blog.starwreck.com

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!

(This is a collective story synopsis based on ideas from the people at our lecture in Stadia today. It’s in Finnish - and it’s crap so don’t worry.)

Kävimme tänään Stadiassa luennoimassa yhteisöllisestä elokuvanteosta, Wreckistä, Rautataivaasta ja muusta sellaisesta. Pitkästä aikaa teimme myöskin yhteisöllisen elokuvasynopsiksen, joka siis tarkoittaa sitä, että yleisöltä kysellään ideoita ja niistä kasataan sitten vartissa jokin enemmän tai (yleensä) vähemmän koherentti synopsis. Tällä kertaa lopputuloksena oli kevyesti kyberpunkahtava/filmnoirahtava tarina kovaksikeitetystä tekoälypoliisista:

Horsma rakkalle.

Vuonna 2099 data on korvannut rahan internetin valuuttana, rikas yläluokka hallitsee Sisältöä, jolla voi ostaa mitä tahansa. Elokuvalla maksat pizzan, kymmenen tuntia erotiikkaa maksaa kuukauden vuokran. Musta pörssi rehottaa. Tekoälyt ovat jokapäiväisiä, mutta maailma on vaarallinen paikka ja tulevaisuudessa tasa-arvo tarkoittaa sitä, että ihmiset ja kodinkoneet ovat kaikki samaa petollista paskaa.

Irwin Volkswagen on kovaksikeitetty poliisiauto Itä-Helsingistä, tarkemmin ottaen komisario Lahden rikospoliisissa. Irwinin vaimo on perhepäivähoitaja Liisa Mäkelä, melkoisen lihaisa saalis koppiautolle. Mutta kukaan ei ole täydellinen, Liisa on varsin viinaan menevä nainen ja Irwinin viipyessä pitkillä partiokierroksilla on ehtinyt kasvattaa melkoisen velan eräälle mustan pörssin datakauppiaalle. Maksaakseen velkansa Liisa kopioi Irwinin työssään nauhoittamia poliisivideoita - takaa-ajoja, ampumisia, jopa muutaman ylinopeussakon, jotka kuitattiin luonnossa konttoriosassa…

Pian samaisen datakauppiaan runneltu ruumis löytyy Merihaan rannasta. Irwin väittää, ettei tiedä asiasta mitään, mutta menettää poliisimerkkinsä ja pidätetään virastaan, kun piraattisivustoille leviää Turvakamera Tapio Securitaksen nauhoitus, joka näyttää Irwinin peruuttavan uudestaan ja uudestaan maassa makaavan datakauppiaan yli.

Irwin, jonka elämä on syöksykierteessä, ajaa konttorilta suoraan Merihakaan kovistelemaan Turvakameraa. Tavallinen tarina olisi, että joku surkea kameranretku yrittää lavastaa taas tuhota yhden melkein rehellisen poliisin uran, sitä on nähty. Tämä turvakamera ei kuitenkaan laula, ei edes Irwinin peruutettua tämän tolpan 20 asteen kulmaan. Se huutaan vaan Irwinin menettäneen tekoälynsä ja esittää uudestaan samaa nauhaa, jolla Irwin runnoo maassa makaavaa datakauppiasta..

Lähes vakuuttuneena omasta mielenvikaisuudestaan Irwin ajaa lähiräkälään hukuttamaan murheensa bioetanoliin. Siellä hän saa kuitenkin puhelun ystävältään Ylikomissaario Ford Mondeolta, joka kertoo viimeisimmän piraattisatamaan tehdyssä ratsiassa löytyneen Irwinin videoita. Jokin ei ole kohdallaan. Irwinin epäilykset heräävät ja hän palaa kotiin ja löytää vaimon pakkaamassa tavaroitaan vieraaseen mustaan limusiiniin. Vihastuksissaan humalainen Irwin iskee vaimoaan ovella ja vieras auto pakenee paikalta.

Itkuinen Liisa vakuuttaa, ettei asiat ole niin kuin Irwin luulee, hän rakastaa Irwiniä liikaa ollakseen tämän kanssa. Hän on vain juoppo vanha lihasäkki joka kopio Irwinin tiedostoja tämän nukkuessa. Irwin on viimeisiä suoraselkäisiä autoja kokokaupungissa, hän ansaitsee parempaa. Siksi Liisan täytyy lähteä, ettei hän satuttaisi Irwiniä enää enempää. Irwin on raivoissaan, hänen elämänsä on murusina, hänet ollaan tuomitsemassa murhasta ja päästyään vankilasta hän on liian vanha ja ruosteinen muuhun kuin koulutaksiksi Ivaloon.

Tällöin vieras limosiini palaa renkaat kirskuen paikalle. Sisältä purkautuu joukko asentajia ja Tapio Securitas, linssi tummana Irwinin kovisteluista. Turvakamera alkaa huutaa että hän tiesi ettei hänen pitäisi luottaa Liisaan, täällä hän on miehensä etuistuimella vaikka heidän pitäisi olla lautalla matkalla Ruotsiin, aloittamaan uutta elämää yhdessä.

Koko synkkä vyyhti paljastuu Irwinille. Yönä jolloin datakauppiaanretku kuoli, Liisa oli hypännyt rattiin, ohittanut Irwinin ajoneston ja sopinut tapaamisen kauppiaan kanssa Tapio Securitaksen kortteliin. Sen piti olla täydellinen rikos, anonyymi yliajo joita kaupungissa tapahtuu joka päivä. Tapion piti olla silloin päällä - mutta tämä ei ollut voinut vastustaa ostovoimaista snuff-videota, vaan maksoi sillä asennuksensa ruotsinlaivan saunaosastolle.

Irwin karjuu Liisan käyttäneen häntä kuin esinettä, tehneen hänestä tappajan. Liisa itkee ja pyytää anteeksiantoa, mutta Irwin iskee kauko-ohjaimen nappia ja sulkee talon ovet ja ilmastoinnin. Tämän jälkeen hän lukitsee ovensa ja kaasuttaa.

Ruutu menee mustaksi dieselin savusta ja sen hälvennettyä näemme Liisan makaamassa kuolleena maassa yliajetun turvakameran vieressä. Keravalaisella teollisuusalueella Irwin kaasutta kohti yhtä viimeisistä vartioimattomista tasoristeyksistä. Tavarajuna lähestyy ja soittaa pilliään, mutta on selvää ettei Irwin aio pysähtyä.

Kuulemme vääntyvän metallin kirskuvan ja ruutu menee mustaksi.

THE END

Täytyy kehua, että Stadian porukalla oli muutamia niin loistavia ideoita, ettei niitä edes kehdannut pistää pikasynopsikseen. Jos sen nanovirusidean heittäjä satut lukemaan tätä blogia, niin hus novellia kirjoittamaan - siitä tulisi helvetin hienoa hc-scifiä.

During the entire history of the universe, only one Finnish movie has been turned into a computer game. That was back in 1986, when Uuno Turhapuro Muuttaa Maalle was released on the Commodore 64. In the game the player took part in non-stop action of plowing the field and cutting the grass. Yet, compared to other licence games of the day it held it’s own.

Now with Iron Sky we decided very early on, that we don’t want to do “just” a movie, we want to create a whole world - with history, future and unlimited posibilities. We want the world of Iron Sky to live and breath on it’s own, not just for the movie. Maybe the movie will be only one of the stories told about nazis on the dark side of the moon.

I’d take most of you can guess where we’re going with this… The Energia gang has been raised playing video games and RPG’s. Last year we released the Star Wreck Role Playing Game written by Mike Pohjola. Next, we want to make a computer game about Iron Sky.

We realise we know very little about making computer games, but we know what we want to play. That’s why we’re looking for game makers who would be interested in the idea. As the first step Timo went to visit the local chapter of IGDA (International Game Developer’s Association) and talked to the game industry people about the film. While the Finnish movie industry is generally very reserved about everything and pessimistic about anything new, the game industry is almost the complete opposite. To begin with, the are Finnish games competing head to head in the global market. The biggest difference is, that people really seemed to like the idea about making a game about nazis on the dark side of the moon and thought that the Iron Sky game could definetly be done, it’s all a question of finding the right people.

What kind of game are we making then? Well, it hasn’t been decided yet. The world would find many kinds of games from real time strategy to moon buggy racing. However I have to say that the game type that interests us most are the good ol’ adventure games. Because while shooting nazis is always fun it takes a great story to make a game really memorable.

We’ve opened a forum for the Iron Sky game, so go check it out and tell us what you would like to play.

p.s. Personally, even though I’m very fond of games like Monkey Island and Sam & Max, the best game ever made is UFO: Enemy Unknown. No sequel or re-make has ever come close to the original, because nothing can beat the atmosphere of the the desperate fight for Earth. I couldn’t care less about the bottom of the ocean or some unknown planet. It’s all in the story, even if there isn’t that much of it.

Back when we were making the Legacy DVD we excluded Star Wreck 4½: Weak Performance in a sudden moment of self-criticism. Since then it has been missed by many people, far more than we would have ever guessed! So, now it’s time for Star Wreck 4½ to come to a DVD player near you, and make your Legacy collection complete.

We’ve set up a BitTorrent download for an .iso file that you can burn to a DVD and enjoy the film. For instructions on burning a .iso file check out this site. If you don’t have a BitTorrent client installed, we recommend µTorrent.

Go and Download the .torrent!

You can also watch the film online, without downloading anything!

I’m ashamed to admit that I only today learned of the Baen Free Library project. To those not In The Know, it’s an online service by the publishing company Baen Books that offers electronic versions of their books for free. It’s been around since 2000, and currently offers 98 titles. To quote First Librarian Eric Flint: “I will cheerfully put up the stuff for free myself. Because I am quite confident that any ‘losses’ I sustain will be more than made up for by the expansion in the size of my audience.” So they’ve been saying (and proving) the same thing that we demonstrated with Star Wreck - that free distribution cannot but benefit the authors - since the turn of the millennium. So we weren’t quite the first, although apparently, Mr Puskala endorsed the Free Library on our forum already in 2002.

So why is this fact so hard for show business to admit? Why is the industry trying to clamp down on online piracy when it’s so obviously counterproductive - more regulations means higher costs means artificially-elevated prices means piracy appears more attractive? Beats me. Probably because it’s so much easier to cling to what you grew up with instead of trying to change with the times. Possibly because the prevailing ideological climate seems to be moving in a more draconian, paranoid direction. We can only hope that successful endeavours like the Free Library (and Star Wreck) will eventually convince the movers and shakers that free distribution is an opportunity and not a threat.

Actually, I know the true reason. It’s because only good authors benefit from the publicity generated by free distribution. Let’s face it: without the artificial hype generated by massive publishing efforts - if people knew what it is they’re buying - would the likes of Dan Brown or Ilkka Remes ever sell a copy?

And would we really be any worse off for it?

Click on the above picture to see the Imperial Edition ships in glorius full HD resolution. Also marvel at the blurriness of the background nebula that was made for DV resolution. That picture was already huge, but to look good in HD it would have to be hueg liek xbox.

We know it took a long time to render some beauty shots of the ships, but better late than never I hope… There are couple of more C.P.P. Kalinka shots on the discussion forum and maybe some more shots to come.