Goliath - An NR2003 Film

[Stetara]

Hello everybody.

I'm an avid sim racer (Mainly offline, but I've had some online stints here and there), and an amateur filmmaker (Although I likely won't pursue it in years to come, but who knows?). This year, I've taken something that I've always wanted to give a try, and I've made it a reality - I've produced a NASCAR-related film, using both stop-motion animation and sequences from NR2003.

In case you're wondering, here's the gist of the film...

Evan Hackett is a caliber driver racing for the low-budget and underfunded Garrett Racing. On one particular night, he has his first victory locked up, when he suddenly crashes without any previous notice, and victory slips away.

However, Hackett's incident was no ordinary crash, and team owner Lee Garrett notices this. With the help of Detective Mark Braun, Hackett and his team discover that victory did not just slip out of their hands - But that it was taken from them.

...And the film's trailer.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epxs19JhVfc"]YouTube - Goliath - Official Trailer[/ame]

This film features numerous cars from this website (I have contacted the painters of the particular cars I used, in hopes of permission to credit them for their work). I tried to get about every car in at least one shot, but whether or not all shots I took will make the cut will have to wait and see come editing time. Regardless, I feel like this is something that has never been tried before, and I wanted to put it into the public eye of the NR2003 community, whether it be a painting site (Like this one) or otherwise. While it's really just a Spring project that I got a couple of friends to contribute to, I hope that it receives some acclaim.

The film will premiere in full at my school's Film Festival later this month, and it will likely be uploaded the very same day.

 

[Michael James]

looks good

 

[Darrell Pace]

Damn thats a cool idea, Thanks!

 

[dalejrgamer]

Oh hay crashman

 

[Stetara]

Oh hay crashman

'Sup

 

[Bazmeister]

Looking forward to it.

Was the voice-over provided Sam Posey?

 

[Stetara]

Well, the premiere is tonight, about an hour into the festival...The reception has been good from teachers who have talked to me about it, and it's gone through a lot of tweaking to get it just right, and the film teacher was impressed. All that's left to do now is to

- Watch and enjoy everyone else's films
- Hope to God there aren't anymore export errors (Sometimes when I would export the film from Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, there would be black spaces where there should have been film...That should be resolved by now.)
- Hold out hope that it won an award!

The movie will probably be up on YouTube sometime this week. However, because of the huge filesize, I'll probably have to split the movie up into parts. It's 10:41 minutes anyway.

 

[Stetara]

Hey everyone - Sorry I didn't do this earlier.

The film was extremely well received back in May, and won the Film Festival's award for the Best Story in a Film. But in regards to all the compliments and praise I received for the film, it was just icing on the cake. My school's Film Festival this year was an incredible night, and I hope I'll be able to replicate that same success this year.

Anyway, I was meaning to upload the film immediately after the festival, but then I put it off...And put it off...And put it off again. Then, midway through Days of Thunder a few nights ago, I threw in the towel and began to upload the film. However, due to the duration and huge filesize, I had to upload it in three different parts (I could've gone with two, though - I thought the filesize limit was 1 GB rather than 2). For this reason, I've set up a playlist for the sake of optimal continuity.

Without much further ado, I'm pleased to present Goliath to the NR2003 community at large.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_H2VOwbM8&feature=PlayList&p=AA1BE8E06FF3E0D4&index=0&playnext=1"]YouTube - Goliath - An NR2003 Film (Part One)[/ame]

Some notes about the film:

- I've taken numerous ''Behind the Scenes'' shots as to how most things were made (However, this is only in regards to how the LEGO sequences were made) which I should post soon. I can also post the carfiles for all three cars used in both the film and the trailer (The trailer car was the scheme seen in the first race with no logos.).

- My voice actors were a pleasure to work with, although I didn't quite have the experience in casting to decipher just how I wanted the various characters presented. The people I chose ranged from my school's football quarterback, two drama club members, and a teacher (Not disclosing who for privacy's sake, but you should be able to figure it out). Additional voices were done by myself and a studio assistant (Of which didn't ask me to credit him).

- The film was dedicated to the memory of David Mitton, the director of the children's classic ''Thomas the Tank Engine'', as well as the creator of a similar Live-Action Animation show ''Tugs'' and a worker on the legendary ''Thunderbirds''. Mitton, who died of a heart attack a year ago before my first appearance in the Film Festival, practiced incredible attention to detail, and his work had a tremendous influence on my childhood and ''creative eye''. Regardless of what I do next, Mitton's work will continue to influence my approach, and he and his work are missed.

- The film went through a number of changes during production, and there are some differences between the film's final cut and what was originally presented to the committee who judged the films. The ''Director's Cut'' does indeed exist, and I would be happy to share it with you at a later date.

I'll traverse some more nuggets of information later, but I'm tired of typing this, and all this is more than likely extraneous anyway. Regardless, I hope you enjoy my film.

 

[Janitor Dave]

All I have to say is, WOW. That was a brilliant LEGO/NR2003 mix.

 

[Enter Sandman]

Pretty cool dude, reminds me of the situation with Carl Long, Jeremy Mayfield, etc.

Much better than the movie I did for my Senior year's film studies class........

 

[Stetara]

Pretty cool dude, reminds me of the situation with Carl Long, Jeremy Mayfield, etc.

Much better than the movie I did for my Senior year's film studies class........

The film was moreso inspired by Regan Smith's disqualification last year at Talladega (Even though I wouldn't say DEI is really an underdog team), but it can definitely be applied to both of these things.

Funnily enough, the week I finished the initial cut of the film was the week that Phoenix Racing won at Talladega (Also the week that Carl Edwards had about the exact same crash he did in the film), and at that point I said ''What am I thinking and why am I such a conspiracy nut?''....And then all that happened and here I am again.

Also, just what did you do in your senior year? I'd be interested to see it.

 

[Enter Sandman]

I actually don't even have it anymore. One of my friends pretty much wrote a revenge story. He played a farmer who stole my girlfriend, and I was an outlaw biker in it (lol, although I can look the part with some quick fake tattoos).

It ended up being fairly ridiculous. I was told by the teacher my acting was like "Terminator meets William Shatner".

The girl I was actually dating at the time. Oddly enough, the teacher praised her acting, um, let's just say 'fast'. She didn't even act lol.

It was made even more stupid by the fact that I wasn't on a bike at any point during the movie, driving a Chevy Blazer which was a metallic turqoise color.

 

[Enter Sandman]

I think Jon actually has the DVD of it, but he's in Montana now as far as I know. Lost touch a couple years back.