logo Sign In

Idea & Help Wanted: Star Wars Dark Empire: The Movie

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I have been kicking around an idea about making Shaows of The Empire into a movie out of the comics, vid game, soundtrack, and audiobook. I have no technical knowledge about how to even manage such a task. I started to think last night about a simpler approach where I could teach myself how to turn a comic book into  an actual movie. Then the idea occured to me, maybe I could take the Dark Empire comic and audio drama and turn the two into a feature length movie. Something like the animated comics you see on the Heroes.com site.

Here’s an example of what I’d like to do…

Heroes

I’m not exactly sure how to accomplish the idea I have. Something where the dialog and sound effects from the audio drama would play then the action on screen is sliding the comic pics around in some kind of dynamic movement. I need to play around with some scans of the comic and photoshop.

Anyone interested in learning how to make a comic movie with me?

Author
Time

Love the idea, and truly wish I could help.  I had thought of something like this in the past.  I'm not sure if you've seen it, but Transformers had a moving comicbook released with the DVD  called Transformers, Beginnings, and i had thought how cool it would be to do that with the Star Wars comics. 

You can see part 1 of that video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vDzSgAScN4

Some of it is animated, but most of it is just still photos from the comic moving.  I'm sure it can be done!  I hope you find someone to help you with this project.  Good luck!

Author
Time
 (Edited)
jedi_jra said:

Love the idea, and truly wish I could help.  I had thought of something like this in the past.  I'm not sure if you've seen it, but Transformers had a moving comicbook released with the DVD  called Transformers, Beginnings, and i had thought how cool it would be to do that with the Star Wars comics. 

You can see part 1 of that video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vDzSgAScN4

Some of it is animated, but most of it is just still photos from the comic moving.  I'm sure it can be done!  I hope you find someone to help you with this project.  Good luck!

 

Thanks for the TF vid. That is a great refference. The cutout and the black holes in the background is a big issue I hadn't thought of. I'm thinking what I'm going to have to do is cut out the main players and Vehicles and then use photo shop to fill in the holes of the background. I'd have the player and objects moving around the background. Here's an example of a short sequence I have in mind......

What I'd do is cut out Luke and the debris in the top panel. Then with all the holes I'd fill the empty space with the same blue background. For the completed shot I have the rummble cam type effect and move Luke and the debris in an upward motion aross the background like he is being sucked up by the Force storm. I think the sequence will be my first test shot.

Does anyone have any experience with making vids. out of photos? I'd like a few pointers or FAQs if you know any. I def. need a list of some software for making such a video.

Also, I 've been listening to the audio drama along with the book and I've noticed a number of large addions in the RD. There are obviously parts of exposition that can be choped and I need to figure out what scenes to drop for time as well. I'm thinking that I may have to bring in elements from other comics to help fill in those extra scenes. I'm even comtemplating using footage from ROTJ for certain scenes with Mon Mothma and Admirmal Ackbar. That is if I can figure out how to edit the scene in a way that doesn't look stupid. I also need to get footage of the Bonus mission on Mon Cal in Rogue Squadron for the World Devestator scenes.

Anyways, sorry for the rambling. I'm def intrigued by this idea as you can tell. Any thoughts, suggestions, and help is appreciated.

Author
Time

This is such a cool idea.  I really liked the transformer videos.  Would be cool to do something similar with Shadows.  Its such a great story, it would make for a really awesome video.  I dont know much about making videos out of images like this.  I assume you will need after effects or something similar to get a lot of this animation.

 

just to throw out another video for some ideas.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=hn6cqY7CL2c  This is based on a graphic novel for the band Coheed & Cambria.  Mostly just images moving around, but there is some stretching of the faces to appear like they are animated more.

 

ThrowgnCpr’s edits on Fanedit.org

Author
Time

At first I wasn't really sure what you meant, But now that I've taken a look I have to say I'm all for it. I've also thought aout this sort of thing before, I toyed with various panels from the Reversal of fotune strips on hyperspace. but never really made anything of worth.

Are you planning on keeping text balloons? - Just wondering if you'd stick with whats there or go with subtitles. I supose it may depend on what sources you have to work with.

 

Author
Time

This looks "intriguing" (Cool)

The person your searching for simply does not exist

Author
Time
 (Edited)

ThrowgnCpr said:

Would be cool to do something similar with Shadows.  Its such a great story, it would make for a really awesome video. 

 

 

I agree with Shadows of the Empire.  It would make an awesome video to watch between Empire and Jedi.  The difficulty with Shadows may be that it didn't include a full cast of voice actors for the audio book, so it may not be as exciting as say a Dark Empire.  I found this list with all the audio books available.  It also makes note of those with full casts of voice actors, also known as audio dramas.   http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_Audio_Books

I would imagine that the most effective Video's to create would be the ones with a full cast adaptation.  Unfortunatly, Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn trilogy lacked the full cast treament as these are two of my favorites.  For quick Reference, these are the audio books/radio dramas with a full cast of voice actors.

·         Tales of the Jedi by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire by William C. Dietz; full cast audio drama

·         Episode IV: A New Hope Radio Drama by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Tales From the Cantina: We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers; full cast audio drama

·         Tales From the Cantina: Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale by Barbara Hambly; full cast audio drama

·         Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Radio Drama by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Forces: Rebel Agent by William C. Dietz; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Forces: Jedi Knight by William C. Dietz; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Empire I by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Empire II by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Empire III: Empire's End by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Crimson Empire by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley; full cast audio drama

 

 

With all of that said, I would not object if somebody created the Shadows of the Empire and Thrawn Trilogy using only the audio books.  ;-)

 

Author
Time
 (Edited)
ThrowgnCpr said:

This is such a cool idea.  I really liked the transformer videos.  Would be cool to do something similar with Shadows.  Its such a great story, it would make for a really awesome video.  I dont know much about making videos out of images like this.  I assume you will need after effects or something similar to get a lot of this animation.

 

just to throw out another video for some ideas.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=hn6cqY7CL2c  This is based on a graphic novel for the band Coheed & Cambria.  Mostly just images moving around, but there is some stretching of the faces to appear like they are animated more.

 

Shadows of the Empire is what my orginal idea  was for a comic movie.  I wanted to add scenes from the comic and other materile, like the sound track and the vid game sequences. Making something like that is beyond my ability at this time. The Dark Empire idea was born out of wanting to make a "comic movie". I could use what I learn from making a Dark Empire movie for a more ambitious Shadows movie project.

Thanks for the vid. I love the scene with the dude kneeling before whoever that "master" was. Reminded me of Palpatine. :D

 

Johnny Ringo said:

At first I wasn't really sure what you meant, But now that I've taken a look I have to say I'm all for it. I've also thought aout this sort of thing before, I toyed with various panels from the Reversal of fotune strips on hyperspace. but never really made anything of worth.

Are you planning on keeping text balloons? - Just wondering if you'd stick with whats there or go with subtitles. I supose it may depend on what sources you have to work with.

 

I haven't really gotten to the point of deciding if I should keep the ballons or not. I can see where removing the ballons would make more work for me when touching up objects and backgounds in photoshop. Ideally I think the most effective shot would be having no ballons and then have the charater or panel sliding around as dialog is spoken. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

jedi_jra said:

ThrowgnCpr said:

Would be cool to do something similar with Shadows.  Its such a great story, it would make for a really awesome video. 

 

 

I agree with Shadows of the Empire.  It would make an awesome video to watch between Empire and Jedi.  The difficulty with Shadows may be that it didn't include a full cast of voice actors for the audio book, so it may not be as exciting as say a Dark Empire.  I found this list with all the audio books available.  It also makes note of those with full casts of voice actors, also known as audio dramas.   http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_Audio_Books

I would imagine that the most effective Video's to create would be the ones with a full cast adaptation.  Unfortunatly, Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn trilogy lacked the full cast treament as these are two of my favorites.  For quick Reference, these are the audio books/radio dramas with a full cast of voice actors.

·         Tales of the Jedi by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire by William C. Dietz; full cast audio drama

·         Episode IV: A New Hope Radio Drama by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Tales From the Cantina: We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers; full cast audio drama

·         Tales From the Cantina: Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale by Barbara Hambly; full cast audio drama

·         Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Radio Drama by Brian Daley; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Forces: Rebel Agent by William C. Dietz; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Forces: Jedi Knight by William C. Dietz; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Empire I by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Empire II by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Dark Empire III: Empire's End by Tom Veitch; full cast audio drama

·         Crimson Empire by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley; full cast audio drama

 

 

 

With all of that said, I would not object if somebody created the Shadows of the Empire and Thrawn Trilogy using only the audio books.  ;-)

 

There are some intersting possibilities with the audio dramas. I think a SW Trilogy with the Radio Drama ala the The Story of Star Wars would be awesome. The best part is you could use the deleted scenes.

 

The comic dramas is pretty straight forward if I mange to pull the Dark Empire movie off. I def would try to complete the DE series.

 

Dark Forces would be another awesome movie. Not only do you have the radio drama and graphic novels, but you also have the game cutscenes. Someone could even sprinckle in some ingame footage.

 

After reading about the novel audio books, an idea popped in my head concering Shadows or Thrawn Trilogy movies. For a movie with those comics or books you could get voice actors(fans) to record dialog for the movie. Throw in some sound effects and music and the movie could work. It would take a lot of cordination between people, but I've seen this kind of thing pulled off. Check out this Tranformer site for an example of fan dubing... http://tfcog.net/

A lot of ideas I know..... I'm not stopping anyone one from picking up these threads. Right now, I think I'm going to focus on Dark Empire first and the rest may follow as I learn more. My only problem is that I have an old crappy PC that can't handle some of the things I'd like to do. But I'm going to try to do what I can and if anyone wants to help I would appreciate any help at all.

 

Author
Time
Pat-Fett said:

The cutout and the black holes in the background is a big issue I hadn't thought of. I'm thinking what I'm going to have to do is cut out the main players and Vehicles and then use photo shop to fill in the holes of the background. I'd have the player and objects moving around the background. Here's an example of a short sequence I have in mind......

What I'd do is cut out Luke and the debris in the top panel. Then with all the holes I'd fill the empty space with the same blue background. For the completed shot I have the rummble cam type effect and move Luke and the debris in an upward motion aross the background like he is being sucked up by the Force storm. I think the sequence will be my first test shot.

 

Also, I 've been listening to the audio drama along with the book and I've noticed a number of large addions in the RD. There are obviously parts of exposition that can be choped and I need to figure out what scenes to drop for time as well. I'm thinking that I may have to bring in elements from other comics to help fill in those extra scenes. I'm even comtemplating using footage from ROTJ for certain scenes with Mon Mothma and Admirmal Ackbar. That is if I can figure out how to edit the scene in a way that doesn't look stupid. I also need to get footage of the Bonus mission on Mon Cal in Rogue Squadron for the World Devestator scenes.

 

If you're going to do the whole cut out/overlay idea, take some time out to go dig out your Disney history books.  Essentially, the effect you're creating is the digital equivalent of the multi-plane camera.  For something like that shot with Luke and the debris, put it on three or four levels, smaller stuff in the back, Luke in the middle, bigger stuff on top, with the blue background underneath it all.  Learn to think three dimensionally.  You want to make it feel like there's some actual movement there, not just panning and shifting around among a flat image.

Also, considering the amount of time it takes just to listen to the audio dramas, you might want to break this down into a TV series of sorts...do them in 15 to 30 minute segments rather than trying to do the entire story in one shot.  That will give you time and freedom to get feedback along the way, refine your work flow and keep people interested, waiting for the next chapter.  I mean, DE was originally six comics, right?  That's essentially six "episodes".

My outlook on life - we’re all on the Hindenburg anyway…no point fighting over the window seat.

Author
Time

The reason I was asking about speech ballons vs subtitles is out of a concern that text on the screen be clearly readable when viewed form across the room.

 

My only request right now is to please keep us in the loop as much as possible as it seems there's at least a bunch of us interested in this.

 

Author
Time

i thought about having a go at something like this myself about a year ago

to be honest i just didn't have the time/determination to get it going - hat off to you if you manage it

anyway in my research i found a bit of software you may find useful called toonboom studio - it's based on flash animation but retooled and optimised for 2D peg based animation with 3D camera movements though multiple planes - you can cut out characters from scans and give them joints on their elbows, knees, etc. and semi auto lip syncs.

think south park and you'll be in the right area (not that your characters have to look like cartman - just move like him)

 

 

skive hard, play hard
Author
Time
 (Edited)

Thanks for all the advice.

 

Ziz

Disney cell animation is exactly what I was thinking about with the background in mind. You give some sound advise and I will def. have to do some research. I'm liking the idea of spreading the series out in episodic TV series form. Not only would it keep interest up, but I could actully do more than what I was orginally planing with the TV method. I was going to chop out a lot of the the RD to make a two plus hour movie. With the series method I could actully go over that limit. Then once I complete the series I would go back fix and improve the episodes for a full on DVD set release.

 

Ringo

I haven't really started working on the test yet other than toying around with Photoshop. I'm going to start hitting the ground running sometime next weekend. Heh, knowing my track record I'll end up crapping out in frustration. But I at least want to give this idea a try.

 

Skiv

I'm not really sure I want to get that complicated just yet with animated body parts. I think to start I'm just going to go with simple movements like paning, shaking, and sliding objects around.. Maybe, if I get a little experience I'll attempt something more complicated.

 

I just found this animated comic of Astonishing X-Men on you tube.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97v_l71euRA

 

That's pretty much what I'm aiming for with the DE movie. Just add a little more animated movement like the force storm scene I've been talking about.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Patt-Fett,

 

Check this out over at TFCog.com.  A group of of them animated the Transformers comic, "War With".  It turned out VERY well.  They provided the voices themselves, but you of course have the radio dramas at your disposal.  It might give you some ideas.

It just looks to be exactly what you want to do, and it was done very well.

 

http://www.tfcog.com/wwanimated.htm

 

 

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Pat-Fett said:
jedi_jra said:

Love the idea, and truly wish I could help.  I had thought of something like this in the past.  I'm not sure if you've seen it, but Transformers had a moving comicbook released with the DVD  called Transformers, Beginnings, and i had thought how cool it would be to do that with the Star Wars comics. 

You can see part 1 of that video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vDzSgAScN4

Some of it is animated, but most of it is just still photos from the comic moving.  I'm sure it can be done!  I hope you find someone to help you with this project.  Good luck!

 

Thanks for the TF vid. That is a great refference. The cutout and the black holes in the background is a big issue I hadn't thought of. I'm thinking what I'm going to have to do is cut out the main players and Vehicles and then use photo shop to fill in the holes of the background. I'd have the player and objects moving around the background. Here's an example of a short sequence I have in mind......

What I'd do is cut out Luke and the debris in the top panel. Then with all the holes I'd fill the empty space with the same blue background. For the completed shot I have the rummble cam type effect and move Luke and the debris in an upward motion aross the background like he is being sucked up by the Force storm. I think the sequence will be my first test shot.

Does anyone have any experience with making vids. out of photos? I'd like a few pointers or FAQs if you know any. I def. need a list of some software for making such a video.

Also, I 've been listening to the audio drama along with the book and I've noticed a number of large addions in the RD. There are obviously parts of exposition that can be choped and I need to figure out what scenes to drop for time as well. I'm thinking that I may have to bring in elements from other comics to help fill in those extra scenes. I'm even comtemplating using footage from ROTJ for certain scenes with Mon Mothma and Admirmal Ackbar. That is if I can figure out how to edit the scene in a way that doesn't look stupid. I also need to get footage of the Bonus mission on Mon Cal in Rogue Squadron for the World Devestator scenes.

Anyways, sorry for the rambling. I'm def intrigued by this idea as you can tell. Any thoughts, suggestions, and help is appreciated.

 

 is this about Dark Empire (the comic above) or shadows of the empire?

Author
Time

That Transformers video was balling; I just checked it out. If you can do that for Dark Empire I'd be thrilled.

May the Force be with you.

Author
Time
jedi_jra said:

Patt-Fett,

 

Check this out over at TFCog.com.  A group of of them animated the Transformers comic, "War With".  It turned out VERY well.  They provided the voices themselves, but you of course have the radio dramas at your disposal.  It might give you some ideas.

It just looks to be exactly what you want to do, and it was done very well.

 

http://www.tfcog.com/wwanimated.htm

 

 

Thank you for that jra. I saw this project a while back and had no idea that they finally finished an episode off.That is exactly what I want to do. The only difference is that I would like to combine the Dark Empire comic with the Dark Empire audio.

Sorry for the lack of keeping people up to date. I still want to try to do this project but I've found that my PC is just too old to do any kind of advanced animation. Right now my goal is to get a new PC so I can dig in and start playing with animating with some of the DE cut outs I've done with photo shop. So this project is on hold unless someone would like to pick up the torch or I get a new PC.

 

cactus right now the plan is to do Dark Empire since the audio is already available with radio dramas. If the Dark Empire movies ever get made there could be more comic movies. All you need is to just get voice actors to record dialog. Shadows is the highest on my list of dream projects. Lots of materile to work with between the comics,game,soundtrack and the trading cards.

 

Since the Dark Empire movie is on hold I'm thinking about making a Rebel Assault 2 movie with cut scenes and gameplay. An Assult movie is something far easier that I think my machine could handle. Also I'm mainly interested in the Assault project to kind of teach myself about editing Vid. and putting a DVD with menues together.

 

 

Author
Time

are there any other audiobooks that have the comics aswell, like shadows of the empire, that you could just use the imagery and a cut down audiofile?

Author
Time
ben_danger said:

are there any other audiobooks that have the comics aswell, like shadows of the empire, that you could just use the imagery and a cut down audiofile?

 

To my knowledge these are all the audio drama comic adaptions...

 

Tales of the Jedi

Dark Lords of of the Sith

Dark Empire

Dark Empire II

Empire's End

Crimsion Empire

Dark Forces

 

I guess you could count the OT Radio Drama as well. I'd love to see someone try and use the Radio dramas for a OT edit with the movies.

Any other comic movies would have to use voice actors of fans recording a script.

 

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Dark Forces was never a comic book. It was a series of three short novels with a series of full color pictures, which was published by Dark Horse, which is why it is often believed to be a comic book by people who actually had a chance to look at it.

I know Shadows of the Empire is only a audio book and not a full cast audio drama, but it is particularly well read, and very enjoyable to listen to. For years I have had an idea for a project, to take the audio books and set pictures to them from various SOTE sources, and master them together as a DVD. Maybe with a few extra features.

I purchased the audio books and the comics in order to do this, but there is also a set of Shadows of the Empire trading cards that I would like to include. I wish I could find high quality scans of the entire run. It would be really hard to hunt down a complete set of them, and probably very pricey too.

Two other good sources for art would be the book "The Secrets of Shadows of the Empire" as well as the cut scenes to the N64 video game (which are semi animated still scenes. The PC version has actual animated scenes.)

I still think this would be a really cool way to experience Shadows of the Empire, but I do not see myself getting time to do it anytime soon, and I would still want to get my hands on those trading cards before attempting it.

If anybody else wants to tackle this, I think it would be awesome.

 

As for other casted SW radio dramas, there is a short one called "Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell". It is written by the same guy who did the SW radio dramas, Brian Daley. He also wrote the Han Solo books. This story takes place between SW and TESB, and is suppose to be the mission Han is referring to when he mentions "the bounty hunter we ran into back on Ord Mantell" at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back.

This one was not all that well written or preformed. It is pretty juvenile, and obviously aimed at a younger audience. It originally came on a 7'' record, and was published in 1983, not sure if it was ever republished on any other media.

 

And as for the possibility of having fans reading scripts, don't expect very good quality, I have seen too many of these kinds of efforts (fan made radio dramas) come out unbearable due to bad voice acting.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

Author
Time
C3PX said:

As for other casted SW radio dramas, there is a short one called "Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell". It is written by the same guy who did the SW radio dramas, Brian Daley. He also wrote the Han Solo books. This story takes place between SW and TESB, and is suppose to be the mission Han is referring to when he mentions "the bounty hunter we ran into back on Ord Mantell" at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back.

This one was not all that well written or preformed. It is pretty juvenile, and obviously aimed at a younger audience. It originally came on a 7'' record, and was published in 1983, not sure if it was ever republished on any other media.

 

This one was actually made available free for download at starwars.com (within the last year or so), so its probably still up somewhere.  I'll try to find the links.

ThrowgnCpr’s edits on Fanedit.org

Author
Time
C3PX said:

Dark Forces was never a comic book. It was a series of three short novels with a series of full color pictures, which was published by Dark Horse, which is why it is often believed to be a comic book by people who actually had a chance to look at it.

I know Shadows of the Empire is only a audio book and not a full cast audio drama, but it is particularly well read, and very enjoyable to listen to. For years I have had an idea for a project, to take the audio books and set pictures to them from various SOTE sources, and master them together as a DVD. Maybe with a few extra features.

I purchased the audio books and the comics in order to do this, but there is also a set of Shadows of the Empire trading cards that I would like to include. I wish I could find high quality scans of the entire run. It would be really hard to hunt down a complete set of them, and probably very pricey too.

Two other good sources for art would be the book "The Secrets of Shadows of the Empire" as well as the cut scenes to the N64 video game (which are semi animated still scenes. The PC version has actual animated scenes.)

I still think this would be a really cool way to experience Shadows of the Empire, but I do not see myself getting time to do it anytime soon, and I would still want to get my hands on those trading cards before attempting it.

If anybody else wants to tackle this, I think it would be awesome.

 

As for other casted SW radio dramas, there is a short one called "Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell". It is written by the same guy who did the SW radio dramas, Brian Daley. He also wrote the Han Solo books. This story takes place between SW and TESB, and is suppose to be the mission Han is referring to when he mentions "the bounty hunter we ran into back on Ord Mantell" at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back.

This one was not all that well written or preformed. It is pretty juvenile, and obviously aimed at a younger audience. It originally came on a 7'' record, and was published in 1983, not sure if it was ever republished on any other media.

 

And as for the possibility of having fans reading scripts, don't expect very good quality, I have seen too many of these kinds of efforts (fan made radio dramas) come out unbearable due to bad voice acting.

Shadows was where my original idea for a comic movie came from. I have a few of the cards but not a full set. Some other sources for artwork you could add to the list are the Showdows RPG books from the WEG days. I think there are 3 total Shadows resource books Planets of Shadows of the Empire and another I can't recall at the moment. Also I think there are a few shadows of the empire customizable card game cards out there that have photos of the characters and ships.