ELFQUEST: A FAN IMAGINING Trailer

[filkertom]

The other day, we linked up to the teaser to this. Now here's the whole thing.

I am torn. I think they've got the look and feel down. Those ladies are exceptionally hot. And I'm having all kinds of wicked thoughts about some of the images.

Maybe I'm not torn.

Thoughts?

ETA: Yeah, I think we all agree that the biggest problems were [a] excessive eye makeup and [b] a distinct lack of male elves. I, too, would love to see Cutter and Skywise done this way. The real trick would be some of the trolls -- Picknose and Two-Edge especially.

Comments

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that all the elves were female, and the only males we saw were human?

I enjoyed the incredible attention to detail in the costumes, but I was a little distracted by the ears. I wish they hadn't use the standard Woochie ears that every LARPer wears!

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I wanted to see Skywise!

I figured we saw so many female elves because there were more women available for the roles. But some of the men who played the humans could have doubled as elves, with a change of costume and makeup.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Frankly, it ticked me off. Mainly because the elves were always shown being at one with nature. How natural is a tribe with no means of reproduction?

[maiac.livejournal.com]

The costumes were terrific, except for the excessive eye makeup. And poutiness.

Winnowill was perfect.

Some of the women looked a lot like the women in the Jane Austen Fight Club trailer. I wonder whether there's a connection.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

*stare off camera, tilt head*
*stare off camera, tilt head*
*snap look right*
*snap look left*

Nice work though, but yeah, couldn't find any guys who wanted to cosplay?

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

All the elves are female????

You know, if I was just looking for a T&A flick, that would be fine. But this is Elfquest we are talking about. I'd no sooner watch someone deviate from the original storyworld in this than I would stand for someone "reinventing" the Dragonriders! While the costumes and appearances were very good, turning Strongbow (known for stubbornness) and Skywise (known to be a horndog) into large busted women really screws things up. Yes, they got away with changing Starbuck on Galactica -- that doesn't mean EVERY character in every story universe has to get a sex change operation!

And just how did Joyleaf manage to get pregnant so she can hold that baby? Mmmm? Budding like Yeast?

The wolfriders were a tribe, male and female. Survival was job #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. The top priority for Cutter was the survival of his clan. Hard to show this world where life is short and young replaces old when you have no males in the tribe. The elves were one with nature -- how natural is a tribe without means to reproduce?

[susan-the-rogue.livejournal.com]

I don't think they actually turned Strongbow and Skywise into women.....according to the credits, the trailer included Brownberry and Foxfur, and the one holding the baby was Rainsong.

But yeah, they should have had some men (besides humans) in the trailer.

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

This was kind of cool, but no humans playing elves (or our Earth doubling as the "World of Two Moons") are ever going to be as beautiful or graceful. If a movie were ever to be made, it'd have to be animated.

Hmm... no Elquest icon...

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Psst. There are a bunch in my journal that I made after EQ hit the Web.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Nicely done semipro production there. The heavy eyeliner and false eyelashes are way too typical of their time; in other words, as a movie, it wouldn't age well. For instance, you don't notice it in other fantasy movies lately, LOTR had makeup people who managed to do a more subtle job to get similar visual impact on making the eyes pop in the faces.

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

What I saw was very good...but Cutter and Skywise weren't in it, and I missed that.

[mockingbirdq.livejournal.com]

Lovely but it just wouldn't work as live action. Also, they needed some beautiful guys because it ended up just looking like a porn parody of Elfquest - I kept expecting the human men to suddenly start violating them :P

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but that's a special part of FanFiction.net. ;)

ElfQuest Icons

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Tom, I' hope I'm not spamming your journal here, but I made a whole bunch of ElfQuest icons when the Pinis put the comic up on the web.

Re: ElfQuest Icons

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Not at all -- I saw your comment above, and was about to go lookin' myself. Thanks!

[hbruton.livejournal.com]

Looks disturbingly like soft core porn.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I'm too imprinted on the original art-- those elves just looked like airbrushed humans. Animation or nothing for me!

[msgeek.livejournal.com]

Can't we get an Anime studio to do this? Ghibli would be ideal but there are so many other competent studios out there. Gainax, unfortunately, would lay on the elvish Fanservice far too deep and thick. Too bad: they have just awesome animators/designers there.

Elfquest The Anime. It just would be the right thing to do.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

Pros: Good technical execution. Good costuming, lots of pretty ladies. Make-up for me was not an issue.

Cons: Lack of male elves. Lots of repetitive poses and shots - felt like watching the worst parts of the original Sar Trek movie at times. And was anyone else disturbed by the fact that NOBODY SPOKE? It felt like "We're cutie cosplay girls, we're here to look pretty and sexy and we'll never ever bother you with talking!" Part of this lack of speech, and the male humans/female elves total ratio, lended a vague sense of watching a non-explicit trailer for a porno.

Conclusion: Overall a good fan film/trailer, better than many tend to be, but not as good as it could or should have been. And I say this as someone who's never read Elfquest. I'm glad I watched this, but if this were an actual trailer for an actual film, as a way of introducing me to the world of Elfquest, I'd be disappointed and more than a bit disinterested in bothering to see the full film, based on what we see and do not see or hear here.

[misterseth.livejournal.com]

Let's not forget that these elves can 'send'.

[stone-bitch.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I hated it. Couldn't even get through the whole thing. Just awful.

[johno.livejournal.com]

I was at the Pini panel at Wondercon where they had Stephanie and Paula (Winnowill & Nightfall), who were also the producers and directors.

To answer some of the questions raised...

No they couldn't find any guys who fit the parts of the elves.

They didn't want/have skills/budget to do special effects to make "standard" sized guys look like elves.

They have the whole hearted support and approval of the Pini's.

Wendy did indeed miss having the guys in the video as well (for both storyline and "enjoyment" factors)

Look at the web site and scan the cast bios, you find that while you may not know them, you've probably seen most of the cast in various web videos and/or WB/CW type shows.

All the cast are lifelong EQ fans have often CosPlayed the various characters at conventions and events.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

The casting and costuming are very good -- I recognized most of the elves immediately, although it's been long enough since I read any ElfQuest that I couldn't dredge up some of the names. Winnowill is outstanding.

I find it really hard to believe that they couldn't find even a few guys who would suit. Go to Dragon*Con and hold auditions!

Yeah, the fanservice factor was a little high, but a lot of that was the lack of male elves. Do they think only straight guys are going to be interested?

Assuming that they get some of the male characters cast, they could do a series of short films which could later be stitched into a larger whole. That way would be easier on the budget. Trolls in particular are going to take a lot of latex.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

Bearing in mind that I'm completely unfamiliar with the source material, this trailer is kind of underwhelming. I sat through four and a half minutes, I STILL don't know what the story is, and I'm not sure the trailer made me care to find out. Unfortunately, it fails for me on that level, which is pretty major in terms of the purpose of a trailer.

That being said, I presumed there was a story reason for the lack of male elves, which apparently there isn't...?

[misterseth.livejournal.com]

I'm just wondering... If you had the chance to produce the EQ movie, how would you do it? I myself wouldn't do live action, or rotoscope animation (like most of Bakshi's cinematic work). I would lean towards Computer animation like Avatar, or anime style (close to Miyasaki's work)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hm. A:TLA possibly, but maybe just some seinen anime, e.g., Samurai 7 or Death Note. A touch more whimsical, or at least more brightly colored. There was some excellent character work in Hourou Musuda, and Monster (which I've just been watching the past couple of weeks) has very good expressions.

Now that I'm thinking about it, stylistically it might be best to follow Code Geass. Angular, stylized, colorful, sexy, no chibis anywhere.

[janne.livejournal.com]

Loved the four fingers and the starry eyes and general prettyness. Everybody was very recognizable. It actually looks better than I imagined live action Elfquest could ever be -- well, once they get some men in :)

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Tom, why do I have the feeling that your review of a Jane Austen film starring Oscar-winning actresses would begin and end with "Hur hur, chicks! Hur hur hur, boobs."

[batyatoon]

Oh that's beautiful.

Mind you, I think the ears could have been better, especially on the Wolfriders, and ... I did not find the dog remotely convincing as a wolf, and I am totally with everybody going BUT WHERE ARE THE BOOOOOYS.

But still: gorgeous!

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

Now that ILM has entered the digital arena with the cinematically stunning "Rango", perhaps they should give it a try.

Cool trailer, though. I wanted to see the guys, too.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

It was excellent for a fan effort.

And it Gave Acknowledgment To The Pinis!

Unlike the graphic novel that I picked up (and put back down) this weekend at a Barnes & Noble: a screenshot-by-screenshot redrawing of True Blood (from the HBO first season, just like my DVD boxed set), with Not One Mention! of Charlaine Harris, who wrote the Sookie Stackhouse books.

(Grrr!)