Ace Ramano: Action Man

Of course I appreciate any feedback you can offer, but I'd like to open this up to any questions anyone has about Ace Ramano: Action Man. First, there are a few corrections I'd like to make about the credits posted on the webpage:

Aaron Kahar should be Aaron Kahan.
Nick Dimarro should be Nick DiMarco.
Andy Grove should be on the list. He played the guy in the pink shirt at the end that gets a faceful of Ace's backhand.
Steve Hyde played the character Ace Ramano, and should probably be at the top of the list.

Someone asked about the voice talent for the narration. That was me.

Any other questions about the special effects, etc. please feel free to ask.

Thanks.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: funkbomb,

No questions. I just wanted to say that I enjoyed it immensely. Now prepare for to make die at my hand.

Also, yeah! Great voice, Ben! Have you ever considered voice acting? I can't say I recommend it - it's consummately frustrating, and you go hoarse if you get a really long reading - but it sometimes pays well, and it's oh-so-cool to tell someone: "You know when you call Little Caesar's and you're put on hold and there's a voice reading you the entire menu? That's ME." Yeah! Totally righteous! Girls love voices! Yea-ea-ea-eah!

Anyway, great movie. Hope to see more.

Just watched the trailer - great job man. Can't wait to see the whole thing. What did you use for the explosion behind the car, and the SFX for the villain scene? pretty impressive.

quote:

Can't wait to see the whole thing.

Lol. Unfortunately we only had time to film a trailer. We've considered getting everyone back to do a film, but the idea's been done, everyone's off to college, and we'd rather spend our energy elsewhere.

For the explosion of the car, I traced out the car and used that as a plate to put overtop the explosions, which I got from http://www.detonationfilms.com.
For the villian scene, I rendered the laser using about 200 polygons and different glass textures. Then I cut and pasted a bunch of lights in a path that would look impressive when the camera zoomed out. I exported the animation, then synced up the zoom and scaling for Professor Badd, who is superimposed on top, when the zooming took place, if that makes any sense.

By the way, I built that handheld detonator from about $30 worth of Radioshack parts. As soon as I get it working again, I'm selling it on ebay.

Glad you liked it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: funkbomb,

And Harris, I was about to say--is that your voice on Spring Heeled Jack, voicing over your character? You've definately got a great voice, and it sounds like you speak from experience with that voice acting, for good reason. Did you actually do a Little Caesar's phone menu reading? That...is sweet. Consider it added to the list of things I need to do before I catch syphilis.

Oh and also, for anyone who is interested, my band recorded a theme song for Ace Ramano. We were going to use it in the film for the soundtrack instead of Jamiroquai, but a lot of the others who made the film objected to the idea. I think maybe if we had gotten some horns (t-bones, trumpets) in on the action it definately would've been more of a stellar sound. Check it out.

Ace Ramano Theme Song

People objected to the use of that song? Bastards. I think that song would have fit perfectly, and I much prefer it over Jamiroquai. I mean, Jamiroquai rocks and everything, but that is one stupid hat he wears.

Don't let that bastard Harris fool you, funkbomb. I did the voice work for DDA's two greatest characters, Spring Heeled Jack and Master Chow. Sure, Harris has made actual "money" with his "voice" working in real "jobs", but his Meatwad impression is terrible.

Also, good movie.

lol. I figured. Well no matter what you guys do, there's definately loads of talent between all of you at DDA.

I had another version of Ace all synced up with that song, and I was about to submit it anyway, but long-pledged allegiance to my fellow buddies prevented me.

Thanks for the comments.

glad your changing Jamiroquai. You should definately have your own stuff on your own movie. Fun film.

I also forgot to add that Chris Kinslow was a huge player in coming up with Ace Ramano in the first place. I was all the technical stuff--Chris really brainstormed the whole operation. You can direct costume, cinematography and idea/story comments to his email here.

Oh, and we spent $10 for the stock shot of the White House. Yes, the clip that's shown for exactly 2 seconds at the beginning.

...Ate up our budget...sheesh. Shame on whoever gave me that decision-making power.

Since there had been a lot of discussion about audio lately, I thought I'd mention here that the "I'm Ace Ramano...And I shouldn'tve taken off my sunglasses. It's bright out" line was ADR'ed. That stands for Audio Dubbing and Recording, and it means that the actor came in later and redid the voice in post-production, which was essentially lip-synced.

Thought I'd let you all know.

Just thought I would but in and say I loved it heaps. At one point in the day I burst out laughing when I remembered the 'sunglasses' line. My customers think I'm weird now. Haha. Pity it's not going to be a bigger project. I say take it to Hollywood.