Azureus Rising Proof of Concept Video

[TheEYE]

This is a concept proof for a new trilogy that is looking more then promising.
You MUST watch the coolness that follows over and over again........

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/agk2svo7svI&amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/agk2svo7svI&amp;hl=en_US</a>

Go full screen and crank that puppy up for full immersion! 

[Anghenfil]

I saw this a couple days ago.  Where's the story?  I know it's a proof of concept piece, but come on.  It's not really a new exciting concept to have a fight sequence in a sci-fi city.  We don't get even a hint of character from Mr. Blue Eyes.  Nor why he's invading the city or why he's being attacked.

That said, the visuals look crazy awesome.  It's got some great style, and the animation is interesting.  I just wish they'd do something with all that polish.

[TheEYE]

Touche Red, Touche......
But!....
I read the development site, so I counter your lack of story ploy with THIS:
http://www.azureusrising.com/index.php/making-of-the-teaser-trailer/8

Muhahahhah! The day is won! 

[Anghenfil]

Not to piss on his film too much.  It has a great look and he's clearly a gifted action director.  But without fail every proof of concept I've seen that was structured like a short film but really just a look/cinematic test has left me cold.  The short 9 is a proof of concept film done right.  Yeah yeah, Shane Acker didn't mean for it to be, he'd never planned on doing a feature until after it was done, but that is in effect what it was.  It summarizes the tone and feel of the piece, alludes to the character dynamics, the history and destiny of the plot.  It at least tries to give you a feeling of desperation and purpose, neither of which I get from Azureus.  5 minutes is, in fact, plenty of time to tell a story.  Obviously you're not going to try to cram in a feature-length idea, but you can do a distillation of the theme, or just go ahead and show a key moment in the plot.

If I were a film executive shown Azureus Rising, I would feel hugely uncomfortable putting this guy at the helm of a feature with no indication of his character acting abilities, or what kind of a character Eric is.  Short film directors often have no clue what they're doing once they need to flesh out a 90-minute story (see: Quest for Camelot).

Also, "troubled young boy becoming a freedom fighter" may be great in execution, but it's a terrible story synopsis.  Maybe mention something about how that transformation happens, or some personality trait that sets him apart from all the other thousands of troubled young boys in hero's journey fiction.  It's especially bad because "fight in a sci-fi city" is such a lackluster proof of concept to begin with.

I dunno, maybe I'm just being a wet blanket.  Azureus is very pretty.  And 9, despite being a really decent short, was a not-so-good feature.  

[TheEYE]

Oh sure..... bring logic into the argument why don't ya.
I've got no comeback for you for two reasons.

1)The page I posted was the only page I read on the site. It is only a concept after all, if they don't want to spend the time making the damn movie, how much time do I really have to spend reading about it? 

2)Haven't seen 9 yet so I can't comment as far as it's credibility as a feature length film goes. I should rent it this weekend.

Overall, the concept was damn well made in my opinion. However, there are a few things that make me wonder if the feature will ever be made despite it's poor plot points or lack of any definable synopsis or real story.....

If it took them 5 months to do 5 minutes of animation with the amount of talent they have listed on the site, it's going to take them what, 6ish years to pull out a 90 minute-ish piece. With again, that amount of talent.... not even a big ass studio is going to invest that kind of capital to ensure a film's production. They will need a huge amount of financial backing to just pay the overhead let alone the actual production costs.

It will be interesting to see how far this goes, even if it doesn't make it to a feature it's bound to see light as at least a comic, or possibly a web series. It has some damn good artists behind it already.

[elephant]

Ri beat me to it. Loved the design, animation and pacing, but the one question remained-- what are they going to do with the story?
In the link you gave the director (?) mentions that he is not able to make a film that would give us an emotional response in 5 minutes... which makes me question if he can do it in 90 minutes.

A good example of another sci-fi action short that's being crafted into a film is The Gift by Carl Erik Rinsch. Since my battery is running out, you'll have to make your own conclusions, but it made me ask more questions about the world it was set in, the characters and the nature of the mcguffin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOZkLIwbRrw

Thanks for showing this though, I can enjoy it for what it is and it really was cool.

[Pieter]

I'm with miss sourpuss on this one. It has that "look at me i'm so cool" factor which I usually dislike. Plus the story I get from this is that it's a bunch of mashed up clichés. Feels like Advent Children all over again.

That bieng said, the visuals are excellent, and the animation was good too, altough I'm not won on the acting.

I'm not hating it, it's all very nicely done. I just wish they'dd come up with something a little more original looking. I'dd still watch it just for the visuals.

[TheEYE]

You know, something occurred to me just now.....
 
Why can he not make an emotional impact in a 5 minute film? How many times has Adma done just that in less then 5 minutes? 

[Anghenfil]

It finally dawned on me what was bugging my noggin about this short:  Not only isn't there a story, there's not even an action-y suspense arc.  Azureus never struggles, doesn't get beaten up, and none of the bad guys even get in a cheap shot.  There's no dramatic tension.  Not saying that the protagonist needs to get trashed in every fight scene, but at the very least there needs to be a sense that they're in over their head.  Even in a simplistic action short, there ought to be a "darkest hour" moment.

I just saw "The Gift," Heinrich.  I agree, that's a good proof of concept short.  There's two action arcs (one with the fur-hat guy, one with the android), and you get to feel curious about what exactly is in the box (or maybe what the box itself is?).  And it has a great monochrome washed-out look.  It feels very elegant without calling undue attention to itself.

[Snowman]

I kind of enjoyed this concept short...but only kind of. I'm in total agreement with Anghenfil about the suspense arc. After the scorpion's freaking laser beam didn't even phase him, I stopped expecting him to ever be in any sort of immediate danger.

Plus you have no idea what kind of story this stems off of. At least it looks crisp, I guess?

And lastly, the character movement was too cheesy for me to enjoy the action aspect of the short(which was the entire short) fully. Not only did the character have all the right moves, but he springs around effortlessly without properly building momentum or even anticipation (sure, he bends down a little, still looks pretty hokey). Even when he's thrown from an explosion, I'll be damned if he doesn't land in some aesthetically pleasing pose for the camera EVERY TIME. And he'll kind of just stand there when some impending threat is either sneaking up behind him or surrounding him. It's cooler if you wait 'til the last second, right? He's cool.

Why did he even bother throwing that little flash bang or whatever that thing was in the beginning? They surrounded him with chain guns, so if he did his thing they'd start shooting each other. I mean, the guy moves like Superman and has some sword that can cut through an armor scorpion destroyer bot. And he can dance between him-seeking missiles, bouncing like a wound up spring off nearby buildings and all around the scorpion bot, as if the city defense engineers made a defective product. Oh, and how about those turrets that shoot at him when he hops the wall in the beginning. All that's affecting the guy is gravity and momentum. The guns don't aim ahead of the target when it's moving? Why did they even build them then? This guy might be doing the city a favor by destroying it.

And the ship that comes for him after he tears through the guards like butter. Thankfully it didn't shoot him as he stood stupidly still? Wait, why didn't it shoot? Did it think he was dead? Who built this city???

Okay it turns out there's more I dislike about this than I realized.

[TheEYE]

Wow.
I was just happy shit was blowing up. If it would have had a half naked woman strutting around it would have damn near been perfect.






I need to get out more. 

[Tinsterr]

Yeah, not sure if I can contribute with any new thoughts. It looked nice but, as already mentioned; I would like to see some story and that is some kind of conflict. That's what storytelling is all about. If this guy plans on doing a full feature trilogy he must have some kind of story that he could tease with.

At first I thought the roboticish look were cool but further in I just longed for some skin and humanity or animality, whatever. And I could tell he was inspired by Iron Man. Mr Starks robot outfit came to mind when I first saw the blue haired guy in this one.

The last thing I have to point out; a giant scorpion... come on. I got sick of giant scorpions from when I saw Clash of the Titans