The GE:ER: A Movie

[LC La Forge]

This is what I was getting at, yes.

[Marcus Darkstar]

Anyways on this subject Theres an US copyright clause about the use of copyrighted material.
I froget the name fo it but basically if it is for no comerical or raising of profit you can use copyrighted material as long as credit is noted in the feature ( allows fan movies to be made without them breaching copyright laws).

Allows webcomics like 8-bit and numerous other material on the web safety from being sued from the owners of the material.

Ah found it.. Its the "Fair Use Rule of the United States Copyright Act of 1976".

Heres a wiki to it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

[Fel]

Fair Use is a highly contentious issue, when it comes to US law, anyway, and I think it best if we stay out of that mess...

[Marcus Darkstar]

Then without it theres no way to get Star Wars material in the movie legally without a liscense from LucasFilms... At least with my poor knowelage of law...

[Colestock]

It has been some time since my last post. However, To say the movie is dead is complety false. I will have to re-do all of it from scratch, and I will hopefully make it better. I promise that much. However, I need to learn how to use Animation software, as this could be an animated film (like IMPS for example). Does anyone here know how to do this? Any help in teaching me this will be greatly appreciated.

[LCP Appo]

You´re venturing into a world full of despair and suffering Colestock.
Just do the movie with licensed stuff and credit it to someone that lives in a country with less laws for copyright. I think Switzerland as them, and I know that Sweden does. I´m not trying to tell you to give the credit to me just to hear after if anyone is interested and if anyone knows about their country´s copyright laws. What I mean is that in some country´s it does´nt matter where the copyright has been taken just where the abusser of the copyright lives.

[Vortagh]

Again Colestock - you can pretty much forget it.
The former Admiral Syrtaras and I, together with a small band of officers were working on something small and animated a few years ago and it never got anywhere, even thought it was just supposed to be a few scenes, with "small" animated characters (who pretty much just move their torsos and arms a bit in what we called "cutscenes") and a couple of space fights, the whole thing consumed all my time for weeks (I do 3D animation as a hobby for small things in my movies) and in the end it was clear that without several good PCs to create a small render farm, my two PCs back then would take several months to over a year to render that thing. It takes several hours to render one small ~30 second scene - again, unless you want to create something that is totally boring and looks pretty crappy.
To give you a small example, a few friends of mine create a 3D sequence for a sort of "matrix" sequence in a film. Basically some rendition of cyberspace - a few (basic!) objects like pyramids, pulses that went everwhere, some spheres and in the end a small fight between two crudly animated figures. The whole thing ran for about 4 minutes in the movie and it took them 9!!! months to render on their four Pentium 4 machines.

I'm not trying to smash your dreams here (I still like to do said movie) but beware that once you enter it, it will consume ALL your time and ALL your PCs time. This is not something that you can do "two or three hours a day" and hope to get anywhere. At least not within the next 5 years.
Also, then there's sound editing, not to mention having a (good!) storyline, textures, light effects, .... the list never ends, believe me.
In the end I just gave up because unless I would go and study 3D Animation and somehow got my hands on at least two more *good* people and a big heap of PCs.

[Colestock]

lol. Vortagh, I knew you'd say something like that. And your entirely correct.

I knew that this would take *years* to complete. No one said making a movie is easy. I took a computer course myself. We had to skip the movie making section cause we ran out of time. But I am a patient person. If this takes years to do, then so be it. I have the time.

It's the small bits and pieces here and there that make the difference. And if you have help, then things can get done. I am not forcing anyone to help me. All I ask for is your patience. I already am starting work on the storyboards.
I also have some music that is quite promising.

But we are a Imperial Organization. We each support each other. That is the way we work. If you can give your open support to me, I promise you a movie. And it will hopefully be a quality one. Of course it could turn out bad, that is one of the risks. But such risks must be met head on. But a benifit would be a film unlike anything before. We'd bring glory and honor to our name. We'd show that we can do anything if we try hard enough.

If we do start working together on this as a whole, let us work out the basics before we jump to the advanced parts. Let us figure out the direction we can take. Then we'll worry about other things.

Some parts of movies are easy to do. It's those last parts that take a long time. And if we take our time, it can get done right. So, I ask you all this, can we make this a movie that will be remembered for a long time to come? I say nothing is impossible if we try. What say you?

[Marcus Darkstar]

Glad to see you have such resolve and deciation to the movie Colestock it will serve you well that im sure . I'd help if I could but doubt it got a bunch of other things planned, though i have to say I'm kinda proud to have you trying this GEER movie thing ah well the future will decide its fate.

[Munro Burton]

Star Wars: A New Hope had a crew of over three hundred. About 150 of them were in the visual effects department.

ILM began its work on the first Star Wars movie in 1975. So... it took two years for 300 people, half of them working on the special effects, to get a two hours long sci-fi movie rolled out. We sure as hell don't have thirty people around regularly, let alone three hundred.

[CM Jamie]

Hmm, you know those Star Wars fan films, how are they made? I admit I'm really sceptical about a GE movie too. But I suppose those are something to draw inspiration from. How many people and what kind of budget do those fanfilms need?

[Colestock]

Aye, what you say is right on the bone, Munro.

But we at least have a small crew to work with. That is better then anything.

And like I said before, we will just take our time. I just want to make the movie correctly. I will sacrifice things in order to get it done.

Look at IMPS. They have only about a crew of 40 (judging by the production stills). And they were able to create a 21 min episode in about 1 year. They started like us, unsure of how to do it. But they did it. Sure, they used money, but our film would be completly animated (sort of like IMPS, effects and visual-wise).

And I know where to get the programs needed. We also have each have a computer. If we all do a small bit, it can get done.

Star Wars Fan films are completly made out of people's dedication to making a film for Star Wars. And they do it too. Why can't we?

[Munro Burton]

How many people have actually said they'll help? In other words, who does your "crew" consist of?

[Colestock]

Anyone and everyone who is willing to help can help. It is their own free choice, I will not force anyone to help me. So far, My crew consists of only me at the moment. But that will hopefully change

[Vortagh]

You cannot compare an animated movie to a non-animated one and then quote timeframes of one of them, nailed on top of the other.