blog.starwreck.com

To keep an eye out what people are talking abotu us I’ve subscribed to Google Alerts for terms like “Star Wreck” and “Iron Sky”. Quite often these alerts have something that’s got absolutely nothing to do with us, most often it is bad poetry in the lines of “…something something something, under the iron sky…”

Now and then there’s something awesome, like this blog post entitled “Star Wreck” about pictures of Urban Star Wars…

Nobody seems to know the source, but here are some more.

This morning the news reached me that author Arthur C. Clarke has passed away. He was known as the author of 2001 as well as the father of satellites.

What is not so widely know is that Arthur C. Clarke was the most influential writer of my youth. In my childhood I lived in the countryside. Every saturday a library bus laoded full of books would stop by our house and I would loan a big bunch of comics, Asterix, Lucky Luke, Valerian (there was even one album signed by Mézières himself) and pretty much everything I could find. I think tv had already made me a scifi geek so I eventually started reading trough all the scifi books the book mobile would carry. I think I started with John Carter of Mars but soon I found myself reading Arthur C. Clarkes 2010. It blew my mind. After that I bugged the driver to bring everything Clarke had written and I think I’ve read pretty much every single book of his that the local library had at least three times. Well, with the exception of 2001 that I still haven’t read - the shadow of the movie is just too heavy.

Of all the books I’ve read my all-time favourite is Clarkes The Songs of Distant Earth. I remember one summer night, we we’re returning from a family road trip to Lapland and it was late, the sun had set but there was enough light to read. In the distance there was lightning and I was reading The Songs of Distant Earth. That is the most perfect literary moment I’ve ever had.

So, rest in peace mr. Clarke. You’ve earned it.

His last message:

So everyone and their kitchen sink has blogged this, but the first teaser for J.J. Abrams helmed Star Trek is officially out in it’s full HD glory.

It doesn’t show much, but the Enterprise on drydock looks very good. My personal jury is still out on whether I’m waiting for this film or not. I loved the first season of Lost as much as anyone, but honestly, MI:III was load of old, unwashed pants. Only less interesting.

And being on the subject of old pants, who the hell decided the Finnish premiere for Cloverfield should be 29th of February? It’s a pure internet-hype movie built on mystery. I’m from the internets and I demand everything here and now. Not over a month later when everyone has gotten so tired of the monster they can’t spell Sparta.

Just bumped on this story on Twitch about a Chilean science fiction comedy Chile Puede, which has the look and feel of good production values, although the budget of the film - I suspect - won’t be anything close to what a film like this would cost in USA. Check out the trailer here via YouTube, or with a bit better quality on film’s official site.

The things we find on the Internet! Today, it’s the thesis work of a German film student. Check it out; apart from the pretty CGI, the music and graphic design combine to depict a haunting, surreal world that reminds me, at least, of the decidedly otherworldly French science-fiction animation, La Planète Sauvage (translated to English as Fantastic Planet).

It’s also artsy-fartsy as all hell! It is a question of personal preference whether that is a good or a bad thing (I like it, director Vuorensola seems to disagree). It also says “die.art” with a fancy logo at the beginning of the end credits, which is just asking to be punned (like in the title of this post), if you ask me.

Oh, and in case you’re worried, no, Iron Sky will not look like this… or will it?

According to TorrentFreak the lates member of the “getting this internet thing” club is Erik Wilkinson, producer of the scifi film Man from Earth. He just thanked pirates for promoting his Film:

Wilkinson was pleasantly surprised by all the attention. He explained in his email to RLSlog that the people who illegally downloaded his film actually helped to promote it.

He writes: “Our independent movie had next to no advertising budget and very little going for it until somebody ripped one of the DVD screeners and put the movie online for all to download. Most of the feedback from everyone who has downloaded “The Man From Earth” has been overwhelmingly positive. People like our movie and are talking about it, all thanks to piracy on the net!”

Hopefully the other producers (IMDb lists six) and the crew are as understanding. It’s not a fun situation for anyone if half the people get the benefits of online distribution but the people holding the other half of the money thinks all this downloading humbug is the Devil’s work.

As for me, this is one film that goes straight to my have-to-watch list. Not because of a producer who knows the value of good publicity, but because it sounds damn interesting.

Update: There’s also a message to people who have downloaded the film on their MySpace blog, asking people to make a small donation if they liked the film. There is some harsher words there, but it’s still reasoanable.

Dear Wreckers & Iron Sky people, we need your help!

One of the biggest challenges in the production of the Iron Sky demo has been creating the Nazi Moonbase. Although we’ve had some pretty wonderful submissions by great artists from all over the world, we also want to hear your ideas.

The Nazi Moon Base itself is pretty much ready (although texturing and detailing are still a work in progress), but we need you to help us with designing the surrounding of the base. Everything from a brief idea description to a full 3D model are appreciated!

This task is open until 30 November 2007.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TASK

Design elements for the environment surrounding the Nazi Moon Base. Submit your ideas and textual descriptions to the forum. Pictures can be submitted either there or directly to us via email.

TASK REFERENCE

The Schwarze Sonne, the secret Nazi stronghold located on the Far Side of the Moon, is a huge complex built to house thousands of Nazis and their war machinery. The central structure is the fortress built in the shape of a swastika. Surrounding the main construction, many smaller elements have been built to support the everyday lives of the Nazis and the preparation of their return to the Earth.

The technology is pretty much 40’s style, since technologically the Nazis have not been developing much since they came to the Moon. But they’ve had plenty of time to build big, strong elements, tools, vehicles and weapons. You may think of this as a crude steampunkish world, but please keep a touch of realism to your designs.

The fortress is located in a shadowy crater, about 2 kilometres across, and the main building is about 1.2 kilometres in diameter, making it about twice the size of the Pentagon. Around it can be pretty much anything, from barracks and construction platforms to whatever you can come up with - you have the freedom to invent anything. Use your imagination!

SUBMITTING IDEAS / PICTURES / 3D MODELS

We accept anything from short idea descriptions to detailed documentations, from raw, hand-drawn sketches to detailed 3D models.

Material can be posted to by “>replying to the thread, or by sending them to our email address at info@ironsky.net.

COPYRIGHTS & CONTACTING

All the rights to the material submitted must be in the possession of the contributor. The contributor must allow the worldwide, royalty free commercial use of the material in the production of the film “Iron Sky”, and other material related to it (mainly: the demo and promotional material).

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Here you can find some reference material to help you understand the scale and form of the surrounding area and the fortress. You may download these and start working on them, or just use them as a reference - whatever suits your methods best.

This is a draft render of the scene. The camera angle & picture framing are quite close to the final.

To understand the scale of the fortress, here’s a quick mockup of the surroundings of the Pentagon.

Other images for reference can be found at our newly created Iron Sky gallery.

WHY TO DO THIS?

We like to believe that the community can be an active producer of quality content, and would like to use this as a test platform for the idea itself. Your help will be crucial and your participation highly appreciated!

If you produce something that can be utilised, your name will be mentioned, of course, in the thanks. If you produce art that can be used to create a 3D model, you’ll be credited as a ‘preproduction artist’. If you produce a model fully usable in this process, you’ll get the title of ‘modeller’. And naturally, you still hold the moral rights to the material, just as long as you grant us the rights to use it in Iron Sky.

Get creative and discuss the task!

Here’s a funny comic by Alexey Lipatov, where superhero-Hitler and superhero-Stalin match each other! Awesome!