We’re Doing it Again
The grand premiere and benefit screening in November ’23 was a huge success, with a near-full house and money raised for the Nisei Veterans Committee of Seattle. But now we are doing it over, from the ground up, to make it a movie truly competitive for Film Festivals.
The collapse of the Art Institute of Seattle in 2019 greatly complicated the production of the original film, with the loss of all equipment and most crew less than two weeks prior to when shooting was slated to begin. Further, as a primarily Art Institute student project, it was not entirely faithful to the source material. The remake is led fully independently, by the people who know and care about the series.
Here’s our plan for how we’ll get there.
Roadmap of Improvements
Total Rewrite
A clean-sheet rewrite of the script, with a plot that more closely follows the book (out now on Amazon!). Coordinating much closer with the book series author to ensure authenticity and narrative consistency.
This time, the film will be in the form of a fictional documentary, interviewing the characters about how the events of the book have impacted their lives.
Redone CGI
More consistent artistic direction and cinematography applied to the CGI/animated scenes. An increased focus on fidelity to the film’s color palette and visual themes, especially the sterility of AI and the claustrophobia of space warfare.
The post-production team now has additional years of experience from the previous film in technical best practices, especially color grading and audio/SFX balancing.
Recast and Direction
Onboarding actors more closely based on the appearance and chemistry of the book characters, including better character briefings and direction. Allotting more time for practice and review, as well as incorporating feedback from the previous movie on dialogue delivery.
Improved Planning
Preparing a long-term timeline to ensure that all equipment is in place, cast and crew are available, and storyboarding is fully prepared.
Production will be greatly simplified by the documentary-like format of the film. The action scenes will be exclusively in Blender, requiring mainly studio shots of the cast with minimal movement, set construction, and props.
The previous film suffered from an overreliance on equipment from the Art Institute of Seattle. When it collapsed suddenly, it left the film lacking in many critical areas. The reshoot will have the equipment owned or rented directly by LCM.
Technical Expertise
Consulting and collaborating with more people who have traditional art and film backgrounds, especially with on-set lighting, camera operation, and audio.
The last film had a significant portion of the crew from the Art Institute drop out just days before the shoot date. The shoot quality was inconsistent depending on how many people were available to show up and help on any given day.
Better Equipment
Hand-in-hand with better long-term planning, the purchase and rental of better cameras, lighting, and audio recording equipment will make an enormous difference.
We now have a much more powerful PC for rendering grander CGI scenes and effects in Blender.