MajorTom11 wrote:Dude, you have to admit there are a million ways to meet your criteria yet still be more interesting than a slow zoom in! Teaser is meant to entice, not annoy right? Obviously many people on here weren't particularly excited by it, so I don't think it can be categorized as a resonding success.

Remember the StarWars episode 1 teaser? The Terminator Salvation teaser?

Actually here, these are teasers too -
http://movies.ign.com/articles/101/1011430p1.html

A bit more to chew on no?

Warboss Narznok wrote:Teasers are short that show some action and footage. Like this would be a teaser for the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFHKIFDjk9I

The Theatrical Trailer explains story and plot.

metallifan wrote:

darthmatty wrote:Have to say was a tad disappointed with this. was hoping for more in the way of animation, other than a few fluttering partchments and the occasional blink from the space marine. That said however it does look like they have made an effort with the feel of the 40k universe. Still very excited about a propper 40k movie!

Warboss Narznok wrote:I have to say. the visuals are good. i like it. but yeah not enough footage to impress me

Ummm... Might have something to do with the fact that it's a -teaser- (Not to be confused with an actual movie trailer, which shows footage of the film itself)

Really it's the OP's fault for posting a misleading thread title

AgeOfEgos wrote:That was more of a tease of a tease of a possible tease coming up.

/If I had John Hurt's voice, I would randomly prank call people and shout "We are being buried beneath the avalanche of your inadequacies, Mr. Creedy!".

Ultramarines - discussion panel with movie production team
London MCM Expo – May 29th 2010

David Kerney, producer (DK), Dan Abnett, screenwriter (DA), Bob Thompson, producer (BT) and Martyn Pick, director (MP).

Warhammer 40,000 is traditionally seen as table-top strategy game. What made you decide to make a movie?
BT - I’ve always been a huge fan of action movies… war movies and sci-fi movies, and the opportunity to make a Warhammer 40,000 movie just allowed to us to explore all those areas. And that was a dream come true. And it’s a fantastic universe, the people at Games Workshop are great. And I’m really excited about making a film that everyone here, I hope, will like because I’m guessing we’re all sci-fi fans here, we’re war movie fans.

Why Codex Pictures?
DK - Well, Codex approached Games Workshop with a proposal that we thought would really interest them: we’ve got a team that are really experienced and good at telling great stories, and also we went to them with a proposition that we thought really was going to do true value to their brand and their long tradition. And they obviously thought the same and gave us the gig.

A lot of people are probably wondering how authentic to the Warhammer 40,000 universe is the actual film?
DA - It’s going to be completely authentic. A huge effort has been put in making sure the film has everything that a fan of the game will expect there to be. There will be no shortcuts and no dilutions of the core material.

BT - Yeah, I think that’s true. We’ve worked really closely with designers from Games Workshop, and we’ve really tried to make not just the look and feel of the film authentic, but the mood, the atmosphere and the experience of what it’s like to be amongst Ultramarines in the 41st millennium.

Bob, what enticed you to bring Dan on board as writer of the project?
BT - I’ve been a huge fan of the 40k universe for a number of years, and I’ve read… I can’t say I’ve read all of Dan’s books, ‘cause he’s written so many in the 40k series, but his books, particularly Gaunt’s Ghost, brought the whole essence of 40k to life for me. And he made the natural choice to write the screenplay.

Dan, how did it feel to you when you got the opportunity to do this particular project?
DA - Well, I was enormously flattered to be asked to write it. There was no way I was going to say no when I was asked, really. I’ve been associated with 40k for a long time, I’ve written a lot of novels. Long before I was a freelance writer, it was something that I was interested in, enthusiastic role-playing games and stuff like that. So, as a franchise, as a writer, I’ve always found it a property that I’ve not only enjoyed the opportunity of writing, but have contributed to. So it was really, really nice to be able to write a screenplay, and to move the ideas that I’ve written into novels into a different format.

And how daunting was it for the both of you to try to work within that history and those rules?
DA - It’s enormously daunting because of the expectation, I have to say. There’s twenty plus years of people knowing the game and knowing what they expect out of it. And it’s such a rich and diverse universe that you want to make sure you’re doing justice to as much as you can. I think we’ve picked and chosen very carefully to make sure that we’ve captured the right flavour.

And what made you choose Martyn Pick as the director for this particular picture?
BT - Well, I’d worked with Martin on a promo and it seemed to me, as soon as I met him, I knew that Martin was the right director. I think he does some things with the way he treats images. It’s very distressed, it’s quite angry, it’s got a quality that I found just felt really natural for making a great action movie, and [has] a great painterly quality to it that I think really brings alive the look and feel of what Games Workshop have created over the years. And Martyn’s got a way of translating that into moving pictures, moving imagery that was perfect for the film. So it was a natural choice.

And, Martyn, what attracted you to this particular project?
MP - Firstly the script. I’ve always been a big fan of action cinema, and the script had a great lean quality to it: it was very concise and focused. And then, within that, what was very unusual was there was a strong sense of atmosphere and visual imagery, which immediately made it come to life. And I could work and get my visual style into it. And the other thing was that, down the years, I’ve worked in a lot of commercials, pop promos, and short films where I’ve experimented with blending live-action and animation with a dark painterly look, so the preparation was already there. And I saw the Games Workshop vision in their artwork and box art and the related magazines and stuff, and it seemed to fuse well.

And then, Bob, what made you decide to use the facial capture technology in the project?
BT - OK, the type of facial capture, and you’ll see some of this later on that we’ve used…I was looking for a way that we could find a new technology that would put a really life-like actor’s head inside power armour. For those of you who don’t know, the Space Marines wear this huge bulking power armour, and finding a way of putting an actor inside that, rather than having a soft unlife-like animation head in there, was a real challenge. We looked at taking real actors, filming them and compositing actual faces in there. And while we were going through research for this, we looked at two or three different methods and then we found this one particular technique called Image Metrics, whereby we were able to film the actors and then transplant their movements, not by markers but by curves on their faces by using the…almost like topography, like a map is written, to translate that back onto their faces. And that gives a really life-like and genuine effective performance, so we can really bring to life these challenging characters with, I think, the best technology available right now in the world.

And what kind of challenges were there in using this kind of technology?
BT - Well, I think the biggest challenge we’ve got with producing the film is that we’re doing it with three different teams in three different countries in three different time zones. And, in fact, all of the facial animation you’ll see in the film was done completely separately from all the other animation you see in the film, which was obviously a logistical challenge, getting those teams to integrate. So we had a lot of planning, a lot of very, very careful layout of shots by the editor to get all of the facial acting translated directly from the performance of the actors. We’ve got some great actors as well. But to get that facial performance captured perfectly was probably the biggest challenge of this film. And it’s worked brilliantly.

And, Martyn, what kind of challenges did it present to you as a director using this new technology?
MP - Well, for actors having to work in an environment where they can’t see what they’re reacting to, that’s difficult. You have to explain a lot. But the beauty of the Image Metrics technology is, as Bob just explained, actors don’t need to have all these markers on them, they don’t have physical constraints. So, really, it’s just… they’re reacting direct to the camera and they are reacting in an imaginary space but they’re reacting directly to what you’re telling them. So that was good. And also the nature of what we’re trying to do: the Ultramarines are stoic warriors, they are not cartoon action heroes. So what we wanted was serious, intense acting with variation, so there’s a degree of subtlety we had to get into the acting, which is very unusual for an animated film.

DA - I think that’s absolutely it… that the technology allows for the performances to be real performances, rather than pieces of animation. There is a subtlety of deliverance in terms of expression, which you would normally expect in a film like this.

David, what kinds of languages will this film be made into?
DK - Well, the film’s going to be a worldwide release. It will be in the usual five or six languages that you would expect, so there’s going to be a bit of an announcement shortly on that one. Go and log onto our website: it’s going to function much more than a normal film site would do, and a lot’s going to happen that in the very near future so you’ll get all the information there. I do recommend that you go sign up for that because there’s a lot of news coming out, and new ways we’re going to be doing some things that you’ll be the first to hear about it if you register on the website.
(Ultramarines teaser shown)

Martyn, describe the style of what we’ve just seen there then, and how the facial capture technology was used in particular for that kind of scene.
MP - First of all, the overall look has the stylised, dark painterly feel that the movie is based around. This has come back into cinema with the adaptation of graphic novels. It’s something I’ve always liked in older cinema, the studio movies of the past, in terms of the lighting, the grading, the texture. And there [in the teaser] we were very careful to give the actor subtle direction, you know. This is a character who is thinking of the menace ahead, and [the actor] has been told to do so, and he’s been given subtle direction for facial inflections.

You’ve got an amazing voice cast here! How did you decide on this voice cast?
MP - Games Workshop is obviously a UK company and the movie’s being made in the UK, and it was perfectly natural that we would cast people from the UK. With the great theatrical talent, we have people who can give the control and the intensity that we were after.

And how did the actors find adapting to the facial capture system, and how did you guide them through that?
MP - The Image Metrics system is, as I said before, quite user-friendly in terms of they don’t have too many little constraints so, even though they have to imagine themselves in an environment or in a combat situation or with other characters, apart from that, they’re working directly to camera and they can just be natural.

And did it change the way you actually directed them at all?
MP - It made it easier than any other motion capture process.

So, did it extend the time or did it shorten the time that you had with them in the end?
MP - Ah, for motion capture, I’d say that Image Metrics made the process quicker. We could just concentrate on getting the right feel and the right performance.

Are there going to be any other sort of projects based around Warhammer 40,000 universe from you guys?
DK - Obviously we want to make this one successful in the first place, but we’re already working on some ideas for Number 2. But [we’ve] still got a long way to go on this and, you know, it’s got to do well out in the marketplace. There’s a huge universe and story ideas to choose from so… We don’t want to focus too much on Number 2 at the moment because we’ve still got a lot of work to do on Number 1. But certainly we’re excited about the prospect of more projects.

BT – And, if I could just say, it’s a great universe for telling stories in and we’re having a great time making this film, so I would certainly like us to be coming back and making more films in the Warhammer 40,000 universe in the near future.

Ok, we’re going to shortly open for questions to the floor but, before we do, what have been some of the favorite moments for each of you, working on the movie?
MP - It’s very entertaining watching the actors doing death scenes, just straight to camera with no other props. With one particular character, [the actor] was meant to be picked up by a beast, thrown 60 feet in the air, and then dropped down and smash his head and then, after that, him being impaled on a spike. And for someone to just visually do that with their face, to camera…it’s a great test of acting talent.

BT - For me it was just getting back to see the first colour footage which has just started arriving this week. That’s a hugely exciting thing, you know, for any project, when you’ve gone from five years in development, a year of script writing, now eight months of production, and we’re starting to see colour footage - that’s hugely exciting. It means we’ve got a great looking film, and people are loving watching the rushes back at the studio.

BT - Yeah, I think I’d have to agree with Bob. Recently seeing that, not just understanding how the story works and how the plot works, `cause that’s been there all along, but just recently to see how the atmosphere and flavour work on top of that, and it’s really, really exciting. And an incredibly pleasant experience.

DK - I’ve really got two. I think what’s amazed me on this project is how everyone whose been involved in it, right from the top down to the runner in the office, how passionate they are about this project and wanting to represent the Warhammer 40,000 universe well and to create a great film. And that means we’ve put a lot more value, and there’s a lot more emotion, in the film that you might otherwise get. And that’s one of the things you tend to get from being an independent production company, you’ve got that freedom and you tend to get a lot more passion then perhaps [do] other ways of bringing movies to the screen. And finally on a pragmatic level, I have to say [a favourite moment was] when we signed the cheque and put the money in the bank to make the movie, which was no mean feat.

Alright, it’s time now to open the questions up to the floor.

Q1 - It’s actually a question for Mr. Abnett: the characters that you write for the Imperial side of the house tend to be very big on Imperial faith, but not quite so familiar with Imperial doctrine. And yet now you’re writing about the people that not only live doctrine but actually wrote it. Was this a big change of pace or are we going to see the Ultramarines become a little less straight-laced, shall we say?
DA - No,I can do both. They are absolutely what they should be and I’ve made a really strong effort to make sure they are what players of the game and users of the universe expect them to be. Yes, I hope (touch wood) no way would Ultramarines be doing things they shouldn’t do or behaving in ways they shouldn’t behave.

Q2 - As far as Space Marine chapters go, the cliché is that the Space Wolves are the Viking ones, the Blood Angels are the vampire ones, Ultramarines are the boring ones! Whose decision was it to make [the central characters] Ultramarines and why, and what do you intend to do specifically with that chapter rather than any other?
BT - Well, firstly I think every chapter has its own excitement, every area of the 40k universe has its own special interest. The thing about the Ultramarines is there’s a certain experience you get, and a lot of people share this: the first time you get to play 40k, you open that first box and, not every time but very often, it’s an Ultramarine set. And we wanted to start the film tradition of what we’re going to do with the Warhammer 40,000 universe with the same place that you start when you start collecting.

DA - Yes, I think I probably am guilty in as much as I suggested it be Ultramarines simply because they’re the definitive flavour of Space Marines, they are kind of your base level of Space Marines, the high standard Space Marine that everything else is based on. Everything else is a variation on that theme. Everything else may take on a certain characteristic and amplify it, like you said, you end up with Viking ones, or Vampire ones or whatever, but the Ultramarines are sort of - I’m not for a moment suggesting they’re bland - but they are the basic flavour. They are what you should picture a Space Marine to be…I’ve also always thought the name Ultramarines is an extremely simple but clever joke, and is a great name for a film, and a great basis for a fighting unit. So that’s really where it came from. And I think that if people have got a slightly anti-Ultramarine attitude, then this film might change their minds.

Q3 Has the Dawn of War [computer games] series inspired you in any way?
BT - Certainly we’ve looked at the Dawn of War [games] and we’ve looked different animation things that have been done with the Warhammer 40,000 universe, particularly by the various games. We’ve chosen to do something quite different with this film in terms of its visual look. We wanted to go back to where Games Workshop are with it, and we’ve looked really more at the box art, some of the great acrylic and oil paintings that are done by the Games Workshop people and also the painting on the figures, the miniatures themselves. So we took the basis that, yes, people have done interesting things with the animation but we wanted to do something completely different, unique, and new for the film.

Q4 - What kind of races are you going to be in this movie? And how much gore, blood and death will there be? What rating will it be?
MP - The rating will happen when it happens: it’s not rated yet. There’s combat in the movie, and part of the thing in the movie we wanted the viewer to experience what it feels like to be in that combat, so you’d see the things you would see in combat.

BT - Just to explain: movie ratings happen after a film’s finished. We have to send it away and see what rating it gets. We’ve definitely got a war film, there’s definitely action, you know. We have characters with chainswords and they use them, if that’s really what the question is. But we can’t say if it’s going to get this rating or that rating ‘cos we don’t know yet until it’s finished.

And also what races will be in it?
DA - We’re not going to tell you!

Q5 – How have you reconciled the really dark universe with 12 year-old kids wanting to watch it, because that’s who the hobby is initially bringing in, young people?
MP - What we can say is that, within what happens in the script, which we can’t tell you because it would spoil the plot, what happens is done in a realistic way. And, you know, there are scenes of violence: it’s a dark story and it’s dramatised in a necessary way. It’s neither gratuitous, nor is it softened.

DA - [Warhammer 40,000] is a very dark, nihilistic thing and, like I said, it hasn’t been compromised.

Q6 – Is there going to be a book accompanying the film at all? Are there any other types of media that you are planning?
DK - Yeah, we are working on that. We’re hoping that there will be a novelisation coming out at some point with the film.

Q7 - The Ultramarines have always had a stick up their a**, to put it bluntly, in terms of being forthright and stoic, but they’ve always been very slight of eye in terms of emotion. How do both director and writer get around that, to associate the Ultramarines with the audience?
BT - Well, I think that they do typify the attitude of many Space Marines, apart from the most extreme who do express themselves in the most outrageously hyper-emotional ways. Ultramarines are an extremely good example of what a Space Marine is all about, and a way of introducing an audience, as big an audience as possible, to this universe and [to] how extraordinary these beings are. They’re sort of accelerated post-human genetic soldiers who are human in many ways, but in other respects are so completely not like us. They were a perfect pick. I think if you gave them too much…like I said, if it had been Space Wolves, I think it would have been too much of a niche market really. I think you need that line for level to understand what Space Marines really are…even if they do have a stick up their a**.

Q8 - If Ultramarines is a commercial success, is there a chance perhaps of turning some of the Black Library novels, like the Horus Heresy or Gaunt’s Ghosts novels, into films?
BT - I think we’d have to look at that on a film by film basis. Obviously the intension is that there will be more films, certainly that’s what we’d like to do as a team, and we’ve had a good time working together and would like to come back to do that again. Whether is based on books or an original idea, it really depends - but often it’s easier to make an original idea work for the screen than to try to adapt a book, because Dan’s books are quite…
DA - …well, they’re very specific to novels. As I was saying earlier, I think from the point of view of a writer, I would rather write something specifically for a movie than try to take one of my books and turn it into a movie, partly because there’s all sorts of things I would do differently, like pacing, plots, how the story is conveyed, how the action sequences work. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t like to see some of the characters that I’ve created in my books feature in films, but that’s a different thing. I certainly would be hesitant to see a particular Gaunt’s book, for instance, picked up and adapted into a movie.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in giving a round of applause to our panelists today for the Ultramarines movie!
END.

Warboss Narznok wrote:Teasers are short that show some action and footage. Like this would be a teaser for the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFHKIFDjk9I

The Theatrical Trailer explains story and plot.

nieto666 wrote:

Warboss Narznok wrote:Teasers are short that show some action and footage. Like this would be a teaser for the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFHKIFDjk9I

The Theatrical Trailer explains story and plot.

Dude thats a trailer for a upcomeing Video Game.

CHR15T09H3R wrote:Yeah the trailer is pretty crap, just an old guy talking, nice concept art though. For those of you who can't be stuffed to register at the website just visit there Youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/UltramarinesTheMovie
Chr15t09h3r

CHR15T09H3R wrote:oh, I didn't know he was famous, I kind of meant by his the marine's face btw who'd he play V for Vendetta?

DRAGOONS wrote:That trailer sucked balls... didnt show anything just some old half dead looking marine standing there. and the cgi didnt even look that great anyway they would have done better showing it off if they had i dont know, made the guy move lol

H.B.M.C. wrote:

DRAGOONS wrote:That trailer sucked balls... didnt show anything just some old half dead looking marine standing there. and the cgi didnt even look that great anyway they would have done better showing it off if they had i dont know, made the guy move lol

That's because it wasn't a trailer. It was a teaser.

How many times must this be explained?