Phantom Pictures of Florida

Legacy of the Temptress

2011-12-30T19:24:00.001-05:00

Temptress WIP: 12/30/11

The Temptress, her very name churns our thoughts to the very center of seduction. But this Bantha-Class Cruiser is more then just a temptress, but a very real and very functional vessel we're proud to introduce into Star Wars lore, through our very own fan film, Insidious: Star Wars. The Temptress, as she's aptly named, has transformed itself from a standard Imperial Class I Star Destroyer to the unique design you see today.

The first thing many will notice about her, is the non-standard 'Y' shape design of the hull. The shape was heavily influenced from older/early Galactic Empire vessels such as the Gladiator Class SD or even the Broadside Class Cruiser, which feature similar hull configurations. Much like the Gladiator Class, the Temptress features a network of hangers at the forward midsection of her hull.

The decision to add multiple bays came with the recognition that this vessel was to be utilized as a carrier and bombardment vessel, rather then a battleship configuration. While little of this vessel's true potential will be revealed on the 'big screen'. There remains a purpose for many of the ships functions, including each hanger bay. From the top left, the large hanger is used to support larger cruisers docking, the smaller hanger to the right is purly for TIE hanger racks. The mid-section left hanger is for officer shuttles and members of importance, while the one on the right is for supplies and maintenance crews. Which also serves a dry dock for smaller craft such as shuttles and fighters. The lowest hanger is then left for general use and where the most action takes place on the flight deck. While much of the action takes place here in the hangers, there remains an important element at the rear of the craft. The engines.

Taking our cue from aging warships like the Venator, the Temptress' engine configuration and even rear fin spawn from the same technology seen on these Clone War era vessels. The reason in part being the early construction age of the Temptress and the lacking room aboard the craft for engine and reactor compartments. While the 'arms' of the vessel seem like obvious answers, the Temptress holds one final secret.
Each arm contains dozens of drop pods, used for rapid deployment onto a planet's surface. The pods while a convenient commodity to hold on a vessel of this sort, remains one of the main reasons the Bantha Class was never mass produced. As each pod was required to be replaced after deployment, this left Imperial command suffering too many expenses after only a hand full of battles. This, along with aging technology and a push for 'fear' over functionality, made the Bantha Class a production line that unfortunately never continued.

But while the production of this vessel never continued into the height of the Galactic Empire, she was traded, pounded and rebuilt into the vessel we see today in Insidious: Star Wars.

We've done it- with a little help from our friends- YOU!

2011-12-28T13:57:00.000-05:00

It brings me great honor to announce funding for Insidous: Star Wars project has exceeded our $300 goal by $160. Making the donations rest at $460! We are so proud to see so many great people donate to our cause. Special thanks to all the support, donations and well wishes we have thus received. A special announcement will soon follow!

A look to the future

2011-12-26T17:46:00.004-05:00

As the Holiday cheer slowly slips from our system, it can only mean we're back from our extended winter vacation. But it also means that another year is but around the corner and now is the time to collect ourselves and determine our future for Phantom Pictures of Florida.

We've come a long way this year, having been drawn heavily into the production of Star Wars: Insidious and discovering the fine arts of marketing and handling a larger film in the process. While the main filming bulk of Insidious remains unfilmed, the lessons already discovered are priceless in planning our future. One such lesson, would undoubtedly would have to be having a sense of time. I can't begin to explain how many times we've projected Insidious to be finished by, or even started by. The problem, being that life, circumstance, and the ability to work a full time job and organize a full time production is nearly impossible. The second lesson would have to be grasping that despite all our determination- I cannot be the one to fund all our future endeavors from my wallet. Insidious alone has cost me nearly a $1,000 in expenses and that bill is still climbing. Our third lesson and possibly our hardest to learn, was the introduction of online marketing and using it to save us time and money. So where does this leave our future?

I want to see Phantom Pictures in 2012 to produce more films. While Insidious will conquer 1/3 of the year in production/post, that leaves 2/3 of the year for additional projects. But more then just more, I want to see more quality and possible revenue stream from our work. In particular in Animation and 3D Modeling. I'd also like to begin production in building a structure for our filming needs, including a large scale green screen platform.

Insidious has been a blessing in so many ways, many of which I'm sure are still unknown. With filming starting shortly after the start of the new year, hopefully the boon will be greater then the expense. Regardless of it's finished state and weather or not it creates the buzz we're hoping for, it certainly has launched us from No Budget Production, to a greater sense of organizing and funding for a large scale project such as itself.

We're also working hard to produce an income from our work at Phantom Pictures. While a start-up business in the world of creative design seems to be a dime a dozen these days, we're taking a slightly different avenue for our income. Utilizing websites such as turbosquid to market our 3D models allows for an expanding market with each 3D model we produce. Which of course, with the more films we produce, the more models we'll have created and thus the more we can later sell for a profit. The eventual idea being, that a complete short film may be produced from the efforts of a dozen prior film/animation projects.

Aside from our efforts to film more projects at reduced cost and time. We're also looking to expand our creative abilities with the introduction of a structure for filming. In particular we're looking to create a large green screen that can be used for wide angle and large format filming shots. While at the moment this remains a dream of our future. I'd hope within a year we're well on our way to making it a reality.

Phantom Pictures has a number of tent poles currently in the works, mostly in early draft forms or mere ideas thrown together. But we're looking to expand these as well, hopefully with the aid of a few others- they too may become a reality.

More fans? Yes please.

2011-09-21T00:28:00.001-04:00

Things have been going well with Insidious. No, I mean- really well. Recently, in an effort to gain attention to our film, I realized we needed to separate our Phantom Pictures page from the film that was taking residence there. So we made a brand new page, dedicated to Insidious in all its beautiful glory. Within minutes we already gained a friend or two- which was inspiring. But what about more?

The idea that followed has changed everything. We purchased advertisements from facebook, you know the ones. They sit on the right of your screen and annoy the crap out of you. Or maybe that's just me speaking. Turns out, that little annoying ads actually do something, which might explain why they're there.

It's been two days and we've gained 40+ likes to our page. It may not be much in comparison so some pages out there, but we'll take this for starters!

Taking it to the edge: A Stormtrooper Story

2011-09-07T00:34:00.000-04:00

Pre-Production is quickly coming to a close, which means a lot of work needs to be finished and a dwindling amount of time. Which includes answering a few important questions. In the past, I wanted to go as much live action as possible- which I still do mind you. Unfortantly, time and expenses included our short film has the oddball advantage of having cheaper effects then physical elements.

Currently on the production list are four scenes that involve Stormtroopers. Three of which are action scenes, two of which involve live action characters and one that involves physical motion between Stormtroopers and main characters. My intentions are to animate the Stormtroopers in at least two of the scenes and use physical actors with real armor in the last two. These, I believe will produce the most desired/gritty effects.
The situation I'm running into is simply this. To make the Stormtrooper armor from scratch takes time, as I have to carve out each armor piece by hand from wood. Once the armor molds are made I'll then have to literally melt plastic over the molds, trim the plastic parts, detail, paint/decals and then assemble into a suit. My heart goes out to all the dedicated members of the 501st legion who take the time to build these movie props. Unfortunately, I don't think we have the time to do this. Not with Stormtroopers anyhow.
Which leaves me with the second option, to animate all of the characters. But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Rather then spend the next few years becoming a kick ass organic animator who can free hand a movie like Rango over the weekend, I'm going to cheat- which is one of the greatest lessons I've ever learned about designing. If you can't do it, fake it- most people will never know the difference.
Currently, I'm working on a 3D Stormtrooper model that requires about a solid day's worth of love before it's ready for public viewing. Once he's complete Blaise and I will produce a short test film, which will essentially act out one of the close combat shots between the main character and a Stormie. While a ways from being highly scientific, it'll serve its purpose- to act as a guide for animating over our substitute Stormtrooper with our 3D Stormtrooper. If we're successful we'll be golden and I'll order a more film friendly work uniform. Which essentially is a green body sock. The uniform will cling to the actors figure- thus avoiding things like hair or clothing getting in the way of the shot. But also aid in motion tracking by adding a few white contrasting color dots across the body.

If this technique proves wildly beyond our dreams I may extend certain shots to include more vivid and graphic depictions of Stormtroopers. (Think Episode III, when the Clonetroopers attack the sinkhole planet- that brief 5 second sequence where the troopers looked badass before Lucas focused on something gay like Anakin realizing he's a queer or hates sand or something retarded.) If it fails, I may have to shorten certain action sequences to something more manageable. But I have high hopes- in theory this idea is decently practical.

Post and how it's become Pre

2011-09-04T16:01:00.000-04:00

A Separatist TIE Fighter shoots at a Nationalist TIE Fighter.

Insidious sure has come a long ways over the years. Now with the script finally reaching it's completion, there lies the next question of what comes next?
But since this journey began we've done things a little backwards. Thus comes the story of how Post Production, has turned into Pre Production. This film has been different from other films we've worked on because of the amount of effect work required, but also because of the skill levels of these effects. Undoubtedly, there have been many hard learned lessons along the way and too numerous of rewrites and re-animations for effects we ourselves didn't exactly understand. Had this been a large production on the scale of a Hollywood blockbuster, the production flow would have progressed from brainstorming, writing, planning, production, to gathering all of the work and making something of it. But today's young artists (like ourselves) our finding ourselves in the catch 22 of, "can we do it? And can we do it reasonably?"

A X-Wing swoops towards a Separatist Star Destroyer.

I speak from experience when I say many of the effects you'll see in Insidious started as ideas with a post it note of experience that said 'Possible.' But rather then put forth the effort of solid planning and teams of experienced artists and engineers, short films work on the basis of "Prove it first, waste money later."
The result of which has turned our filming direction into new and uncharted territories. The more effects we accomplish today push the limits of our physical production tomorrow.
Now that Insidious' script has been completed the progression from planning to filming is only weeks away. Now the elements of physical costumes and props are in full swing, including the filming of secondary film locations that don't include physical characters. The coming month looks incredibly exciting and I can't wait to hear back from everyone who's following us.

Vacuum Forming- it's all the rage

2011-07-01T14:06:00.000-04:00

What have we been up to at Phantom Pictures? Plenty, although there haven't been nearly as many updates to the Insidious film for a while now, that certainly doesn't mean there hasn't been a lot taking place in the background. The entire script has been re-edited and it looks closer now to completion, the story we have really has grown a long ways from its origin some two plus years ago. But I cannot say this enough- the story is insane! I love it to death and I truly believe when people watch what we've put together they're going to say "This is the most amazing take on Star Wars I've seen in years."

So as of late, the film has it another possible milestone. While buying pre-made Stormtrooper armor seemed completely out of the question, as most goes for easily $700 and goes up from there. We've discovered that producing our own armor in our own workshop may be as cheap as $109 per suit (minus the under-suit, helmet and accessories). We've taken a lot of thought into the costs of production and finding the best deals for our needs. At the current moment we're looking at making two types of armor, Close up/"Hero" armor at a thickness of .08 guage armor and background/"Stunt" armor at a thickness of .04 guage. The difference allows for considerable savings. A full set of armor at .04 guage should run us at about $60 (again, minus the various accessories.) Of course, by not buying the armor pre-made this also means a few negative things as well.

Time: There will be a considerable amount of learning curve with all this. While we are standing on the shoulders of giants, collecting all the information we can to make informed decisions. This doesn't change the fact that we still have to produce all of the molds for each piece of armor and then discover along the way how to best produce the vacuum forming process.
Money: While still cheaper then outright buying an armor set, this process still costs money. In fact the first armor set of any design will cost far more then the ones after it. The reasoning mainly comes from the process of building the molds. We've discovered the best possible solution is building the molds from wood first, but wood costs money and time. Not to mention the tools we've had to buy/build for this entire process to work.

But there remains a number of positive perks for this type of work as well,

Money: We'll be saving tons of it in the long term. To ensure this film is possible we're going to need not just one suit of armor, but dozens and not because we'll have dozens of actors at once- but simply because we understand and expect parts of the armor to break and we'll need replacements. Especially if we are to produce the type of action we want, which was one of the draw backs of using members of the 501st Legion. The members in this club have spilled their blood into their uniforms- we wouldn't want to destroy any of that work.
Diversity: Although making Stormtrooper armor is the ultimate goal, there lends itself a number of other possibilities. In particular, we've wanted to show the Imperial Army Troopers in combat since the very beginning. Something that until now, has never been done before. But that also means custom armor plates and helmets, something that currently is out of the question if we were to buy from another source.

So there you have it, if we succeed with our vacuum forming our production value will sky rocket, if we fail- I hesitate to say we'll all be ashamed!

We've come so far!

2011-05-03T09:44:00.000-04:00

It's been so long since I've posted a blog, and for that- I do apologize. But, on the bright side so many great things have transpired in my time away. Things have really kicked it up a notch around here, from business in general to the Insidious film itself. Everything seems to have gained a bit of creditability.

To start, business has really picked up around here. We've gained numerous new clients that we're more then exicted to help with. Ranging from about every market you could think of! We're also actively helping the Fort White High School drama department, or the "Thespians Guild" as they go by, with their play productions. As we've just finished the Our American Cousin play, and now are working on promoting the Romeo & Juliet play. As usual it's all been a lot of fun and taking a whole number of twists I could never have expected, but that's also half the fun.

As for Insidious, things took a major turn. Thankfully we were sitting on brink of turning the page to a new chapter, where there would be no going back- but caught ourselves before we did and re-designed and improved the story quality overall. Blaise and I had found ourselves in the Lake City Mall at one point just wandering the assortment of stores when one of us made mention,

It's great we're able to produce this story, but wouldn't it have been nice to produce what we really were aiming for?

A few days later, I had an idea. We could take the same story and improve it greatly by expanding the story to its full length, but also making it overall cheaper to produce through a few filming methods. The story would now be segmented by difficulty as well, meaning each short film produced for Insidious would not only continue the story, but grow more difficult to produce as well.

With this in mind, I set out to see how practical it would be. I created a 12 part outline for the story, then sized it down to 10 parts and soon will probably cut it down again. Our story is now segmented into three separate mini-story arcs that all tie in together. The first three, I've just finished writing and now are being revised and edited for quality and timing. If we can't nail the first three episodes, we probably should never film again- as they are extremely basic and fundamental.

But, as basic as they may be- right now they're the ones I'm most excited about. Because of their nature, we have an opportunity to do so much more with what we have. For instance, episode 2 holds the majority of the film in a small bar, where our two characters show up looking for someone. The story doesn't call for anyone else other then a bartender to be in the entire building. So, for the sake of simplicity I wasn't too worried about any other customers. But Blaise brought up a good point, we have the ability and it's not a mountain sized amount of work, why not go that extra mile? With that said, we've now implemented time to produce and create numerous alien species also having a drink at the bar, as simply background characters. But, these little details will go a long ways in conceiving of the "universe" we're trying to create.

With all this said, we've come a long ways and we're heading towards a very bright goal on the horizon, we hope you'll be there when we arrive!

Tent Poles

2011-04-07T12:19:00.000-04:00

As the major film studios would say, I have multiple Tent Poles flying high- keeping this tent nice n' shady so I can drink my lemonaid in comfort. Well, maybe it's not exactly that peachy- but you get the point. I have numerous projects at work and they're all coming along amazing.

Work on Insidious hit a snag with the abundance of paying jobs I've had lately, but I'm not complaining. Work with my brother's design studio, Illuminati Studios is paying a truck load of cash for the current project we're cooperating on. Enough that, I should be able to vanquish all my bills and still have a surplus to work from. That surplus which will only fund the Insidious project further. At this point, finding time seems to be hardest part for Insidious and when it's not time, it's money. But hopefully both of these will free themselves up with just a little further work on other projects.
I've also found a decent amount of work with our local high school, the Fort White High School- working as a sort of 3rd party contractor for their Drama Department. They've helped me tons with my needs and I've been more then happy to return the favor. Recently, I just finished working on their production of Our American Cousin, in which I produced special effects for, filmed, edited and produced a full scale DVD and produced nearly a 100 copies of. It's been a fun project, but only scratched the surface of what our relationship could produce if we cooperated together.
Recently, we've also filmed a short film called Still Fresh, this short slasher/horror film was truly a marvel. Not because it had some densely amazing plot line with sharp witted characters and amazing effects. But simply because it marked our first horror film, and the first of any of our films to be filmed in full 1080p HD film at 24fps. The transition from 30fps to 24fps cannot go understated, the difference is substantial and amazing. I'm so proud we are able to start filming in this format, and even prouder we're able to test the process before working on Insidious.

We're all very eager to move on to bigger and better projects and we're glad to be moving there slowly but surly.

Insidious: Star Wars

2011-02-06T02:13:00.000-05:00

I am proud to announce we are deep within pre-production of Insidious: Star Wars. A tale beyond our reach taking center stage a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Technically, work began on this project almost two years ago, but back then it was all theory and such. This story has taken many forms and many shapes along it's path to production, but today we stand firm with a solid story and a practical layout for production.

I've taken a great deal of time to ensure many of the effects we strive to produce can actually be performed- and I've been met with great success. From force lightening, to animating full 3D Stormtrooper's seamlessly into live footage. From the special effect angle, this film is covered. Not only in 3D design, but also makeup and gore effects- of which we plan to have a small taste of.

With costumes being our biggest challenge we're taking great pride in the creation of two remarkably unseen character designs to kick off Part 1 of our film: The Imperial Army Trooper, and the Imperial Army Lt. Colonel Officer's uniform. Both designs have fallen almost completely out of touch with the rest of Star Wars and little has visually been seen of these two character classes. Which has given us great freedom to interpret and visualize our own "taste" of Star Wars.
Utilizing our strengths with our newly built green screen, so many doors have been opened. Projects such as this would have been all but impossible only months prior. Which in part, is why this project has been in pre-pre-pre-production for so long.

Without giving away too many telling secrets to the story itself, I know we're all very excited to bring to light a very different view of Star Wars and what it means to be tested beyond one's limits. We've taken our central character and thrown everything at him, building a monster of sorts from his experiences. The challenges he'll face will make him question his faith in everything he's once believed in.

On the Threshold of Awesome

2010-12-30T13:10:00.001-05:00

Phantom Pictures and No Budget Productions teamed up to construct the largest green screen either of us has personally witnessed and certainly the biggest either of us have had the pleasure of using.

After hours of sweat, blood and tears we managed to produce a 12 x 22 foot screen with half dozen or so lights. The effect: a brand new world in film production for Phantom Pictures. This green screen will open thousands of doors for us, in particular- the ability to film in areas where we once could not.

For instance, producing a Mafia styled film on the mean streets of Lake City wouldn't be possible, not with open gunfire in public areas. Too many legal reasons why that would be a terrible idea. But now, with the green screen as a tool at our disposal, it means producing such films. It opens the doors to any idea being viable before we shoot it down. Which unfortunately has been a growing trend among us, it's hard to find decent stories these days that couldn't utilize a bit of "imagination." For instance, making a Harry Potter spoof would be funny, but making having a Quidich match too- can only open doors for additional humor.

As of right now, we're working on a short test film, just to see what works best with the screen settings. For instance I can already tell you we have to re-adjust the lighting and using a clear bottle probably wasn't the smartest choice lol.

understanding space from a film makers perspective

2010-12-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

I've been working hard on a series of clips that will conclude my "insidious" opening sequence. In particular this series of clips, or scene as I should call it. Take place in outer space. After working for so long in the upper atmosphere I rightfully forgot how many resources I was being given. It was truly an animators playground, with the lightning effects, fire, smoke, clouds, and general atmospheric properties.

Which is basically where my misunderstanding with space was, and what took me until now to truly consider. Space is an unforgivable place, where harshness stands supreme. Not even light looks the same, not without the power of diffusion that only an atmosphere can produce. Instead we're left with the cold harsh contrasts of the void. And of course without air we also lack explosions, sparks, fire or even a voice. Without an atmosphere sound itself cannot travel, leaving even the most brutal battles to an eerie silence. Then lastly if this hell of the heavens were not hard enough, the bitter cold that lies a few hundred degrees below zero consumes everything. Makes a planet truly a paradise in contrast.

But from an animators perspective this only makes it harder to sell. Which is why film studios have been doing there best to lie and gloss over the truth of the heavens above. Thankfully star wars has taken a bit of creative freedom as most films do, but following this as a basis for my own film is a poor excuse in my opinion. I'm here to show an alternative view to the star wars galaxy from a gritty more releastic POV. But this fundamental problem of nothing and harshness brings me to realize I may not have been the first to stumble upon this fact.

For instance, the majority of space shots in star wars are filled with stuff. No matter if its space stations or star destroyers, if its an extensive space scene there's lots off stuff to use as both scale and perspective, but also too AVOID the feeling of abandonment and being alone. Why does this matter? Because its fundamental to filming. There needs to be stuff to keep the viewers attention and a mere ship isn't enough, which is why film makers, game designers or anyone else using space as their medium fill space with stuff to contrast the their focus. But the more I realize what tools others use to comfort the audience the more I don't want to. The more unforgiving I want to be. The more realistic, in a creative way, I want to be.

What have I done?

2010-11-26T22:52:00.000-05:00

To say I'm tickled pink by the results of this fan film, would be a drastic understatement. It's coming out better then even my expectations and with each successful sequence I string together, the harder I push- and the more limits I break with the next one.

I'd rather not spill the beans on some of the stuff that's been worked up. But I will say this. Recently two successes have really thrown this film into an extra level of bad ass. First, I found and bought a dozen or so motion captures. What are motion captures you ask? Well, sometimes when producing animation for characters like *cough* stormtroopers *cough* using real reference footage from real actors can produce a much more realistic effect. I've just finished working on a piece, using this technique and the results are insane.
Second, I "found" a fantastic resource for audio, like sound effects and such. I had always planned on adding audio to the animations of course, but the large variety and quality of the audio has made the animations become alive in a way far beyond what I could have imagined. What you see is no longer just... shapes, but living, breathing, entities. Audio really sells the entire thing.

I'm thinking once I finish with the animations, which essentially is the entire first 1/3 of the film. I might release it in a "trailer" format for the film. Not sure yet, I don't want to spill too much. But... it's so awesome I think it'll hook people to watch the full length film a few months down the road. Who knows, for now. I'm just blown away.

To give thanks

2010-11-25T13:01:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone out there, all of us at Phantom Pictures would like to give thanks to our viewers, to our fans and supporters. You mean the world to us, because without you- we have nothing.

Happy thanksgiving and happy holidays everyone,
Christopher Lee
Project Director

Star Destroyer Woes

2010-11-22T13:25:00.000-05:00

I've been putting a bit of research into Imperial Star Destroyer's for our recent animation I'm producing. What amazes me, is the fundamental difference between Class 1 Star Destroyer's and Class 2. My original belief was there wasn't too much a difference between the two classes, a Star Destroyer is a Star Destroyer- right?

Turns out I was wrong and it's forcing me to rethink my filming strategy. What's troubling me in particular is ,Class 1 ISDs have numerous point-defense batteries for shooting down enemy fighters or incoming missiles. But for whatever reason, Class 2 ISDs don't. Which is... odd to say the least. But why this matters at all is because, I intended to have the animation revolve around the destruction of one of these defense batteries- but seeings how the 3D Model I'm working with is a Class 2- there's no batteries for me to destroy.

Of course, I could also just ignore this fact and do it anyway- but I like to keep things in-universe and this has clearly been defined as NOT one of those "gray areas." Thankfully, the animation is a just a short opening with no barring on the rest of the story- so does it matter what I blow up? No. But it matters how I'm blowing it up, which is really what this is all about.

All too often in Star Wars, or any Sci-Fi film- we begin to see these vessels as characters themselves. But I believe this view is wrong, or could be greatly expanded upon. Think of it this way- what's more important, The horse? Or the guy riding the horse? They both need each other, but the horse doesn't make the man, nor does the man make the horse. They need each other and they both need to be seen to be understood.
The same is true with these massive vessels in my opinion. The inner workings of these ships, how they work, how they run, who works inside, what do they do, how do they fire the cannons, regulate the air supply, feed themselves, fuel their ships, power their reactors, generate electricity... it's just as important. Which is what my goal was with destroying the defense battery. I didn't want to just blow up a gun, I wanted to blow up what powered the gun, deeper in the vessel- which would send a chain reaction towards the gun.
So what I'm trying to accomplish doesn't have to center around a defense battery, it can be anything- and in this case, it has to be. The question is what?

Building the Pixal Empire

2010-11-19T11:35:00.003-05:00

What have we here? A Star Wars Fan Film? You bet. As many of you have begun to notice, we've been posting numerous "test films" on YouTube. These films, or effect films, are to fill the core of the effects to be later produced (a bit more professionally) down the road. But the results we're providing today have gone miles in learning technique and discovering what works and what doesn't.

But we're going far beyond just your standard fan film, we want to utilize the force in a lopsided one-sided lightsaber fight, where the enemy is forced to use his head rather then his strength. Which is a concept rarely aimed for these days, from the professionals at Lucas-ville... and fan films creators themselves. To say we've all been impacted and inspired by "The Force Unleashed" would also be an understatement. That game transformed the limits of the force, the power, limits, and temptations of those who wield this weapon. This film will reflect that, on perhaps a smaller scale- but the inspirations will remain clear.

And here the story was meant to end. Until about two weeks ago when the idea dawned on me to extend the story further- with animation. In particular, altering the opening of the film with an extended scene made up of completely digital effects. To deny it's meant to show off Christopher's animating ability would be a lie- it completely is. But the scene so beautifully merges into the rest of the film, it's almost too good to NOT produce.

No date set on the filming of the rest of the film. Realistically speaking, I need to gather supplies for costumes, settle on a final shooting location and probably wait until it gets a little colder. By then the animated opening sequence will be finished and I probably will release it the public as a form of "teaser" of what's to come.

It's getting hot in here

2010-10-30T20:57:00.002-04:00

Check it out, recent special effect test for a possible- maybe- I'm not going to jinx myself- film.

It's a cold one out there...

2010-10-16T13:59:00.000-04:00

Is Phantom Pictures cursed? Or does bad timing just play a huge role around here? Sadly, "Batman and Robin Begins" had to be put on hold due to time restraints by our main star Ted Bezaire, unfortunately his leave time from the Navy was shortened, so filming also had to be stopped before it really had a chance to get moving.

But we have had time to produce some other smaller films and I'd gladly like to welcome them to Phantom Pictures and to show them off for all to see. Recently, Christopher Lee managed to produce almost by himself an entire effect film. Aiding him, Mindy Lee and Blaise Bezaire offered some of their time as well, but all special effects and most of filming was done by himself. The film, "Snow Guards" runs about a minute and half, but is 100% effects.

The next film to be released will be the sequel to PCI: Paranormal Creep Investigators and should be out soon. Keep checking in for details, it should be out later this week.

Hot off the factory press

2010-10-01T12:03:00.000-04:00

Lately we've been rolling films off the press left and right. A few days ago we released "PCI: Paranormal Creep Investigators" followed by "Fruit Dicer 6000" last night.

Paranormal is comedy put together by Blaise Bezaire and Christopher Lee, but Blaise Bezaire really should be applauded for pulling this film together. There were numerous of us at Phantom Pictures were a little questionable about the humor value in the film. But I believe the results speak for themselves. Check it out,

Yesterday, Christoper Lee took it upon himself to produce "Fruit Dicer 6000", a short spoof infomercial for a new and impressive way to cut fruit where dull knives might fail you. Although quick to pull the project together it reminded Phantom Pictures it truly needs to invest in a green screen and studio space!

The long road ahead...

2010-09-25T12:30:00.000-04:00

Although Phantom Productions has been around for some time, as has No Budget Productions, only recently have all of us come together to really realize the potential we stand on. Recently, I've taken the time to spread our digital wings and rain terror- ahem, "beauty" upon this unsuspecting inter-webs, by connecting our blogger account, with YouTube and now Facebook. With added potential for more subscribers, viewership, and followers of our crazy ass imaginations, it literally leaves the world before us. Unfortunately, it also means a fair amount of work if this crazy dream is to become a reality. It means looking at what works for us and what works for the world. YouTube provides a wonderful set of statistics which I believe already say a lot. This blog post really brakes down the numbers and lets us look at our future goals.

:2007:
Lets rewind the clocks to October 2007. It was the first year of my YouTube account and I managed to steal 1,135 views from poor unsuspecting YouTubers in 3 months time. This was far before the real gears of filming for me began, what was hot back then was my "Jurassic Park 4" spoof video. It was short, sweet and popular. But it also tapped into major fans of the series. In fact, this video remains popular almost every year since I posted it. THAT says something. The video is short at 30 seconds long, it was made with $0 budget and took about five minutes to create, yet makes up for 61% of all my video views to date!

:2008:
Welcome back to 2008, this year alone was the highest view year I've ever had. Shocking, considering the far better videos have been produced since then. I managed to rake in 15,128 views. My "Jurassic Park 4" still is generating tons of views. In second place comes my "Bucking Ride" video. Which has produced the most comments and negative feed back- ever. "Epic Pee" comes in third place, holding a solid crowd.
What can we collect from this? I had a powerhouse of videos. JP4 was stealing views from a massive fan base, bucking ride was creating controversy, stirring up the hornets nest, and Epic Pee just had a damn good title- "Epic" and was fairly amusing to boot.

:2009:
A dark time for views. But also understandably, 2009 marked the lowest period of views for my account. But, I also wasn't submitting views for a good portion of the year. I managed to steal only 8,220 views the entire year. The JP4 video still was most popular, my "Puke" video came in second and bucking ride third. Puke was the only real video I posted, probably that entire year- and defiantly contributed to the internet fad of seeing other people suffer. Just as in the year before Epic Pee contributed to the word "Epic" meaning 'greatest video ever.'

:2010:
This year we've really started to pull it together. Thanks to No Budget Productions and Phantom Pictures really beginning to team together and work hard to produce more films with quality. The numbers are already beginning to reflect this. To date, there have been 7,944 views. I have no doubt we'll blow past 2009's numbers, but that still leaves us a long ways off from 2008. Strangely enough, "The Crowbar Killer" and "Professor Gigglepants" still aren't contributing enough to those views. Crowbar contributes only 1.2% of those views, while Gigglepants only contributes 1.1%. Meanwhile, "The Fat Knight" isn't even on the scale yet.
So what does that say about these videos? Are they simply not viral enough yet? Or are we missing something else? Our views have steadily began to increase since the introduction of these videos. But they still have long ways to go.

Lets break down the two latest films. Crowbar, Gigglepants and the Fat Knight. Crowbar was released 6/9/10 and since then has generated 110 views. Most of the views were from embedded players. Meaning they were discovered based on people like myself posting the video somewhere and others clicking play. The video simply isn't launching off by itself. Next came Gigglepants, which was released 7/5/10 and received much immediate attention, but quickly fell behind. Again, most views were based on embedded players. As of today, I've taken this knowledge and re-worked all the tags and updated the video information to help push the videos further into mainstream YouTube.

This year has really been the new beginning for Phantom Pictures and No Budget Productions. So, as sad as some of the numbers may seem, its really all a learning curve- and this year isn't over yet. The last few fun facts I have involve our fan base. Most viewers are male, between the age of 35-54. Which honestly is way older then I assumed, which makes me wonder just how demented the older generations have become if they're watching stuff like Gigglepants, and Jurassic Park 4 lol.

We have our work cut out for us, but we can do it. I have a lot of promise with
"Batman and Robin Begins" and even more with work from Ryan and Blaise. Here's to the future.

Holy Bat-flicks, Batman!

2010-09-15T20:45:00.000-04:00

Turns out we had so much fun working on the last Batman film, we decided to do another and this time- complete it.

The unfortunate events of "The Fat Knight" were bad timing and bad editing. The ideas, scope and layout of TFK were wonderful, but the timing just didn't pan out. Due to time restraints and a bit of laziness on No Budget Production's part, the film just wasn't completed. When they handed me the footage I was amused, as usual by their creativity and the direction they were taking their film. But, due to the film being incomplete I was truly challenged to show the scope and feel they desired, worse yet the audio I wanted to use had to be scrubbed due to copyright laws. So, alas I was forced to submit TFK unfinished and re-re-edited to meet YouTube's standards.

All in all it was fun, but left us all hungry for more. So with a little bit of thought and inspiration, I'm happy to announce the pre-production of "Batman and Robin Begins." It's been fun to work out the ideas and brainstorm with Ted Bezaire, whom currently resides in Connecticut, awaiting his military leave after 6 months of intense training. His time back in Florida will be well spent and we've all been eager to get back into the groove of things.
Batman and Robin Begins turns the Batman franchise on its head, pondering the outcome of Batman and Robin's relationship during their first year of crime fighting together. Of course, with so much comic book lore put into the spotlight because of Batman and Robin's seemingly gay romantic lust, we couldn't help but keep their relationship as "accurate and creepy" as a middle aged man and a brightly colored young boy could be. Not to mention both of their mental states which easily can come into question, based on both of their parents deaths.
As Christopher Nolan (Creator of the latest Batman installments) once put it, he likes to test Batman and put stress on his commitment to fighting crime by pushing him to his limits. This type of storytelling can easily be spotting in The Dark Knight with his relationship with the Joker. Here at Phantom Pictures we took that idea and ran with it, but our story does not bit Batman against crime nearly as much as it does his own homophobia.

The film is set to begin production October 3rd through the 4th and hopefully about a week of post-production after that. All in all we're all extremely positive and can't wait to get this film underway, it's been far too long since any of us have filmed and we're all eager.

To stand against

2010-08-27T12:40:00.000-04:00

I understand it has been a while since Episode II or III of star wars, but recent renewed interest in the subject matter has brought to light a different perspective from an old star wars fan. First I had some soul searching to do, so I watched Episode 2 and 3 of star wars and finally admitted I didn't care for large portions of the films. Being as a fan of the series it was harder to admit the story was garbage, the acting sucked and the CGI was overkill, which is saying something considering my own background and passion for CGI.
But what really troubled me, enough to sit down and even write about it, is the mere plot point and curiosity regarding the main bad guy for all of Episode 2. Count Dooku, whom showed up rather mysteriously during the story. Count Dooku ended up spending most of the film in the shadows, gathering allies for what eventually would become the CIS. The film ended with Dooku slicing off Anikan's arm and injuring obi-wan, only to be chased off by Yoda. I'm alright with this storyline and build up of character. It set up the character for Episode III and his thrilling conclusion...

Then he died in the first 15 mins of episode 3. Wait, what? Didn't episode 2 turn him into this sneaky bad guy with a unquie form of saber fighting? What happened? Lucas has been hailed as a wonderful storyteller, yet allowed a main character's story arc fall flat on its face without the briefest of mentions afterwords. Dooku's death didn't even serve as that fantastic or impressionable of a moment, not to mention the horrid editing, which left me wondering just how much they cut from the film.
Worse yet, he was replaced by a cyborg nearly all machine monster who became known as the general of the droid army. Well that's fantastic, in fact I liked his character- but that doesn't mean it was needed. In my opinion, Dooku would have served a much more iconic role had he survived longer. Perhaps killed by Anakin to purposably become the emperor's apprentance, rather then be guilted into it after aiding in Master Windo's death. Dooku would have provided substance to Anikan's turn to the dark side, and embodied the heart of star wars.
Just as Luke Skywalker had to discover how to strike down evil without hatred, passion, or out of lust or greed, Anikan would have been provided with an oppurtunity to strike down evil, but Anikan would have killed Dooku out of passion and desire to save his wife and child. This type of storytelling would only forshadow the weaknesses of Anikan and the redeeming power of Luke.

The mere fact that Lucas did not take this path troubles me, its obvious storytelling and worse yet just the type of storytelling that made him famous in the first place. But yet, Lucas created a brand new bad guy, provided almost no background behind, then killed him halfway through the film. It was a cheap move on Lucas' part, in my mind to drive the profits up by selling more merchandise.

Final thoughts, killing Dooku is like killing Darth Vader 15 mins into Return of the Jedi, just to be replaced by Jar Jar Binks, whom is later also killed... but no one cares.

The Fat Knight

2010-08-25T12:08:00.001-04:00

Professor Gigglepants

2010-07-06T12:08:00.000-04:00

After waiting some time to finish this project, I can now say Professor Gigglepants is finished and proudly displayed on youtube. It was a fun project to work on, but also a struggle. Unfortunately it's probably one of the weaker videos Ted Bezaire, Ryan Hiers and Blaise Bezaire ever produced. Which translated into a harder time for me- to do the effects and editing.

But all in all, the project is finished and I'm happy with it. Here's to the next project :]

Jurassic Park: Extinction

2010-07-03T11:28:00.000-04:00

50 days. 115 pages. 22,031 words. 1 script.

These numbers are to be proud of and that's exactly what I am. After a month and a half of work, I was able to write the longest and most complex story I've ever ventured to create. It was a lot of work, but taught me some fun lessons along the way. But lets go back, and discover some of the fun moments along the way...

It started with a mere amusement to the concept. There was word on the web that a fourth Jurassic Park was on its way- but the details were slim at best. Personally I wasn't and still am not very excited by the idea of a fourth film. Even with the promising remarks made by film director Joe Johnston, my faith in a fourth film is extremely shaky. At this time, there was a lot of debate as to what would make a "good" film.

Most people agreed that a fresh start was in order, as the series has become stale, cliche- and just beaten in every way. There tended to be a typical formula at play... get on the island, scream, run, escape, fly into sunset.... the audiences weren't buying it, the fans weren't buying it. Worse yet, the writing had become worse with time. It appeared that film makers only cared about new logos and not new stories.

Around this time, I decided what I felt would be a good story. But it was just the tip of the iceberg. Eventually, spurred by my recent interest in JP I decided to re-read The Lost World: Jurassic Park, it's a fun read- but honestly even the sequel seemed worse then the original novel. After further research, I eventually realized that Micheal Crichton, the author- was all but pushed by his readers to produce the sequel- and it shows. With growing interest in the subject, I bought the remaining JP DVDs I didn't own and sat down for a short marathon. Again, I noticed that the second film didn't do as well (in terms of story) due to the second novel. The third movie was even worse- after further research, I realized the original story behind the third film was fairly complex, gripping and even pretty cool. But due to the film makers failure to produce a solid story and with funding and time running short... the audience got what we currently have, no plot, cliche, and simple- land, run, scream, escape, sunset- formula.

It was pretty annoying, how could my childhood admiration of dinosaurs, spun with my favorite movie as a kid get so messed up? Worse yet, in my mind... how could nobody get out of this cliche cycle? It was around this point I decided I could do better. I wouldn't lie and say I wasn't a bit cocky about it. But after re-watching all the films, it also didn't seem that hard.

I started writing on May 15, 2010 and didn't stop. I was fairly addicted to the story and believed a number of fundamental truths about Jurassic Park.

1: The first "trilogy" of films needed to end. Loose ends needed to be snipped and the entire series given a clean slate.
2: The TLW Novel still was a goldmine of amusing concepts that were completely lost during the second and third film.
3: At least 70% of the original characters from ANY of the films have moved on and have NO reason EVER to return or deal with anything Jurassic Park related.
4: The fourth film needs to create a "universe" rather then a "story." (meaning Star Wars has a "universe" of knowledge and expansion and stories and concepts and places and people- JP needs the same concept of an expanded universe to make it feel real)
5: Genetics companies are a main focus, more then the dinosaurs themselves. Somehow, this has been the main focus in every film, but watered down to the point of no one realizing it by the third film. This concept NEEDS to return and with a thunder.

An early concept, that I held tightly to throughout the writing process was the idea of closure. I know personally many fans are curious about what lead up to the events of the first film, who John Hammond really is, what secrets lie on Site B and many other questions that frankly- just need good answers. I held tightly to the belief that for a new series of films to exist, the fourth film- has to turn the page. Simply jumping into a new series, skipping the turn over, the chain of events that lead to a new series just doesn't work. Too many questions remain unanswered otherwise.

After writing for such a long time, it's nice to reflect and look back to where this all spawned from. It's equally nice to admire the hard work I've done, I'm usually never this bold- but frankly, I hope some Hollywood producer does eventually read the script, and for once- I'd hope Hollywood would do something right, like a decent story- rather then create a piece of crap with a flashy logo that they know will make their wallets full.

To be fair, it's that reason alone I want to get into film. I'm sick and tired of shitty stories with kick ass graphics. I'm tired of millions of fans getting ripped off on the movies they see. Funny thing is, I have a background that spawned from flashy graphics, I should be its biggest supporter- but I'm not. Moderation and control are the two biggest factors that cause Hollywood to fail, but now... in the words of Ian Malcolm- "you wield it like a kid that's found his dad's gun."