‘Potential’ – Movie and Interview.
Potential is a short film created by a small group of students from Hamilton Boys’ High School and Waikato University.
The film was made on a shoe-string budget, so all the camera gear was built by the team in order to cut costs.
BlendNZjnr writes:David Robinson and Nathaniel Watson from Plural Films are two amazing young Blender users, who have recently made their second appearance on national television in New Zealand for their short films, of which Blender has played a central role. Thankfully, they were as excited as I was to have a talk about themselves and their new film, “Potential”.
The interview covers topics such as:
- How they got involved with Blender
- What their roles on the short film “potential” involved
- What challenges they faced, and what they learnt from them
- Where they went for Blender help when they needed it
- What the future holds for them
awesome!
Very well written, I liked it!
Relly Nice! You could make a tutorial about the usage of blender, motion capture, some rotoscopy, etc.
Is almost a Terminator! :)
Really nice camera work, I think that’s the greatest advantage of this movie!
this is great!
Very impressive… You must watch the interview too…
Although some CG part can be improved, making such a good short at 17 commands respect !
Here’s some critic: Excellently detailed and animated robot, and supercool HUD’s and user interfaces. Also very nice camerawork. However the script, pacing, music and sound effects don’t quite live up to the rest. You have a great story, good beginning and twisty ending, but the amount of cat and mouse -play and video blogging didn’t quite get me. it just feels unimportant and confusing, because you didn’t provide an emotional connection to the escaping character before we see him escaping. I kept asking myself “why am I watching this cool robot chase this random guy”. Guitar jamming was a bit lonesome, and cheap repeating sound fx of the robot didn’t help. One part where I could feel an emotion for characters, was the scene in the children’s room, which was well directed so that the innocent kids expression made you feel that he shouldn’t get hurt. So if you wan’t to make audience feel for the main guy, show him doing something good first and suddenly the audience will be on their toes when he escapes.
Nicely done, good story and some great effects. The animation could use a little work, but the modeling, rendering, and especially the motion tracking were spot on. Never would have expected this quality from a team of high-schoolers, way to go guys.
Cameraman is visible on the doors reflection at 07.18
The Robots are detailed and well rendered but their overall look could be improved (Large Top and little Legs)
The music and the Atmosphere are awesome though.
Well Done.
I agree… I feel like the robot is going to fall all the time. The arms and legs are too small and the center of mass seems too high…
Apart from that, the short is looking very good!
i dont get it
I think, all-in-all, it was a pretty tight and interesting story. I was listening to the vlog knowing and expecting it to tell more of the story, why they’re hunting this fine bearded gent and so on. I understood right away that he was kind of the “terrorist”, as to say he was spreading something that the government of that future deemed illegal: potential. The “Uniformity Act” is actually a pretty interesting concept for this.
I have to say the robot I’m conflicted in. He didn’t really seem .. terrifying. It felt more like a bipedal robot dog than a cybernetic bounty hunter. The feet, legs and arms felt small compared to the large tin can body. While I can appreciate the “cyberpunk/steampunk” vibe it gives it just feels like it’s not menacing. I’m sure you really just didn’t want to be pigeon holed into a stereo typical James Cameron robot, but there is something to the more human quality of Terminator (and iRobot and other robot antagonists) that just make people feel on edge. Though keep in mind, the Terminator still had an alienesque quality to it.
In all actuality the strongest part by far was the camera work, effects, main character and story. The robot had “potential” but hit a brick wall and fall with a resounding crash … ok, no I won’t quote that whole part. I only watched it once. But it was good enough to remember lines from it.
I liked it, folks, and think if you keep it up you’ll get the attention of some major players.
How was the long camera flying shot done???
Sorry, I don’t get it. Who is this bearded guy, who does videoblogs about “potentitial”, going “beyond the limits”, and does cool parkhour stuff? And why is the dog-robocop and the teenagers with assault weapons chasing him?
What is going on? I’m confused almost the same degree, as I was after watching Elephant’s dream the first time. :)
Really enjoyed the monologue’s contents
I really was impressed by the end of this film… but I was totally confused to see two story telling (in diferent times).
Certanly a little bit makeup in the teens cops will be very efective to be more “real”.
The walk-cycle of that robot was really anoying to hear and see (although you need to work more in the concept art, because its proportions were in “conflict” )
I wass totally amazed by the camera work!!! that just was the strong arm in your film for sure :) (mins: 00:35 , 3:57, 4:15, 9:25 I can’t explain what tecnic you use here!!!, 10:10 one of my favorites for sure ;) , )
Greetings
Story could use work, match-move could use work, making the robot blend in could use work, effects could use work, sound could use a little work. The camerawork? AMAZING, I wish I could afford to do that.
I also wish I could get out of school for filming. (I can only film with my friends once a month on a Saturday because of scheduling conflicts)
Why did the robot let him go?
This was awesome. whoaa. great piece of work.
Thought the accent and locatility looked familiar, shot in the Tron! (If you don’t live in NZ: No that’s got nothing to do with the movie Tron)
Well done, boys, you have a bright future ahead of you!
Western Heights will never seem quite the same again…
Very impressive for a low budget film. The story could have used a little more exposition to give us a better idea of who this guy is, but for what its worth it had me entertained for pretty much the whole time I watched it. Great work guys (not great work for high-schoolers, great work period).
That’s an impressive technical achievement. And the jib was homemade? Wowsers!
Main suggestion from blender stance (aside from whats been mentioned so far) would have been to take out the foot roll on the robot walk cycle. Having it rise on the ball of its foot makes it seem a bit too floaty for its weight. Spectacular integration in general though. Had me genuinely guessing what objects was cg and what was practical – especially the car.
Just pure awesomeness… well except for the top heavy droid. I felt I couldn’t take it entirely seriously without proportions that respected gravity. But I am going to have to show this one to my friends, it was awesome!