Producing a low-budget tokusatsu show. Need advice

[RiderLeangle]

Heres a tip, Look back to some really old Tokusatsu, Like first gen Kamen Rider, Thay may have been top of the line then, But thats super easy to do now, So see how they made it work good and have people still like them together,

And in those clips you sounded a bit bored, try to say it with enthusiasm or something

 

[Bolt]

Just remember when you're doing the fights, just because someone is a martial artist doesn't mean they know what looks good on screen. Watch a lot of movies, study the stuff you like, and by all means don't let any of them convince you that tornado kicks look good.

 

[RiderLeangle]

I just realised something, That suit looks like the hero in this guys avatar
http://forums.henshinjustice.net/member.php?u=103

 

[jfreedan]

I just realised something, That suit looks like the hero in this guys avatar
http://forums.henshinjustice.net/member.php?u=103

I have no idea who that guy is.

I designed the GKaiser costume in the City of Heroes character creator (my fire/fire tank, who is also named GKaiser) back in 2004. The artist who worked on the webcomic with me interpreted the 3d models into the webcomic version, and the live-action costume is my home-made version of the webcomic version of the costume.

Just remember when you're doing the fights, just because someone is a martial artist doesn't mean they know what looks good on screen. Watch a lot of movies, study the stuff you like, and by all means don't let any of them convince you that tornado kicks look good.

The fighting will be heavily influenced by Jackie Chan movies because I think the mix of action and comedy will work rather well. However, I'm trained in tae kwon do, western boxing, jujutsu, escrima, kickboxing and aikido, so I don't really know chinese arts. That said, I will be using "movie-fu" moves, because they look better on screen. Even Bruce Lee knew that.

Heres a tip, Look back to some really old Tokusatsu, Like first gen Kamen Rider, Thay may have been top of the line then, But thats super easy to do now, So see how they made it work good and have people still like them together,

Yeah, I'm going to order the Kamen Rider V3 collection soon. I can't speak Japanese, and I don't think the original Kamen Rider has been officially released or anything; at least, I can't seem to find a subtitled version anywhere to download.

I've been doing some research by looking at clips on Youtube, and remembering what I saw from Power Rangers, The Americanized Guyver movies, and a tokusatsu movie I use to rent when I was 8 (I -think- it was The Super Inframan but I can't be certain). But I've also been looking into production techniques too.

I apologize if I don't sound very enthusiastic when I type. Believe me, I am very excited about this project and have been working hard to make it a reality. I'm glad people are showing interest in what I'm doing.

 

[kamenridersigma]

If you want good kung fu comedy try out some of Lam Ching Ying's work. He did Prodigal Son [which has the best onscreen Wing Chun ever IMHO], The Mr. Vampire series, My Lucky Stars, Vampire vs Vampire, Exorcist Master, and Magic Cop. Most of those films are of the Hopping Vampire/Kyonsi genre.

 

[HaiTien78]

I have no idea who that guy is.

I apologize if I don't sound very enthusiastic when I type. Believe me, I am very excited about this project and have been working hard to make it a reality. I'm glad people are showing interest in what I'm doing.

A dude in Kamen Tenshi Rossetta I believe

Go on Rangerboard, HK subs of V3 are there.

It's not that your typing isn't enthusiastic, its the acting "It's Kung Fu time baby" sounded very very empty with no energy, but it was just a test morph, just remember to speak with enthusiasm when you are actually filming :thumbs:

 

[Bolt]

If you want good kung fu comedy try out some of Lam Ching Ying's work. He did Prodigal Son [which has the best onscreen Wing Chun ever IMHO], The Mr. Vampire series, My Lucky Stars, Vampire vs Vampire, Exorcist Master, and Magic Cop. Most of those films are of the Hopping Vampire/Kyonsi genre.

That's kung fu/comedy genre swap though, not choreography style. The only choreographers that can successfully pull off slapstick fight scenes that I know of are Jackie and Sammo and to a lesser extent Robert Tai.

 

[Masked_Rider_Aftershock]

I could produce some music for it. you can hear some of my past stuff here.

~MR-Aftershock

 

[jfreedan]

It's not that your typing isn't enthusiastic, its the acting "It's Kung Fu time baby" sounded very very empty with no energy, but it was just a test morph, just remember to speak with enthusiasm when you are actually filming :thumbs:

Oh.

I was using my webcam mike to record the dialogue at the time, so I had to speak softly because the internal mike is a piece of crap.

I've since upgraded to something a little better, but still kind of ghetto (a digital voice recorder that records in Windows media and has a built in USB port plugged into a Radioshack mike). It's very "El Mariachi"-ish.

I could produce some music for it. you can hear some of my past stuff here.

~MR-Aftershock

Hey, those songs are pretty good. If you really want to, I could definitely use more music. I'm using some songs from Ninja Academy for fight scenes, but they have a band member who is out of the country right now and can't make a theme song until like September.

I was planning to use parts of music that is in the open domain (i.e. Beethoven Symphony No.5, Mozart Symphony 40, Dvorak Symphony 40) for other incidental scoring, like when Dark Shinobi meets with his board of directors at TerrorSoft HQ, or when he's gloating in his orbital space fortress / giant disco ball. But if you can throw something together that is a lot more true to the genre, I would really appreciate it.

Now, if you want to make a 1 minute theme song I can give you some ideas of what I am thinking. If I could get the rights for any music in the world, my choice would be -hard-. I can only narrow it down to a list.

In no specific order;

1) I think I'm turning Japanese by The Vapors (Lyrics are sort of appropriate, and nice beat)

2) Drawing Days by SPLAY(I like the sound, and I like the lyrics because they are appropriate for Richter. If this was in English, I think it'd work well...it's the theme song for a -weird- anime which I can't seem to stop watching for a reason I haven't quite understood yet)

3) "Holding out for a hero" by Bonnie Tyler (should be obvious why)

4) "The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars (I like the beat, and some of the lyrics are appropriate for Richter)

5) "Superman" by Five For Fighting (again, lyrics are appropriate for Richter, though the beat is a little slow for an opening imo)

6) "Prism" by BAISER (opening for the anime Gokudo. Again, I thought the lyrics were appropriate)

Unfortunetly, a lot of these songs are over a minute long and the opening can only afford to be about a minute long (trying to stay under 10 minutes max film time).

I've listened to the openings for the Kamen Rider shows. I'd like something that sounds more modern (compared to the older openings, which is basically just someone chanting "Kamen Rider!" repeatedly), and has a fast beat. Something that maybe starts out a little slow and then quickly picks up beat (like Prism by BAISER) would be excellent.

Any other music...um, something very appropriate for a Lex Luthor-style super-villain would be really nice for a Dark Shinobi theme, and sound good over his maniacal laughter. I was previously planning to use the loud drum areas of some of the symphonies. Dark Shinobi is going to force lightning people with his NES Power Glove and is a parody of Bill Gates; you might find that tidbit inspirational.

In other news, I bought a crapload of things today.

Costumes for Dark Shinobi, Dragon Sage Siyoki and Dr. Evil Doolittler are now covered (or will be as soon as the stuff I had to order online arrives--since eBay came around, the Goodwill doesn't seem to be what it used to be)

The PO'ed Klown costume needs to be assembled into something that will actually remind people of Ronald McDonald, and as soon as some funds go into my Paypal account, I'll be ordering about 6 light blue spandex bodysuits for the butterfly ninja costumes (I can make the wings and headbands myself, but trying to make a bunch of spandex bodysuits is too time-consuming for me to do right now).

I now have three individuals with previous stuntwork experience for doing butterfly ninja roles (now I just need 3 more). Something came up for the girl auditioning for Liz. I'll be seeing her on Thursday instead.

 

[Bolt]

Just remember that even though a lot of classical music is public domain, you can still be prosecuted for using certain performances. That is, the music itself is public, but not, say, Alan Parkening playing Bach.