Secret Agent Entry: David Schoneveld

#1

David Schoneveld is entered in the “Secret Agent” update: View Challenge Page

Latest Update: Finished Video: Final Comp’s and Edit

#2

Replicant agents are made to do suicide missions. They get the information and cause the most destruction possible before the are destroyed.

Harry is once such agent. Harry is not like all the others who’ve come before him. He’s lasted, somehow. Mission after mission Harry has managed to retrieve the information and cause massive destruction to the enemies of those who made him. As a replicant he is convinced he is on his deathbed from a sickness, and that today is probably his last day.
Enter Jessica she’s also a replicant agent. She’s fallen in love with Harry, as he has with her. She also is unique among replicant agents she’s more aware than the others. She’s realised the sickness is not there, she also doesn’t want to do the mission she’s been assigned. Her dream is to run away with Harry and leave all this death and destruction behind them.

That becomes their plan, but Harry is convinced he must finish this “last” mission. Jessica begs him not to do it, and to just leave with her. She’s shown Harry what is means to live, and what it means to love, and most importantly that there is no sickness. Life is what he makes of it.

This is where things start to go bad for Harry and Jessica. The corporation that made Harry and Jessica doesn’t like whats going on between them. While Harry is working on his mission they take away Jessica, to find a cure for her. Harry tries to stop them but they overpower him. The corporation demands Harry finish the mission he’s been assigned and then they’ll really work with him to find a cure for the sickness that threatens his life.

Harry is told Jessica was destroyed and then he’s thrown out of a low flying Craft, near the location of his final mission. He’s in bad shape. They’ve taken away everything that meant anything to him. His plan is made, and he is resolute. He will destroy, and kill anything from his birth corporation. He will kill the person responsible to destroying Jessica.

Harry fights his way through the main building, leaving a trail of blood, chaos and destruction. He finally gets to his “father” the mission leader at one of the top floors. As he asks questions he’s always wanted to ask and demand answers. He learns his special purpose and how he’s gone so far beyond expectations. And how there’s a mysterious newer replicant agent who has been doing as well if not better somewhere out there. Then Jessica comes out. After a brief reunion, he quickly realizes this is no longer the Jessica he knows and loves, but in fact the other advanced replicant agent in disguise. In the fight between them that ensues Harry is blow out the top floor window and falls a great distance through a few floors of the neighboring building.

Not assuming it’s over, the corporation sends a hoard of guards out to retrive Harry and make sure he’s decommissioned. Harry broken but still quite functional despite the lack of some of his skin and fleshy parts, finally gets one lucky break. The room he’s fallen into happens to be an armory. Harry takes the biggest guns he can find climbs back to the top of the building. He sees the other replicant leading the guards and fires a huge rocket destroying her and all the guards around her. He then fires rocket after rocket into the corporations main building at the base. The building looses structural integrity and collapses.

Standing among the flaming rubble, almost naked, much of his machine parts exposed, he takes in what’s happened. He finds a trench coat, throws it over himself as he walk off into the distance.

#3

I’m going to cut all that WAY down into short shots for the trailer of course. Next phase story board it out with some dialogue. The characters will be live action, with cg prosthetics and cg environment additions, like set extensions etc.

And yes Scud: The Disposable Assassin did come to mind when writting this.

#4

ok update still haven’t uploaded my story boards, on the second draft of them. First version is the scratchy almost unreadable version. I’ve been editing them down to something doable, yet trying to keep it all as exciting as possible. I’ll post tonight what I have, and hopefully soon get an edited story board version up. Going to start on that tonight also.
I’ve been studying trailers that match my idea, and I’m suprised how little action shots are actually in there. hey build the story a lot with just people talking to each other. Anyway, I’ll have some of that, but more explosions and missiles!

I have to get my teamates on cgtalk, if they’re not, and get them on board.

Oh and I’m buying a new computer just for fluid sims! Oh hells yeah! I’ll post a link to the specs if anyone cares once I dial in the final few items.

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There’s some re-editing to do, and some quick cuts that I’d like to add. Plan to shoot it in segments so I’ll do a few pieces at a time. Some camera angels are not exactly what I want, so I’ll try to improve those. But I’d like to hear what people think, crits welcome.

Next I’ll edit these into a animatic with some sound/music

#10

I can already feel the awesomeness dude :applause:… how about some gadget action… Can’t have a secret agent with out gadgets… :stuck_out_tongue:

N!K

#11

Good point there will be a few gadgets build into the guns and such but I agree. I’ll think of something cool to add gadget wise.

So just bought a new computer. Soon I will be one FX/Fluid siming mother #$%&*! …well at home too! lol.

Now to the re-edit and adding/subtracting of what I got.

#12

Place holder
link removed posted w/ challenge uploader

This is the boards cut down a bit and edited to something like I want for sound. Check it out.

#13

That looks promising! Hope to have some good explosions and stuff with you involved.
When you planning to start the shooting? That PC you bought was crazy by the way :surprised
good luck!

#14

is it raining? I think rain would be awesome…sets the dark mood maybe fog…heavy clouds?

#15

redCigarette: Thanks. Yeah my friend “complained” it’s all FX, LOL. I’m like but that’s what I do! I want to blow things up, …digitally of course. Plan to start shooting next week. This weekend pre-production. Location scout, make shot list & shooting schedule, build the props I need, etc.
I’m excited about that computer, it’s been a long time since I had a smoking fast computer at home.

nfrancisj: Yeah it’s raining. I’m going to wet down the scene and the actor, add some light rain on set interacting with the actor, and make it heavier with FX. Love the idea of fog, not for the raining shots but definitly going to add fog!

My thoughts on the animatic boards is that I’m happier than I thought I would be. I can see that it’s missing a shot here and there, and some shots need camera angle re-adjustments… like I’m not sure about the nuke at the end, since a building falls cut to the nuke… might need a quick shot in between there.

#16

Software: Photoshop

This is the boards cut down a bit and edited to something like I want for sound. Check it out.

This replaces the place holder I had.

Play Video >>

#17

Got some great feed back from guys at work, like “Naw, that’s not good” “Didn’t grab my attention” And other comments to the extent that it basically s*&#. lol (cry) thanks guys, but then they looked at it hard and gave me some great notes.

Make the into montage not so big and harsh, but more secret agent covert and when his girl is taken away it THEN goes hard. Like he is a man of restrained power than goes over the edge when they take away the girl who means so much to him. Ramp in the action so that it’s more powerful when it happens. It will also be more manageable. And they helped focus a logline.

Logline: Secret Agent with a terminal illness, find hope and happyness in his love interest. When she gets taken away, you see what he can do out of anger and revenge with nothing to live for.

So re-edit coming.

The comments they made were that they expect a lot more from me. 3d animatics are a must. I guess the song I used was also used in Terminator Salvation trailer, so I’ll change that. It will only make it better if I can take them tearing it apart, only to put it back together better… so I will, and glad they did.

Some dialog improvements “I’m dieing” “You’re not gonna die until we tell you to die” etc.

I guess I hoped my first pass would just be awesome, and move on… but no back to the drawing board… literally.

#18

yoo dave…love the specs on your machine… I have one request…well…the geek in me would love to see your machine in action…Do you think you could make a quick vid of your machine sim-ing something? with the frame rate up…plzzz:bounce:

oh…and the artist in me…would love to see like the making of…kinda thing…of ur idea…maybe you could prob make some vid tuts on your process…kinda like the castle cannon thing u did for gnomon. :smiley:

#19

oh hey…what if his girl is killed…by the agency (a move to stop the 2 agents from going rouge)
That would give him more motivation for revenge and less care. like…he doesn’t care if he dies kinda thing, cus he has nothing to live for then.

kinda like bourne or wolverine.:wink:

#20

well got my computer up and running Windows 7 yesterday. Got maya running today. Not OC yet so still at 2.66, but did a fluid sim/cache test. 100x100x100 24frames den/vel/temp/fuel dynamic. (turned off visibility of the fluid = trick to faster sim/cache)

My old computer
115.14 seconds

New Computer
27.66 seconds

Edit:
OC to 3.3
24.67 seconds

I’m happy with that, roughly 4 times faster. On the project end I have an updated edit but it now doesn’t match the sound, so working on that today post something tonight.