Writer for Universe and Space topic?

Hello!

This is going to sound so cliche lol but we need help writing down scifi story.
(We've actually got couple of drafts my partner has wrote so far.)
We just recently started looking for a writer and decided to register here since it seems pretty active forum.

My name is Krysttian. If you are good I'm willing to pay something, although we're not on any big budget, but the writing is more important than anything else.

We're looking into space/universe topic for the project. My partner had a general idea of a alien civilization sending out satellites just like we do, except they send in thousands and one of them reaching earth and establishing communication; however it turns out to be miscommunication. We're open to any other ideas if you got similar topic. Horror touch to it is fine as well.
This is going to be our first project together, so we want to keep it short so we could get maximum out of the quality of work. Could be even teaser, part I, that could be extended with sequels.

Let me know if anyone is interested! Questions are welcome, too.
My msn: lookfilmsltd@hotmail.com, Gmail: lookfilmsltd@gmail.com

here's some cgi work I've got started for this project, Alien Planet System and Planet Earth:
http://lookfilms.eu/other/misC/alien_planet_system_wstars.png
http://lookfilms.eu/other/misC/planet3wip.png

http://lookfilms.eu/earth/earthcomp7_all3slightly.jpg
http://lookfilms.eu/earth/earthcomp8_slightcoloradjustment.jpg

I love sci-fi...

Just remember, Sci-fi is one of those genres that requires a lot of money...at least, more than your average genre. Even if you personally have the skills to rock the CGI, it will still get pricey.

Your plot idea sounds groovy...lot's of options there.

Your CGI is nice...clean. What app are you using? Max? Maya? I'd like to see some animations as well...it's easy to do nice stills, the important part is when things move.

Your Earth looks great...really nice layering there. Not sure how many different texture layers you used...but it looks quality. Are there multiple levels of spheres? Or is that texture layering? Good stuff.

Good luck.

thanks for your reply and yep i agree with everything you just said.

I like the challenge though where you need to figure out how to do it rather than having huge budget where you just order shots. I like how some directors get away without showing you everything, you know what i mean. Sometime's you don't have to show the killing, it's even stronger meaning if you show it partly or you just hear it or edit it out. I think with scifi, I would just try to really minimize amount of shots, and increase the meaning of the ones you keep.

Regards the aliens, in his script for the first part, there is only one scene showing the alien/aliens. And that could be even done partly shadowed, out of focus, lots of possibilities, without completely revealing you know.

You're right, STILL is so much easier than animation; however these earth renders were actually composited in After Effects from 8 passes, so their ready for animation. (although I've noticed there is very little difference from animating earth mattepainting in AE vs 3d earth animation). So none of these shots were photoshopped in that ''still'' sense.

The earth is rendered in 3ds max (surface sphere, cloud sphere, atmosphere is volume light). We'll I did not do it from scratch, it's based off Turbosquid Earth v2, that has been highly modified .

I'm only good with environment work, but I've got someone that will do the character work if needed.

Scifi is exciting!

Are you looking at a short film, as in 5-10mins? If so I might be down for cooking something weird and wacky up...

I've watched enough sci-fi by now to know where to go and where not to go as far as plot devices... but the latest Star Trek proved that no matter how tacky your McGuffin or illogical your plot, it's still all about the characters!

Yes something like that, definitely under 10min.

lookfilmsltd said:

I like the challenge though where you need to figure out how to do it rather than having huge budget where you just order shots.

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It looks like you'll get some help from Spatula (very cool), but this applies to ideas, as well. I think you are doing the right thing asking for help, but as one of the makers, you may want to consider themes that you like. For example:

Isololated or stranded - either off-world or broken spaceship
Stranger in a strange land
War
Fugitive
Prisoner
Exchange student
Messiah character (kind of like Klaatu, in the original THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL)
Technology versus Human
Human uses alien technology
Interspecies intimacy - love story or big secret
Scouting party
Imposter or who is the alien?


Those are just some off the top of my head. You gave us an interesting starting point with the "Mis-communication." Good sci-fi will make us look at ourselves or our thinking. Relational ideas from earth or other cultures can be a good fodder for stories.

My last 3 movies have been sci-fi - two of them off-world. One thing I do is get out the phonebook and look at people's names. By combining names and words, you can come up with what to call your characters, creatures or planets. It sounds kind of stupid, but when you see something that looks right, you'll know it. For example: I have a story that involves 3 worlds, called Kamoorsta, Midlanteer and Granlibon. In the phonebook was a Mr. Lanteer and Mr. Libon! I just added "mid" and "Gran" to them. They are almost like they sound, with Kamoorsta being the icy planet with desperate pirates. Then I have a vicious creature, called a Tearcoga. Someone's name was Coga, so I put the word "tear" in front of it. I have an a**hole military character, named Slayden (slay + den).

I have to give it to George Lucas, who comes up with a whole slew of names for his creatures, worlds and characters. He's the king, but the phonebook can help the rest of us!

Good luck with your movie, btw. I applaud anyone who takes on sci-fi. Like Michae1 said, it can be a hard genre to take on - special fx, costumes, makeup, weird sets, props, weapons, ships. That is why so few indies attempt it.

The miscommunications sounds intriguing.

It sounds like it would be a great project to work on but then you wouldn't get to see the
payoff at the end....., but the fun of working on it...., what to do....?

Great idea.

Terry

Thank you all for the positive look on it.

Scoopicman, I like your list. ''Isololated or stranded - either off-world or broken spaceship'' reminds me one of my favourite scifi-s, ''Pitch Black''.
Haha the phonebook trick, ill try that one day . I do similar concept with designs, where you look at random textures from outside and piece them together for something completely else.

As for the scifi type, I was thinking more something like Drama/Mystery/Scifi and not so Adventure/Scifi. We're definitely not able to and not looking to make star trek or star wars type of fan film with lots of creatures, weapons and spaceships :/.

Did anyone see The Sunshine? I think that type of scifi films are more doable with low budget. I'm also fan of the original Alien movie, still looks pretty good for the most part.

lookfilmsltd said:

Did anyone see The Sunshine? I think that type of scifi films are more doable with low budget. I'm also fan of the original Alien movie, still looks pretty good for the most part.

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Loved SUNSHINE!! ALIEN is my all time favorite movie and probably a big reason that I like to do stories about stranded spacemen vs. monster material.

I understand the difficulty with doing action/adventure. However, I think sets are even more difficult to pull off. I think the easiest kind of sci-fi to pull off is stranger in a strange land type of stuff, which would be THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, K-PAX, BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET, MAN FACING SOUTHEAST - movies that use everyday earth locations, but the main character is an alien.

Are you doing your sets with a greenscreen room? I'm very interested to see what you come up with.

Yeah, fully green screen/digital sets will still look cgi :/. Got to have at least part of the set.
I was planning to have more wide shots that are based on simple 3d set but matte painted over and actors comped in.
I'll make a separate wip thread as we get into more production where I'll post our progress.