Blackstar Warrior - Trailer & BTS video

[Ryan E. Walters]

Just incase you missed the video on YouTube, or missed it when it was on the front page of IMDB, or MTV here is the trailer for Blackstar Warrior which I was the cinematographer for:

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NATeU-r0GDU
(I know, it is a low quality version- but it is not mine to release.)

I am putting together a series of behind the scenes videos regarding the lighting for this project. You can download the videos via my podcast & blog here:
http://www.ryanewalters.com/Blog/files/BSW_BTS01.html

or Watch it on Vimeo here:
http://www.vimeo.com/14254007

Enjoy. :)

[XiaoSu Han]

haha so retro

awesome :)

[Paul Leeming]

Cool, I didn't know it was filmed on Red when I saw it on io9.com :D:D

Well done!!

Paul

[Tom Gough]

Nice work Ryan, you captured the era brilliantly :D

Also liked the BTS video, looking forward to the rest :)

All the best,

Tom

[Ryan E. Walters]

Thanks- it was a fun project to be involved with - how many opportunities do you get to shoot a working R2D2, Darth Vader, Storm Troopers ...

[Sean Rawls]

Hey Ryan! This was fun to work on. Awesome to see it's gotten such a good reception.

[Ryan E. Walters]

Thanks Sean- it is always greta to have you as a part of the team. :)

[Emmanuel Lariviere]

Ryan, great job. Good work from all departments. I loved this trailer, the first time I saw it.

[Steve Sherrick]

Nice! Thanks for the BTS too. Always great to see how DPs work.

[Ryan E. Walters]

Thanks. :)

The second BTS video is available for download:
http://www.ryanewalters.com/Blog/files/BSW_BTS02.html

Or viewing here on vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/14494139

[Tom De Roeck]

Two quick questions: first of all, how did you make that millenium falcon cockpit? (ie. is it a purely digital cockpit)


secondly: the guy playing Han Solo looks like they tried to get Nathan Fillion but failed, was this actually the case?

Otherwise, looks like a really fun project.

[Ryan E. Walters]

Two quick questions: first of all, how did you make that millenium falcon cockpit? (ie. is it a purely digital cockpit)

The art department built sections of the cockpit that the talent sat on and interacted with. We then shot it against green screen and the VFX team built the rest of it in post. Their goal was to create the rest of it so that it had that old Star Wars vibe to it, which I think they did well.



secondly: the guy playing Han Solo looks like they tried to get Nathan Fillion but failed, was this actually the case?

Otherwise, looks like a really fun project.

I'm not sure really what your question is here- Is Han's Nathan Fillion? No it is not. Was the actor trying to be / look like Nathan Fillion? No. Any resemblance is coincidence. I think that may answer your question.

[Tom De Roeck]

Thanks for the quick reply, I was just wondering if that particular actor was cast with nathan fillion in mind, since he reminded me of him.


Also, back to the cockpit thing: I wondered why the space/original footage backdrop looked so pasted in. I was wondering if the entire cockpit was digital because that could be the cause, but it might be also a cheap keying effect. I simply cant say. Not that im complaining, just trying to learn from material I see.

EDIT: I wasnt very specific: the footage doesnt look so pasted in, just the actors and the cockpit are too sharp against the digital background.

[Tim Whitcomb]

Hi all. Our company did all the post work and compositing and Ryan kind of leaked this a little early... we will have a full deconstruction of HOW the look was pulled off on our site in about 10 more days..

as for VFX... try to remember. we were taking glorious 4K footage in our Pablo and then trying to sell it as 1970's compositing... so we went to great lengths to make it look hokey... even added garbage mattes to the ships in scenes to replicate old school optical compositing...

moreover, we were waiting to release this as we are prepping a high quality HD version with credits to share on reduser and other sites as we have not publicly taken credit for it.

Ryan did a fantastic job with the M sensor and we are eager to pimp his skills as well... but are still making sure we have not forgot anyone who worked on this. so they make it in the credits.

All told I spent less than $10K (but if we paid people) it would have been over $100K.

Lots more details will be available soon and we will post the whole post process on our site... if anyone still cares later. I add a link here I guess since the cat is out of the bag now.

A for Leonard Roberts, he is a fine actor and a great supporter of indie films.

cheers!

[Ryan E. Walters]

Ryan kind of leaked this a little early...

Just to set the record straight, I did not "leak" anything, as I got approval from the director to publish and post these videos prior to making them public. So I did get the Okay before hand. I do not want the perception to get out that I can't keep a secret. I know there is no ill intent on your part Tim, and that is not how you meant it, but I just wanted to be extra clear as it is easy for others to mis-interpert things on the internet.

As I have said before the team at Indent is AMAZING, and they are doing things no one else is here in the Northwest. If you are looking for a great studio space, grading suite, and great people definitely check out Indent Studios. Tim is doing great things here! :)

[Tom De Roeck]

Well I'm looking forward to it, thanks for all the "too early" goodies, and the seventies effect was really well realised.

[Tim Whitcomb]

Ryan rocked this and just want to give him and everyone else the credit they deserve, is the context, no worries at all, Ryan and everyone else kept this quiet for over 6 months... many at Comicon believed or wanted to believe it was real. Been a fun ride, no big deal at all... my context was also wanting to point folks to the HD version ... which will be posted in the next day or so.

@ Tom, thanks, again it was hard taking Ryan's well shot footage (Ryan even rotated the M R1 so we could get full 4K resolution for compositing, but then we had to make it look like 70's cheesy blue screen. The Pablo artist, Darren Griffiths, deliberately graded it that way:)

[Ryan E. Walters]

The HD version with full credits has gone online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc7_KpPRyBs