| Laurie
has been into film making for many years and he has an interesting story
to tell. As well as many other films, he has recently completed a film
that you could say, took him 19 years to complete from idea to last frame.
The actual making of the film took him 3 years, here we find out a little
more about the film and bit more about Laurie. The film is called
"The War of the Starfighters", this is what Laurie says on web site
about the film "This 76 minute CG (computer generated) feature
film has been made by me on my own (except for some voices) and will
utilise the three short films made below. It is centred around a robot
called Trevlac and a human called Mark, his family and friends. Completed
March 3rd 2003. This film was made as a special gift to my children and
family, not for any commercial reason. It has been archived by the British
Film Institute NFT archive and the East Anglian archive". |
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If you would like to take a
look then click on this link >>>> starfight.htm |
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The pictures
in this interview are taken from the film "War of the Starfighters" |
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IAC : Tell us about yourself ?
I'm Laurie Calvert, age 41, married to
Pauline with two lovely children Laurie Jnr (age 6) and Jonathan (age
4). Laurie and Jon were to be the primary inspiration for the movie.
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IAC : Have you had any formal
training in film making, if yes, what and where ?
Not training but I do have some experience.
From 1982 - 1987 I worked as a Rostrum cameraman in London, working on
over 100 programmes, adverts, and 5 features. My job involved shooting
on 35mm film on an Oxberry movie camera in a studio. An animator would
bring in the artwork and I'd press the buttons to film it. It is an
important point to realise that this didn't help me in my Computer
Graphics (CG) work of today because in the mid 80s CG was not around in
my work environment. Recently had to self-teach myself how to
animate and time moves. Now I was working without film or a lens,
instead using hard drives, compression, codecs, pixels, polygons and a
whole different set of film making tools. Today I make corporate
training videos, but again that added nothing to my CG. I spent two
years getting up to speed with these new tools before embarking on my
feature in Jan 2000. So I do consider myself an amateur in every sense
of the word when it comes to my CG films. I hope the IAC can be proud of
me.
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IAC : Lets talk about your film "The
War of the Starfighters". What inspired you to take on such a task
?
In 1978 I saw Star Wars and that inspired me
to make films. In 1984 I had an idea for a super 8 feature called 'Robofighters'.
I started it but it was taking too long to do. But the idea never went
away. In 2000 I realised that I could do it CG after making three short
CG 'Starfighter' movies. These won IAC awards and were shown on
FreeScreen on ITV. But it was the reaction of my children, Laurie and
Jon, to my short 'Starfighter' movies that really made me want to do it
for them and the pressure was on to make it before they grew up! But it
was a tremendous task, one I never want to take on again on my own
(except for some voices). This is the special thing about this film - I
made it all on my own, without a team and this was necessary so it was
my vision only and therefore valid as a personal gift to my kids.
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IAC : Where can people go to see
this film ?
A copy of the film is available in the IAC
library. It is also archived along with many other films of mine in the
BFI NFT Archive and the East Anglian archive (their first CG entry). It
was never intended for general release. It is non-commercial. Made just
for Laurie & Jon.
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IAC : How long did the whole
thing take to complete, from idea, to last frame ?
First idea was 1984. Script and story 1999.
First CG frame was Jan 2000. Last CG frame March 3rd 2003. I'll let you
do the maths
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IAC : What software and hardware
do you use ?
Software used had to be fast, both to use
and to render. Also cheap. The most effective programs were therefore
Poser (characters), Bryce (buildings, ships, backgrounds), Asymetrix
3DFX (ships and props), Illusion (explosions), E-Jay (music), Sound
Forge (sound effects), Photoshop (image manipulation), and of course the
fantastic Premiere 4.2 and 6.5 (editing, compositing and effects).
Notice no top flight programs used such as Lightwave. Hardware was a
1998 spec PC, Pentium 2, 233 processor with 140 Gig of hard drives. But
right at the end of the project I bought a 2.4 Gig processor, 200 Gig PC
so I could actually edit feature length.
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IAC : What was the hardest part of making
of the film and why ?
The hardest part was getting started. After
making the first 4 minute short I said 'never again' because it was so
hard. But couple of months later I had made the 5 minute sequel. A
few months more and the trilogy was complete. It was at that point I
committed myself to the project, allowing a further 4 years to complete
it. It took several days to make the decision because to make something
as big as this on your own takes a lot out of your life. And it was hard
doing the first half. The second half was nicer and I speeded up.
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IAC : What was the most enjoyable
part of making the film and why ?
Bet you can guess? Finishing it. Now I look
back and just can't believe I even attempted it because it was even
harder than I thought. 1,350 shots, 10,000 files, 40 music tracks, 212
back-up CDs, 2,500 hours work on average completing 5 seconds of
finished film. An average of 2 hours per day on it in the evenings.
Actually the best bit was showing it to my parents and kids and they all
liked it. Really they did. If they hadn't I would have cried. That
moment after the premiere for my family was the nicest.
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IAC : What other films have you
made ?
'The War of the Starfighters' was my 150th
amateur film. I've made films since 1978 (after Star Wars started me
off) at first on Standard 8 silent. Other films I have shown at IAC
events in the early 80s include 'The Calling' 'Contact' 'Reflex Action'
'Fun & Games' 'Surprise Attack' and many others.
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IAC : What`s your next film going to be ?
I planning on making a low budget live
action feature about a crime-fighting female but I need to cast and
script soon before giving it the green light. Without a good cast and
script the film will go nowhere. But first I'm having a rest!
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IAC : What is your favourite all
time film and why ?
Easy to answer. Star Wars. Because the
characters and story are so engaging with the pace of the film keeping
you hooked. The visuals were ground breaking but the film went way
beyond this. Today it is still the best for me by far.
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IAC : Who`s your favourite
director and why ?
George Lucas of course but also Steven
Spielberg because of the way he moves the camera and his style with
actors, something I find hard to do myself. I think the academy should
have awarded these two more Oscars and by not doing that they devalue
the award. I also like Paul Verhoeven's films and guess what - he is a
Star Wars fan too!
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IAC : If you had a 2 million
pound budget, what would you make a film about ?
That's not a lot really, so I couldn't make
an effects-filled movie. So it would probably be a 'growing up' film.
Something like American Graffiti (if I was that good) or a car movie
like 'The Fast & the Furious'. Give me 100 million and I'll make you
something really special.
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IAC : What advice would you give to
any budding filmmaker who is just starting out into the film making world
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Don't listen to people who say you can't do
it. Just because others haven't done it doesn't mean it cannot be done.
Make what you want to make and how you want to make it. Make films for
yourself, not others. Listen to constructive criticism and bear in mind
the givers knowledge and experience before deciding how much emphasis to
place on it. Don't follow trends, set them. Have fun and make friends.
Crikey, guess I'd better follow some of that advice too!
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IAC : We are certain you will be seeing a lot
more of Laurie in the near future, so watch this space for when we
interview him after he`s made his 100 million block buster mega bucks
film.
- Andy Paul May 2003
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