Tipper Vs The Red Hornet

[HagerNYC]

Yay! My film is up!
I hope you all liked watching it as much as I liked putting it together.
The credits are as follows:

Cast

Tipper.....Himself
Tipper (voice).....Chips Raferty
Chris..... Himself
The Red Hornet.....Henry Krinkle
The Wife.....Marie Peze
The Wife’s cat..... Minu
Gen. Wilson Jr. .....Brian
Gen. Wilson Sr. .....Brian

Camera and Lighting
Andrew Sterling
John Hager


CGI & other digital effects by
Penguin Films

Picture and Sound Editing
Johanas Hagermiester

Music

Holts Suite from “The Planets”
Mars Bringer of War
Jupiter The Bringer of Jolility
Uranus The Magician
Performed by The Bensonville/Wood Dale Concert Band
Cunducted by
Fred Lewis

“Into The Beyond”
Produced by Grant Robinet and Darrel Wright

Special Thanks

Jeremy Brena
Diane Mashburn
Christy Hager
Peter Phok
Taso Zoitas
Kraft Cheese Slices

Written and Directed by
Me :)

The greenscreen sequences were shot on the regular DVX100 and composited into the 2:35 aspect ratio. CGI was done in Maya and composited in After Effects. My two dogs had a blast working on this film and look forward to their next big project. :)

[ProfD]

OMG....I'm LMAO! I think you've captured, what at least our group thought was the point of the contest - creativity, imagination, and originality...ya know those independent film qualities. Of course, I am a sucker for those cute doggies too. My own family is comprised of a sheltie and an aussie.

Cool man!

Looking foward to feedback on our sci-fi comedic effort.

[HagerNYC]

Hey thanks man. I really liked yours as well. I just posted. :)

[penfever]

Yeah, I thought this film was really good entertainment. I mean, the CGI was really quite good, considering the amount of it. And I love the title. I just love the title.
I'd say that at times, this felt way too long. Particularly some of the reaction shots in the cockpit. I mean, he's only a dog. He doesn't do that much. And you probably could have milked a few more laughs out of the dogginess of the pilots. I mean, the copilot chewing the wires was cool, although I couldn't tell what it indicated. Things like that, you know?
Great originality, very solid presentation, could have used some tightening, but what the hey. Nice work, and keep shooting.

[HagerNYC]

Thanks penfever. One comment I got from people I've shown it to up here was that they want more dogs. lol There's actually an fx shotr that goes into the chase sequence but it put the running time over and had to drop it till I can post a longer version on my website after the fest. Thanks for your comments again. :)

[Kaz]

Fun flick, dude. My three favorite parts were the quick "2001" reference, the Hornet guy turning into his Dad with 2 eye patches and Tipper's reaction shot when blowing up the Red Hornet.

The only quibble I have is I thought it could use a little dialogue during the action (between Tipper & Red Hornet), but that's it. Great work!

[Shaun Patrick]

kudos, dude. Your film has the best (and most ambitious) CG that I've seen so far. Awesome job on that end. Were the dogs SAG? :) I wish my dog could focus long enough to be in a movie.

Seriously though, I really dug the look of the main spacecraft as the design really harked back to the old WWII style planes. Also, the letter home (just one scribbled mess) made me laugh out loud.

My one critique is that the bombastic score seemed to really undermine the action taking place on screen. It was just too over the top, creating tension through the soundtrack when there was really no visual tension to compliment the music in terms of the cutting/shots used during the dogfight. I understand making the whole space battle must have been a massive undertaking but the score used seemed to make the whole thing a tad anticlimatic--taking the focus off your awesome shots and directing it towards music.

Either way, it's one of my faves thus far. When's the sequel coming out?

[Kaz]

Well I thought the score helped since, as I said, there was no dialogue during the action. Of course, I'm a Gustav Holst fan...

[HagerNYC]

lol Thanks Shaun Patrick and Kaz. I totally get what you're talking about with the score. It's been a while since I saw the version I sent in for the fest. The longer version is a little better with the music. But alas. Oh well. It also played very stuttery for me. I hope you all saw it play fine. It took me 3 computers to render all that in time. Two here at my apartment in NY, and one at my sister's house in SC. I have no idea when the sequel will come out. lol I need a break I'll tell you that.

[Shaun Patrick]

well the sequence needs score (there's no arguing that) but the tone of the piece chosen, I feel, detracted from the visuals.

[mikkowilson]

Dogfighting in space? Is that like Star tRex?
This was almost 2001: a space doggity.

Ok enoguh puns, in all seriousness, I howled with laughter! FANTASTIC job.

The double eye patch joke was CLASSIC.

And the 2001 references were great. The 'trip-out' first, and then just as I got over that you cut to the bedroom.

How did you get the dogs to sit still for long? - And that reaction shot form the kill.. the smile.. WOW.

Nice CG too. - Not photorealistic by far, but perfect for the story. - and a LOT of it too! What was your render time for that lot?

did you script out first before shooting the dogs, or did you just shoot them and work with the expressions you got?

A great piece that really worked the 'traditional' sci-fi theme all the way to comedy gold. Good job! :thumbsup:

- Mikko

[Dahopafilms]

Sorry, I can't be more objective, but I LOVED this short.

First, the dogs. Awesome. Loved the shot on the approach where Tipper looks left out the side window. Loved the chewing of the wires. Loved the fact they were wearing collars and at least Chris had licence tags on.

Really liked the CGI and would like more info on how you put the CGI together.

The eyepatch generals killed me. Great fun.

Loved the music. In my opinion, appropriately over the top. And "The Planets" was one of the first classical record albums I bought (yes - album - but I'm not that old - it was 33 1/3, not 78). So I'm a Holst fan, too.

The 2001 homage was hilarious.

And I, too, say "more dogs".

One thought - what if the Red Hornet was a (hold on) cat? After all, if dogs are man's best friend, these dogs did away with the Red Hornet in a rather heartless manner. But then again, we all know cats can't act, so maybe you're better off sticking with the human actor (who I liked, by the way).

I was laughing out loud at this one.

Thanks VERY much for your efforts. This is a keeper.

(p.s. - I have two dogs that really want to break into acting and want to send you their resumes and a third female dog that really wants to meet Chris. OK?)

[HagerNYC]

lol Thanks for all the comments. I think Tipper and Chris are getting big heads right about now. They're here reading it all with me. I have to run to work but will be back later tonight to give details on the whole CGI rendering and my working with two diva actors. lol

[Blaine]

Dogfighting in space? Is that like Star tRex?
This was almost 2001: a space doggity.

Awesome! LMAO! I loved 2001: A Space Doggity! This was something totally different. Normally you can't pay me to go to see a movie about animals but this was worth the price of admission...oh, wait...I got in free. That's okay, it was still brilliant. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif

[Norm Sanders]

This was cute, and I love the fact that I can have my kids watch it. The CGI was actually quite impressive, especially considering the amount.

I recognized MARS, from THE PLANETS right away ... played that myself back in college band/orchestra ... added well to the piece, though at times was a little overly dramatic in contrast to what was happening at the moment.

It's hard to criticize anything about this film, as it was obviously meant more for fun, yet unlike some gag films it had some REALLY good production quality in many parts of it.

My absolute laugh out loud moment was when the Senior/Father general turns around with TWO eye patches. Brilliant!

Also really enjoyed the VO, and flavor it gave the film, though I agree that it could have used more dialogue during the long action sequence ... the only place that I felt it could have used better pacing/cuts.

Great job, and plan on watching it again ... with my kids. Thanks for that.

[HagerNYC]

Thank you again for the kind comments. The point of this was to be fun and entertaining, but I hope people still take it as a serious piece for the competition. lol I also like making things that kids can watch and enjoy especially when it involves animals.

[Norm Sanders]

Yes, it will be taken seriously, no doubt about it. But, it IS fun, while others are just serious, this makes everyone laugh again, which is always needed.

[Jimmy John Worley]

I liked it -I thought it was enjoyable to say the least. Your dogs really made me laugh.

[EditPhish]

Let me apologize ahead of time because my opinion is going to come across as harsh -- I am obviously in the minority -- but my intention isn't to hurt feelings....

First, let me say I really thought it was a cute idea, and it started off as fun, and a bit clever. I'm a lover of dogs and cats too, but I also know that the pictures/video I take of my cat are cutest to me, not as much to everyone else.

You get huge props for your CG efforts... you obviously put a lot of work into the visual effects -- Their cheese-factor I can let slide because of your topic was obviously meant as tongue-in-cheek, but I also felt like I was watching a video game, not a movie... and ultimately, this is a flim contest.

Your story could have been told in about 1/2 the time -- you held on your shots too long and the pacing was too slow to be a real action-adventure sci-fi. Sure, the dogs are cute, but you don't need to hold on the shot so long to get that across. I would have liked the doggies actually doing more than just sitting there most of the time (though I imagine you didn't have "professional actors" or trainers, which could explain that).

There were a few entries in this fest that were too video-game-like and animation heavy, and your was one of them. Like I said, I totally respect the work you put into it.... But after the first minute or two, the novelty wore off and it couldnt' hold my attention.

Thanks for sharing it... You obviously have the skills to become a good CG artist.

[HagerNYC]

Thanks guys. I've been gone for a while. EditPhish Thanks for your comments and honesty. Granted pehaps it could've been cut shorter, or as indicated above added dialogue for the actors/dogs to have to fill in seemingly empty spaces. I'm not sure which shots of the dogs you refer to that I held on them for too long. I was cutting to the beat of the music. Until the beat happenes, I don't feel the cut if you know what I mean.

"but I also felt like I was watching a video game, not a movie... and ultimately, this is a flim contest." Are you saying I made a video game and not a short film with a begining, middle and end?

"Thanks for sharing it... You obviously have the skills to become a good CG artist." but not a filmmaker?

Anyways, thank you for your honesty, I really am going back and looking at the cutting. I never liked this version anyways. My longer one has a little more action during the chase.

Cheers. :)

[pastywhiteboy]

I'm going to do more detailed comments/criticisms on all the shorts later, but I just had to comment on this one now. This one can pretty much be summed up in two words - fun and hilarious (or three words... however you look at that!). Seriously, in most cases, the basis of a good film breaks down to if it is enjoyable to watch or not. For me, even though it lost momentum as it went on, this one was very enjoyable to watch!
More to come on the constructive criticism side of things, but I just wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed watching and had many laughs throughout! Our dog (Bootstraps) loved it as well!

-pastywhiteboy

[JimtheJib]

i thought it was so funny when the writing was just scribbles on a page. nice touch.

keep up the good work.

[HagerNYC]

Thanks Pasty, I look forward to your comments. :)

And thank you Jim, I thought it would be pretty funny since he's a dog and dogs can't write..., but he can fly a fighter jet. :)

[Matthew B. Moore]

I really enjoyed this. This film was funny. It was like playing "Firefox".
You have my full respect for your choice of work load. Thanks for many angles and choices of shots. How long was your render session, man!?

[HagerNYC]

lol Thanks Matthew. To break it down, the average shot was rendered no longer than 6 seconds. I knew they would be cut down shorter with the exception of a few that I knew would be longer. For rendering, each shot was broken down in layers by objects in the frame.
1.) Tipper's ship
2.)Asteroids
3.)nebula background
4.)sometimes the engine glow (if the back of the ship was to the camera)

In real CGI work, the objects themselves would be rendered in layers for color, shadow, highlights, reflection, etc. but that would've taken way too much time. lol

Each layer took on average about 4 hours to render. So a shot with 4 layers in it would take roughly about 16 hours to render. A lot of time for a 6 second shot. lol

I would post stills but I don't know how. I would love to share so some people could save the images and play with compositing themselves. It is a lot of fun.

[THX-1138]

Tremendous effort for a short.

Just being honest it felt like I was watching someone else play a video game in the middle of your short. I'm not talking about the CGI it's mostly in editing and choice of shots used. The strongest parts to me were where you were cutting back and fourth from Actors/Dogs to CGI stuff. Maybe a paw on a joystick or something...flipping switches...when the dog was chewing the wire...that's what I'm talking about.

Now I'll just get pickey...

I would have chosen a different angle to shoot the oldest war hero. I got the joke, and it was a good one, it was just too simular to the first war heros shot. Possably a lower angle with more dramatic lighting.

Great fun to watch. Thanks for your entry.

Kip Kubin

[arielman]

Hahahaha this was great ..loved it !!!!!!!!!!
Glad your 2 dogs had fun doing this ..lol
The thing I like about this you gave us 6 min worth of entertainment !
Just where did you find the time to put this together?
Thanks for sharing .
Ian

[HagerNYC]

THX-1138, you are right about the editing. Thats the main issue I've gotton from everyone. I do believe that adding more shots of the dogs and the Red Hornet actually doing stuff to cut too would have filled the seemingly empty areas. I have a longer version that does have more put in there and I'll post it on my website when the contest is finished. As far as the angle change on General Wilson Sr. I feel the angle has to be the same, but I would agree with a change in the lighting. Part of the joke is in how similar the two men are and changing the angle might affect that. The only difference I wanted to show was the eye patches. I actually had another actor who looked a lot like the first guy but older, but he wasn't available. Oh well.

Arlieman, Thank you for your comments. I'm glad you liked it. It did take a long time and I was editing right down to the last few hours of the FIRST deadline. haha. Then it was extended and greatfully so since I found some other issues to fix with it. :)

[Matthew B. Moore]

lol Thanks Matthew. To break it down, the average shot was rendered no longer than 6 seconds. I knew they would be cut down shorter with the exception of a few that I knew would be longer. For rendering, each shot was broken down in layers by objects in the frame.
1.) Tipper's ship
2.)Asteroids
3.)nebula background
4.)sometimes the engine glow (if the back of the ship was to the camera)

In real CGI work, the objects themselves would be rendered in layers for color, shadow, highlights, reflection, etc. but that would've taken way too much time. lol

Each layer took on average about 4 hours to render. So a shot with 4 layers in it would take roughly about 16 hours to render. A lot of time for a 6 second shot. lol

I would post stills but I don't know how. I would love to share so some people could save the images and play with compositing themselves. It is a lot of fun.

I wouldn't be able to handle that. I'd freak out while waiting to see an image. Props

[EditPhish]

I had seen you replied with questions and have been sick the last few days, so not around much, but did want to come back and answer...


EditPhish Thanks for your comments and honesty. Granted pehaps it could've been cut shorter, or as indicated above added dialogue for the actors/dogs to have to fill in seemingly empty spaces. I'm not sure which shots of the dogs you refer to that I held on them for too long. I was cutting to the beat of the music. Until the beat happenes, I don't feel the cut if you know what I mean.

Totally understand cutting to the beat of the music, but that doesn't always work if it's not a music video... it leaves you on a shot for too long. That can be a downside when editing TO the music (as opposed to scoring after the editing). YOU (or whoever) as the editor are much more focused on the music than the viewer is (again, unless it's a music video).


"but I also felt like I was watching a video game, not a movie... and ultimately, this is a flim contest." Are you saying I made a video game and not a short film with a begining, middle and end?

I felt your story did have a beginning, middle and end, but the middle was just way too long and paced slowly... which made it a bit boring after a while (especially with cutting back to the cute dogs doing nothing but sitting there)... and then because of the nature of the CG, it LOOKED more video-game like than film-like.


"Thanks for sharing it... You obviously have the skills to become a good CG artist." but not a filmmaker?

Wasn't at all saying that. Based on this film though, I couldn't give you my opinion about whether you can become a good filmmaker or not... and I wouldn't want to... meaning, if I judged you on just one 6-minute-work, it wouldn't be fair... or accurate.


Anyways, thank you for your honesty, I really am going back and looking at the cutting. I never liked this version anyways. My longer one has a little more action during the chase.

You're welcome... and thanks for being open to it. JTyner and I have a lot to learn too, so you're not alone!

[Z B Brox]

I really enjoyed this. It was very cute, I'm a big fan of the score you used, and the 2001 references really got me. As has been mentioned, eye-patch scene was great.

I do share a couple of EditPhish's concerns, though. It did seem like some shots went on a long time without a lot happening, and it *is* hard to judge a film that's 90% CGI given the categories we have and the idea that we're supposed to be shooting with the DVX. Not that that is a problem with the film itself, it just makes it tougher for me to compare it to the other flicks.

However, this CGI work was pretty flippin' amazing, and I never stopped enjoying the film. I think you've definitely got a really impressive accomplishment here.

[iSTy]

This was one of the last films I watched and I think I've had a long day as I'm sure this was supposed to be humouros, I didn't find it amusing, maybe I will watch it again, graphics are good although i didn't like the choice of music.

[HagerNYC]

Hey guys, thanks again for all your comments. I really do listen and take notes here. :) Goodluck to all in the festival.

[Captain KickAss]

This film really dragged on for me. While the CGI was all pretty good, I felt like I could have gotten just as much from playing "StarFox" on my N64.

I did like the eye patch gag you had regarding the general and his father, that was pretty creative.

Otherwise though, I was none too fond of this film. Sorry.

[lookatmeimbender]

good graphics no content

[Jeremy Ordan]

I just watched this for the first time because for some reason I had missed it when I originally went through the films. Personally, this is one of my favorites so far because it was original in your approach. I did enjoy the score, but when I'm filling out the ballot I have a hard time judging the acting. My dog actually watched this with me and maybe it is because I'm a dog person but I really loved this little film. It had the perfect combination of SFX, VFX, and humor to keep me interested. This is one of the few films I've seen where I didn't want to speed everything up. This was great and exactly what I think this festival needed. Brilliant original story and nice approach. I really enjoyed this.

Thank you very much for this submission.

Jeremy

[Beat Takeshi]

Ok, i enjoyed this one and it made me smile the whole way through. The acting by the dogs were top notch and made me laugh everything they looked around when something was happening in the scene. The bone radar was sweet. It would have been cool to have them in a milk bone ship too.

[wcs]

Unfortunately all I can offer is a little bit of old-fashioned praise. You were going for cute and funny, and you hit the mark. I loved the slow zoom of the dog. This and dvxtrek were welcomed pallette-cleansers for the competition.

kudos.

[Texture]

Somebody in the general scifi fest started a thread wondering why Tipper didn't even make it to the top ten.

I thought about this. Gosh, I remember liking this film, but I don't even think it made my top ten. I started thinking why? I remember it being a huge effort.

I posted the following review in the above mentioned thread and I'm posting it here also.



OK, so I just did a search and reviewed this film.

http://www.youare.tv/watch.php?id=268

Where did this fantastic effort go wrong?

The short starts out great with lots of laughs.

But the second the 'dog-fight' begins between tipper and his nemesis, despite the great effects, the film falls flat. The pace becomes dead dull. Hey, maybe this would have been great on a big screen with the music blasting and 'sub-woofer' shaking the floor. But on my computer monitor these moments are far from the 'cat's meow.'

This was the moment for dramatic dialogue. John Hager missed a real opportunity to get our tails wagging and perhaps he was discouraged by the challenge of animating the character's mouths. This was the moment to explore the comedic, dramatic tension between Tipper and his goof off co-pilot. He could have taken a cue from any number of comedic duos whose comedy is built upon the tension between two characters. Pinky and the Brain; Danger Mouse and Penfold; Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Hans Solo and Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C3-PO.

Sure he throws us a bone every now and then. The Red Hornet, peering over his ridiculous glasses which don't do a thing or the Little Rascals inspired moment when Tipper's co-pilot is munching on the wires of the control console. Other Scooby snacks include the moving bone on the radar screen and those moments when we're treated to Tipper's self satisfied smile . But its not enough. This was the time that the characters should have been shouting; fighting the enemy, fighting the inadequacies of the their own vessel and fighting with each other. There could have been some fabulously entertaining mayhem here, all brought out in the dialogue. If it where funny enough, the audience wouldn't even care if the dogs mouths moved.

There's nothing about this film that can't be fixed with a few wee wee pads and a rolled up news paper.

Unfortunately the director's leash may have been a little too long on the effects and a little too short on character development. But even the greats have fallen in this respect. Though not a comedy, Ridley Scott's 'Legend' comes to mind. An amazing film filled with amazing effects, cinematography, scenery, costumes and makeup and characters nobody could give a damn about. Some reviewers have even criticized his masterpiece, 'Bladerunner' for this short coming.

This was an amazing effort and I would encourage the director to revisit this short and rework it to its fullest potential.