Johannus said:
darth_ender said:
Could not the exact same format be used to make a larger model? Obviously not a studio model six feet in length or anything, but still of a respectable size to create a decent illusion from a distance? And like you said, we could enhance it with CGI.Are you really a skilled model builder? That's awesome! I personally think models would fill an important niche in our edit. I'm sure there would be times when stills would suffice, though motion ability would be nice too. Perhaps you will ultimately obtain a video camera (purchased or borrowed from a friend), or perhaps you could carefully package and mail a couple of your models to someone else. I think this would be a fantastic way for you to contribute. I was prepared to do this myself, but I doubt I'd do a very good job and as I've said repeatedly, busy life starts this Monday. If you'd be willing to build these models, I would love you forever...in the most professional way imaginable of course :)
If you do build it, I suggest you look online for more pictures to get a decent idea of the full design, but this at least gives you a superficial comparison of the differences. Let us know if you're willing to give it a shot :)
Yeah it could be used to do a similar thing to any scale but to be honest I just don't have the space for big models. I have lots of the little models already so knocking out something of a similar size would be relatively quick and easy and wouldnt take up any extra space, however, I have one larger kit of the RotJ shuttle (which could potentially be of some use) and to be honest it is just such a pain to store without damaging it. If I had the room to spare I would gladly offer to make these larger though.
I do know one guy who is studying film making so he would have access to decent cameras (though I don't know if he would have time to help but its worth a try). The problem is space again though, if its still shots I can just use a lightbox and get the angle right, whereas for moving shots I would need lots of space, several lights, and rigs to move the camera and the pieces along their paths. It is something I would again love to do but I just don't see it as being very achievable right now.
However, if you wanted to knock out some ideas for specific new scenes or additions to existing scenes within the space battle, I could try to make some test shots and we could take it from there. At least everyone would have a clearer idea, and then if the chance to film in motion does come along, then at least we would know what we are doing right away.
I can't remember exactly which models I already have but I think it is most of the larger ships, but no star destroyer, so I have a super star destroyer, a mon cal ship (possibly home one), a death star (though rather annoyingly not a brilliantly accurate one but might be ok for distant shots or as a placement for a cg one to be added later). I also have loads of the smaller fighters but the detail on those is not as good so its up to you how you want to go with those. And if memory serves I have a few tantives and PT ships so if you wanted to add some of those I might be able to help there too. In the meantime I can make the Victory model and then like I say just give me some scenarios to create it in and I'll knock up some examples.
Wow, this still sounds terrific, even with your understandable limitations. Whatever motion shots we may require I don't imagine would need to be too fancy. I imagine only brief shots mostly from the distance. Here, let me sum up my thoughts:
When seeing the Star Destroyers from a distance (i.e. "It's a trap" or "I wonder what those Star Destroyers are waiting for."), it would be good to see a few smaller ships dotting the fleet. This of course would require only a still shot from the front and digitally inserted in a few places.
When the two fleets are actually engaging each other, even then it wouldn't require much. Imagine a point like when the guy in the Y-wing yells, "I'm hit!" and spins into a Star Destroyer--perhaps we could replace that Imperial-class with a Victory. A couple of distance shots could be useful if we show more capital ship exchanges from a bit of a distance (which I hope we do, because while I love the starfighter focus of ROTJ, I'd love to see more balance with the big vessels as well). For instance, perhaps we could see two Rebel cruisers and two Victories pass eachother from an above view, exchanging broadsides along the way.
Maybe a couple of closeups would be useful, mostly just quick flybys that focus on the fighters.
Those are my thoughts, and in reality none of them require much motion or lighting, the most being the broadside shot.
Let me tell you that I am grateful we have you on our team. You have a super star destroyer?! That's awesome too. We've been discussing enhancing the Executor's death so it is more dramatic, a la...
Your model may help with the actual crash.
Perhaps everyone can think of other ways to involve your other models. The Mon Cal cruiser I'm sure would be valuable, especially if it's Home One, and I'm trying to think of a good way we could use the shuttle. I'm sure we could make use of it somehow.
Would you be willing to upload some pics of your models for us? It might give us an idea of how close we can get in our special effects. Thanks for your contributions thus far, and if you don't mind, I'd like to add you to our list of involved team members in the first post.