25 replies to this topic

[MacabreLAM]

So, my dream when I'm older is to be a director. And if there's one thing I will do, it is make BGII and DragonLance some good god damn movies. Well, dragonlance is really kinda too out of my league (and motivation) to work on a home, fun version right now. So I wanted to make a script, and possibly, if it all is to my liking (and I really would love it) make a home made, good BGII movie of Shadows of Amn.

Now, if I'm writing this script, why am I posting up here that I am? Well, because I want your opinions. Duh. This movie for the community and fans, as well as myself. I'm not going to disappoint.

So, this is what I'm wondering... I really don't want to cut out most of the main side quests from chapter II. But the one that I definitely will do is Nalia's Keep. Other than that, I'd like you all to tell me which ones you'd like the most. This would be:

The whole Umar Hills (Temple Ruins)
Windspear Hills
Trademeet

Those are the major ones off the top of my head... of course, there's the ones inside the city, but I'm only probably going to include the ones to get the characters in the films that I want in there permanently. Which is where, once again, you all come in. What NPCs do you want to see in the party as a permanent member? I would, of course, write in all the NPCs that I can (expect maybe Jan, unless it turns out a lot of people like him... because, honestly, I have NEVER played with him in my party.)

I may or may not stick to the classic 5. Either way, the one that I DEFINITELY will have in it is Minsc.

Here's a few more to throw at you:
Romance? Yes or no for the main character?
Modded NPCs? Any you recommend/like? They COULD have an appearance, after all.
And last but not least... the class, personality and gender of the main character. His race, in my view, should be half human... mole (even though they don't offer this), half elf, or half orc... or just purely human.

Uhm... hell, the community may not even like this... but I would keep these opinions when I tried to make the real movie one day... This is for BGII and the fans and community, not just me. Now, this home movie... maybe. But I'd be posting it up on youtube if I ever did it for all to see, anyway.

And, of course, I'm going to simply ask this -- don't discourage me. It's hard for me to garner enough hope and happiness and motivation to really get excited about doing this. And movies are the only thing I can manage to really get hyped about making, because I love to direct and make them.

I'm not gonna worry about expenses, actors, or a replacement camera for my current one until I take the first step and write the script... So don't bother about that right now, either.

[theacefes]

I think that's a neat idea and I would definitely watch it! Anything except Abdel the Awfully Stupid is good.

[MacabreLAM]

So, there's not much else of anyone interested?

[Tassadar88]

Patience, friend - it takes time for folks to show up

As for the idea itself, I think that the whole of Chapter 2 itself might take a series rather than a movie - if I were you, I would only pick a straight way through it - and Umar hills usually means a dragon encounter as well - it could be... difficult to shoot? I think that for example the cleric or the thief quests should be easier to do, at least for start. And by the way, how do you plan to style the movie? It could be turned into a thriller, a sword-and-sorcery hack and slash fighting movie, a psychological study ... which is your approach?

[Choo Choo]

Tassadar: Unless, of course, the party sneaks past the dragon..

I still think that there should be some subquests involved with the chapter 2 - those 15k gold don't appear out of nowhere. Maybe make a series of 1 hour movies?

Minsc, check. Jaheira should also be thrown in, and Imoen of course. And if you're doing Nalia's keep.. yeah. That leaves one. Bring somebody along (Edwin, perhaps?) who dies a horrible gruesome death at the final battle with Irenicus, to make place for Sarevok.

[Tassadar88]

Either way, evil character will leave room for much more interesting story developments/inparty relationships

[Elanorea]

Nice idea! Funny thing is, I've been thinking about much the same thing lately (though unlike you, I don't have much actual hope of ever creating a real movie) so I have quite a few ideas. First off, the NPCs. I think Minsc, Jaheira and Yoshimo/Imoen are pretty much required. That leaves two free spots. Now, I've thought of two options - either have one permanent NPC, and rotate NPCs through the last slot, or have two permanent NPCs. In the latter case, you could still show other NPCs - there's nothing forbidding you from having for example Mazzy tagging along for the Umar Hills quest as a "seventh member".
... I had some more ideas, but it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to continue this tomorrow.

[MacabreLAM]

@Tassadar: I'm more of a psychological/horror kind of person... but fantasy and comedy works, too, with me, at times, dpeending on my mood. I usually stick highly to the first two genres, though, with strong influence in fantasy.

Dragons... I can't do, really, unless I can somehow manage a cheap computer graphics tech and program, which I probably can't considering it's a home movie and all. And, yeah, evil character idea sounds good, actually... (As well as someone dying in the battle. Which makes me think maybe I should twist it some with a few other NPCs...)

@Choo: I think Imoen is a definite, too... definitely. But I dunno about Nalia... Edwin I love to death, surprised someone mentioned him. I do actually plan to have an appearance at some point from ALL of the NPCs. Just not in the party.

@Elanorea: Yoshimo, yeah, I think he's an essential plot element. Although, I don't have to stick with six -- it'd just be much easier. And the impermanent seventh member sounds cool, too.

[Tassadar88]

and it might be considered for example splitting the party and following two separate stories at some time, with them reuniting them later. Of course, you could also focus on Imoen and Jon - if you detach yourself a little from what the player can actually see, you will have much more freedom

[theacefes]

You could make your party REALLY big (okay not really big, but why not 8-9 people in the party eventually?).

A series of 1 hour shows would be cool. Would probably be easier to make too!

[Tassadar88]

I even thought of 20 minutes an episode format. It is long enough to set things in motion in one episode and get them done in the other. And yes - there is no limit to the party size in a movie - and it would be nice to expand on the quest storylines from the starting point - what happens BEFORE the party gets on the scene (and possibly some aftermaths) - it could become pretty boring/repetitive if you only concentrated solely on the path of the PC. And a non-good-only alignment and moderately chaotic party would probably be more attractive from plot twist point of view

[Choo Choo]

Mmmph, not non-good ONLY. Imoen and Minsc, anyone?

The current "6 member" party line-up seems to look like this.

Player1, Minsc, Imoen/Yoshimo. Possibly Jaheira? and maybe Anomen. And Edwin, for comic relief with Minsc, and he might die a gruesome death in chapter 6/7 so that Sarevok might take his place, because I feel that Sarevok should be thrown in, with the whole redeeming thing. But just my two cents.

[Tassadar88]

I would probably split the party quite soon in chapter 2 - where you get several quests to earn the money, company could disagree about which way to go - Minsc and Jaheira (and any other NPC) would probably want to go to Imnesvale and Yoshimo (and Edwin) would be first for the thieves quest. As before - if you want ALL NPCs to appear, having multiple parties connected mainly by the PC would be the best idea - you could even have disagreements - if the PC were good, some of the evil ones (or those prejudiced against him on ground of him being a Bhaalspawm) could actually try to kill him. Even easier to do if the PC is not too much of a do gooder

[MacabreLAM]

@Tassander: Hmm... yeah, I like that idea of splitting up the party once or twice, too. And it's a good idea to expand on the other ideas... I've a lot of the time ended up a shadow thief, so it could be fun to do more on them when they're not around.

As for overall party alignment, and PC alignment... I think the party is going to basically neutral, or balanced. We'll have evil characters, good characters, and neutral characters.

@Theacefes: Youtube only let's you upload 10 minute videos, so it would be pretty chopped up. I may just have to go with the 20 minute shows, using part A and part B. The big party, well, I can do it big in the later chapters, but in the beginning ones, I think I should stick to 6-7 party members in one group (if they split up, that could total 12-14. .-.)

@Choo: That sounds pretty good for a permanent party... I'm still looking at a few other NPCs.


Also, anyone want to see any modded NPCs in it? I think the PC's gender will be determined by the actor I'll eventually pick out.

[Nex Vesica]

Don't do a movie persay, it would be far too rushed.  I believe you can upload more on youtube if you apply to be a director.  I actually write screenplays for a living...or well at least I'm trying to make a living out of it if you wanted someone to look over what you have written.  Too many npcs and it'll get very...complicated, though the idea of splitting people up is certainly appealing.

[Solar's Harper]

Hm, not a bad idea however the characters of BG2 and BG1 are copyrighted. If you were to make a movie/series of it, you'd first need the people who hold the copyright ownership's permission for it. Otherwise you're dealing with material which could be legally liable to you.

Just a bit of advice.

[theacefes]

Well I mean, people make mods and put the Bioware NPCs names in it. As long as the movie isnt sold or distributed against Bioware's notice, isn't it still legal? (is curious)

[theacefes]

Don't do a movie persay, it would be far too rushed. I believe you can upload more on youtube if you apply to be a director. I actually write screenplays for a living...or well at least I'm trying to make a living out of it if you wanted someone to look over what you have written. Too many npcs and it'll get very...complicated, though the idea of splitting people up is certainly appealing.

The only reason I say that is because say, CHARNAME needs to raise money to get to Spellhold right? Well, it's a lot of work to do all those quests. What if you had two groups of NPCs (One led by CHARNAME, another led by another NPC), doing these quests, trying to raise the money? It could be similar to a LOTR story, where you've got two groups of people working towards a similar goal and you spend time focusing on each of them. This will enable you to make the most of many more NPCs.

Just a thought.

[Solar's Harper]

Well I mean, people make mods and put the Bioware NPCs names in it. As long as the movie isnt sold or distributed against Bioware's notice, isn't it still legal? (is curious)

Hm... If not used for commerical purposes, I don't think so. Have to see the liscence agreement terms to be sure of that.

[Chevalier]

Well I mean, people make mods and put the Bioware NPCs names in it. As long as the movie isnt sold or distributed against Bioware's notice, isn't it still legal? (is curious)

Sorry, But I don't think any of the BG mods are legal. But what can they do? They can't sue for the money we are making, because we don't make any money. All the mod makers make sure the Bioware's games are needed, so that to play a mod they must own a Bioware game and they make more money. So they don't sue the hosting companies to stop sites like ShS.