Pretend- Music Inspired by the Ender's Game Movie

Recently, a friend of mine and musical genius Noah Silver asked me to do some cover artwork for a release of his Ender's Game inspired song "Pretend."

 

Go download this song at his Bandcamp site: http://noahsilvermusic.bandcamp.com/track/pretend-enders-game-credits-song  This song should be on the movie soundtrack it sums up the Ender experience as a whole and is a damn good song!

Or listen to it hear it here:

Noah, myself and Steve Sywak are planning to shoot a music video for this song later this summer1 Stay tuned for details!!!

The Battle Room in Detail- Part 1

When Summit and company finally dropped the first official movie poster for the Ender's Game movie we finally to get a more in depth peek into Ender's world, more specifically the Battle Room.

 

In a phone  interview with Yahoo Movies , the film's director Gavin Hood gives more specifics about the Battle Room. Equipped with that information and using some of my 3D modeling skills in Trimble Sketchup I am able to give you a more complete understanding of how I think the Battle Room will look in the movie.  

In case you live under a rock the Battle Room in the movie will be drastically different than what you read about in the book. If you want to see and in depth book designed Battle School check out this presentation by "The First Battle School Engineer," Steve Sywak here .

First difference is there is only one Battle Room, not nine. Also, another major difference highlighted in the Yahoo interview

        "is that in the original text the Battle Room is described as being a giant hollow cube. But Hood felt that to really convey the size and dimensionality of the space, it should be spherical. Hood said he then proposed, “What if we could see through? What if we could see out of the space, and we’re moving around the Earth and turning at the same time?” He said he felt that would create “a really strange, disorienting experience,” that would better capture the notion in the book that in space there really is no up or down."

So with that explanation in mind, plus information I gleaned from the poster, and other information I gleaned from a not meant to be seen picture that popped up on the internet, I am able to develop a general model of what the Battle Room in movie could look like. (click the picture for an expanded view)

 "So how big is the interior of the Battle Room? Hood said, “This is the high school football field, only it’s in three dimensions. It’s the size of a football field in all directions: up, down, left, right. And the idea is teams jump out from opposite ends of this amazing space and play this amazing game of 3D paintball, almost.”

 Football Field Image from Ducksters.com

From Steve Sywak's analysis of the Battle Room from the story and his further detailed explanation in the Authorized Ender's Game Companion being a cube of 75 m (246 ft), it looks the Movie Battle Room will be much larger and with views of Earth and Space providing backdrops to the battles.

I have provided a couple of point of view snap shots of what it would be like to be in the Battle Room during daylight and night time hours.

Of course the structural elements  that you see in my model are just guestimations about their arrangements from the poster, but as we get more visuals I can refine it to match. That's all for this post. In my next post I will talk about Stars and Flash suits!

For now I will leave you with some screen captures of my model of the Battle Room in Google Earth:

 Aww Snap! A Battle just erupted!! Which way is the Enemy's Gate???!!!!

Army in flight!

 From Opposite Gate POV

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!

Formics, Flash Suits, and the VFX Industry

It's been an exciting couple weeks in the Ender's Game Movie Universe with the release of another movie still and some logos of Battle School Armies. Every time I see new pictures that show how they are bringing the movie to life, it makes me want to see more.

I go searching for movie related imagery on the internet, mainly using the IMDB, to look up the artists who are working on the movie and then check their online portfolios. (if they have them)

Most of the time I don't get anything, but other times I hit pay dirt.

My latest find comes from a marvelous CG artist named Frank Belardo, check his work out here at www.chiselingpixels.com. His work is phenomenal! Frank happens to be doing work on Ender's Game, but these images are NOT, I REPEAT, NOT, IMAGERY FROM THE MOVIE. He lists these as sketches in his portfolio on his website. Of course, If I get a request to take them down and they disappear from the said artist website ...then you make your own judgements. Not like it hasn't happened before *blank stare*

Again, THESE ARE NOT FROM THE MOVIE...

...but if it was... I wouldn't be mad because they are close too how I envisioned a few things. My first picture resembles how I thought a Formic would look.

 

I'm not going to spend time trying to find a quote from the book and match the description, his picture just reminded me of my own vision, as you can see below.

Frank also created a model in his portfiolio that he called "Future G Suit" that I think would be perfect for a Flash Suit.

It is form fitting with protective padding much like a motorcycle rider suit. Below is how I envisioned the Flash Suits.

I make posts like this because not only do I want to see the world that they are creating inspired by one of my most favorite books I have ever read, but more importantly, to highlight the awesome artists who are bringing their expertise to this film. These people are not just names that roll with the credits at the end of the film, they make the vision that you see on screen. They create the environment and the action that allows you to suspend your belief and enjoy the story at it's full capacity. They provide you an escape route to entertainment and make it possible for "unfilmable" films to be made.

There have been news reports that 60% of this movie will have CG effects in it. That's alot. The movie would not look and feel the same without their efforts, technical expertise, nor professionalism. I have never paid to see a movie that had acting in front of a green screen ONLY *cough* ...Before Effects Tumblr. Not denying the power of a great actor to entertain and engage your attention through their talent and  presence alone, but if that is what I wanted for this movie, it should of been a stage play.

With all the turmoil going on the in the VFX industry, I detect a lack of respect for artist like Frank and their contribution to the movies we watch today. I have watched how Rhythm and Hues went bankrupt from their work on Life of Pi. Heck, even Digital Domain, the company responsible for the CG effects on Ender's Game is just emerging from bankruptcy proceedings.  In the Life of Pi, a movie that won Best Visual Effects Oscar because most of what you see on screen is CG, and yet Ang Lee couldn't say any congratulatory note to them? Even the Visual Effects Supervior, Bill Westenhofer, got ran off stage when he tried to mention the plight of the VFX industry. Ridiculous!

I understand the artist are paid a salary in exchange for their efforts, and maybe part of that exchange contractually does not include the "pay" of appropriate recognition in the public. If that is the case then Studios and VFX company's should make sure the the "appropriate" recognition should be the type that folds and fits well in the wallet.  That "appreciation" should be enough to fund that artist's life so that they can continue to make art and worlds that Movie Studios love to capitalize.

Unfortunately, that doesn't even seem to be the case anymore, as evidenced by the growing amount of frustration and protestation I am learning about from social media of VFX artists (Check out the VFXsoldier Blog). I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant, and surely I am missing some understandings about transactions  between Movie Studios and the VFX industry. I am an outsider looking in, and there are alot of things I admit I do not know. But what I am seeing...I'm not liking. So, if there is something I am missing from the studio side, please inform me.

As I have researched artists who have or are working on this movie and shared brief engagements with some of them, cI have come to respect their hard work and creativity. Not Frank, btw, I have never communicated with or met him. Hope too though! I would hate for Ender's Game to get some awards next year, but not recognize the talented individuals behind the scenes that make the impossible possible and bring fresh stories to our eyes to enjoy. This sentiment extends to prop makers, costumist, gaffers, lighting, etc....everyone behind the camera. I acknowledge your talent and effort.

May the spotlight shine as brightly on you as you take a bow.

In the future, I will highlight some more artist working on this movie. They deserve shine as well!

-D

Barracks Analysis Part 2: Graff's Symbol

Back to the Barracks again. AAAATTTTTEEENNTIONNNN!

Lets focus on the symbol on Graff's right shoulder.

 

Through the magic of Photoshop I have managed to zoom in and then recreate the symbol.

 

You can recognize the movie version of the I. F. Logo at top center, with a cluster of nested inverted chevrons located below. Is this the symbol of the movie version of the Battle School symbol, or is it a sign of "Colonel" Graff's rank? Guess we will have to wait and see with more still releases when they occur.