|  Title: CGI
Filmmaking: The Creation of Ghost Warrior
Software Version(s): LightWave 7.5 & 8
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Author: Timothy Albee
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Background
"One person, two computers, six months... twenty-two minutes"
It is my hope that Ghost Warrior opens the
doorway for a lot of other filmmakers. It is my hope
that it proves that Feature-Quality Animated Films
can be made in a reasonable amount of time by small
teams of one-or-more dedicated, talented individuals.
Kaze: Ghost Warrior is an extreme case, to prove
a point. And that point is that the technology exists today to
allow a single filmmaker, through the medium
of CGI (Computer Graphic Imagery,) to do what Industry
Professionals accept should take hundreds of people
working with a budget of millions of dollars.
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It became
clear that this project needed to happen while "shopping" the
Script for the Kaze feature film around Hollywood
in 1997-1998. Kaze met with high approval
and intense interest in meetings with executives
from Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Pressman
Films, Stan Winston Studios, Nickelodeon, and Pop.Com,
(a now disbanded, On-Line division of Dreamworks.)
My business-partner and I were told, with varying
levels of directness, that while the script and pre-pre-production
imagery we had created to pitch the film were impressive,
that it would not be taken seriously until we had
at least multiplied the projected budget by a factor
of five.
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In the
four years since those initial pitches, technology
has progressed -- "Moore's Law" has seen
the increase of both processor speeds and software
efficiency. An experienced, creative filmmaker, with
the proper tools at his or her side can now create
what it would have taken armies of artists to bring
into being, only four short years ago.
This has
the possibility for opening the door for many other
people who desire to make the films that they, themselves
would want to see, were they given the time and the
budgets to make them happen. I am talking about more
than just those who have already made it into various
areas of The Industry -- there are countless others
who have the Dreams and the dedication to
make films, if only they could just know what it
is they need to know. There are those who would change
the face of cinema if only they could know that their
dreams of making films themselves is something they
can achieve.
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The Book:
To make a film that you, personally, would want to
watch, and make it to a level of quality that you,
personally, would feel good about having paid both
time and money to experience.
This simple concept, proven time and time again throughout
the history of cinema, has resulted in many of the
greatest films ever made. It results in films that
are honest, films that are powerful, films not everyone
is comfortable watching. And this is a good thing.
(The man who tries to please everyone, pleases no one.)
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The Production
Environment that we, as Animators, have known has
already crumbled. The days of the bidding-wars between
the major studios are over, the contracts having
long since expired or been rewritten. Animation is
no longer the "cash cow" it was once thought
to be.
Those who were into Animation merely for the money
have moved on, leaving Animation once again to the
people who truly love it as a medium!
For Feature Films and Animated Series to be produced
by small teams of dedicated, creative, talented individuals
would mean that even films directed to a "narrow" audience
could be immensely successful! A film costing a few
million to produce wouldn't have to make hundreds-of-millions
to be a success! The days of a "money-man" making
changes to a beautiful story solely to try to broaden
its appeal into an area the story has no business being
could be at an end!
Because of the power of "consumer end" computers,
the locale of where these films are produced is without
limits! Animation can be done with "Proxy" models,
(low-resolution "stand-ins,") on laptops
while animators work in a quiet little café,
or in the Australian "Outback," or on a farm
in Iowa, -- quite literally anywhere! (See Lightwave
3D Character Animation, Essential
Lightwave and the upcoming CGI
Short Filmmaking:The Creation of Ghost Warrior for
more information.)
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With the
proper logistical management, the right, dedicated,
creative talent, (because successful projects require
more than just getting things done, they require
finding the best way of getting things done
-- that requires Creativity,) a twenty-two
minute short film that is at home amid the best The
Industry has created, could be produced in a one-room
cabin, (without running water,) on the edge of the
Alaska Bush, by one person... using two "consumer
grade" computers... in six months... with software
and tools within the reach of almost everyone.
How do I know this is possible? Because that is exactly
what has been done to create the short film known as Kaze:
Ghost Warrior.
And yet... just creating the film does not go far enough.
It is easy to assume some kind of "special nature" within
those who live their dreams that one must somehow be
lacking. There are only two secrets: "Do something
toward your goal, each and every day," and "Know
where to find the answers you need, to get done what
you need to get done."
Essential
Lightwave packages the practical knowledge
of having had years of production experience with LightWave
3D.
Lightwave
3D Character Animation illuminates the path
to understanding what defines Feature Quality Character
Animation, and how to achieve those results yourself.
CGI
Short Filmmaking: The Creation of Ghost Warrior.
Shows you how to put it all together. Work-arounds,
discoveries and solutions, everything integral to managing
the creation of Ghost Warrior is discussed
in clear, concise detail.
Filmmaking should be the domain of every dedicated
person who dreams to "dream aloud..."
Timothy Albee -- Goldstream Valley, Alaska
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