Metroid: Enemies Within

[BlackMagicWolf]

I don't know Tron Bonne it just doesn't sound right.

Regardless, as I've said we can't not do something because we think Nintendo will shut it down. We need to at least try and do something like this and see what happens.

I think they'll let it through, but as I've said before I'm a dreamer, so I hope for the best.

So until then we need to unite and fund this. The rewards are pretty good (see: Samus Aran sending you a personalized message) and the movie looks like it'll be really well done.

So why not? Let's donate and make this happen.

 

[Tron Bonne]

What doesn't sound right about it lol? I'm really not trying to diminish your passion for the project, or it's value, but do you really believe that Nintendo (a company primarily based in a different country then this production) stays on top of all the fan projects, blogs, fan fiction, and fan films dedicated to them? I'm sure they have some department that monitors this, but the with the nature of Kickstarter means a project can never actually happen, I doubt it's information they are relayed 24/7.

I feel like you're getting a little too defensive about this. I don't think anyone is trying to tear this idea down or anything, just injecting some practicality into talking about it.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

Tron Bonne: I'm not trying to diminish your logic either. You (and Hippie Hunter) have made very logical points. Nintendo could very well shut down this project at any time. They could wait until the very last minute for all I know. All I know is that it hasn't happened yet.

My problem was that in this day and age with everyone covering everything I think it would be hard for Nintendo not to know. Especially if it's on Kickstarter. No they can't keep track of everything because some of it isn't relevant in one way or the other. But something like this is hard to ignore. Allow me an example.

I mentioned a Nightwing project where some fans (like Massive State for Metroid) started a Kickstarter to fund a potential web series. A lot of people thought the same thing that DC would shut them down. But they didn't, in fact DC made a statement about why they may not shut them down. So they found out and quickly. And the project was funded successfully without any action from DC.

With websites like IGN and Kotaku doing articles about them (good or bad.....Kotaku was horrible) covering it and fans talking about I just find it hard to believe that Nintendo doesn't at least know it's name. What they do after hearing about it is their decision.

I appreciate you trying to keep me honest, and you are. Practicality is necessary, I'm just trying to inject the other side of practicality. Yes, it could happen, but it also might not. So until then I'm going to campaign for this, cause I believe in it.

And that's the other thing, it's great to have logic and practicality, but sometimes you need to have faith as well.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

Project just crossed the $10,000 mark. Long way to go but I know it can happen if we all do our part!

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

Update!: They just cleared $15,000, epic! But we still got a while to go.

Please help out. Spread the word and donate if you can.

I'm not asking anyone to break the bank, if we can get 3000 people to donate $25 this is funded! If you want to donate more, fine, or less it's fine, every donation counts.

Some special updates are coming soon, VFX shots, choreography tests, they're still progressing on this while this trying to get funded. They're dedicated to this, let's help them out. Check out my signature for the link to the Kickstarter.

 

[hippie_hunter]

$90,000 for a fan film. That's insane.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

In what way? They're doing this Hollywood style with a full crew, a HUGE set (the ship it takes place in) and top notch visual effects. That adds up.

Listen to the interview and they explain why they asked for that much money, it makes sense once you hear them talk about what they're doing and where they're doing it.

They're going to be the inaugural movie in a state-of-the-art visual effects center, they got a discount for being the first one! But being there will ensure they get to use the best software and hardware to make awesome looking effects.

We think of this as an unearthly sum of money, but to them they think of it as a budget that needs to spent to make a good movie.

And again that's 3600 donating $25, that's not a lot when you think about it.

Give it a chance, listen to the interview and have your questions answered, then decide what you want to do.

 

[JOlsen]

When you show me your letter from Nintendo that you have permission to use their ip and won't be shut down then I'll think about it. Til then I will just see it as a waste of my money.... or worse. Trying to rip me off because you know you don't have the rights.

 

[Tron Bonne]

You only get charged for the project if it succeeds with Kickstarter. If it doesn't, you don't actually get charged. You either never get charged to begin with or get your credit refunded, I believe.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

Tron Bonne to the rescue!

And she's right. If this project doesn't go through you don't get charged.

You register your credit card, or debit card, or however you want to pay and state what reward you want to pledge. They'll make a note of it and register you to the project. if the project succeeds then they'll bill your account and charge you the amount you donated. If it doesn't succeed, then nothing happens. You're in the clear.

And as I've said before, projects like this, using big name IP's have worked before. Nightwing is the big one I think of. A company in Las Vegas did a very similar thing and they succeeded, didn't get shut down by DC and now the project is being made.

This isn't a waste or a scam, Kickstater binds the creators of projects to their word that if successful they'll get made or THEY'LL be in big trouble.

Please think about it, that's all I'm asking.

Oh and they just increased the reward for the $25 dollar donation! Now you'll get the movie, thanks from the team on Facebook and Twitter, AND you'll get a digital copy of the soundtrack for the movie. All the songs that will be in the movie are originals made by professional composers along with some made by dedicated fans.

You can be one of them if you contact them about it. They want the community to help out as much as they want.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

A new image has been uploaded to the Kickstarter page, it's epic in my opinion. Hopefully there's more of this to come!

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

So yeah that happened, my eagerness to post the pic above led me to miss the forest through the trees.

The pic above was the image used for the Kickstarter, but it's only HALF of what is apparently the official poster for the movie.

Here is the full image, and yes, now it's even more epic:

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

The project has officially raised over $20,000 dollars! But we still have a long way to go to help this get funded.

Please check out the Kickstarter page, listen to the interview with Director Christian Cardona and Producer Kent King, but most importantly spread the word! Some people still haven't heard about this and need to know.

Also stay tuned for an interview with Samus herself Rebecca Marshall!

New on the Kickstarter Page they've add pics of the set design that they have in mind for the movie. Most of it will be within a stolen ship. The set is going to be MASSIVE which is one of the reasons they're asking for so much. Take a look and please help out.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

A new reward has been added today. It's for only one backer but it's pretty interesting.

PLEDGE AMOUNT $2,000. **SAMUS ARAN HELMET WITH A CUSTOM PAINT JOB THAT YOU CHOOSE! Either signed or unsigned by SAMUS aka REBECCA MARSHALL, and an official signed letter by the cast crew. THIS IS LIMITED TO ONE.

What kind of paint job would you want on your helmet? I need to think about this.....

 

[Spidey-Bat]

The Kickstarter is down now. "Metroid: Enemies Within (A Metroid Fan Film) is the subject of an intellectual property dispute and is currently unavailable."

Not even remotely surprised by this. There was no way Nintendo wouldn't shut this down when they were taking people's money for their IP.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

It's on hiatus, not dead yet......

 

[jacobed]

No its dead. The guy was going to use Metroid without Nintendo's permission. He's an idiot for thinking he would actually be able to.

 

[Tron Bonne]

That is a bit...obtuse. Fan films are fairly common things. Just go to youtube and type in fan film and you'll get all kinds of fan films made completely independent of studios, ranging from Batman to Ghostbusters to Star Wars. Most of the time companies don't care, because there's no profit being made, and they foresee no real harm. If anything, it serves as a strange way to get free marketing.

Nintendo is just different right now as they've taken an extreme look at anything doing with their IP. Not to say they're in the wrong or anything, by law they are able to do this, but I don't see this as a case of someone being a "fool" and trying to rip people off. Far as I can tell, all the money was being taken for production with no heed of profit. Though, truthfully, the guy should've seen Nintendo's recent behavior and knew where this was heading.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I don't know how most fan films are handled, but they're not making the movie with private funds, they're actively seeking money from the public. Making more than their initial goal, regardless of stretch goals, can be seen as profit. If a project fails, there is no guarantee that backers will get a refund. Kickstarter does not promise this, it's up to the project creator. In the case of a movie, they'd probably end up underestimating their budget and not be able to refund backers should it fall apart and get canned.

Square Enix did the same thing when someone on Kickstarter wanted to remake FF7 as a movie. I have no problem with a company wanting to protect their brand from a potential Kickstarter failure and you don't want to run the risk that you get dragged into a lawsuit by someone.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yeah, that is a good point. I wasn't even thinking about what would happen if the thing went over the limit. Guess that is a trickier situation than your average fan film

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

A. It's being foolish to want to make a video about a character you love, that's called dreaming big.

B. This had been in production for months, aka before Nintendo went crazy with their properties like the Let's Play videos (which by the way was about the advertisements being played not the videos themselves) so by the time they made the Kickstarter they were too invested to not do it.

C. If this was their first time doing a movie (aka an actual "fan" film) then you might have a point about failing, but Christian and Kent were professionals, along with their entire crew, they knew the budget they needed to get (they planned for this, again months in advance,) they were putting up their own money and calling in favors to get this started in the first place. They knew what they needed to get and that's what they asked for. They wouldn't have failed to make the movie. They might've made cuts, not done certain things, like ALL other movies, but they wouldn't have failed.

I know that sounds like an arrogant fanboy or something but I honestly say that it's not. I'm saying this from the grounds of their careers and that I talked to them (via the interview) and heard how far along and planned this project was.

I am very sad that this is "shut down", not because I'm losing what could've been a great movie, but because two people who I consider friends just lost the opportunity to do a dream project they've wanted to do for a long time.

So please stop bashing this, it's not right.

 

[jacobed]

They may be 'professionals' but they obviously don't know the first thing about copyright protection. Especially with Nintendo. They're very protective of their properties. It may have been different if they used their own money but this is using everyone's money. Maybe they can show their vision to Nintendo and they'll say alright go ahead, but I highly doubt it

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

We'll find out won't we?

And what's with the quotes around professionals? They are. They've made movies and shows before. And they've done them with other peoples IP's. They are professionals, plain and simple.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

A. It's being foolish to want to make a video about a character you love, that's called dreaming big.

It's ambitious and admirable but not realistic considering it's a Nintendo IP.

B. This had been in production for months, aka before Nintendo went crazy with their properties like the Let's Play videos (which by the way was about the advertisements being played not the videos themselves) so by the time they made the Kickstarter they were too invested to not do it.

Nintendo, and many other companies, has ALWAYS been protective of their IPs. They sent out a C&D to a Star Fox fan game, they get unofficial phone apps of their games taken off the market if they contain the sprites, I'm sure they've even tried to stop fan translations of games. Square Enix did the same with the FF7 fanfilm and I know they shut down the Chrono Trigger fan sequel as well.

C. If this was their first time doing a movie (aka an actual "fan" film) then you might have a point about failing, but Christian and Kent were professionals, along with their entire crew, they knew the budget they needed to get (they planned for this, again months in advance,) they were putting up their own money and calling in favors to get this started in the first place. They knew what they needed to get and that's what they asked for. They wouldn't have failed to make the movie. They might've made cuts, not done certain things, like ALL other movies, but they wouldn't have failed.

"The best laid plans of mice and men..." I do not doubt their talents and competence in making a move, but to say failure was never a possibility for them is being blindly ignorant. A number of problems could have arisen during production that caused delays or more serious issues.

I know that sounds like an arrogant fanboy or something but I honestly say that it's not. I'm saying this from the grounds of their careers and that I talked to them (via the interview) and heard how far along and planned this project was.

I am very sad that this is "shut down", not because I'm losing what could've been a great movie, but because two people who I consider friends just lost the opportunity to do a dream project they've wanted to do for a long time.

So please stop bashing this, it's not right.

I'm not bashing the project or personally insulting them as individuals or filmmakers. I also am not using the term "fan film" in a disparaging way, maybe independent film would be more accurate/fair. In either case, I simply think the decision to put this on Kickstarter was not smart, regardless of how far along the project was. Anything over their stretch goal could be interpreted as profiting off an IP they did not own and making it public put them in Nintendo's crosshairs. Yes, Nintendo and other companies have people actively searching for these kinds of projects, it then takes time to relay that to their legal department and then begin the process of shutting them down. That's why it took awhile for this to happen.

If I were in their situation, I would have kept the project underwraps as long as I could. When Nintendo finds out about it and sends them a C&D, they could just "leak" the film. It's not ideal and doesn't help them make anything from it but I think it would have been the best way for them to share the film and get it out there.

 

[BlackMagicWolf]

You've made good points and I understand them. And I wasn't solely referring to you Spidey-Bat in regards to the bashing of this project.

And as Adam Savage says "Failure is ALWAYS an option" and it's true but I was referring to their track record of being able to do projects on time and with the money they have. I truly believe they could've made an epic Metroid movie with 90 grand.

Maybe it wasn't smart or maybe it was, we'll never truly know cause it wasn't made. And yes it could still get made but it would be a lot harder now with Nintendo official involved.

For me this is just sad because both fans and Nintendo had a lack of faith in this project. Fans saw this (not you specifically but a lot of people from other sites) as a fan film and a stupid one at that before even listening to the Kickstarter video or hearing about the project from Christian and Kent. They judged it prematurely which is what I tried to change.

Nintendo saw a violation of property instead of seeing this as it truly was: a love-letter/film to fans about one of the greatest game series of all time. A series that everyone at Massive State truly cherished. And all they wanted to do was take the series to an unexplored medium.

People have become rigid in their thinking that the moment something like this happens they oppose it. "It won't work!", "It'll get shut down!", "It'll stink! they'll cry instead of saying "I wonder if this could work?"

Obviously not everyone objected and I praise everyone who dedicated to this project. I'm just wondering what kind of message this will send out to everyone, cause to me this says "You can dream, you can have big ideas, just don't share it with anyone".

And that's sad.