You remember the blue screen from iSundae II, no? Back in those days, we had no idea how bad wrinkles could be. Hours of work in post later, we emerged, vowing that we’d think twice before working with blue screen again.
Until now. Read on to see what changed my mind.
It almost never fails. The movie is finished, everybody liked it, you get compliments, and then you try to think of what to do next. And like a flashing neon sign comes the word sequel. That one word, when heeded, has been the downfall of many a project.
There are good sequels on occasion, but generally these come from well-developed stories to begin with. If the original film was lacking in development, the second (or third) installment suffers from the poor beginnings.
This was brought home to me while sitting across the table from Rebekah and Ruth. We were chatting about nothing in particular and iSundae III came to mind. Within fifteen minutes of goofing around, we had the semblance of a plot that, at an earlier time, would have had us scurrying off to write a script. [Read more →]
When we were all together in the South for the iSundae II premier, we thought it’d be fun to make a short, just-for-fun movie. This is the result. Please keep in mind that we did this whole thing in a week. Oh, and since the characters are from iSundae and iSundae II, you may want to see those films first.
The Guard Movie from Phantom Moose Films on Vimeo.
You can also watch the video on YouTube.
(This post references iSundae II: Attack of the Cones, part 5. You may want to view the movie before reading this post.)
Have you ever been bored and brilliant in the space of a minute? You’re sitting there, minding your own business, and suddenly lightning strikes. A large part of the iSundae II script came about in that way. The whole concept of Fonsuger being after something, and what that something was came out of a bored doodle during a movie discussion. And Reyshar’s hat.
I stopped and looked down at the paper. Now, that prop looked cool. How could we fit it into the movie? And the piece on top . . . where have I seen that shape before? “Hey,” I said, “What if the thing Fonsuger is after has something to do with the first movie? Relating back to why Reyshar wore that weird helmet thing.” The idea took fire and we soon found ourselves with a slidey-puzzle box that contained something that could make you immune to being utterly vaporized. Granted, the “relating back to Reyshar” part changed a bit in the finished movie. We didn’t explain that what was in the box was kept in the point on Reyshar’s helmet, but the general idea mushroomed out of that. [Read more →]
(This post references iSundae II: Attack of the Cones, part 1. You may want to view the movie before reading this post.)
Alright, tell me frankly, what would you do if you were confronted with the problem of creating an army of extras that serve the badguy? If I had to start completely from scratch I would probably flip out. Thankfully, I got lucky on iSundae II’s “The Norse.”
The concept of the Norse had been in the script since I don’t know when. Maybe it grew out of a scene in an earlier version, or maybe it got thrown in randomly. I can’t remember. But I do know that design concepts for their “look” are all over some pretty early sketches. There’s an axe with a symbolic icon right next to a costume sketch for Emcracy and a cloak clasp next to Cone armor. I got pretty fancy with some of the sketches and concepts, but one thing I didn’t think about: These were background characters. Extras. A generic “set-dressing.” Thus, no fancy costumes or props! Awww, man. Here’s what we ended up with. [Read more →]
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