His parents are being held ransom, the price is his head, and he doesn’t know why...
Rou is thrust into a world that he didn’t know existed. A world where wars are fought in secret, a world where Vampires carry guns, a world where the identity he thought he had... is a lie. Finding himself centre of an ancient game of cat and mouse, Rou makes and unlikely friend in a half Vampire, called Danielle, who is also hunted but for being a half breed. Together they must find a way of saving Rou’s parents whilst trying their hardest to even stay alive. As if this wasn’t demanding enough, a new task is presented to Rou, a challenge he would never have dreamt of.
This truly is the darkest period of our time... this is the Black Chapter.
Friday 19 December 2008
'The Black Chapter' a brief background
It all began back in the year 771bc, when a Sheppard found baby twins suppling on a wolf mother. The babies had been abandoned, and the wolf mother had begun raising the babies as her own. The Sheppard took the twins back to his village to be raised in a human civilisation.
Romulus and Remus grew up with a secret, they were werewolves. Remus embraced his lycanthropy as a gift, Romulus on the other hand believed it to be a curse. Through the years the twins gained control over their lycanthropy, they learnt how to change into their wolf state at will. But Romulus was still ashamed and in his rages he would attack whole villages, ‘punishing others for his condition.’ These actions only resulted in the spread of the werewolf gene, for every human being Romulus stuck his teeth into become a werewolf. Remus spent a lot of his time with the victims of Romulus, teaching them how to control their condition.
Over the years, Romulus calmed down. He began gathering followers and eventually formed the very first Roman Legion. Romulus later became the first King of Rome, naming it after himself. Now with control over the ever expanding Roman Empire, Romulus began flushing out the werewolves and destroyed the ones he came across. This however did not cure him of his own condition. So Romulus left, he was believed to have died, instead he had journeyed to the darkest corner of the earth in search of the rumoured Vampires. The Vampires are demons of this world, an evil fascist race that believed they alone have the right to rule over land and sea. Vampires were conjurers of dark magic, and Romulus knew this. He wanted help in ridding himself of his werewolf curse in exchange for control over the Roman Army.
The Vampires welcomed Romulus as a God, sent to them as a gift to lead them in the war to rid the world of everything non-Vampire. The Vampires agreed to help and Romulus was bitten by one of the oldest and most pure of the Vampires. This new gift gave Romulus un-imaginable strength and immortality. With this new found power, Romulus returned to Rome with a small army of Vampires and murdered his brother. Romulus and his dark army then set out to finish off the rest of the Werewolf population. When they reached the first small Werewolf settlement they were met by a surprisingly large resistance. Word of the murder of Remus, who was popular amongst Werewolves, had reached them, and they were not happy. A vicious battle began, the Vampires were taken aback by the surprising strength and numbers of the Werewolves, there were massive casualties on both sides. Romulus and the few remaining Vampires fled.
The Werewolves had suffered huge losses and knew that if a similar battle took place again in the future, they would not stand a chance. So they decided it would be safest to go into hiding. Most emigrated to other European countries, some even made it as far as Asia and America.
Romulus returned back to the Vampire stronghold wounded from the battle, but this was the least of his problems. His new Vampire genes were reacting to those of his lycanthropy, making him extremely ill. Romulus was dying. Elder Vampires tried their best to find a cure for Romulus, but could only manage to keep him alive. In the meantime large numbers of Vampires made their way back to Italy and beyond in search of the Werewolves, as the Vampire held them responsible for the near death of their new leader. The Werewolves were well hidden and the Vampires grew extremely frustrated, as they could not find them anywhere. The Vampires started setting up covens all across eastern Europe, the largest of these being in Romania.
Centuries past, and this ancient game of cat and mouse continued, unnoticed by normal humans. As the races evolved, so did the weapons, yet nothing is as scary as the Vampires sheer lust for blood and total domination.
Romulus and Remus grew up with a secret, they were werewolves. Remus embraced his lycanthropy as a gift, Romulus on the other hand believed it to be a curse. Through the years the twins gained control over their lycanthropy, they learnt how to change into their wolf state at will. But Romulus was still ashamed and in his rages he would attack whole villages, ‘punishing others for his condition.’ These actions only resulted in the spread of the werewolf gene, for every human being Romulus stuck his teeth into become a werewolf. Remus spent a lot of his time with the victims of Romulus, teaching them how to control their condition.
Over the years, Romulus calmed down. He began gathering followers and eventually formed the very first Roman Legion. Romulus later became the first King of Rome, naming it after himself. Now with control over the ever expanding Roman Empire, Romulus began flushing out the werewolves and destroyed the ones he came across. This however did not cure him of his own condition. So Romulus left, he was believed to have died, instead he had journeyed to the darkest corner of the earth in search of the rumoured Vampires. The Vampires are demons of this world, an evil fascist race that believed they alone have the right to rule over land and sea. Vampires were conjurers of dark magic, and Romulus knew this. He wanted help in ridding himself of his werewolf curse in exchange for control over the Roman Army.
The Vampires welcomed Romulus as a God, sent to them as a gift to lead them in the war to rid the world of everything non-Vampire. The Vampires agreed to help and Romulus was bitten by one of the oldest and most pure of the Vampires. This new gift gave Romulus un-imaginable strength and immortality. With this new found power, Romulus returned to Rome with a small army of Vampires and murdered his brother. Romulus and his dark army then set out to finish off the rest of the Werewolf population. When they reached the first small Werewolf settlement they were met by a surprisingly large resistance. Word of the murder of Remus, who was popular amongst Werewolves, had reached them, and they were not happy. A vicious battle began, the Vampires were taken aback by the surprising strength and numbers of the Werewolves, there were massive casualties on both sides. Romulus and the few remaining Vampires fled.
The Werewolves had suffered huge losses and knew that if a similar battle took place again in the future, they would not stand a chance. So they decided it would be safest to go into hiding. Most emigrated to other European countries, some even made it as far as Asia and America.
Romulus returned back to the Vampire stronghold wounded from the battle, but this was the least of his problems. His new Vampire genes were reacting to those of his lycanthropy, making him extremely ill. Romulus was dying. Elder Vampires tried their best to find a cure for Romulus, but could only manage to keep him alive. In the meantime large numbers of Vampires made their way back to Italy and beyond in search of the Werewolves, as the Vampire held them responsible for the near death of their new leader. The Werewolves were well hidden and the Vampires grew extremely frustrated, as they could not find them anywhere. The Vampires started setting up covens all across eastern Europe, the largest of these being in Romania.
Centuries past, and this ancient game of cat and mouse continued, unnoticed by normal humans. As the races evolved, so did the weapons, yet nothing is as scary as the Vampires sheer lust for blood and total domination.
Saturday 13 December 2008
Final Trailer shot - Hill Howl
Here is a link to the final shot of the trailer, the 'Hill Howl'. Unfortunately the shot is extremely dark, therefore any compression makes the quality of the shot really low. To get around this i have uploaded it to my Vimeo account, but it is still pretty nasty quality, so i have uploaded an additional image so you can see what it looks like.
Hill Howl
Hill howl - final shot - Trailer from Sam Dawes on Vimeo.
This is a concept i drew up in photoshop of the shot.
Here is a still frame of the finished shot.
This is the base for the particle system i created for the bats flying being Rou.
And finally this is a short clip of the matte for the 'wolfman'. For this i filmed myself in front of green screen and keyed myself out. I then tracked on a drawing of a wolfs head to give the illusion of a half man half wolf. This was then used for the silhouette in the final shot.
matte test for howl shot from Sam Dawes on Vimeo.
Hill Howl
Hill howl - final shot - Trailer from Sam Dawes on Vimeo.
This is a concept i drew up in photoshop of the shot.
Here is a still frame of the finished shot.
This is the base for the particle system i created for the bats flying being Rou.
And finally this is a short clip of the matte for the 'wolfman'. For this i filmed myself in front of green screen and keyed myself out. I then tracked on a drawing of a wolfs head to give the illusion of a half man half wolf. This was then used for the silhouette in the final shot.
matte test for howl shot from Sam Dawes on Vimeo.
Locations
Some shots will be taking place in remote locations like forests and beaches. Here are some of the photos i took on various trips out location scouting.
Brown Down: Gosport, Hampshire.
The New Forest: Brockenhurst, Hampshire.
Teesdale Forest: County Durham
I really liked what i saw at the New Forest and i will be shooting my forest shots there. I found at High Force, Teesdale Forest there was too many signs of civilization and i would have to be very picky with where i shoot. Brown Down is very local, and will be handy to shoot some of the smaller shots.
Brown Down: Gosport, Hampshire.
The New Forest: Brockenhurst, Hampshire.
Teesdale Forest: County Durham
I really liked what i saw at the New Forest and i will be shooting my forest shots there. I found at High Force, Teesdale Forest there was too many signs of civilization and i would have to be very picky with where i shoot. Brown Down is very local, and will be handy to shoot some of the smaller shots.
Test Shot
This is a test clone shot i conducted to see if i could get an idea of the feel i would be creating. I shot the elements for this a few weeks back, but i have now put it together and colour corrected it. It was a little tricky as i was loosing light rapidly, so i had to use a few key framed colour corrections.
This is not the final colour grading i will go with, but i think the shot is very successful. It will make the final cut after a better look at the grading.
This is not the final colour grading i will go with, but i think the shot is very successful. It will make the final cut after a better look at the grading.
Animatic
Ok, i have been away and storyboarded my shots, but seeing as there is no continuity, with it being a trailer, i have created an animatic to help me get an idea of timing etc.
The music i have used is a LinkinPark song (paper cut) that i have edited to loop. In the final trailer i will use my own score, this is purely for reference purposes.
The music i have used is a LinkinPark song (paper cut) that i have edited to loop. In the final trailer i will use my own score, this is purely for reference purposes.
Character - Model Sheets
These are the model sheets for my characters, including a short profile describing them.
Character - Mood-boards
Here are the mood-boards i created to help me develop my characters. - note: all images used in creating these mood-boards were taken from google.
Concept - Romulus
This is a concept i did of Romulus. Although Romulus does not appear in the trailer his character is very important to the story, so i chose to develop him anyway.
Research - Trailers
I have looked deep into trailer structure. I have found there are many different styles of trailer, but many of them have similar properties. An example of a property i will find extremely useful is the Bourne Identity trailer. In this trailer there is a car chase through Paris running throughout, this recurring theme greatly helps tie the trailer together. On the other hand, many trailer have the stereotypical deep American voice-over, i am going to avoid this as i feel its extremely corny and will take away from the feel of my piece.
This link will take you to the 'X-file - I Want to Believe' trailer. I really like the format it takes and i shall use a similar one myself.
X-files - I want to Believe
This link will take you to the 'X-file - I Want to Believe' trailer. I really like the format it takes and i shall use a similar one myself.
X-files - I want to Believe
Research
I Began looking into some mainstream films for inspiration and to see how they have interpreted something similar to what i plan to include. The films i looked most closely at were; 30 Days of Night, Underworld, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Here are some screen shots that i have used in my research:
30 Days of night
Underworld
Harry potter
Lord of the Rings
Here are some screen shots that i have used in my research:
30 Days of night
Underworld
Harry potter
Lord of the Rings
Introduction to 'The Black Chapter'
Welcome to my blog!
This blog will cover my journey from start to finish as i work through my Final Project entitled "The Black Chapter." I am already a short way down the production line so the next few posts will be catch-ups until i am up to speed and on par with my actual position in the project.
'The Black Chapter, is a dark period in our history, when the Vampires come out of hiding to rid the world of everything non-Vampire, starting with the werewolves. 'The Black Chapter' is set in modern day and centers round a teenager called Rou, who is thrust into a world he did not know exsited and of which he does not even know his true identity. Rou is the last direct descendant of Remus, Remus and his twin brother Romulus being the first werewolves. Nicolas a teen-Vamp takes charge of the assassination of Rou, with the aid of his coven of Vampires the destruction of Rou and all things werewolf becomes an obsession, nothing will stand in his way.' - This is a short description of the story i am working with, later down the line i will post a more detailed back log of the story.
Using this storyline i aim to create a live action movie trailer for the film 'The BlackChapter.' I decided to make a trailer because of the nature of my course and what i want to acheive from this project. By doing a trailer i can carefully select the shots to be included, which will give me some freedom in my choice of effect shots, which in the long run will should benifit my showreel.
This blog will cover my journey from start to finish as i work through my Final Project entitled "The Black Chapter." I am already a short way down the production line so the next few posts will be catch-ups until i am up to speed and on par with my actual position in the project.
'The Black Chapter, is a dark period in our history, when the Vampires come out of hiding to rid the world of everything non-Vampire, starting with the werewolves. 'The Black Chapter' is set in modern day and centers round a teenager called Rou, who is thrust into a world he did not know exsited and of which he does not even know his true identity. Rou is the last direct descendant of Remus, Remus and his twin brother Romulus being the first werewolves. Nicolas a teen-Vamp takes charge of the assassination of Rou, with the aid of his coven of Vampires the destruction of Rou and all things werewolf becomes an obsession, nothing will stand in his way.' - This is a short description of the story i am working with, later down the line i will post a more detailed back log of the story.
Using this storyline i aim to create a live action movie trailer for the film 'The BlackChapter.' I decided to make a trailer because of the nature of my course and what i want to acheive from this project. By doing a trailer i can carefully select the shots to be included, which will give me some freedom in my choice of effect shots, which in the long run will should benifit my showreel.
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