Topic: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Eleven years ago, I released my short war film Last Stand to the world. While I’m happy with how well the film was received, I never made anything to follow up on it. And after so long, it’s no longer representative of my skill, to say the least. But everything changes today.

https://i.imgur.com/iEYCffJh.png

I am thrilled to finally announce Last Stand: Ultimatum, a feature-length sequel to Last Stand. It is set almost a year after the original film and follows the same characters. The forces of Verdana (green army men) have nearly pushed out the invading Bronzov military (tan army men). But both sides are already plotting their next moves, each vying to win the war in a decisive manner the other can’t match. The fate of these two countries now rests with a handful of soldiers…

While Ultimatum itself is the main component of this project, there’s even more that fits into this story. Here are all parts of the project in both release and chronological order:

  • Last Stand: Pace (released today) and the next two shorts introduce important characters from the original film

  • Last Stand: Wilson (4/22/22)

  • Last Stand: Henry (5/20/22)

  • Last Stand: Rebuilt (7/15/22 8/12/22), a complete remake of the original film that brings it up to my current standards

  • Last Stand: Kilee (TBD) introduces one more important character for…

  • Last Stand: Ultimatum (TBD)

My plan is to post regular production updates here to maintain my sanity and motivation during this incredibly ambitious project. I hope you enjoy watching this saga unfold as much as I enjoy crafting it. mini/mrgreen

Last edited by mysteriouspi (May 20, 2022 (06:17am))

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Wow that sounds really cool

: D

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Now that I’ve introduced the project, here’s where production stands at the moment.

  • Last Stand: Pace/Wilson/Henry - all three of these character shorts are complete.

  • Last Stand: Rebuilt - filming is mostly complete and post-production is underway. More on this in a minute.

  • Last Stand: Kilee - the screenplay is done and there’s some concept art for planes that will be a significant feature. No setbuilding or filming has been done yet but will commence sometime after I wrap filming on Rebuilt.

  • Last Stand: Ultimatum - the screenplay is complete and sits at 102 pages, although I’m still tinkering with the dialogue. I have some concept art and LDD files for tanks and trucks and such that will help when production begins. Otherwise, set building and filming will begin after Kilee finishes production.

As I mentioned before, Rebuilt is a remake of the original Last Stand. Since I’m expanding the story, I’m taking this opportunity to establish the universe a little better. Here’s Bronzov’s outpost from the original (top) compared to the remake (bottom):

https://i.imgur.com/MTnnq6Mh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OG3CJlYh.jpg

A big inspiration for the universe is the classic “green vs tan army men” toys/scenario. In the original short, however, the tan army men operated out of a gray outpost, which did not properly sell the idea. Reimagining the outpost in tan makes the inspiration much more apparent (and more visually appealing IMO).

Incidentally, this is the set I am currently filming. Interior scenes are almost finished; hopefully I can complete the last one this weekend. For exterior scenes, one long combat sequence and two shorter scenes remain. Filming will be about 90% done at that point.

Just Films wrote:

Wow that sounds really cool

Thank you! I hope it will live up to that impression.

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Wow, very few brickfilmers (that I’ve seen) spend this much time into world building. I got a chance to see the last stand. Gotta say I’m looking forward to this.

: D

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Quick update today: Last Stand: Wilson is out! It's the least meaty of the character shorts, but that will be made up for by the other two.

I haven't been able to get as much as I would have liked done in the past two weeks: I've been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing at home since I will be moving over the summer. This includes setting up and disassembling my entire Bionicle collection, which is...a lot of them. mini/shifty Fortunately I was able to get some filming done beforehand and have since edited Rebuilt here and there. My hope is to get the majority of the cleaning done by this time next week and get back to "full throttle" filming after that. We'll find out in another two weeks I guess. See you then!

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

First things first, Last Stand: Henry is now out! This completes the pre-Rebuilt trio of character shorts that introduces the main cast.

Now for the less fun news, I've still been immensely busy. Finishing the school semester, working, and other stuff have left me with little time or energy. I've still been making progress on Rebuilt, but not a ton and mostly in the post-processing department. There's still a few scenes that I won't be able to film for two or three weeks. For that reason, I'm postponing the release until mid-August. Not ideal, but I'd rather be safe and not have to miss a deadline at the last minute.

The good news is that I won't have classes over the summer. Work will be crazier than anticipated, but I'm hoping to have my hours reduced at some point so I have some sort of legitimate break. Either way, it should be easier to work on this project over the summer compared to the fall and spring. Ultimately I would like to finish both Rebuilt and Kilee by September so I can jump right into Ultimatum, but we'll see how things go. Until next time!

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

March 2023: Back in the Hull

So...it's not a real brickfilm without crazy long breaks in production right? mini/mrgreen

Very long story short: life continued to be crazy and most days I either didn't have time or lacked enough energy to make significant progress. It's been incredibly frustrating to say the least. But one thing I've noticed is that I feel like I have to have maybe 3+ consecutive hours free to work on it, and it's a waste to try if I don't.

Which is completely bologna, of course. An hour here or there is much better than nothing, and is less demanding on my energy. So here's the plan:

  • Get enough sleep. I am usually Not Good at this and it's not helping. Yell at me next update if I did not sleep well!

  • Try to spend just an hour a day filming or in post-production. If I do more, great. If I truly don't have time, no sweat. But I have to at least make an attempt.

  • The circumstances that prevented me from taking a lighter load last summer no longer exist, so I intend to do that this year instead. Which means I will actually have more free time for the first time in a couple years. Free time equals film time.

All that in mind, I should finally have more new stuff to show in April. Here's hoping!

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

November 2023: April Already?!

Finally, progress. And a lot of it.

Life has continued to be overwhelming. Work and school have been crazy and overwhelming all semester. But I finally buckled down and started getting consistent sleep, which I haven’t done for years. I think that’s the fuel that finally let me start filming consistently again in October. Here’s what I’ve gotten done:

  • Basic editing and visual effects for everything I had previously filmed for Last Stand: Rebuilt

  • Filming the climax of Rebuilt as well as the following and final scene

  • Filming Last Stand: Ultimatum for the first time!

That last one is a major milestone, as it finally begins production of the feature film proper. Ironically, the scene I filmed was the final one and will appear after the credits. I still have a few scenes to film for Rebuilt and a lot of editing and composition to do, and all of Last Stand: Kilee to produce, until production resumes for Ultimatum. But it still feels good to finally break that ground.

Here’s my setup for the final shot of Rebuilt, one of the few times I’ve fully taken advantage of my tripod to capture an overhead angle. I hope to post another update in a few weeks, so see you then!

https://i.imgur.com/s9yFHTz.jpg

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

December 2023: Pushing Downhill

It's been a long month. I had hoped to finish filming over Thanksgiving break, but the last few days were eaten away unexpectedly and then the final three weeks of the university semester took over. Burned me out pretty hard on classes, but that's over for now. Still got some work done on Last Stand: Rebuilt every few days. Filmed a couple more scenes tonight, and should film the last two tomorrow. That'll be a wrap. My intention is to get a trailer out in the next week or two, before the end of the year. Then the actual release date will be February 25, 2024, the original film's 13th anniversary.

Also got a little work done on Last Stand: Kilee by building the two fighter planes that will appear in the short. I'll need to Bricklink some parts to finish them soon. It would be nice to begin filming this short in January before the next semester starts, but that'll depend on how Rebuilt's post-production is going.

Hope to post that trailer here soon. I'm excited to finally show off new footage. It should be a close mirror to the original short's trailer so a comparison will be pretty easy.

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Getting closer!

Despite continuing to have more hours than scheduled at work, I was able to get the trailer out. Visual effects are essentially complete on the full film and sounds effects are well underway being added. Still have a long way to go on composing music, which somewhat concerns me, but there's still a lot of wiggle room until release in two months.

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

At long last, the final hurdle has been cleared.

As...always, everything else in life had a way of dominating my time, so I ended up completing the music at the last minute. Hence why it released this evening instead of this morning. mini/blankexpression But close enough. And finally, after years of on-and-off work, I finished Rebuilt.

Which means Kilee is next. Glad to be moving on to new story again. Should have an update in March on that.

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

March 2024: Taking to the Skies

Work on Last Stand: Kilee began in earnest after Rebuilt released. I've filmed somewhere around one-third (maybe a bit more) of it in the past few weeks. Unlike the other character shorts which are prequels to Rebuilt, Kilee is the first to take place afterward, as the namesake character is important in Ultimatum. So let's meet her!

https://imgur.com/Vmsh2xq.jpg

https://imgur.com/8vFiG9U.jpg

Kilee is the green Verdanan pilot. The Bronzov pilot is unnamed and is the only other cast member in the video. Behind them are the planes they pilot. They're a little simple but I'm pretty happy with the designs. Filming them was another matter: I'm shooting the flying footage on ones at 30 fps instead twos so movement is easier to follow.  Unfortunately the double propellor design necessitates taking one frame for each while it is spinning. The end result is basically filming on halves/60 frames per second. mini/dizzy But that part is done; no more of that nonsense for now.

https://imgur.com/BXGLEpm.jpg

I also designed this angle-adjustable stand for one shot. Not yet sure it worked as well as I wanted, but I guess I'll find out when I start the editing process.

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Not a full update, but today I released a direct comparison of Last Stand and Last Stand: Rebuilt. What a difference several years can make...yet I still have a long way to go as an animator.

Re: Last Stand: Ultimatum - Production Log

Got back to filming Kilee a couple weeks ago and finished up, moving directly into editing. Not gonna lie, it's been painful. Lots of careful digital effects to accomplish what I want. There's a short but effects-intensive dogfight and I've been working on that several days now, for instance.

There are also several shots featuring the Bronzov pilot where I decided to combine multiple minifig faces in post-production. This was incredibly time-consuming, but I'm happy with the result as it helps sell the short better. Here's an example of two faces and the combined version:

https://i.imgur.com/ZvRbUM0.png

Looking forward, I've made two big decisions about the feature film Ultimatum:

1. I'm scrubbing the voice acting. Asking for time and talent from so many people is far out of reach for me at this point. Plus, when the other shorts go out of their way to avoid voice acting, it doesn't fit anyway. I will have to rewrite significant portions of the screenplay, but that is already in the works.

2. I will likely reformat it into several 5-10 minute shorts instead of keeping it a single feature film. The story will continue to be a single arc but having what are essentially episodes will help with pacing as I release videos over several years.