Satellite News -- Darkstar: Production Notes

PRODUCTION NOTES

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Darkstar is a unique blend of live action photography and state of the art CGI animations and special effects. All sets and environments are animated in the same software that "Final Fantasy" was created, with the twist of inserting live action actors and filmed pyrotechnics into the CG world.

Darkstar was written and is being produced by J. Allen Williams at Parallax Studios. It is being animated by Parallax Studios in tandem with Fantagor Studios (Richard Corben, the owner, was one of the animator/writer/producers of the 80's animated cult classic HEAVY METAL), with assistance from Trinity Animation (credits include the movie LOST IN SPACE). Costumes, which have been described as "Barbarella meets Spice Girls," were designed and created by Beez McKeever.

No less than 30 original pieces of musical score are written for Darkstar. The musical director is Ruell Chappell (Former pianist for the Ozark Mountain Daredevils) and additional scoring by heavy metal guitarist/writer William Bruce of Shotgun Messiah.

Peter Graves was recorded July 12th at POP Studio/Santa Monica, CA. As narrator, he is a character in and of himself, guiding the player/viewer from start to finish with dozens of pages of "Serlingesque" diatribe, duly chastising the player if they fall into fourteen-or-so alternate death endings.

First unit shooting took place Sept. 26-28th with Trace, Beez and Mary Jo in Missouri. Joel, Josh and Frank's parts were shot at Laurel Canyon Stages in Los Angeles on December 15th.

At least 40 extras still need to be cast and filmed for mostly non-speaking parts. The parts include that of various fighter pilots, background crewmembers, and the world President.

The role of "the player" also still needs to be cast. It's hoped to be a "name" actor, who will be seen in mirrors on the ship and in personal log recordings.

After all the second and third unit shoots are completed, the project goes into the meticulous post-production process, marrying the footage with the animations, the music with the explosions, and the movie into a game. No projected release date has been announced at this time.