7th Blog

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:37:00 +0000

Hey everybody. Happy Holidays to you all. I wanted to give you an update as we approach one month to go for the premiere. It’s interesting-we are all kind of moving on with our lives and kind of forget that this is out there and we are all coming back together one more time to see it. Everything is set for the theater premiere. Cast, send out those invites! J The last thing to do is get it out online, so that will be my task this January.

A note to the cast: Cast party is on Friday Jan. 30th. Theater set up is on the 31st, the day of the premiere. We will need several of you to assist with A/V testing, lobby setup, and general coordination. I’ll send out an announcement on that soon. I am looking forward to everyone getting together again.

What is the future? There is a possibility that we will keep our ears out for convention announcements as well as fan film contest submissions. We will see if we can submit this for competition. I always figured that in most contests, this doesn’t meet the submission criteria, but I have heard of a couple that may evaluate longer, darker films like this one. We will see how far this can go. At any rate, now comes the time that we announce to the community that we have something so that as many people who want to see it, can see it.

Take care everyone. Not much to do now but sit and impatiently wait! -Dave

6th Blog

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:18:51 +0000

Hi everyone. I feel like we have taken some very significant steps since the last update. We have a contract with the Kinnikinnic Theater at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to premiere the film. To that effect, we are in the middle of sending out the RSVPs to each cast member so they can start inviting our friends & family. Movie programs have been printed and I will be reviewing the theater location this week.

DVDs have also been developed and burned for the cast and family that helped us out. To that effect, the DVD cover art, chapter insert & DVD label art was finished and printed. Jesse Fox, Jeff Keehn, Teresa Jackson and I got together last weekend to assemble the DVD packages. They look great; it is meaningful when you realize that you are associated with the package in some way.

Jesse and I put together one last To Do list, including everything we need to take care of between now and January 31^st. It is still quite a list, but I am confident we will complete all of it. For the cast\crew, I will be sending out a lot of information in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Take care everyone. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! -Dave

5th Blog

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:41:48 +0000

It has been a while since I have posted a blog. I tried a few weeks ago and it crashed on me and I had nothing saved! Oh well. I just wanted to let everyone know where we are at.

The Bonus DVD Material is done. All that has to happen is get it onto disc in a way that allows you to play but also navigate between chapters like your typical DVD you purchase at the store. The main movie will go through its 2nd revision this week. It will be reviewed for aesthetics (like is this not colorful enough or is this scene louder than the last scene?). Since the fixable errors have been cleaned up, this is refinement that focus on the viewing experience.

DVD cases have been purchased this week and are being shipped to my house. The artwork for the case is almost finished. That should be a relief to Mike Hamerlind who
is a busy guy and had this assignment to deal with. The disc artwork is finished too.

Finally, next month I will be approaching theforce.net about getting this hosted on their site. If successful, we will have much better means of informing everyone that this is out there to watch, so more to come on that and other things soon. Take care everyone. -Dave

4th Blog

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:20:36 +0000

Ok. Version 1 of the film is completed. Yes, it is completed. It is so rewarding to get the overwhelming bulk of this story done. It looks good too. I am proud of all of us.

What will be coming next for us is watching the story and editing it for any rough spots that were missed (bad transitions, an empty frame, a special effect that needs to be brighter, etc.) I can think of about 12 different things off the top of my head that need to be cleaned up over 50 minutes of film.

I am also starting on a theatrical trailer this week. I told Jeff Keehn that it would likely be done this week, but it might be more like late next week before it is posted. Anyways, there are updates to the weekly snapshot to check out too as usual.

I want to start hearing about the status on some side projects that are currently going on: RSVPs, lanyards, posters, FanForce members. My goal is to really have most of these close to finished by 1st week of November. It is still a way's away, but that's what we all said about the February film session. Hang in there. Your hard work now actually is a real live story.

-Dave

3rd Blog

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:00:28 +0000

Hi everyone. I hope all is well. We recently completed a audio dubbing session this past weekend in Red Wing. It went very well. There was some extremely good synchronization of the recorded audio and the acting on film; Teresa in particular. She is so talented. Some combat sounds were also recorded. Let me say, if I were in JJ's or Jesse's shoes doing this, I would feel silly too. Basically, it is reacting and making sounds as if you were in combat, straining and grunting. It is very easy to feel self conscious, but they stuck with it and we have good material to work with.

Jesse is going to hang me from my toenails. We actually have a very small pickup shoot that has to be done in front of greenscreen. More audiodubbing is in store also; Jesse's favorite thing to do in the whole world. I thought I got it all last weekend but I did not. My apologies Jesse. We will need to soon discuss when we will do that.

It is hard to realize there is not a lot of work left to be done as a whole cast. However, there are a few side projects the cast is working on that I would like to bring together on one weekend. It would be good to get the RSVP, movie program and lanyard projects outputted and completed on one Saturday or Sunday. Refreshments and Star Wars movies would be a must of course. Perhaps sometime in Early November. . . We will see. Take care everyone. Blog you soon.

-Dave

2nd Blog

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:28:49 +0000

Here is my 2nd blog, such that it is. So far I am making very good progress on things. I actually have started the rotoscoping of the scene that needs the most post-production. I don't want to get ahead of myself; there is so much work left to do. But I must admit I was projecting completion of this scene in maybe the end of November. Now I am projecting maybe the end of August. After that, the enormous bulk of post-production of the actual film would be done. So things are extremely optimistic right now.

There is still the theaterical trailer I want to give you guys & the Behind the Scenes I wanted to give to the cast as well. I also have put our site and teaser out on a new website that sort of acts like a library site of all the Star Wars Fan Films. It has by far the most films of all the hosts out there. We are featured on its home page. Check it out: http://kuatengineer.webs.com/

I hope everyone has enjoyed the web content we have here so far. Again, there will be updates each week, maybe a finished shot every now and then. I have a audio dubbing session with Teresa, JJ & Jesse scheduled for this Sunday to redo lines that just didn't cut it. Let's hope that goes well-I know we will have some fun too. Take care everyone. Talk to you again soon.

-Dave

1st Blog

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:47:42 +0000

As I write my 1st blog (ever) I am apprehensive. What should I say? I can give you an update. I am probably about 6 weeks ahead of schedule on completing the actual movie itself. The tenative dates we would premiere have not changed, but they also have not been finalized either. As I see it right now, I have what I call 3 mini-projects to post produce before I start a giant project. I won't say what it is, but the cast will know what it is when I mention laying in the snow for a long time, freezing.

Anyways, the fact that I am ahead of schedule (for now) is encouraging. The footage is encouraging too. As of this weekend, I have finished 2 of the fighting segments filmed in Duluth (one more to go). I have also finished the scene on the barren Sith world Korriban and 2 of the scenes on Anij's home planet of Onderon. That said, we still have to audio dub some dialouge for that. My goal is to get Jesse, JJ & Teresa together in August to record those tracks.

There is still a theaterical trailer and a Behind the Scenes film to put together, so I can't get too far ahead of myself. Also there are side projects that we all need to go forward on. Some of those side peojects involve direct content from me, so I will try and not get too sidetracked from the fun of rotoscoping (pure joy) and get that content to you. I will try as a newbie to get this website thing to post updates through the website so that you are all updated as things go.

Everyone continue to have a great summer. Blog you soon. -Dave

5th Blog

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 04:48:05 +0000

Hi everyone. I wanted to provide some updates with where we are at. 1st & foremost, revision of the film is going well. We are just about completed with our 2nd revision. When we evaluate the 2nd revision, we evaluate things like aesthetics. (vividness in color, volumes from one scene to the next, sharpening the image, changing the brightness qualities, rethinking transitions). While the last evaluation brought up 44 changes or fixes, this one will probably bring up possible 10 things that need to be adjusted.

I am also working on the components for our Behind The Scenes segments. Some of you might be thinking, "Oh geez. Another person who thinks he has to document everything about the movie. Who watches these anyways." I certainly understand that point of view. Since it is 99% likely this is a one-time only, we are going to do it all! So far, all the featurettes for the principle cast have been completed. It is possible that these may eventually be posted on our Video page.

I am glad the theatrical trailer was well received. Thanks for viewing it. I hope it has generated some buzz. I know that the cast is stoked. Thanks for everyone's patience as this process continues to go forward. Take care everyone. Blog you soon.