Old lightsabre video we made...

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-09 11:51pm

My dad found this in his backups and sent it to me, since I've been inquiring about it recently. Needless to say, I cringed, but decided to share it with the SDNizens anyhow.

It's a lightsabre video my brothers and I made after watching TPM. Crude, pathetic, silly, but honest and fun in the making.

Plus side:
-no shitty acting. We didn't even bother, we knew better
-blades effects are decent, sound, flashes and music is good
-It was the first and only shoot. This is a plus, as it excuses the shitty quality and effort.

Negative side:
-not dress up. I'm wearing gum boots for fuck's sake! (working on a farm obviosuly)
-movements are slow, although at the time we thought they were fast
-it's short, 13 seconds. This might be a plus though

-it looks fake. Really fake
-there are glitchs with graphics, and that's because my brother Larry had to work with plain sticks, with the double blade being only a foot and half long at most from hands. Thus, he had to do some guess work.

I'm sure you'll find other areas of complains. Anyhow, the video in question:

Watch at your own risk (5.7 megabytes)

Let's keep the laughing and pointing...civilized people?

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2005-04-09 11:58pm

How many kilobites or meg is it?

The Silence and I · Post by **The Silence and I** » 2005-04-10 12:47am

^^^5.7 megs.^^^

Not bad, I see what you mean with the double bladed lightsaber, but for the work that apparently went in I'd say it is just fine. At least you made yours, my friends and I never got around to finishing ours...

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2005-04-10 12:54am

You're welcome, Walper.

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » 2005-04-10 01:18am

I actually think it's pretty cool. That's just me though.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2005-04-10 01:34am

cool... but blue saber boy was a weak pussy jedi... he could have gone for a kill many times.. WALPER! NEVER EXPOSE YOUR BACK TO YOUR OPPONENT!

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » 2005-04-10 01:53am

Alyrium Denryle wrote:cool... but blue saber boy was a weak pussy jedi... he could have gone for a kill many times.. WALPER! NEVER EXPOSE YOUR BACK TO YOUR OPPONENT!

Yeah, I was thinking the same. I'm no expert swordsman, but there were at least two that blue saber boy could have easily got you in the back.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2005-04-10 01:54am

Alyrium Denryle wrote:cool... but blue saber boy was a weak pussy jedi... he could have gone for a kill many times.. WALPER! NEVER EXPOSE YOUR BACK TO YOUR OPPONENT!

They both could have gone for kills at least twice each. You don't spin around like that.

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2005-04-10 01:58am

The Silence and I wrote:^^^5.7 megs.^^^

Not bad, I see what you mean with the double bladed lightsaber, but for the work that apparently went in I'd say it is just fine. At least you made yours, my friends and I never got around to finishing ours...

This has given me the incentive to do it. This summer man. We'll hold Dave's computer hostage if he doesn't show interest! Bwahaha!

That was pretty cool Walper.

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2005-04-10 02:23am

Very nice Rob.

"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own."

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2005-04-10 02:49am

The biggest screwup really was at 0:06, when it became obvious that you were aiming for the sticks rather than each other: Your "lightsabers" went past each other and impacted on the way back out, so that either one of you could have simply stopped crossing blades and sent the lightsaber right on in.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 05:23am

Rogue 9 wrote:You're welcome, Walper.

Yes, thanks for the hosting Rogue.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 05:25am

Rogue 9 wrote:The biggest screwup really was at 0:06, when it became obvious that you were aiming for the sticks rather than each other: Your "lightsabers" went past each other and impacted on the way back out, so that either one of you could have simply stopped crossing blades and sent the lightsaber right on in.

Yeah, we spent alot of time practicing the moves, but we were going for flashy looks rather than looking like we were actually going for the kill. In hindsight, there was alot of things we wanted to correct and redo. That is one of them.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 05:27am

observer_20000 wrote:I actually think it's pretty cool. That's just me though.

We thought so at the time as well. Mind you, there's a ton of crap that needed fixing and redoing. We were planning on doing so, but then the camera equipment for transferring the video to the computer died. Otherwise, we would've made another, much better one.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 05:29am

JME2 wrote:Very nice Rob.

Most of the credit should go to my brother Larry. He did all the effects and filming. Without him, we would've just been two morons smacking sticks together.

"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own."

...

There's no Borg in that video there JME2...

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 05:38am

Captain Cyran wrote: This has given me the incentive to do it. This summer man. We'll hold Dave's computer hostage if he doesn't show interest! Bwahaha!

That was pretty cool Walper.

Suggestions on what to do that we didn't:

-Dress up. Doesn't have to be fancy, but at least look like a casual Jedi outfit. Hell, even just a plain black jogging suit would've done.
-Make it look like you're trying to attack your opponent, not his lightsabre. And there's nothing wrong with being a bit flashy, but it only works if you move fast enough that moves like I did (turning your back to your opponent) are so fast that it doesn't surprise the audience you're not taken advantage of.
-Also, don't do what we did which was do the entire fight in one scene, one angle. Go for multiple angles and short shots. This will allow you to go much faster and look alot better, so long as you're sure to keep the action synchronized from one shot to the next.
-Whatever you're using for props, be sure they're long enough and easy for the editor to draw over with effects.
-Safety being a priority, but probably wouldn't hurt to put some force into the strikes and blocks for more realism.

All of the above we intented to do, but never got around to it.

Maybe one day we'll get a chance, or at least I will with some fellow Star Wars fan.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2005-04-10 08:57am

That's pretty good! Especially if it's the first time.

Aside from what others already I'd like to add that I think there were way too much spinning, especially from the guy with the blue lightsabre. But I'm really not the one to say anything about that because I had plenty of that in my first attempt at a lightsabre clip too... But in my new movie there is not a single spin. Not one

At least not in the lightsabre vs lightsabre fight...

Also, it would have been ever nicer if the clashing sounds could have been varied a bit. But the swinging sounds were very nice anyhow!

And one more suggestion to those who want to do this themselves: Use different colors on the sticks you're using, otherwise you will hate yourself for not doing it, if you end up with shots were it's difficult to see whose lightsabre is whose.

Crazedwraith · Post by **Crazedwraith** » 2005-04-10 09:53am

*compares to Art of The Saber*

Very nice. A little short.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2005-04-10 10:11am

It's nice, yeah like it's said it look quite fake, but IMHO if had a SW outfits it wouldn't have look fake( at least not until you look it more carefully). Yeah spins are bad (use them only one behind the other for quick turn)

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 11:21am

Crazedwraith wrote:*compares to Art of The Saber*

Very nice. A little short.

Compared to "Art of the Sabre"? I'd almost find that insulting for "Art of the Sabre"....AOTS is magnitudes better fighting wise. The only thing remotely superior about ours is the fact we don't like the idea of chatting it up for a video.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 11:23am

Lord Revan wrote:It's nice, yeah like it's said it look quite fake, but IMHO if had a SW outfits it wouldn't have look fake( at least not until you look it more carefully). Yeah spins are bad (use them only one behind the other for quick turn)

I'd kill to do a remake. I know both my brothers, having the time, would probably go for it as well.

Hey YT300000, hurry your ass up, grow up and let's make one.

Crazedwraith · Post by **Crazedwraith** » 2005-04-10 11:39am

Robert Walper wrote:
Crazedwraith wrote:*compares to Art of The Saber*

Very nice. A little short.
Compared to "Art of the Sabre"? I'd almost find that insulting for "Art of the Sabre"....AOTS is magnitudes better fighting wise. The only thing remotely superior about ours is the fact we don't like the idea of chatting it up for a video.

I didn't say it compared favourabilly. The very nice was unrelated to the comaprisopn.

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2005-04-10 12:54pm

Robert Walper wrote:Suggestions on what to do that we didn't:

-Dress up. Doesn't have to be fancy, but at least look like a casual Jedi outfit. Hell, even just a plain black jogging suit would've done.
-Make it look like you're trying to attack your opponent, not his lightsabre. And there's nothing wrong with being a bit flashy, but it only works if you move fast enough that moves like I did (turning your back to your opponent) are so fast that it doesn't surprise the audience you're not taken advantage of.
-Also, don't do what we did which was do the entire fight in one scene, one angle. Go for multiple angles and short shots. This will allow you to go much faster and look alot better, so long as you're sure to keep the action synchronized from one shot to the next.
-Whatever you're using for props, be sure they're long enough and easy for the editor to draw over with effects.
-Safety being a priority, but probably wouldn't hurt to put some force into the strikes and blocks for more realism.

All of the above we intented to do, but never got around to it. Maybe one day we'll get a chance, or at least I will with some fellow Star Wars fan.

We actually were doing all that. And we had great actual lightsabers that we built, that was very cool. And we used PVC pipes which are pretty much perfect. But one day when we were working out the fight, the PVC pipes broke in half, and we didn't get new ones.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 01:01pm

Crazedwraith wrote:
Robert Walper wrote:
Crazedwraith wrote:*compares to Art of The Saber*

Very nice. A little short.
Compared to "Art of the Sabre"? I'd almost find that insulting for "Art of the Sabre"....AOTS is magnitudes better fighting wise. The only thing remotely superior about ours is the fact we don't like the idea of chatting it up for a video.
I didn't say it compared favourabilly. The very nice was unrelated to the comaprisopn.

Why drag down AOTS by mentoning it in the same post with ours?

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-04-10 01:02pm

Captain Cyran wrote: We actually were doing all that. And we had great actual lightsabers that we built, that was very cool. And we used PVC pipes which are pretty much perfect. But one day when we were working out the fight, the PVC pipes broke in half, and we didn't get new ones.

Damn...that sucks.

But hey, if you ever need an extra for the fighting...let me know!