Shrouded Destiny Star Wars Pilot

Last summer, back in Denmark, I was the Cinematographer for a scene of what was supposed to be a teaser for a Star Wars fan film.
Two days of fun and geeking out on Star Wars. It was a cool location, and a couple of great actors.
Well, since we shot it, it has gotten a lot of attention of the Danish press, and Lars Mikkelsen (russian president on House Of Cards) ended up signing up to play one of the lead roles.
Lars happens to be the brother of Mads Mikkelsen, who played Gaylen Orso...
So, what was supposed to be a fan film, has transformed into a pilot for a series, targeted for the upcoming Disney streaming service. Still not affiliated with Lucasfilm or Disney - just yet, we are still be shooting this under the fanfilm guidelines this fall. It will be a 45 min episode.
Hope you guys will enjoy the teaser scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB72G7JdW-I

And here's the Kickstarter link if you guys like it, and feel like helping out!

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...y-a-star-wars-long-tale-pilot-episo/community

Very nicely done and TFS the trailer with us! Eager to see other shots from this story:thumbsup

Thank you Joberg. We are looking forward to making something new and remarkable in the SW canon. If you have time, please visit the KS page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...a-star-wars-long-tale-pilot-episo/description

I have to say that the cinematography is by far the finest aspect of this video, beautiful camerawork, congratulations!

Wow. You really jacked with the shutter angle there, eh? No NDs available to throw on the front of the lens?

Very cool look, though.

SB

The camera work was indeed very clean. The actors were visually likeable.

But how can you have a lightsaber in something and it NOT feel like something Star Wars. Sorry, but the acting was off, (their timing was just odd), and the choreography felt like a cheap 80's show. This just didn't peak my interest at all.

Granted, I know my comments sound douchey, but I am glad people do creative stuff like this. I'm sure it's still better than anything I could put together.

I just wasn't feeling it. Oh well.

If we keep rehashing the same thing over and over again, we don't move forward and don't create something new, do we?
For that reason, we wanted to visually depart from the usual look and feel. Bear in mind that the scene you saw was shot in 2 days with minimal gear and no money whatsoever. For the full pilot we will have a budget, sets, an A list actor and so on.
I know this won't please everyone, nothing ever does. But we are betting on something different, new, that either will take you on a journey, or won't interest you. I appreciate that even if you don't like it, you can still see that a lot of heart and soul and workmanship was poured into this...

That looks great!

But there is something bothering me. You said you aim it for Disney's streaming service. What makes you so confident that they will approve it? They even prohibited Steven Spielberg (!) from using Star Wars references in his latest movie. So even if you have a foot in the business and a good reputation there is no guarantee that the property owner will allow you to continue. If you get too professional the project might get axed like "Star Trek: Axanar".

Cinenordic said:

If we keep rehashing the same thing over and over again, we don't move forward and don't create something new, do we?
For that reason, we wanted to visually depart from the usual look and feel. Bear in mind that the scene you saw was shot in 2 days with minimal gear and no money whatsoever. For the full pilot we will have a budget, sets, an A list actor and so on.
I know this won't please everyone, nothing ever does. But we are betting on something different, new, that either will take you on a journey, or won't interest you. I appreciate that even if you don't like it, you can still see that a lot of heart and soul and workmanship was poured into this...

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Fair enough points about money, time, and wanting something new. Money does indeed help (a lot).

One point I'd make about your comment about "re-hashing", is that the main thing you have to do is make it FEEL like something Star Wars. Hell, even the past few Disney Star Wars movies struggled with that, and they were indeed doing the same stories. Though with a more obvious grey area "twist".

All I know, is that on a personal level, Star Wars is first and foremost, a fantasy. And that fantasy revolves around Good Vs Evil. None of that point of view nonsense and grey areas of good and bad. When anything Star Wars deviates from that and tries to make it more real world (involving science and PTSD, et c), it completely misses the mark. It stops being Star Wars and the fantasy is lost. Not that I'm suggesting that's what was the point of this teaser. I'm just emphasizing my points about how Star Wars stays being Star Wars to me.

Anyway. I'm a sucker and if more comes up, I'll more than likely watch it. Always looking to catch that Star Wars feeling.

First off, we see that even when given all the money and resources in the world, the big boys (and girls) frequently muck it all up when it comes to filmmaking, so I can only imagine how difficult the process is, juggling so many elements to create a cohesive whole!

Thank you for taking on a Star Wars project! Suffice it to say that some of us are desperate for pretty much anything new, that comes from a place of passion. Please know that my comments come from a place of total ignorance in regards to "the craft".

If the teaser was primarily an exercise in showing that you can successfully implement "Star Warsy" elements (sabers/blasters/action/costumes), well done! Things looked really good. Now, I realize, being a teaser, that we're supposed to simply have our curiosity piqued with minimal outline, but if I were making a movie these days, I would pay careful attention to pacing. Seems the way of things anymore is to fill every scene with dialogue or action, and scenes aren't allowed to breathe and create their own suspense through a glance, maybe a short flashback, or just a bit of nothingness. You often see a lot of continuity failure with characters, just for the payoff of creating a "moment" for the audience...but a moment that doesn't very well connect to moments before and after. It's hard to get attached, and it doesn't take much to create a jarring enough moment to take you out of the film.

After some thought, I'm not going to address anything specific, because catching a scene and characters without any context (when they may get a proper introduction earlier on the film) makes gauging them a bit abstract. I would just say one thing: Be careful with contemporary phrasing and cliches. Play for the bigger narrative - which likely has some serious gravity to it - and don't be afraid to let characters and moments appear uninteresting for the moment. The ADD approach to filmmaking sometimes has us thinking that movies are simply a series of "Oh wow!" snapshots, with some words - maybe coherent, maybe not - connecting them. Don't get suckered in; give your audience some credit in being able to appreciate nuanced, multi-layered characters. Embrace the quiet.

Good luck with the project, looks like you're off to a great start!

Galactican said:

You said you aim it for Disney's streaming service. What makes you so confident that they will approve it? ... there is no guarantee that the property owner will allow you to continue. If you get too professional the project might get axed like "Star Trek: Axanar".

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Sometimes, what you need to be noticed, on top of talent, is the courage to think and say "I'm good enough for this, I can do it". If you don't believe in yourself, who else will? You can't move forward in this business by staying back and waiting. Sometimes you have to make things happen. I've been lucky enough to be part of fairly large productions. I shot a few features, worked on a couple of really popular TV shows, and even got to be the NASA unit Cinematographer on "The Martian". But none of that is enough to get to the level I aspire to just sitting back. I still work hard everyday, and this is one channel worth exploring.
The Star Trek issue is quite different. They never supported the realm of fan films, and the issue is that they started dealing with the current timeline, and that started interfeering with the franchise. In our case Lucas has always embraced the 100's if not 1000's of fan films made. As long as you don't say you're affiliated with them and don't make a profit. And we fall into that category. Also, out timeline is about 500 years before Luke Skywalker, so there is no interfering with the canon. They would probably frown upon if we set out for example to remake ep. VIII. But this is not it...

Cinenordic said:

I've been lucky enough to be part of fairly large productions. I shot a few features, worked on a couple of really popular TV shows, and even got to be the NASA unit Cinematographer on "The Martian". But none of that is enough to get to the level I aspire to just sitting back. I still work hard everyday, and this is one channel worth exploring.

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WOW! That's impressive. I didn't know that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! :thumbsup

That was cool as hell! thumbsup

And the good news won't stop: Academy award winning Danish producer Tivi Magnusson just joined the team. Things are heating up. Remember, if you wanna see some cool Star Wars with new creative blood, help us here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...a-star-wars-long-tale-pilot-episo/description

Hey everyone, The Kickstarter campaign is at the tailend, and we are getting close to be successful. Please help us out with contributing with whatever you can.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...a-star-wars-long-tale-pilot-episo/description

Galactican said:

That looks great!

But there is something bothering me. You said you aim it for Disney's streaming service. What makes you so confident that they will approve it? They even prohibited Steven Spielberg (!) from using Star Wars references in his latest movie.

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if you're talking about Ready Player One, right off the top I can think of at least three Star Wars references. I'm sure upon another viewing there are more.

I definitely have to watch it.

A lot of naysaying going on here. Maybe Disney won't approve it, but maybe they will. I think it's great you guys are going for it. I wasn't a fan of the lightsaber standing up in the water or the police baton taking it on, but other than that and maybe some better choreography, it was good

Thank you to everyone that contributed to this project. We have made the goal, and will be fully funded. I hope you guys enjoy the end result...

Good news: now the real work begins