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REVELATIONS: a sw fan film I created the lightsaber choreography

#1 User is offline   njamilla Icon

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Posted 25 March 2005 - 10:58 AM

I don't think I've told you guys about the SW fan film I've been working with over the past two and a half years. Most fan films look amateur, but this film actually looks like SW with its high quality special effects. It's the buzz in the SW fan film community. Check out the main site at Revelations

I created the lightsaber choreography and play the "Darth Maul" character in the film. I've got 2 lines and I kill a Jedi at the climax. An interview I gave in the film's newsletter was just opened up to everyone online at Them's Fighting Words


It also includes pictures of the orientation session at my old aikido dojo in Washington, DC for the actors who would be sword fighting. Training pictures This session and readings from my book Shimmering Sword were required of the principal actors.

You can see pictures of me with my pink lightsaber at Lightsaber fight. The director made my saber pink because I joked about it to him that if Mace could get a purple saber, why couldn't I get a pink one because I was gay. I asked if it would remain pink in the final cut of the movie (which will be 40 min long), and he said it was too difficult a color for him to do. I'm thinking, though, that my lightsaber will be pink. We're having a red carpet premiere at the biggest theater in Baltimore April 16, 2005.

Also, I just finished an interview for Cinefantastique which will be part of a SW fan film section in the magazine.

I'd love to hear what you think of it. I don't mind real criticisms either. The fan film "industry" is the butt of many jokes because most films look like home movies but I think this production will blow a lot of people away.
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#2 User is offline   Hannibal Icon

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Posted 25 March 2005 - 01:49 PM

I always thought Darth Maul was gay...just kidding.(Come on...that old queen Darth Sideous gave him a really fancy motorcycle...err...speeder...that thing he used on Tattoine...)

This post has been edited by Hannibal: 25 March 2005 - 01:51 PM

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities also has the power to make you commit atrocities."
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Enjoy this Tribute to Nazism...(Mp3)
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#3 User is offline   HK 47 Icon

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Posted 25 March 2005 - 02:08 PM

Darth Njamilla huh? Pink lightsabers? What's Star Wars coming to!? smile.gif Seriously, I've seen the trailer before, looks most impressive! Love the shot of the X-Wing taking off. I hope it'll be available online after the premiere?
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#4 User is offline   njamilla Icon

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Posted 25 March 2005 - 04:54 PM

It'll be available online after the premiere. I'm sure the download will take a while.
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#5 User is offline   Chefelf Icon

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Posted 28 March 2005 - 01:26 PM

I'm so jealous. I wish I could train with njamilla. You could learn a lot about patience trying to train someone like me. wink.gif

I'm really looking forward to the film. The saber scenes and special effects look amazing. Really professional looking stuff. biggrin.gif
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#6 User is offline   CowboyCurtis Icon

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Posted 28 March 2005 - 05:51 PM

For being "amateur" I was rather impressed with the sword fighting in the trailer. Nice work, Njamilla.
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#7 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 28 March 2005 - 07:58 PM

damit, Njam!!! that's cool... i can't downlaod the trailer while i'm at work, but i had a look at some of the pics...

good stuff...

you've published a book before me, you've done a fight scene in a film before me, god damnit! stop one uping me!!!
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seriously though, good work, you're one talented dude!!!
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#8 User is offline   njamilla Icon

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Posted 28 March 2005 - 09:21 PM

Only thing is that I didn't get paid for any of my work except in getting to meet great people. The sick thing about this production is that I would (and did) do all of this stuff for free. The director told me about his next project and I told him that I'm not doing any more choreography without being paid for it.
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#9 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 28 March 2005 - 09:38 PM

when it comes to film... free work is actually a pretty good idea...
it gets your name around and leads to paid work...

every actor i know, has done free work.

many succesful actors still do... it sucks spending time on something without pay, but i have done heaps of unpaid work that has lead to paid work.

so i wouldn't be too quick to refuse... it's just the way the industry works. everybody helps each other out... movies (even short ones) cost alot of money to make...
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#10 User is offline   njamilla Icon

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Posted 29 March 2005 - 09:03 AM

What you said is very true of the industry. The same is true for writing. You don't write for free unless it will help you get a paying job.

The problem is that when people get things for free, they also treat those things with less respect. Not that Shane, the director, ever did that.

The sad problem is that working for him cost me a lot of my own money at a financially difficult point in my life. Money IS an issue.

Without any disrespect to him, he can pay me or he can get someone else for free. There would be no love lost between us; that's just the nature of the business. We'll still be friends.

After working on his film, I now know that I can do choreography to rival movies like Gladiator, Pirates of the Carribean pirate.gif, Blade, and, of course, Star Wars. I know how to do large battles and duels, all with authenticity. The only thing I can't do are the Chinese martial art films and their high wire stunts.

Yes, beggars can't be choosy, but I was never in the production to earn money or expect any future gigs out of it. It was for the experience and for fun. If anything develops out of this, that's just extra cream on top of the cake. I don't know how the final movie will be received, but for all the professional hard work that was put into this production, everyone should have been paid.

If you've seen other fan movies, you know they're gawd awful. I was just lucky running across Shane lurking through the fan film threads at tfn.com. He knew instantly what he was getting when he got my resume; he called me a few hours later after he opened his e-mail that day and practically offered me the job.
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#11 User is offline   Chefelf Icon

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Posted 29 March 2005 - 09:38 AM

QUOTE (njamilla @ Mar 29 2005, 09:03 AM)
What you said is very true of the industry. The same is true for writing. You don't write for free unless it will help you get a paying job.


I'm still waiting for my first paycheck. wink.gif

I don't blame you NJ. Whenever you get involved in a project like this it always ends up costing you money. Sure, it's fun and a great learning experience but there's a piotn where you have to say, "I just can't do this."
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#12 User is offline   CowboyCurtis Icon

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Posted 29 March 2005 - 12:23 PM

Well, best of luck to you Njamilla. Let us know when you do get a paying gig.

The only thing I can't do are the Chinese martial art films and their high wire stunts.

But there's always room to grown, isn't there? smile.gif Also, that's kind of a novelty thing, isn't it? I mean, I've seen it in a few movies, but it doesn't seem like a standard. It'll eventually be passe like the Matrix "bullet-time" thing.
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#13 User is offline   njamilla Icon

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Posted 29 March 2005 - 04:22 PM

Well, best of luck to you Njamilla. Let us know when you do get a paying gig.

I will. This is one of the better cyberspace places I like to hang out in.


But there's always room to grown, isn't there? smile.gif Also, that's kind of a novelty thing, isn't it? I mean, I've seen it in a few movies, but it doesn't seem like a standard. It'll eventually be passe like the Matrix "bullet-time" thing.

Yes, always room for growth, but it's more work than I'm willing to put in at the moment or the forseeable future. Besides, I'm not crazy about Chinese martial arts. I'm very much Japanophile.

I've got a director friend who's ready to bring me in to train his actors once he gets someone to produce it. I expect him to be the Ridley Scott of his generation.
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#14 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 29 March 2005 - 11:25 PM

well i hope someone throws some money at you...

it's a lot of fun if it doesn't cost you personally...
so far, i've at least been fed and made drunk free on each shoot... so, so far so good...

hope we see you in more stuff though...

"The sad problem is that working for him cost me a lot of my own money at a financially difficult point in my life. Money IS an issue."

sounds like its time to write the book you knew you would one day have to write...

Shimmering Sword 2: the revenge. tongue.gif
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#15 User is offline   njamilla Icon

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Posted 30 March 2005 - 07:37 AM

Writing books is the easy part. It's finding an agent who has likes good writing and can deal with my eclectic genres and writing styles. The three books I've written include a Clancy-type novel, a papal Swiss Guard novel, a renaissance fantasy with Roman legionaries. My next novel will be about swordsmen who take over the planet -- I've been working on the historical time line for several years.

I had a SW philosophy book in mind (quite different from the new SW and Philosophy book which just came out) but I gave up because I couldn't find anyone to publish it. So many publishers got burned after AOTC, they didn't want to put money into another SW-related book.

I know what my niche is -- sword fighting. Each of my novels has a protagonist who is a swordsman. Of course, what makes me better than all the other fantasy writers is that I'm an actual swordsman, not just simply a martial artist. There's a difference epistemologically. Not to disrespect the pugilism and its effectiveness, but fisticuffs is brutally raw. Sword fighting is a technology associated with highly trained and disciplined elites. One is savage, the other civilized. This understanding is accepted emotionally by the populace, which explains why professional wrestling is on TV and fencing is not. As Han said, "there's nothing like a blaster at your side." This is exactly why sword fighting is so satisfying. It's hard training and one-on-one, and few people can do it.

I'm really burned out with my present job and I really want to write full time. Choreography is a hope, but not my primary goal. It'll certainly make me more money if I get regular gigs. And I love the collaborative nature of movie productions. I'm not a theater person (for which there is more of a market), so movies is it. And I'm not "working" my way up as Gillard did from alleged unwritten member of EP 4's production team to stunt coordinator. I'm a swordsman.

My ex told me about how amazed his colleagues at work were when they saw him give a karate demonstration. He's a 4th degree blackbelt. They asked, "Where did you learn all of that?" We just looked at each other. Because we're both artists (he a painter, I a writer) we know that we do our art in obscurity until the world sees us for the first time. We work hard, train hard, and stretch ourselves. It's not magic. It's a lot of hard work. If and when either of us become famous, everyone will do the song and dance just to be around us. We know that's all bullshit. We accept it as part of the convention, but we'll let them dance and then work hard until the next time we make an appearance.

It's so cool still knowing my ex who lives in Toronto. I know he's going to be one of the best painters of his generations. I'd like the same for myself. At some point there will be this artistic group of us that share this connection. At this point, we do our thing and things will converge at some point later. Chefelf is kind of like this, as well as the other guys here; people who I've never met, but have this affinity for me. There's like this unspoken connection that brings us together. I got an e-mail out of the blue from this guy in Australia one day. We corresponded and made an instant connection. He came for a visit to the US and we be came instant best friends the moment we met.
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