Ender's Game Movie: Let the Online Marketing Begin... and Continue

After much wait, it seems that the Ender's Game Movie marketing has been turned on. You might have read that that Cryptozoic Entertainment, who will be producing a trading card set for the movie, released what was described as a "1 minute and a half long" trailer of the movie with "raw footage" and special effects (c/o Endersansible.com)  to attendees at the GAMA Trade show in Las Vegas,NV.

Reviews were positive, and you can glean more about that from tweets from the lucky attendees included in posts on the fandom websites. (Endernews.com, Enderwiggin.net, Endersansible.com)

But wait ladies and  gentlemen there's more:

Not only are they sprucing up the 1st trailer for mass distribution, it appears that the other gears of online marketing like websites and social media campaigns are cranking up too.

Facebook, you mean? No, not just Facebook! Yes, they already have an official page and you can visit here, http://www.facebook.com/EndersGame. That's been up for some months.

I'm talking about standalone websites and a presence in more Social media venues that the public can engage and consume info. about the movie.

THE DEDICATED MOVIE SITE:

http://www.endersgame-themovie.com

No, there is nothing there now, but it now points to the Summit Entertainment website. (That wasn't the case about week ago). You can visit the subpage for Ender's Game which features a crisper logo and...

A couple "active" links. If you click on the "Visit the Official Page button" it will take you too...

What the?!! A bad link! That might be intentional because they might not be ready yet. (If it's not, please fix , Summit Web Team.) If you look at "The requested..." line, at the end you have the URL of what might be

A ENDER'S GAME MOVIE COMPANION SITE:

http://www.if-sentinel.com

Right now if you click it, you are directed to the Summit Entertainment homepage, but in the near future it might be a companion site that hosts games, downloads, info, etc.

Lastly,

The "OFFICIAL" TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR THE ENDER'S GAME MOVIE.

https://twitter.com/EndersGameMovie

I put quotes around that because there have been some that give the impression, but are not. No shade just facts.

If you are on Twitter, follow them now, and let them know we are glad they made it!

Finally A "Official" Vision of Ender's Game

At long last it appears that the cogs are starting to turn on the marketing machine for the Ender's Game Movie with Summit Entertainment dropping a still from the upcoming release with an exclusive article with Entertainment Weekly. Bask in it's magnificence.

This scene shows Battle School students in their barracks with Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff giving Asa Butterfield as Ender a stern look and probably some chastisement ala Full Metal Jacket style. I can almost hear the scene now:

This image gives us a better look at the scenery for the movie, and yes, it is not like the book. There are a couple of fan sites that delve into that more deeply into the comparison as to what is described in the book. (EnderNews, Ender's Ansible ).

From my interpretation this is how I envisioned the barracks:

I will say that the colors, structures, and room brightness of the official still reminds me of the layout of Avatar. Which is not surprising since one of the Concept Artists for that movie, Ben Proctor, is also one of the two Production Designers for Ender's Game. In the mean time while we wait for more stills if you want to give yourself some insight to the visual style the movie will take see his Avatar portfolio

Here's a little example below. I chose this image because it had beds, bright lighting, and a color scheme like the still above.

Still if you look through further through his Avatar portfolio you can see some designs that would make great looking battle simulators that Ender and the Jeesh use on Eros. For example:

THIS OR THE OTHER BEN PROCTOR IMAGES I DISPLAY IN THIS POST ARE NOT FROM THE ENDER'S GAME MOVIE. Let me be clear about that because I've gotten a note from Summit about some of my previous speculations about the movie artwork before. Since this type of setup was already used in Avatar, more than likely we will see something different for the immersive combat simulator in Ender's Game.

That's it for this post. Until next time remember....

Last Ender's Game Trailer - Direction

My last fan made trailer for the upcoming Ender's Game Movie entitled "Direction". Featuring the song "Ansible" by Stephon Jones http://soundcloud.com/sovarozum. There a few images I, Darian Robbins http://artofdarian.blogspot.com. created specifically the logos of the Battle School and the armies. There is a shot of the Battle Room created by Stephen Sywak twitter.com/boothby171. There are alot of production stills I took from the Ender's Game Production Blog http://endersgameblog.tumblr.com/. I used picture of Asa Butterfield taken by Suraj Partha twitter.com/surajpartha.  The Flash suit is taken from a picture of a TRON 2.0 costume made by Quantum Creation FX http://www.quantumcreationfx.com. Other imagery I pulled off the web and will update them accordingly as I find them.

Ender's Game Movie behind the scenes. Khylin Rhambo and 3D capture

For those of us who have been following the developments of the upcoming Ender's Game Movie. We spend alot of time trying to what is going on in decipher pictures that comes from the actors, crew, or production members in order to get some idea of how they will work movie magic to translate the story on screen

At the beginning of production one cast member Khylin Rhambo, who plays Dink Meeker in the film, posted this picture to his Facebook account showing him in a room of light. According to an article on Ender's Ansible he states that the "the technology in the picture was used to scan his face, take costume measurements, 'and other stuff.'” There was not much known about the technology until now.

In my recent internet travels, I encountered a Huffington Post science column called "Talk Nerdy to Me" run by their senior science correspondent Cara Santa Maria. In May she posted a video report called "How to make a Digital Human" which features the technology you see in Khylin's picture called Light Stage X.  Light Stage X is globed network of lights and cameras that was developed by the Graphics Lab at University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Studies, it's purpose, as one of it's creators and lab directors Paul Debevec, Ph.d states is a way of "digitizing people's faces to turn a real person in to a digital person that would be just as realistic as the real thing."

I can spend another 500 words or so giving you an overview about how this thing works, or you can watch the video (WATCH THE VIDEO). It gives a good overview about how it works, how they used it for facial captures for actors in movies and video games, and a example of how they generate a digital version of Cara. Awesome tech.

I can imagine that Digital Domain would be using this capture technology to generate 3D versions of all the kids for integration into CGI effects for the Battle Room sequences. It will be exciting to see how it comes out. This should give you some better understanding into how Digital Domain is spending their money on the Movie!

Ender's Game Movie Battle School Exterior Up Close!

Recently our friends over at Ender's Ansible published an image of a framed storyboard that was a gift to Jimmy Pinchak (Peter Wiggin) from the movie's director, Gavin Hood.

Picture taken down at request from Summit PR

The storyboard appears to show the exterior of the Battle School. I've known for sometime that the look was not going to reflect the design outlined by Steve Sywak in the Authorized Ender's Game Companion, so it is interesting to see what the Movie Art Department cooked up.

Here is a close up:

Picture taken down at request from Summit PR

From that image I was able to create a 3D model to help clarify the design. Take a look:

It looks to me that there is one Battle Room in the center, not nine as they outline in the book Ender's Game. Aside from that there appears to be three other major parts to this design. I used the image below and some color coding in a couple sections to show you how I interpreted the design.

Picture taken down at request from Summit PR

1. Habitation Ring (Not Colored)

The doughnut to the left of the picture where all those arrows are going around. I assume that this is a rotating structure.

2. Power Plant or Propulsion Section: (Not Colored)

The rectangular structure on the far right end. I am speculating that this where they might put the power source to run the Battle School or house the propulsion system that would move this thing around in orbit. 

3. Equatorial Ring: (Red)

 The large structure in red that I estimate that see that it connects the Doughnut to the Powerplant Section. I have no idea if it rotates or not, but I don't believe it connects to the Battle Room directly.  I do believe this ring connects at two endpoints to a ring that is connected to the Battle Room.

4. The Battle Room Ring (Green)

The green structure that wraps around the circumference of a equator of the Battle Room. It has a common point at each end that connects to the Equatorial Ring at a circular hub that the Habitation ring rotates about. This hub is the access way to transfer between rings.

Picture taken down at request from Summit PR

In the image below you can see how the sections correspond to my model. Click the image to enlarge it.

 You will also notice that I have attached some dimensions to this model. Since I had no clue as to what size the designer was making this version of the Battle School. I scaled the model to reflect the long side length of the Battle School outlined in the Authorized Companion which was approximately 550m (1,804 ft) This meant that the Habitation Section is approximately 474 ft in diameter and the Battle Room is approximatel 578 ft in diameter.

I also sized the "Movie" Battle School model to reflect dimensions my friend and "First Battle School Engineer", Steve Sywak was able to deduce given his great knowledge and experience in physics, and engineering science calculations. I refer you back to comments at Ender's Ansible to understand what real world forces and calculations would make this version of teh Battle School to work in reality.

Doing a side by side comparison of the two Battle Schools.

 

Now let's look at the Battle Room. 

 The Battle Room Ring in green is the place where armies would travel through to get to their respective gates. I hope they have some motorized transport, this room is huge, and I would hate to be the army that would have to travel to the far gate for a battle. If you look in the room I have place 2  40 person armies. Each of those person's in that rectangular formation are at least 5 ft in height. So you can see how vast that room would be in relation to an individual.

Well, that's an overview of my model. Give me some feed back what do you think of the proposed designs for the upcoming Movie. How do you think it will work?

Until then, since this is my blog...enjoy my Battle School Art!

 

Ender may be the One, but remember Dink is GAWD!

Ender's Game Trailer - "At Game's End...The Truth Begins

On Earth...
Kids play games for fun
In Space...
kids are made to play games for survival
AT GAME'S END....
THE TRUTH BEGINS.

 My latest fan trailer for the Ender's Game movie. Featuring the song "M.D Device" by Stephon Jones http://soundcloud.com/sovarozum. There a few images I, Darian Robbins http://artofdarian.blogspot.com. created specifically the logos of the Battle School and the armies. The Battle School model is based off the design by Steve Sywak http://www.youtube.com/Boothby171 There are alot of production stills I took from the Ender's Game Production Blog http://endersgameblog.tumblr.com/. I used picture of Asa Butterfield taken by Suraj Partha twitter.com/surajpartha. Other imagery I pulled off the web and will update them accordingly as I find them.

Keep Calm and Carry on!

Although we are at War...

Stay Compliant!

Stay Compliant! The Fleet decrees no more than two kids per couple. A #third is absurd

Remember China!!

Don't forget the "Scathing of China" from the First Invasion. THIS IS WHY WE FIGHT! THE FORMICS ARE STILL OUT THERE! THE FLEET IS HERE FOR YOUR PROTECTION!!

Protect Earth from the Third Invasion...Join the Fleet!

 

Nerding it up for Ender's Game

International Fleet Desktop Background

EG Movie fans if you need a desktop backdrop to help you represent your love of the game... I got you covered!. My unofficial desktop backdrop of the official International Fleet Logo for the movie recreated from this past weeks Ender's Game Production Blog image. Click on the image to get to the larger image and then download! Only 500+ ...eh , long time time until...blah blah blah...

New Ender's Game Fan Trailer "WIN THE END"

My latest fan trailer. It has alot of photos form the Ender's Game Production Blog, plus some of my own work, and others that I have grabbed of the Internets! I apologize if the audio is kind of loud at times. Keep your finger near the volum button, otherwise, enjoy!




The song is called "Frozen Whispers" by Stephon Jones. Check out his music on Soundcloud. Its very good plus he has some tracks from and Ender's Game score he is doing. I'm not sure if its for an audio or e-book. I have to ask him about that.

That's my voice your hearing. The text of what I wanted to say is below, but I modified during the taping.

meh....

They've watched through his eyes.
They've listened through his ears.
And they know he's the one
So they will take him
and others like him
to train them as warriors
to play the game of survival
for the survival of all humanity
as they face a terrible enemy
making it's play
to destroy all they know.
Ender's Game
Win the end.

The Real International Fleet Symbol

The Ender's Game Production Blog finally made their update and it was a good one. We finally get a peek at the official symbol for the International Fleet, the military organization that protects humanity and runs the Battle School in Ender's Game.

I can dig it. To me it has got a Roman Empire dictatorially feel to it, which is how I feel the Fleet probably acts in the Ender Universe. Afterall, they can monitor you kids electronically and take them away from you to train them for war and humanity's defense. I wonder if the designs and stars have any meaning?

Back when I imagined what The International Fleet Logo would look like I created this:

For the Ender's Game Comics produced by Marvel it got beefed up to this:

Which is grittier than the movie design. Also, my design composed of a crest and shield arrangement with a star rising above a stylized Earth and a winged shield in the foreground. The shield meanings were a description of the IF's purpose of the defense of humanity. The wings and the star were to symbolize space where IF held vigilance. I also had three bold lines that formed the star to symbolize the 3 leadership positions of Earth , the Polemarch, the Strategos, and the Hegemon, working in concert. Pretty good, huh? (Pats Back) At times I can't believe how geeked out I sound about this kind of stuff.

Here is a better view of the insignia. So tell me is everything that you imagined?

-Go FLEET 

Ender's Game Movie Concept Imagery?

***Post Update****

UPDATE: From Summit PR:

   " These are NOT from the film. The Ben Proctor image was a personal sketch that was done years ago, before he was ever affiliated with the ENDER’S GAME production. It was his own fan art and not something that is or ever was a piece of concept art for the film. You’ll note that Ben is taking this down from his personal site, but it’s only to ward off further confusion. The David Levy image is also not a piece of concept art from the film. This is actually from a video game project he worked on years ago. "

****Back to the regularly scheduled blog****

 
I can't wait to start seeing more complete images of the set for the Ender's Game Movie. I'm sure they will be releasing something "official" soon enough, but still I had to go searching. So starting with IMDB I saw that Ben Proctor, a visual artist that is known for his work on such movies as Transformers and Avatar, is heading up the Production Design for the movie. I viewed some recent work in his online gallery he posted up in his online gallery and came across this image: 

While he lists it as "Sketch of a scene from the classic scifi novel 'Ender's Game'. I wonder if it might be a set for the movie since it looks like the simulators Ender and company use at the Command School on Eros.Only time will tell

Also,  in my IMDB hunt I came across the David Vyle Levy, senior concept artist, for the movie. In his online gallery he posted this shot entitled "Corridor."

What interested me in this piece as a possible set design for the Ender's Game is the rounded door at the end of the hall, the shape of the hall way, and the paneling layout. In my mind a lot of those elements looked like the parts of a set that were visible behind a picture Roberto Orci in a posting on the Ender's Game Production Blog

Yeah. I'm reaching for sure....but hey, I got to do something while I wait the 530+ days until I can see the real thing.

I also noticed that the color of the suit top of the person standing at the end of the "Corridor" picture is a color blue like a picture posted on this weeks edition of the Production Blog showing the color scheme of the real life suit behind Graff's name tag.

 
Ok.
I'm done.
No, really.
Have a good weekend....