FEATURE: Rise of the Beast-the new feature from STARS Pictures

Thanks. Part of it might be the rectangular power window that darkens the right side of the frame. But I'm glad you like it. Thoughts on the color process and look compared to some of the other grabs I've posted?
 
No offense, but the idea of a Christian Bourne type movie seems to conflict with the religion. Violence and religion just don't seem to mix for me, unless your making a movie about the crusades, which it seems not too many have. I suppose "The Book of Eli" did fairly well but I think that has to do more with the special FX and Denzel as those are basically recipes for a successful movie.

Also if your going to have the slogan "some things take a leap of faith" maybe make or buy a green screen? That way you could really make it look a leap of faith instead of people just jumping all over a park lol. I watched the one you did for 200 dollars and I think the main thing that would make it better is better settings and costumes because it just looks like people playing at a park. No offense but it sort of ruins the drama and suspense. Top of buildings make for good scenery usually.
 
Are you kidding? Religious books are chock full of violence! That's why we get what we have on tv these days. Can't see a women's bare breasts, but you can sure stab the hell out of them repeatedly with a sharp knife and kill her.

Gotta love the "moral" majority.
 
The pics look pretty good.

First pic: lighting is cool, but seems weird he seems to bright for the dark wall right next to him, but it works in an etherial way, depending on the scene it could be hot.

Second pic: like the compsition and lighting but I would have gotten in closer on the phone. It's hard to read.

Keep at it.
 
Snazzy Flapper said:
Are you kidding? Religious books are chock full of violence! That's why we get what we have on tv these days. Can't see a women's bare breasts, but you can sure stab the hell out of them repeatedly with a sharp knife and kill her.

Gotta love the "moral" majority.
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Well yeah they are full of violence, but if your trying to promote Christianity violence seems like a bad way to do it...it's as if your saying "Christianity is worth fighting for"...I mean I guess it depends how you do it, but the fact is religion has caused alot of wars and violence and still does today with crazy people like Bin Laden. If religions are a good thing then they should promote peace and acceptance, not violence and death. I mean isn't it a sin to kill someone even if they try to kill you? The ideas of Christian metal, action movies are just ridiculous to me because real heavy metal was invented with the purpose of sounding "satanic" and action movies are so full of violence and unnecessary death that I just don't see how any main protagonist could be described as a "good christian"...In other words, I don't think Rambo or James Bond spend much time praying. I can't picture that, Rambo praying "Dear god, I killed 20 Koreans today, but we really had to, their a threat to America"...

Movies make people like Rambo look like the good guys because well, their movies. They create characters that intrigue us and make us root for them, even if their downright sinners and scum like Scarface. To me, war and killing is something that is not religious at all. God would probably cringe at us watching and enjoying other's deaths on the television. It's in the bible of course, but maybe that's so we learn from those deaths and violence so that we can have as little of it as possible in our world, so to promote a Bourne like movie as "Christian" just doesn't make any sense to me. Violence in the bible surely wasn't meant for entertainment, it was meant for learning.

This is just my opinion and I respect yours or anyone elses on the matter.
 
TheRoadKiller said:
Well yeah they are full of violence, but if your trying to promote Christianity violence seems like a bad way to do it...it's as if your saying "Christianity is worth fighting for"...I mean I guess it depends how you do it, but the fact is religion has caused alot of wars and violence and still does today with crazy people like Bin Laden. If religions are a good thing then they should promote peace and acceptance, not violence and death. I mean isn't it a sin to kill someone even if they try to kill you? The ideas of Christian metal, action movies are just ridiculous to me because real heavy metal was invented with the purpose of sounding "satanic" and action movies are so full of violence and unnecessary death that I just don't see how any main protagonist could be described as a "good christian"...In other words, I don't think Rambo or James Bond spend much time praying. I can't picture that, Rambo praying "Dear god, I killed 20 Koreans today, but we really had to, their a threat to America"...

Movies make people like Rambo look like the good guys because well, their movies. They create characters that intrigue us and make us root for them, even if their downright sinners and scum like Scarface. To me, war and killing is something that is not religious at all. God would probably cringe at us watching and enjoying other's deaths on the television. It's in the bible of course, but maybe that's so we learn from those deaths and violence so that we can have as little of it as possible in our world, so to promote a Bourne like movie as "Christian" just doesn't make any sense to me. Violence in the bible surely wasn't meant for entertainment, it was meant for learning.

This is just my opinion and I respect yours or anyone elses on the matter.
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I have to chime my 2 cents in here, Roadkiller. I may be reading this wrong, but what I read from your post I'd like to know if you're saying that based on your analogy, a soldier fighting for his country can't be religious or believe in God? Rambo was a soldier that fought to defend his country and killed when his life was threatened. I really don't think you can put him in the same category as somebody like Scarface, who killed for greed and anger. You say violence in the bible was meant for learning, well do you know the premise of this film? He's telling a story here and if violence is a part of it, then it's a part of it just as it (violence) is a part of life (unfortunately).

Let me ask this question as well; if there's a Chrisitian movie made about a guy's wife that is brutally murdered and he has to come to terms with that through his faith in God, does that not make it a Christian film? Is it only a Christian film if they don't show the violent murder of his wife? Also, what if someone attacked your family? Would you not defend them? Does that make you not religious, because you have committed violence?
 
Actually I was agreeing with you and simply pointing out the double standard we face in today's heavily Christian influenced society. We're taught that sex is bad, but violence is good.

The Lord smote people left and right with plagues and you name it. But hey, he didn't sleep around...
 
Snazzy Flapper said:
Actually I was agreeing with you and simply pointing out the double standard we face in today's heavily Christian influenced society. We're taught that sex is bad, but violence is good.

The Lord smote people left and right with plagues and you name it. But hey, he didn't sleep around...
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I see what your saying, yeah it is a double standard.

I have to chime my 2 cents in here, Roadkiller. I may be reading this wrong, but what I read from your post I'd like to know if you're saying that based on your analogy, a soldier fighting for his country can't be religious or believe in God? Rambo was a soldier that fought to defend his country and killed when his life was threatened. I really don't think you can put him in the same category as somebody like Scarface, who killed for greed and anger. You say violence in the bible was meant for learning, well do you know the premise of this film? He's telling a story here and if violence is a part of it, then it's a part of it just as it (violence) is a part of life (unfortunately).

Let me ask this question as well; if there's a Chrisitian movie made about a guy's wife that is brutally murdered and he has to come to terms with that through his faith in God, does that not make it a Christian film? Is it only a Christian film if they don't show the violent murder of his wife? Also, what if someone attacked your family? Would you not defend them? Does that make you not religious, because you have committed violence?
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If someone attacked my family I would certainly defend them and If I killed someone then yes, it would be a sin. Masturbation is a sin. I wasn't putting Rambo in the same category as Scarface, just saying that "good guys" in movies aren't exactly good guys. As for Rambo, he kills and kills and kills and enjoys killing...So what if he was fighting for his country, the other soldiers were fighting for their country too. They grew up in that country and were led to believe their countries beliefs just as were led to believe ours. The act of war is a sin and there's nothing religious or good about war.

There's a huge gray area and some things in the bible don't add up. I'm just pointing out that if one wants to promote Christianity they should be careful to not point out that gray area because in a way it demotes it. The Bourne series purpose is to entertain by showing a man who has to kill other people trying to find him. Making a movie to entertain people by showing death or fighting is a sin, just as enjoying watching and enjoying Rambo kill 20 people is a sin. If you don't want others to sin, then how can you sin yourself? There's just too many gray areas in religion to really make an action movie with religious intent.

The Book of Eli was ridiculous to me because it basically says "the bible is worth more than 50 human lives"...If Eli didn't try to save the bible, he wouldn't of had to kill anyone. Is religion worth all the death it's caused? See what I mean...a huge gray area.

"Two years from now, the world governments have given Vatican City complete religious and political control. Shane Turner and his Christian parkour crew speak out against the Vatican, believing it to be the antichrist of prophecy. In response, Vatican City sets out to hunt down and kill the Leap crew. The chase is on..."


So they probably know that if they speak out against the vatican, their will be huge conflict, but they do it anyways and risk their lives and will prob. kill the people who chase them. Is religion worth risking your own life and killing others? Gray area. I don't want to have a debate about religion, but I just don't see how this could really get a "message" across besides "religion is worth fighting and dieing for" and I don't think that is a good message to send to people if your trying to promote it.
 
Lot's of good debate here. While I do appreciate the discussion that's sparked, I would ask that we get back on track with the film. I don't want the thread to get shut down. If you'd like to continue discussing this, you can use the "Discussions" area on our facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leap-Rise-of-the-Beast/104346386268889?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts

lso if your going to have the slogan "some things take a leap of faith" maybe make or buy a green screen? That way you could really make it look a leap of faith instead of people just jumping all over a park lol. I watched the one you did for 200 dollars and I think the main thing that would make it better is better settings and costumes because it just looks like people playing at a park. No offense but it sort of ruins the drama and suspense. Top of buildings make for good scenery usually.
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The leap of faith stuff was the last movie. This one is not about parkour, it's about the struggle of being a Christian in the last days and fighting to spread the Word. Leap of faith also referred more to becoming a Christian in a secular world. Just a bit of info. We've spent WAY more than $200 on this one, and it'll show when you see it.

I get the impression that El Directorio is more about making a buck than saving souls, but I may be wrong..
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If I was about making a buck, I would've made a typical Christian movie like Brandon or Kyle. And I don't mean that in a bad way, but those kind of movies are easier to sell. That's not my game. I've said it before, this movie is meant to make people think. That's what I'm about.
 
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Road Killer and Snazzy Flapper, I couldn't disagree with you more. Unlike you I feel that I can speak about this from an educated platform as a bible believing Christian that has read it several times and understands many of the truths that lie within it. You 2 are spouting off about religion and the bible having clearly never read it nor do you understand it from the examples you used and the general straw man arguments that you have made just confirms it. I love hearing non believers tell us Christians how our faith should work and look, then make comments how we RUN the world or something like that. First of all to be factually accurate more people world wide have died at the hands of communists then any other organization, secondly is to disease and plaques. In case you were curious to estimate the amount of deaths directly related to religion then Islam would be the #1 killer of humans by nearly 10 times to the nearest faith (religion of peace hugh). Christianity if counting the crusades, which were by the catholic church and most christians assert themselves as protestant not catholics, wouldn't even show up on the list till around 5 or 6 in the religion department. Secondly you claim that Christians and the Moral right run the country, movies and TV I assume. Then why is it that almost every hollywood movie and TV show are laden with sex, violence, foul language and are generally insulting toward the Christian faith. It would seem kind of stupid to make movies and tv shows depicting ourselves as bigoted, narrow minded cellar dwellers, that are racist and homophobic wouldn't it. As a Christian filmmaker I can't even get my films to be excepted into most festivals because of their religious content, however they can win awards at Christian festivals all day long. Especially when I have gone and seen the trash that got in instead of our, looks like high school kids with their daddy's camcorders making movies. My favorite is the letter that you some times get, the one saying that your film cannot be accepted because of its intolerance, REALLY!!!! Seems pretty intolerant to not allow a Christian film into a festival just because its Christian doesn't it. So don't come on here spouting how the religious right runs this country, you want to see a religious run country then go look at Pakistan or Afghanistan were they don't have movies and their women are forced into full head garb while the husbands can have concubines (mistresses) all day long and nobody cares. Where the people are scared to speak out of a forum like this because they could be stoned to death.

As a student and scholar of the bible I would gladly debate the accuracy of the holy scripture when read and interpreted the correct way. You can't jump into the bible and just randomly pull out any text and assume that you know the literally context of that particular book or of the entire bible. What if I just grabbed a certain text out of the book "The Catcher in the Rye" and then made all sorts of claims about what the authors intent without reading the entire book. The term "don't judge a book by its cover" means more then just a picture. It means don't rush judgement on something till you have sat down and fully understand it.

BTW, in case you are wondering I wasn't always a Christian. I would have considered myself a rabid agnostic with a huge dislike of the Christian faith in general. That is tell I became a father and was suddenly responsible for another human life that would die if I didn't do everything for it and I saw the miracle of child birth. Then I began to wonder about how this all came about, so I began studying all different paths of faith till I found the one that most lines up with world history and made the most factual sense. I didn't believe most of the stories in the bible till I began studying prophecy and comparing the claims made in the old testament of the bible about future events and compared them with non biblical texts to see that items proclaimed in the bible 1000 plus years before were dead on down to the very day. Kind of hard to argue with that, especially when it has happened over 500 times.

Lastly El, I will admit that I didn't like your first film at all. I thought the story line was a fun idea but the execution was poorly done. However I am very impressed by the screen shots that I have seen on here, now I admit I am looking forward to seeing your finished product and wish the best for you and your team. Good luck and God bless.

Rich
 
El Director said:
While I do appreciate the discussion that's sparked, I would ask that we get back on track with the film. I don't want the thread to get shut down. If you'd like to continue discussing this, you can use the "Discussions" area on our facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leap-Rise-of-the-Beast/104346386268889?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts
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That's good advice El Director - and I'm glad to see you keeping the thread on track.
Let's keep this thread about the film and the making of the film itself.

Any discussion of religion should be taken to the link that El Director gave you above.
 
I've deleted a heated follow-up post that ignored Luis' instruction. Anyone else continuing to derail the thread by discussing religion, may just win a free vacation... from the site.
 
As to El, sorry to get "off topic," but just giving you my complete honest and critical opinion, so maybe it'll help you prepare for criticism of your type of work in the future. I wish you the best of luck with your film.
 
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I have no problem with criticism, I even look forward to it, but this thread isn't the place for the religious discussion, which is why I provided a link to the forum on my fan page. I can only hope that people will be this interested in the content when the movie is released =D
 
Back to the film.
We officially have our market location and we'll be filming there on Sunday for about six hours, one of our longest shoot days yet! We won't get everything done, but we'll be able to make a dent at least. As another fun fact, the girl who runs the store in the film, Olia, will be played by the actress who played Crystal in the last film. I originally tried to get her to play Crystal again, but she was at the coast all summer so I recast it with another actress. She did however express interest in working with me again, so I told her I'd do a Robert Rodriguez and have her play a different character. Fortunately she's dyed her hair since the last film, so that'll help. As for the store, the store owner was really cool and is going to let us bring in boxes and other fun stuff to crash into during the fight sequence. Should be fun!
 
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I just build my own loupe for the Rebel tonight. I bought a two pack of the credit card Fresnel lenses at Hobby Lobby for $4 and built the frame out of some left over poster board from when I masked a 2.40 area on my editing preview TV. It works perfectly, so next up will be building a higher quality version out of an old DVD case and the other Fresnel.
 
Snazzy Flapper said:
I get the impression that El Directorio is more about making a buck than saving souls, but I may be wrong..
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I'm sure El would like to make some cash, I sure would. But you don't understand the Christian "industry" (and it is an industry). Most Christian film distributors are pre-trib rapture people. El's film is from a post-trib perspective, what he (and I also) believe to be what the scripture truly says. That kills most chance of distribution from mainstream Christian distributors. So if El really wanted to make big bucks, then he has three options, a romance/drama, a Jesus film or maybe a Christian themed horror/thriller film and that too would be a hard sale. Ironically if he made the same film from a pre-trib standpoint it could be money in the bank. But now he has to find an audience. He's going have to figure out how to market a Bible-based action film, to a generic action/sci-fi audience. It can be done, but it's a lot harder. If you want a buck go straight Christian or straight action. If he had a black or Hispanic lead he could go black/urban and it would be more readily excepted in certain places. That's why York took our film. If you're doing "Christian-action" then it has to be pre-trib, end of story...for now.

Robertson6 said:
Then why is it that almost every hollywood movie and TV show are laden with sex, violence, foul language and are generally insulting toward the Christian faith. It would seem kind of stupid to make movies and tv shows depicting ourselves as bigoted, narrow minded cellar dwellers, that are racist and homophobic wouldn't it. As a Christian filmmaker I can't even get my films to be excepted into most festivals because of their religious content, however they can win awards at Christian festivals all day long.
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I removed myself from Christian filmmaking after "The Fourth Beast." But all my films are action or horror (usually both) but come from a Christian worldview. Ironically every evil under the sun is taught and shown in films. My film is a vampire film, but because the hunters are openly religious their views sparked controversy and some actors wouldn't even do it as well as others doing it but not feeling so okay about the controversial stuff.

I admire El, a twenty-something guy doing this with all the spark and energy that comes with the age. And with that young mindset. I didn't get into this until thirty-something. But he did for $200, what I did for $800. LOL. I agree with others that the first "Leap" film lacked a lot, but I to am impressed by what I'm seeing. I like these films because they AREN'T violent for violence sake. And the message of the films, in my opinion trump anything that Hollywood is coming out with. How many times can I see a love story that tells us it's okay to commit adultery if you "fall in love" with someone else. It's not violent, but it ain't right either. Keep on your grind El. I hope to see this in the video stores.

El Director said:
I just build my own loupe for the Rebel tonight. I bought a two pack of the credit card Fresnel lenses at Hobby Lobby for $4 and built the frame out of some left over poster board from when I masked a 2.40 area on my editing preview TV. It works perfectly, so next up will be building a higher quality version out of an old DVD case and the other Fresnel.
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Nice man. Keep up the good work. Love the DIY mentality.

-Nate
 
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