archived-videos Indiana Jones Preview

garmon

garmon

Shooting has finished for Indiana Jones and the Staff of Ra and am now trying to finish up post production. I just wanted to let you guys preview the opening of the movie.

TO go back over who we are... We work for a land surveying company called Design Projects Surveyors in Georgia. We wanted to make a fan film... well... we finally did. It has taken a while to shoot because of conflicting schedules but has been a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy the opening of the movie. The full movie is set for the second week of September. Hope you enjoy.

http://design-projects.net/media4.html

[WM]http://design-projects.net/media/opening4.wmv[/WM]
 
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AWESOME!

I've been waiting for this one for quite some time, and that beginning really surpassed my expectations.

Really exciting! Got that Indy feel to it!
I really enjoyed that, and I can't wait to see the full thing.

Good job.

Only critique would be the sound mixing in the dialogue.. hard to hear over the music.

Amazing, dude.

-Logan-
 
Ummmm...I don't think Indy
would leave a man behind like that unless the man did something to doublecross him
, but I could be wrong...of course I never knew thw man personally or anything.

Looked like it was fun to shoot, and you can never get tired of hearing that score. I liked how the opening shots were very similar to the opening shots of Raiders of the Lost Ark. And the actor playing Indy had the Harrison Ford facial expressions down pat.

Poke
 
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Sweet opening!
smiley_indy.gif


Nice shiney semi-glow effect on that helmet-totem.

This is going to be a kick-ass flick, I believe. :cool:
 
Looks really good, man. The only thing I have to criticize is the audio mixing - as Spatula said, the dialogue is a little hard to make out - I had to listen to some of it a few times to understand it.

I like the Wilhelm scream, too. Ben Burtt would be proud. :lol:
 
thanks guys. I will work on the sound mixing in the dialogue. I still have a lot of mastering to do. Thats why I like to put my stuff on this site. You guys are very helpfull. As you all know, when you sit around editing a flick you start to not catch all the little things that others will find. I do the same with my brothers Music mixing. He lets me listen to all of his material to catch things that he might miss. Again guys thanks for all of your help, advice, and kind words.

Oh Poke... THe reason that Indy would have left him behind is because the guy was probally dead soon after he hit the ground. I added the drums in the background to let people think that the rest of the tribe was near, so Indy has to get out of town or be lunch.
 
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Im glad you caught that. I got the shot of that palm tree while I was down in Mexico on vacation. I knew I had to use it. I wanted something other than a shot of a mountain like Paramount. Our logo is from a dead tree behind my house. I am wanting to find someone that has good 3d experience to make a 3d copy of that tree and make leaves appear after a bolt of lightening for our logo. Maybe I can come up with something soon. again, Im glad you caught that.
 
One problem I’ve always had with fan films is that the makers rarely do anything original with the characters and themes.

What you have done here is a low budget remake of the Raiders opening. You copied a lot of the shots, condensed the action and ended the sequence exactly the same way.

It was fun to watch and I’m sure it was a blast to make. But as a viewer I would love to see that character in a new, different adventure or setting than the original films.

I felt you lost a unique moment when Indy leaves Forestall behind - which, I think, is what Poke was talking about. As I was watching I thought, cool he’s going to show Indy saving the guy who just tried to have him killed.

But it didn’t happen.

Technically it looked nice but you have a continuing problem with screen direction. Indy hops on the horse and takes off screen left and then is galloping screen right, for example. And you do this often - five or six times.

But it was fun to watch. Is it a short or a feature?
 
well when it comes to the script there is always going to be many should of could of moments. Indy could have saved him but he didn't .... I wrote it that way and stuck with it. As a director you should probally know that you can't please everyone. As for screen direction, I also learned that in film school and don't care much for little rules that people think are written in stone. Screen directions are a great teaching tool, but if we all learn and do the same thing, it would be a boring field. THe reason I chose that direction from right to left leaving on the horse to left from right as the horse rides off is because of the limited area I had with the horse and the ladys pasture. We also had conflicting houses in the area. Sometimes you just have to go with what you can get. BUt thanks for the helpful post.
 
It looks really nice. Good job setting up the shots and action.

I guess what confuses me (not about your film, but all fan films in general)...why? I mean, are you guys working on other projects, and take these on for fun and practice - even then, I just can't see putting all the effort out to create a film about someone else's character doing things you ultimately can't show past a certain stage due to copyright issues...

If this is a common question by newer filmmakers, please direct me to an older thread that will explain the phenomenon to me. I just can't see putting all those hours into a project that will ultimately sit on a shelf at some point - or is there a place for these films I don't know/understand?

Illuminate me, People!
 
THis is an idea that my boss had for me to do. I didn't know what a fan film was until I met him. He and others were interested in making a film because of my time in film school and my experience in the past, so I suggested that before we put money into one of my original scripts, I wanted to see if these guys could even help me pull it off. They all did great. I was very pleased with the little time that we had together on this film and the fact that none of them have any acting background or experience in film making. SO you can say that this was done for practice. THe people around me are loaded with money so I am excited to see what we can do with a budget, better equiptment, and a shooting schedule.
 
'sup, good Steve :cool:

If this is a common question by newer filmmakers, please direct me to an older thread that will explain the phenomenon to me. I just can't see putting all those hours into a project that will ultimately sit on a shelf at some point
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I don't believe there is a fan-film Q/A (let alone thread) on fan-films here yet... if you'd like to start one, I'd be happy to add some thoughts of my own. (I'm planning a fan-film of my own, too) Your point has potential for a great general discussion on the topic. I'd not be so keen on taking this thread's focus away from Mr Garmon's presented work, as is. :)

_______

Directorik brought up an interesting point.

the makers rarely do anything original with the characters and themes.
Click to expand...

Neither do ongoing franchises.

Take a look at almost any Bond film, for example. Formulaic to a T, with a mini-adventure before the opening credits that usually ties in to the main plot somehow. One would be disappointed to not see it.

IJ does the same thing. A simple, to-the-point mini-adventure is expected... not necessarily unique. (Though IJ has much less of a track record)
 
Thanks, Garmon - I can see it, for your purposes. Someone's footing the bill and wants to see a specific demo of your work/skills. Hope the feature goes well!

And zensteve, good point - I was hesitant to ask, because I didn't want the thread to get hijacked by my question - think I'll take this to the regular boards and ask...thanks!
 
It was a blast. For the budget, can you say WHAT BUDGET? We did it all for about $1500 when it was said and done. By boss already owned the camera and the costumes are what cost so much. Thanks for watching. THe complete film will be out soon. Im just about to wrap up.
 
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