Elstree 1976: documentary about what happened to the Star Wars extras Page 2

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  • Deleted user 18 May 2014 21:17:14
    Yeah, Star Wars has always been on the cool curve. Even now you can go to any Toys R Us and see supercool 30-something hipsters buying their mint-on-mint-card toys.
  • videojon 19 May 2014 08:06:48 1 posts
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    I'm the director of Elstree 1976.
    I found this thread on my morning google-scour to see how word is spreading.

    Just to address Jablonski's fears - 30k is actually a fraction of the amount needed to bring a film like this to completion and myself and the producer are bringing it in on that figure not only taking no money ourselves but having funded production this far out of our own pockets.

    Firstly, it's not a 'fan made' documentary. I like Star Wars, but I wouldn't proclaim myself a 'fan' in the sense you seem to imply. It's not fan made. Everyone involved with this film is professional. We're self-funding/crowdfunding as a way to sidestep the industry. Quite simply, it's not a commercial idea, so to have got it funded by a broadcaster or production company would have involved compromise and a lot of wasted time in development. this model of production acts as a pre-sell to the audience.

    The intention is for the film to have a cinema release and then DVD/Blu and hopefully TV/VOD. To achieve this, the film has to hit a technical standard of delivery which can't be achieved on just a laptop and some hacked software. The film needs a full sound mix so it can be screened. It's being scored, so the soundtrack needs to be performed, recorded, mixed and mastered. I edit myself but I need to hire an online editor to produce a final edit. Then the film needs to be graded - properly graded, again, not just a friend on a laptop. If you've ever seen a distributors' list of 'deliverables', you'd see how costly it gets - subtitles, professional distribution formats, DCPs. We have to pay licensing fees on music, images and footage we use in the film - this is extremely costly. We have to pay legal expenses throughout the film's production. We then have to have the DVDs and Blus mastered and manufactured. Then there are fees for film festivals and even the most basic marketing to bring the film to distribution.

    30k is bare-bones. If we made more than that, it would go back into the film to get it finished quicker and better. There are no salaries or pay factored into the budget for those of us making the film. It'll be a long, long time until myself and the producer take a penny from Elstree 1976 - if at all - and it certainly won't be at this stage. We made nothing out of our last film as we sank all of the money into music and footage clearances to make the film better. I earn my living making other films. This is a passion project. And not the passion for Star Wars, the passion for making a film which has some meaning and doesn't have to fit someone elses idea of what a pop-culture documentary should be.

    I know it's a bit weird just to pop up like this, but it's frustrating to see people who really don't know anything talk with authority as if they do.

    Thanks 1Dgaf for spreading the word about the film, though. You're a true gent.

    Edited by videojon at 08:10:35 19-05-2014
  • Deleted user 19 May 2014 08:51:54
    Classic jablonski
  • Load_2.0 19 May 2014 09:01:43 33,583 posts
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    Zing!
  • sport 19 May 2014 09:06:46 17,064 posts
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    @videojon - you really should hire jablonski. That man is film incarnate!
  • Tom_Servo 19 May 2014 11:41:19 18,079 posts
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    OUCH
  • Salaman 19 May 2014 12:30:21 24,162 posts
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    Oh shit it's Jon Spira! Everyone scram!

    Looks quite interesting. I might back it.
  • Load_2.0 19 May 2014 12:53:53 33,583 posts
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    But who has the bigger lightsabre?
  • sport 19 May 2014 13:44:09 17,064 posts
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    Load_2.0 wrote:
    But who has the bigger lightsabre?
    It's like Alien VS Predator - whoever wins, we lose.
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