Sunday, April 06, 2008

Top 10 Questions Answered About "Jedi Baseball"!

1. What program did you use to create the lightsabers?
The visual effects were created by Jason M. George in a program called Adobe After Effects. He learned how to do it because he is a genius (and also combined various online tutorials with his own good senses).

2. What is that thing flying around in the background behind Jason's head and why wasn't it removed from the film?
That object flying around is a kite that someone was flying in the park that day. It wasn't removed because it was not worth the time that would have been involved in doing so, since our purpose in making this film was as a effects test to see if we could create believable enough effects to support a larger production (which became "Office Wars: Escape From North Brand")

3. Where was this film shot?
It was filmed at Central Park in Santa Clarita, California.

4. Are the creators of this film "40 Year Old Virgins" or anti-social Star Wars dorks?
Although that might fit the bill if they were, both men are normal well adjusted people with families, children and social lives paired with a healthy interest in filmmaking.

5. Why did the lightsaber go throug Noka's head in that one shot?
It didn't. It was BEHIND his head. The prop used to create the saber was a toy lightsaber, with the plastic blade removed. In its place a wooden dowel rod was pushed in which had reference markers on it for use in the animation of the sabers in post production. So there was really no way for an error like that to occur. The light saber effect was added exactly where the reference dowel was in the raw footage.

6. Why was field light visible again over Jason's shoulder right after it exploded a moment earlier?
Was that the same light? Maybe it was a different light all together... Ok. Guilty as charged. The reason it wasn't removed is because a) they didn't think it would be recognized as the same light, and b) why bother when the real point of the short was to test the effectiveness of the light saber effects?

7. Where did you get the sound effects?
On the internet... where else?

8. Why wasn't the movie longer?
It was a simple idea, and really didn't need to be any longer. Plus, we wanted to save our time and energy for "Office Wars" which was our true objective all along.

9. Has George Lucas seen this?
Not that we know of, but if he does, we hope he enjoys it.

10. Will there be a sequel?
Definitely. Stay tuned... it is in the works right now!

Friday, April 04, 2008

"Jedi Baseball" Goes International!

After a tremendous response after being featured on the front page of YouTube yesterday and today, "Jedi Baseball" is now being featured in a prime location on Chilean website "La Cuarta"


The following caption accompanies the film,"Los gringos nunca pierden el tiempo, y esta vez se mandaron una creación única: el Jedi Baseball..." which translate to "White guys know how to waste time, this time they made themselves a unique creation: Jedi Baseball..."

GoldroomPictures.com- Hits Around the World

Curious YouTube users have clicked through to the Goldroom Picture website in high volume in the last 24 hours. The below hit map illustrates that we're getting visitors from around the globe:

"Jedi Baseball" Hits YouTube Homepage


At around 3:00 pm on Thursday, April 3, 2008, Goldroom Pictures' production of "Jedi Baseball" hit the YouTube homepage front and center for the entire world to see. Starting out the day at somewhere around 30,000 views prior to being featured, that number quickly climbed to 167,000 view by the evening and accumulated over 2500+ comments and responses. By this morning the view count was quickly approaching half a million viewers.

It collected a number of "honors" yesterday, among them the distinction as the "#1 Featured" video on the site. Email and comments flooded in, many viewers requesting a sequel for "Jedi Baseball" and for the "Office Wars" film that came into being as a result of the "Jedi Baseball" short, which served as an effects test for the "Office Wars" project.

The film was later listed in the "Promoted Video" line up on the homepage, where it has continued to attract viewers. Thanks everyone for watching!