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!

"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!

St. George Film Festival Invitation

We are please to announce that the Goldroom Pictures production "Office Wars: Escape from North Brand" has been invited to premiere at the St. George Film Festival in St. George, New Brunswick, Canada on September 13, 2007.

Our most sincere appreciation to the festival for inviting the film to be a part of their film and video exhibition! More details to follow, or for more information please visit www.stgeorgefilmfest.com

Interview with Visual Effects Creator Jason M. George

"Being naturally gifted with the ability to understand and use computers is only a fraction of his genius," says Office Wars director Noka Aldoroty, "Jason is also incredibly creative and very driven to be the best at everything he does." This description of visual effects creator Jason M. George is evident when one sees his work in Office Wars: Escape from North Brand, a film that has entertained thousands of online viewers since it debut on iFilm.

With effects work that is so professional and polished and certainly on par with some of the work done on George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy, viewers often wonder how such extraordinary results could be produced by a first time visual effect artist on virtually no budget. We caught up with the man himself, Jason M. George, to get some answers.

Q: Where did you learn how to create the visual effects used is Escape from North Brand and how long did it take you to create them?

A: Most of the effects that are seen in the movie were learned from doing research on the Internet. It is amazing what people are willing to document and teach. Specifically I learned how to do the Light Saber effects from taking a tutorial posted by Ryan Weiber. He has his own website which showcases some of his work and his tutorials at:

http://www.ryan-w.com/ryan-w/index.html.

I am also very proud to say that I came up with a couple of the techniques on my own. The Title Crawl is the best example of this; sometimes if you mess around with something long enough, it starts to look decent.


Q: What sort of preparations or considerations were made while filming that allowed you to add the effects?

A: The only real preparations that I made involved the props. We needed to make sure that they would be easily referenced in post. We also had to dissect the shots (cut away) where a Light Saber was being activated or de-activated so that we could replace the empty Light Saber hilt with a hilt containing the reference dowel rod or vice-versa. There was definitely an “I hope I can take care of that in Post” attitude on the production.

Q: Did the effects work that was to be completed in Post-Production influence the creative choices you made as an actor in the film?

A: Not really. During shooting I was very conscience about taking direction from the Director, who did a fabulous job by the way. During a stoppage or during the setup of a scene is when we would put our heads together as Director & Visual Effects guy. I kind of made it a point to wear the two hats separately.


Q: Which process did you enjoy more: Visual Effects or Acting?

A: That is tough to answer. I would have to say acting was more fun while it was happening. The six months or so that I spent doing the post work started to take its toll a little bit, however the payoff of seeing the final product was extremely rewarding.

Q: What was the most challenging aspect of the production for you personally?

A: Okay, don’t laugh, but the most challenging aspect was really the physical demands that Noka and I placed on ourselves as actors. In the movie my character gave off this persona of being this tough, evil, nothing-going-to-stop-him type co-worker, but as a human being with extremely bad knees, I was getting hurt a lot. On most of the fight scenes, after the director yelled, “Cut!” I would immediately be found rolling around the ground in pain.


Q: Tell us a bit about the process you had with director/editor Noka Aldoroty in integrating the effects into the final edit of the film.

A: That was really an undertaking to solve. To start we were working with different platforms, I on a PC (I know, I know) and Noka was working on a MAC G5. So we had to figure a way to transfer the massively large files back and forth between each other. We ended up using an External Firewire Hard Drive as a briefcase, as it was compatible with both machines. First Noka would cut the scene together, and then output the scene as individual TARGA frame images. He would give the files to me, via the Hard Drive, which I would then use as reference for the effects. I would then output only the effects pieces against a black background, write them to our portable hard drive and deliver them to him. He could then lay the effects plate over the scene in his project to complete the shot.


Q: Visual effects aside for a moment, how did you prepare for your role as the evil co-worker?

A: As a method actor I felt it was very important to understand why my character chose the course of action that he did. Let’s face it, he is just plain mean. Fortunately for the role (not for me) I have worked with some pretty mean people and had some good material to draw from. One person in particular gave much insight into the sarcastic tendencies of my character. On my way to the shoot I would reflect on how those real life moments made me feel so that during shooting I could find myself in a place to project that onto Noka’s character.

Q: What do you think most viewers would be most surprised to learn about the production of this film?

A: That would be the budget. Besides our own personal equipment and software that the director and I already had, the budget for the production came in under $100. Some lunches, some toy props with dowel rods, and a crew of friends willing to donate their time.


Q: What advice would you give to anyone who wants to create these types of effects for their own films?

A: Go for it. You never know what you can do until you try. This was my first real experience as and actor and my first as a visual effects guy, and yet every time I watch it, I am taken back by the final product. It is amazing what one can do.

Q: Will there be a sequel?

A: Absolutely, without a doubt.

Office Wars Featured on iFilm Homepage

We are pleased to announce that "Office Wars - Escape from North Brand" has been featured front and center on iFilm's homepage. It is currently the third film down on their video blog list. (See image below)

Office Wars - Escape from North Brand

Cast & Crew
Written & Directed by: Noka Aldoroty
Visual Effects: Jason M. George
Director of Photography: Mark Kawakami
Sound: Seen Robinson
Picture and Sound editing: Noka Aldoroty
Produced by: Noka Aldoroty & Jason M. George
Camera Operators: Mark Kawakami & Noka Aldoroty
Boom Operators: Seen Robinson & William Alan Proctor
Camera Assistant: Geneva E. Aldoroty
Fight Coordinator: Dylan T.A. Avery
Location Coordinator: Daria Kimball