Short Film - Havoc. We Need Your Support!

[Nat]

Hi all.

We recently made a short (5 minute) film for the 'Meccano Mad Movie Challenge' and have made it into the top 4.

The competition is run by one of the after-school TV shows here in New Zealand and was open to people in Year 10 (15yrs) or younger. Our team managed to win the competition last year, and are hoping to do so again this time around. The rules of the competition were basically that we had to be under 15 years old, the movie could be up to 5 minutes long, it had to have a little Meccano robot appear somewhere and the line "lets use the metal man" had to feature in it.

Our team is made up of around 10 people, all of whom are 14yrs or younger. The film took around 8 weeks to make, although we had to go to school () so we weren't able to work on it constantly. We spent a few days shooting and then post-production went on for a few weeks. It was edited using Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, composited with After Effects, motion tracked with Syntheyes (and a bit of Icarus), and of course all the 3D work was done in Blender.

Anyway, the winner of the competition is decided by vote, so (if you like our entry ) We'd really appreciate your vote! Voting is free, plus by voting you go in the draw to win a Sony MP3 Player. (prize is possibly only available to people in NZ, but I'm not sure)
TO VOTE:
TXT S2VOTE A to 8972

The winner will be announced this Friday, so if you're in New Zealand and want to watch, tune in at 3:30 to Studio 2 on TV2.

Oh and the most important part: the movie!
You can watch it here. You can get to the other entries by clicking 'Back to Mad Movie Page'. Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks!

[francoistarlier]

14 years old ? seriously !

[lulifuz]

Impressive!
My 10 year old son also wants to do his one movie.
Seeing what you guys did here gives me a motivation boost to help him realize it.


Regards,


lulifuz

[TobiasDN]

You made your own camera crane?!? On the day before you were supposed to shoot?

Great film, really top notch work
You've got some really great shots in there.

Be proud of yourselves!

[mcguinnessdr]

Really nice, If i had a cell phone I would vote for you

[bl33d]

I find this thread bit ... distasteful. Advertising "voting" in the Forums "finished" section. It would have been okay if the Film itself was the main focus of the thread, but the first message gives another impression completely.

However the film was rather good.. composition was okay, but you'll need to focus more on the Graphics next time.. Detail of the robot etc, was quite.. horrid at some parts..

[The Bigfoot]

By being extremely patient, I managed to watch a bit of it before my internet connection broke down and started crying for mercy. What I saw was extremely impressive for your age group, no offense intended, but I'm not too much older (well, matters who you ask I suppose) and I know how hard it is to do something like that.

I'd be surprised if you didn't win. Good job!

[Lasphere]

@bl33d: dude, they 14! Give them a break!

anyway, great work. Really impressive from such young people.

[Nat]

Thanks for the encouraging comments!

I've got to go to school now, but I'll reply later in more detail.

[The Bigfoot]

Originally Posted by Nat Thanks for the encouraging comments! I've got to go to school now, but I'll reply later in more detail.

With that film, you've earned the right to delay any answers.

[DarkLimit]

Great work guys really inspiring stuff!! not only am I impressed about ur ages am also impressed by the attention to details in this movie...it's very well directed and presented; it's almost like watching transformers love it!!

Good luck to you all.

[Nat]

Thanks again for all the encouragement! glad you enjoyed it

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by lulifuz Impressive! My 10 year old son also wants to do his one movie. Seeing what you guys did here gives me a motivation boost to help him realize it. Regards, lulifuz

Thanks. Just got to put in lots of hard work, and it'll be possible!

Originally Posted by bl33d I find this thread bit ... distasteful. Advertising "voting" in the Forums "finished" section. It would have been okay if the Film itself was the main focus of the thread, but the first message gives another impression completely. However the film was rather good.. composition was okay, but you'll need to focus more on the Graphics next time.. Detail of the robot etc, was quite.. horrid at some parts..

Sorry if you got the wrong message from the first post, I tried not to focus on the voting too much, but maybe not enough . Remember, it is your decision whether you vote or not - just ignore the voting bit if you want to.

We were aware that some of the VFX didn't turn out as well as we had planned, mainly because we were very limited on time, so had to cut down on quality in some areas just to get it finished. We had planned on adding more textures and detail to the robot, but we had to start animating so didn't get time (the materials were done in a few hours I think).

Originally Posted by DarkLimit ...it's almost like watching transformers love it!! Good luck to you all.

Wow, thanks,
We took a few ideas from Transformers glad you enjoyed it!

Originally Posted by TobiasDN You made your own camera crane?!? On the day before you were supposed to shoot? Great film, really top notch work You've got some really great shots in there. Be proud of yourselves!

Thanks our director/camera operator/editor/compositor is a little bit but always does a great job and manages to pull off all his 'out-there' last-minute ideas!

[sketcha]

WOW! that was awsome. I could pick holes but that fact is it walks all over anything Ive ever done . Im in NZ and i just voted for you

[zapman]

very impressive what you accomplished!!

I wish you all good luck for the voting

[magiciandude]

All 14 and under?

...

Impressive

Great job on the effects. However, I think the best part about the film is the camera movement and the audio track. Very very professional-looking camera moves for some of it.

I'd be surprised if you didn't win. Some of the other entries were absolutely painful to watch...

Now for some criticism:
-Fire, sparks, etc. could be composited better in general. Try mixing blending modes in after effects and I think you'll get better results. Also, sparks, etc. tend to have at least a slight glow around them.
-The robot(as mentioned earlier) could be a bit more detailed. Deadlines are a killer, eh?
-When they're screaming in some parts, it needs to be more believable.

Overall, I'm impressed. Good job

[AgusAnim-3D]

Epic work! and have done by so young people is amazing!

Question: What is the song name at the final credits?
Thanks!

[ionee]

looks great! them two related?

[sundialsvc4]

I think we can forgive them a little bit of self-advertising ...

[shashu]

I am 13 and mainly like doing modelling, mostly cars, dragons, dinos, did a hyppo and yes even a dingo too but guess what, I find you guys awesome.
AWESOME

[blendnzjnr]

Hay guys I'm really impressed, there was some awesome stuff!, I've been wishing to carry out a blender project like that for a long time now... but looks like you beat me to it! (I'm 15 already)
Also cool to see New Zealand getting up there with blender! (I'm from Christchurch)
Would love to hear more about what blender could have in store for the future in New Zealand!!!

Thanks for inspiring me!

(Oh and almost forgot I voted for you! Looked at some of the other entries... and you definitely should win! )