, you did just that and informed those who wanted pointers. Don't sell yourself short.

There have even been times where a different developer house picked up an old game license, and didn't do that. A terrible mistake.

[Drac_Mazoku]

I didnt even knew that there were other readers interrested in our conversation (except someone who posted at some point in our big topic).

I agree with you when you say that when making a movie for the fan (Phan in our case), the fanbase itself should, obviously, be consulted. Though really, I'm not selling myself short, I was truly having a lot of fun posting all that since it's been so long since I last had a bunch of walls written for the Classic Saga, and it was really great. So I didnt thought myself as having kind of impact in the actual backstory of the movies, I was just trading information with someone who wanted them, since it's so rare now.

I'll follow the project from a distance, but with his own passion CaptainPlanet is putting in the movies, and his attention to small details, I know it will turn out to something awesome :)

[CaptainPlanet]

VIDEO UPDATE: 2/1/11

@Drac: I want you to be very picky when it comes to the lore. I want the story to be air-tight and I don't want anything even close to a plot hole. Speaking of which, I have a question for you which I will send to you in a PM shortly.

In other news, my father asked me for the HD version of our first teaser trailer for the first Prime film, but would not tell me why. Today, I found out why. He is a projectionist for a living, and he used the HD trailer footage to plug our film in a MOVIE THEATER in Jacksonville, Florida! I download the video from the link he sent me about half an hour ago and I was surrounded by the main cast of the film. We did not know what we were about to see. When we figured out it was in a movie theater, we all completely lost it! Here is the footage he took with his I-Pod inside the theater. There didn't seem to be many people in the theater at the time, but I didn't care, our movie trailer was on the BIG SCREEN! Not just any big screen, an I-MAX screen!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-MUaEMoeE

In this second video, the trailer is set to loop as the projectionist takes video footage from several angles within the empty theater after the feature presentation was over and the people were gone. There are some pretty funny angles in this video, especially from the front row!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdKjGb5ViRM

Everyone on the team hopes that this is a sneak peak of our future.

[FOkyasuta]

Now thats using potential.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

THAT IS AWESOME!!!!

[Akaimizu]

What....is...that? It's huge!!!

Looks like some kind of......IMAX..movie screen.
---

Still, very cool. That's about the fastest time I've seen any of my musical work hit the big screen. Though without the surround sound balancing, not sure how odd it might have sounded in there.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 2/10/11

In order to familiarize myself further with the source material, I recently played Phantasy Star III all the way through (following Aron's lineage, of course). Since I was gathering as much information as possible for the film, I painstakingly took the time to talk to each and every townsperson I came across to gather tidbits of information to piece together the big picture of what the situation aboard the Alisa III was at around the time where it was about to travel through time and space via a black hole to arrive at Earth. I feel accomplished by doing this, and I know have SO much more information to work with when rewriting the original script. I project the new script for the first film alone will be about four to five times the size of the original idea for the film. Of course, we will be cramming a lot into three-hour increments, but we will be cutting some scenes and making a nip here and a tuck there so that we don't go overboard with the length. We will, of course, include all the cut footage on the bonus DVD of each film. The entire story of the first script is but a fraction of the overall scope of what will be going on in the first film!

I'm going all out with attention to detail too. I plan to do justice to fans of the old and the new iterations of Phantasy Star. I will be drawing up a floor plan of the Alisa III that includes a detailed cutaway view of all the ship's tunnels, domes, and functional systems. I aim to use this as a guideline to set up the MANY scenes that will take place aboard the Alisa III itself! The goal is to be so accurate that you can watch any scene aboard the Alisa III, then go back to the game and think, "Wow, that town/castle/dungeon looks EXACTLY like it did in the movie!"

On a side note, I also just invested in roughly $600+ in new recording equipment for this project. I'm pretty amped about it coming in the mail! ^_^
Also, pretty soon, I plan on dropping a couple thousand dollars on a Hollywood-caliber camera. The current expenditure amount on this project to date is nearly $2,000 and counting. We're going all out with this one.

[StormBlade]

We're going all out with this one.

Absolutely.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

HOLY CRAP, that sounds awesome, and I'm talking the real definition, inspiring awe, you guys are ridiculously amazing.

and, please don't scimp on length, don't cut it down to half an hour just because that's the more normal length of a movie, if it needs 3 hrs. give it 3 hrs, if it needs 3 and a half, give it 3 and a half, just remember to keep it as amazing as it sounds!

[CaptainPlanet]

NOTE: I posted this in another thread originally, so I'll just paste it here since it's relevant.

This is both a sequel to Phantasy Star III and a Prequel to Phantasy Star II, because the Alisa III was sent back in time through a black hole to a point before the Earth was destroyed. Under normal circumstances, I would not have written that information, as it would be a major spoiler. However, all the classic players know how things ended up at the end of Phantasy Star II, so it was already known (for the most part).

These films begin with Aron's ending in Phantasy Star III and end with the events at the end of Phantasy Star II. The twist is that you will be seeing these events from an entirely different perspective. The events at the end of Phantasy Star II will be entirely reenacted on film, however I have exploited every opening in that controversial scene to build around it and flesh it out MUCH more, so that fans can see that scene in a new light. The fate of Rolf and his party will also be revealed.

Consider these films to be, "the other side" story. They are strictly built around the two aforementioned encounters with Earthlings as a jumping off point. All I can say is, don't go in thinking that these films will be entirely centered around the classic games. The Alisa III's arrival at Earth will play an important role in the story, but it will also be the catalyst for an entirely new story, which is where our new heroes come in. There will be many scenes that will take place aboard the Alisa III in order to show what happens when a select group of people from Earth are elected to board the ship for a first contact scenario (you knew it was going to happen). The films will be primarily focused on the new adventure that was inadvertently set in motion by the Alisa III's arrival. Yes, Dark Force will return to wreak havoc, and yes, the reasoning behind it will make sense.

As far as doing justice to the old AND new iterations of Phantasy Star, the films will be a tribute to the old, while being an homage to the new. I say this because, if you have been following the movie thread under Fan Works, you can see that we are in fact building photon weapons for the films. Why? Because at the point when the Alisa III arrived near Earth, we were on the brink of mastering this technology, as well as android technology. I won't go too far into that because one of the major plotlines in the first film revolves around that. Techniques are introduced, but are heavily studied in secret labs, and are contorted by our scientists to be "contained" within shiny silver disks (sound familiar?) Basically, any artistic liberties taken from the new iterations of Phantasy Star are expressed in the film as a derivitive of Earth's science in some form or other. I didn't just force newer influences into the story however, that would just be irresponsible and the classic games deserve better treatment than that. I was very careful to use surgical precision when carefully integrating new-age concepts into what can safely be labeled as a sequel to one classic game and a prequel to another.

[Akaimizu]

Well, here's hoping you can pull off 3 hour movie length. It'll be a long haul particularly when it comes to the filming, set/object design, location, and scheduling parts. And while post-production is a big task, that's actually the easier part. It does seem the first film will keep some of that stuff lower, but once it gets to the 2nd film, the stuff that's need to be made would possibly skyrocket.

[CaptainPlanet]

True. The bigger stuff in the later films will be a blend of set building and computer animation. The toughest part will be scheduling people who have lives and jobs to shoot a scene on a specific day for a film they aren't getting paid to act in. I don't expect all extras who apply to show up for a given scene, so I'll overshoot the required number a bit to make sure we have enough to work with. As far as our actors are concerned, it is a verbal agreement among all of us that when we need to shoot a scene, we will plan a few weeks or even a month in advance so that everyone can make sure they aren't busy that day, or at least have ample time to put in for time off work.

NOTE: The following was originally posted in another thread regarding this project, but I am pasting it here because it contains relevant information to this thread.


In fact, these films focus directly on what happens between the time the Alisa III arrives at Earth (Aron's specific ending) and the invasion of Algol, albeit it is the story that is being told on our end of things, not Algol's, which is where the action is. It is it's own story that ties directly into the classics, so you won't be spending all your time trying to compare facts to see if all the movie lore is up to snuff. There will be cameos of old characters when necessary, but be prepared to fall in love with a new party of heroes that expands and evolves as the films progress. I have already fallen in love with the Epsilon and Ark characters and I'm sure they both will grow to be fan favorites. I have plans for Mieu to have the most screen time of all the classic characters, and you will see why when you watch the films. I also have plans for one or two new heroes from the Alisa III to emerge in the films as well. I just can't decide which male name sounds better, Sten, which follows the typical old-school four letter cliche, or Toben, which I thought sounded decent in it's own right. What do you think?

Some artistic liberties may need to be taken, but nothing too big. For example, some networks required for living were missing from the game, like the presence of any farmland to provide food.

Also, on the topic of how the humans go about living through the four centuries until the Algol System was ripe for the plucking, Drac had it exactly right. He read that one of the first things on the Humans' agenda when plotting a course for the Algol system was having the entire crew of the Noah enter stasis. The Algol system is an entire galaxy over, so you would want to be alive to see the end of the journey, right? I'm going to go ahead and give this part of the plot away, seeing as it wouldn't ruin the last movie as a whole. The humans were in stasis for eons as the Noah traveled between our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy. The Motherbrain network aboard Noah was directed to not wake the ship's inhabitants until it has had time to stealthily integrate it's systems into the technology of Algol (unknown to the Noah's crew at large, which consisted mostly of civilians. As far as they know, they had just arrived at their "new home" when they awoke). So, four centuries after they finally arrive in the Algol System, they are finally awoken from eons of slumber to prepare for an invasion (the civilians are clueless to this ploy. There is a greater power at work within the Noah's democracy... As well as the presence of Dark Force within Pandora's Box aboard the Noah, which slowly drives everyone on board to turn on one another, causing riots and unrest within the civilian populace, as well as the Noah's security force to use excessive force to quell the riots. The reason for the Dark Force's presence aboard the Noah, as well as why it was contained within Pandora's Box, will be fleshed out in great detail in the films. As far as the humans who were present in that famous controversial scene at the end of Phantasy Star II, they will be described within the films as the Noah's security force, who were directed to assemble in the main hall just before Rolf and the gang blew the door off the hinges by defeating Motherbrain. The nameless man (who had a very large white beard in the Playstation remake) who had assumed the role as leader of the human race will also be fleshed out within the films. You will witness his character development, personal conflicts, and emotional motivation as the story progresses, and the same can be said for all the other mainstream characters in the movies.

I will be taking a slight artistic liberty with the starship Noah itself. I have seen screenshot maps of the ship in it's entirety, and while I will be maintaining the same general shape for the Noah in the film, you can expect it to be huge. It will contain anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people (we're not hiring thousands of extras, but you get the idea. Life aboard the Noah, after awaking from stasis and before the attempted invasion, will be similar to that aboard Babylon 5 (for those of you who have seen the show). There will be a large community of refugees living, working, and living it up (to an extent, given the situation) within the civilian wing of the Noah. It's an ark for thousands of human survivors, so it only makes sense for it to be huge.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

I wish i could be one of the extra people, :(

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 2/20/11

The Prime project has hit a very interesting phase in it's preproduction development. I'm done grasping the most minuscule details of the classic Phantasy Star lore to create a very deep and immersive world. I've been pecking at the newest draft of the script, which is like the last version, only at least tree to four times the size and an incomparable level of depth improvement.

What I've really been up to lately though is researching information on how to perfect our art of filmmaking. I've been taking in gratuitous amounts of information and references to better software, but no matter how much I take in, it seems like there's infinitely more to absorb. The video quality of our current trailer will soon be vastly improved as I improve my knowledge and skills in color balancing and visual effects (and as I get more and more software). One of my most recent sources makes some very amazing videos on YouTube. Their special effects are great and they have some great tutorials. I highly recommend you check out some of the videos on their channel. They are heavily video-game influenced and high in very interesting special effects.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=corridordigital&annotation_id=annotation_600772&feature=iv#p/u/19/EistK5DX8ug

And for your enjoyment, check out this go kart session with live-action Mario Kart special effects! The visuals are great!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h4zTEwgCpQ

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 2/21/11

I have been delving into 3D modeling software and gradually learning my way around them in order to provide some of the special effects for the film. Below I have constructed a 3D model of my own head (with the software's watermark). Some of the proportions aren't quite accurate and there is the obvious lack of hair, but this wasn't exactly the best I could have done either. It was all kind of thrown together strictly for presentation purposes. The new software I used for this has a lot of potential for our future film projects, whether it be for Phantasy Star, or something else entirely.

EDIT: I just realized that one of the eyes is crooked... Weird. Oh well, like I said, this was a rush-job.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/4866/mike3dheadrender1.png

[CaptainPlanet]

Here, I have taken a little more time with the project. I have constructed a 3D model of the actor that plays Neon in the Phantasy Star Prime movies. For reference, you can see him in the trailer for the film. He's the guy wearing all black in the beginning and the end of the teaser. This can be useful when we need to render 3D models of ourselves for when we pull off moves (like Photon Arts and other advanced stunts) that we couldn't normally do in real life. This opens the door for nearly limitless possibilities as far as what our characters can do in film!

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2289/theo1array.jpg

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

i can't see the pictures :(!

also, if prime has special effects as good as that mario kart thing........... HOLY SHIT that'd be way awesomer than what i assumed the special effects would be. i figured they'd be like your first video with the axe in it

[CaptainPlanet]

In case anyone else can't see them, here's a direct link to the last image I posted. I'm actually kind of embarrassed by the first one, since I didn't take enough time on it.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2289/theo1array.jpg

[CaptainPlanet]

Here is a more finished piece, with footage from the trailer for comparison. Again, complete 3D models of the movie characters will really come in handy for those brief cuts where we do some stunts and moves that surpass normal human capabilities.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/8218/neonrealandcgblended.png

Direct link to image:
http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/8218/neonrealandcgblended.png

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

my computer blocks them, any chance you can post them from somewhere else?

[CaptainPlanet]

You can see them all here.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Done-Right-Productions/135319923162726?ref=ts

I will be putting up the previous two as well there in a few minutes.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 2/23/11

The Done Right Productions page has just been updated with new media surrounding Phantasy Star Prime. A new photo album entitled "Returning Characters" has been added. In it, you can see high-quality images of the characters from Phantasy Star II and III that will in fact be playing some sort of role in Phantasy Star Prime. Each image has a caption that depicts a little about that character and possibly a little about their role in the films. You can view the album by following the link below. Don't forget to click the "Like" button on the Done Right Productions main page there so that you can always get your Phantasy Star Prime media updates first!

Photo Album - Returning Characters:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=135319923162726&aid=56897

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

The 3D animation was ridiculously good!

[Sord]

The 3D animation was ridiculously good!

You mean it's a good model. Animation, making it look like it's moving, is a whole other ball game.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

yah i know, brain block :p

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 3/21/11

Here we are just two days shy of a month since the last update. Sorry about the dry spell. The story has become so massive and deep that it's gotten to the point where it's hard to keep it all in my head at one time when I'm writing, so I've been working with others involved with the project to help me map out the story's major and minor plot points to aid me in writing the final version of the script, which makes the first "final draft" of the script look like a joke.

One of our concept artists has thrown me his pitch on original photon weapon designs for the film, as opposed to carrying over the exact designs from PSU (which would have been for homage purposes only). I really loved what he had to show me. He basically took concepts of existing Phantasy Star weapons and made them look a little more... prototype-ish, somewhat steampunk, if you will. Seeing as these are the first photon weapons ever created on Earth, it makes sense that they would have a lot of little parts and things to look at on them. They are the very first line of photon weapon after all (The villain codenames the first line of photon weapon, the 'Prime' line).

What really got my attention was the fact that each of these detailed photon weapons possessed a little pressure gauge of sorts. This is meant to build over time as the user uses the weapon in battle. Once the gauge is filled, the user can activate a special function of the weapon that causes the overflow of photons to amplify the user's aura to the point where they are able to perform things beyond that of a normal human being for a brief period, also known as... you guessed it, a Photon Art! But what happens when an entire party's gauges reach maximum capacity and they activate their Photon Drives all at once? Hmm... I guess you'll just have to wait and see in the movie! ;)

EDIT: Also, the Photon Drives are programmed to work for CASTs at well, since CASTs are the product of FiestCorp in the film.

You can expect scans of the concept art of these weapons within the next week or so.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

photon blast? wait, don't tell me, i will see

[StormBlade]

If I can interject a little more into Mike's post...I've noticed how over time, and drastically since the first script I read (when I got involved in this project), the level of character development skyrocketed. Originally, I was playing the main CAST in the movies as well as a comical side character. Since the rewrite, however, I've become both a main hero (the CAST) and the character I believe to be the most ruthless, focused, and deadliest villains in the film series (who evolved from my original side character).

Needless to say, I'm pretty amped about the changes being made to the script and I for one can definitely wait for it to be finished and prefected.

[CaptainPlanet]

A word on my last post: Because of the fact that the ability is triggered by synergy between the weapon and the user and requires the build-up of a power gauge,and since this story takes place in an entirely different universe than PSU and PSZ, I've decided to stick with the term Photon Drive for the activated ability rather than calling it a Photon Art, even though there isn't much of a difference visually. A new mechanic deserves a new name I think. You can't call it a Photon Blast because that requires a mag to be present, and I can't exactly say that it's identical to a Photon Art, because those you can use repeatedly until the PP of said weapon is depleted, which results in the overuse of Photon Arts in-game (in my opinion). Plus, it also eliminates the question of, "Why didn't he just use that move to begin with?" The powerful attacks enabled by the Photon Drive must be earned, rather than given to the user to have his/her way with as often as they want.

Since the release of the Ambition of the Illuminus expansion, weapons were given the ability to build up the PP gauge of a depleted weapon simply by whacking things with it, so if you like, since these are first-gen, still somewhat prototype-ish photon weapons, you could even consider it a prototype Photon Art system. It makes no difference.

[Akaimizu]

I think the Photon Blast part of it was hinted with the last line of your last post. Those were the main things, in the Phantasy Star universe, that linked power and/or effects between people on a team. Used in two different ways between PSO and PSZ. Of course, for both of them, Mags were needed.

In PSZ, the starter person's Photon Blast dictated the actual blast performed. Others who went into range and activated theirs, would power up and/or change the effects of the original person's Blast. Having four people allowed a sort of Ultra-version of the effect.

In PSO, everybody's individual Photon Blast would go off in succession, however it would increase in power for each successive Photon Blast performed. So often, the buff-based PBs would be the first to start, and then the Damage Ones would end it.

Of course, going with a different terminology does work, since it basically doesn't follow the Mag rule of Photon Blasts. Kind of like how Mirage Blasts used a different terminology due to them having different methods of activation and the lack of link-aspects. Though they do resemble the technological summons.

[CaptainPlanet]

I was mainly clearing up the misconception that the Photon Drive was anything like a Photon Blast, aside from the principal of how it is charged. With a Photon Drive, the energy is charged over time strictly by using the weapon (no energy is charged by the user taking damage to his or her body. Again, we have to remember that this is still a movie and not a video game). When fully-charged, the user can activate the Photon Drive function of the weapon, allowing them to pull off what is basically a Photon Art with that weapon. The difference lies in the fact that this is something that needs to be earned over time rather than having the ability to spam Photon Arts the entire battle, which is what happens in PSU. It also makes the ability feel more rewarding and it keeps the film more grounded in reality (for what it is) than it would be if the fighting were bogged down with the use of nothing but Photon Arts (again, I'm looking at you, PSU). We want Photon Arts (or in this case, Photon Drives) to feel more special and less abused. These heroes aren't pampered with the ability to go crazy with flashy moves that no normal human can achieve, it must be earned. And what happens when all party members activate their Photon Drives is Photon Art-based, so I hope nobody is expecting some big leviathan to be summoned to beat face.

[Akaimizu]

Makes sense. It's pretty clear that Photon Drive is technically a new thing, or perhaps an early prototype for something else. Like adding a new thing to Phantasy Star that affects other uses of it, if activated together. Was only noting that PBs were the only things, in any of the games, where they could power link to each other in some fashion. So it's the only point of association by example.

[CaptainPlanet]

UPDATE: 3/25/11

I just got home from running around town to find a working scanner. Five new scans have been uploaded to the Done Right Productions Facebook page. All five scans can be found at the top of our page by following the link below. We would also really like feedback on the photon weapon style we're going with.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Done-Right-Productions/135319923162726

More concept art will follow in the coming weeks.

[StormBlade]

Just dropping by like always. We're still working on the script whenever we can, but things once again have slowed us down, mostly life stuff. It's is getting done though, so no worries. Also, we're getting more concept art from various other associates and close friends and will have them posted on the Facebook page as soon as they're finished and submitted.