Figuratively Speaking - My Star Wars parody movie

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Figuratively Speaking - watch it!

This is my stop-motion movie that I made with figures. I did most of the voices, but my friend did the voiceovers for the Jedagra and Under the Music commercials. I'm mailing off the submission to the SW Fan Film Awards tomorrow to see what they think of it. I realize that the image and sound quality isn't fantastic, but this is just the screener copy for now.

[Kidhuman]

That is damn funny. I loved the Anakin/Dooku/Palpy scene.

[James Boba Fettfield]

That was my favorite segment of the film, too. I left some uncensored praise on your myspace, Lindquist.

[mabudonicus]

Impressive, man, most impressive...

Obviously with music and a bit sharper editing it'll be much "smoother" but even in this working form it's fun.
The voices are SLICK, the stop-motion (in many instances) is REALLY well done (you'll be underwhelmed by this aspect of our stuff, too, I tend to go more for "limited animation" coupled with real-time movements and a lot more hand-shot style closeups) my fave being the Shocktrooper or maybe Vader raising his arms.. and luke on Hoth looks pretty damn good too..

My fave comedy-beat is the "added" hoth scene tho, where Obi comes back to wrap up the last "unadressed" plot point between the films

Good Work man, really fun, can't wait to see the "finished" version

[JimJamBonds]

Nice work there JJL!

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Thanks to everyone who's seen it!

Impressive, man, most impressive...

Obviously with music and a bit sharper editing it'll be much "smoother" but even in this working form it's fun.
The voices are SLICK, the stop-motion (in many instances) is REALLY well done (you'll be underwhelmed by this aspect of our stuff, too, I tend to go more for "limited animation" coupled with real-time movements and a lot more hand-shot style closeups) my fave being the Shocktrooper or maybe Vader raising his arms.. and luke on Hoth looks pretty damn good too..

My fave comedy-beat is the "added" hoth scene tho, where Obi comes back to wrap up the last "unadressed" plot point between the films

Good Work man, really fun, can't wait to see the "finished" version

Well, due to legal reasons, I'm not allowed to use any copyrighted music in this competition (Star Wars or otherwise), and there's no way I could write any that would fit. I'm thinking that I'll eventually go back and add in music and some other scenes just to make it a little more "finished," but for the time being it's got to be without music.

If they want to use it in the competition, there are a few slight tweaks that I want to do (shorter shot of the Ewok before he attacks the trooper, longer shot of Obi-Wan on Dagobah since some of his dialogue overlaps onto the shot of Luke). Are there any others you think I should do?

Also, I'm not allowed to use any copyrighted logos, and I was originally going to have "Star Wars" in the border of the title shot, but I removed it for the time being to avoid any problems.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

Well done. That's something I've always thought of doing if I had the equipment and the skills. Unfortunately, I have neither.

I was just glad that the movie played decently for me. Any other time I've tried to watch something on that site, the audio was way ahead of the video and the movie ended when the audio was done. Everything seemed to be in time on this one.

[plasticfetish]

Really nice John! Even with the low quality of that copy, your stop motion and the way you've set up your shots looks great.

Well, due to legal reasons, I'm not allowed to use any copyrighted music in this competition (Star Wars or otherwise), and there's no way I could write any that would fit.

You should consider just doing the John Carpenter thing -- twiddling along on a synthesizer. The great thing you've got going is that it can be silly.

Are there any others you think I should do?

You might think about your transitions between scenes a little. Make them more pronounced. I'd ape Lucas himself and use a variety of wipes.

Also, I'm not allowed to use any copyrighted logos, and I was originally going to have "Star Wars" in the border of the title shot, but I removed it for the time being to avoid any problems.

You don't need 'em. Just stick to your own made up or parody graphics and logos. (Think... Hardware Wars.)

Good stuff man. Right on!

[mabudonicus]

Ahh didn't know you were soliciting feedback

For the transitions/incidental music, what PF mentioned is fine, or you could just grab some kind of funk and put little stingers of it in, OR you could maybe use a "seinfeld style" quick bass-riff or something (which would work due to the "joke/punchline" nature of the scenes themselves

And I would echo PF's suggestion to rip of the wipes from GL, heck, easiest transition to apply (a star wipe would be especially funny if used sparingly)

Your idea to tighten up the ewok shot is a good one too, tighter is better in short films

When's the deadline?? I would have a production meeting with you on AIM if ya like, I'm mabudon2 so add me and we might meet up, I have a few more difficult-to-explain ideas for it that you may or may not want

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

You might think about your transitions between scenes a little. Make them more pronounced. I'd ape Lucas himself and use a variety of wipes.

Originally, I had planned to have one or two scenes in which I used wipes such as those to indicate the passing of time (the Dagobah scene was longer; there was a scene of Anakin killing Neimoidians after talking to Palps on Coruscant; there was a flashback of Grievous). So, to avoid confusion, I made them the plain black ones they are now, and they also provide a bit of breathing time between the scenes. But, since those scenes were cut, I think I may go back and do what you've mentioned (the program I used has a ton of different wipes), and make the opening and closing shots of the scenes a little longer for the "breathing room" (not much, though).

For the music, the progam also has a lot of songs that are supposedly not copyrighted . . . I haven't listened to any of them for about a year so I really don't know what they are. I even thought about doing slight variations on the opening and closing themes by "playing my nose," making high-pitched sounds and things like that. However, I thought that, even here, that's a little bizarre. I might try it later to see how it works.

The Ewok scene was the last one I finished, but I was rushing like mad to get it done in time . . . I originally planned to have the stormtrooper screaming and crying before and after he's attacked, then I decided to go with the Wilhelm and forgot to trim the start of that scene. The Wilhelm didn't match up like I wanted so I may indeed just rework the screaming a little.

The deadline to get the submission form in was today at 12 noon in California. I first thought it said it had to be postmarked by then, so we sent it off yesterday via USPS. Thankfully I noticed the difference on the AtomFilms site shortly thereafter and was able to FedEx another copy to them just in time; I guess it got there around 10:30 this morning. Cuttin' it close. Though I have to think that if it arrives a little after 12 they won't care much.

Anyway, for the time being, the version you've seen is the version they'll see (I assume they realize it's a low-rez version . . . if it's accepted I'll have to make a bigger file for the master copy, with some of the changes listed above). I don't want to change it too much, though, in case they disqualify me or something because of it.

My AIM name is GeneralGrievousL; you're on my buddy list but you're not online right now . . .

Anywho, I've been thinking of a ton of scenes for sequels (I might do one or two more and then stop so as not to overdo it) . . . I'll definitely use the feedback for those, at least.