Watch This: Frank Miller's Buck Rogers
Filed under: Fandom, Trailers and Clips
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Okay, that's not entirely fair -- in reality, the video below has nothing to do with Frank Miller. It's not test footage, it's not an early short film of his and the man has probably never even seen this ... although he might take a quick look now that we've posted it. What we have for you today is a short film inspired by the Buck Rogers character created by a student (Patrick De Leon) for his editing class at the Art Institute of Colorado where he's majoring in Visual Effects. The short, which took four weeks to complete, is based on the way Buck appeared wayyy back in the day when he first arrived on the scene in the late 20's -- and it blends live action with campy sci-fi and a futuristic cityscape.
We mention Frank Miller, though, because news recently hit that Odd Lot was trying to purchase the rights to Buck Rogers off Nu Image/Millennium so that they could give Miller the chance to direct a new live-action version of the classic space hero. Seeing as how The Spirit crashed its way into the Crap Hall of Fame last month, some folks aren't crazy about Miller taking on such a beloved character for fear he'd ruin the Buck Rogers image. Me? I just don't think "camp" works with today's multiplex audience, no matter what the original source material is. But if Miller does get his hands on Rogers, should we expect something similar to this (which, I'd like to point out, is certainly impressive ... for an art student) ...
[via TheAwesomer]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-13-2009 @ 12:23PM
Vegimorph said...
aw man! whoever made this ripped off the opening sequence of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was one of the original users BEFORE Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez'a movies of that type of style. Kerry Conran deserves way more credit than he got.
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1-13-2009 @ 12:36PM
Sam said...
Eh, the effects look alright, but what good is all that sparkle when the story and acting are awful. No wonder Hollywood is so into making sequels and remakes, these new upcoming 'talented' art students don't know the basic, weightier elements of storytelling, just the pretty effects.
As to Frank Miller, if he's reading this, I want him to stay the hell away from Buck Rogers. You can make a good graphic novel, but leave the directing to the professionals.
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1-13-2009 @ 2:13PM
vegimorph said...
sorry about my last post. I sounded like a jerk/psycho and I didn't read the whole article. The college student's work is definetely impressive. The look for his trailer in my opinion is fantastic and very reminisicent of Sky Captain and other pulp adventure movies. I hope he does well in the future. I haven't seen the Spirit but I figure someone else should handle Buck Rodgers. I think I heard that maybe Stephen Sommers is doing it, but I might be mistaking it for Flash Gorden.
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1-18-2009 @ 5:15PM
willanimate4food said...
Sam, he's a visual effects student. I don't think his ambitions are related to writing or acting. And, more than likely, his talent pool is restricted to other art students. I graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado about 3 years ago from their animation department. To this student's credit, his animation and effects are better than at least 90% of the crap that most of the students there churn out. I'm not saying his video is astounding, just that it's much better than most other students' work and he clearly has the passion and drive to create some quality work as he continues down that path.
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1-13-2009 @ 4:11PM
ROBERT said...
SUPER
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1-13-2009 @ 3:54PM
Quaz007 said...
Very impressive. Love the look and the music. Acting was pretty stiff however. (Not sure if that was intentional) Otherwise, I think this student has a bright future. Great job!!
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1-13-2009 @ 6:00PM
WillTheSecond said...
Very funny, I hope it was meant to be (I think it was, it least). The actors were I'm sure deliberately underplaying which made the whole slightly surreal atmosphere more engaging.
The pacing was off but if he's studying visual effects rather than directing/editing/etc then that's not exactly an issue really. The art style was indeed lovely (and consistent) but then I have a soft spot for that era, haha.
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