Aurora - Steampunk Short Film
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ค. 2011
- Aurora - Steampunk Short Film.
WINNER - BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM - Comic Con International Independent Film Festival 2013.
After his wife is kidnapped by a group of slave traders, Emerson Marks, captain of the airship 'Aurora', must fight against all odds in order to rescue her.
aurorathefilm.com
Urtext Film Productions ( urtextfilms.com )
in association with
Rough Cut Productions
Produced with a budget of $1800 over a 3 1/2 year period, with a dedicated cast and crew of over 100 people.
Directed by Chris Kellett
Written by Chris Kellett, Jeremy Kelly-Bakker and Jim Hogevonder
Produced by Matthew Salleh
Co-produced by Rose Tucker and Jim Hogevonder - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
Yup shot entirely in Adelaide, South Australia. In hindsight it was quite amazing we were able to get such a range of locations, something we didn't fully appreciate at the time. Really glad you enjoyed it, we certainly hope it's not the last time we get to create stories in the Aurora-verse.
You should do a "Kickstarter" to fund for a full theatrical presentation instead of just a short. You could use the short as a teaser to encourage people to donate. Very nice concept but could use a bit more of the steampunk flair. Good story, acting, action and directing. CGI could use a little updating. But all in all the tales of the Aurora would make for a good film or television series. You could also try marketing the concept to one of the streaming services using the short as proof of concept. Good luck with your project and all your future endeavors. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
A great short film. High production, well acted and nice CGI. If these guys get a series I would watch it. A whole story complete with bad guy and a whole world realized. 10 out of ten!
Michael W Agreed!
Not having time to properly choreograph the sword fight was definitely one of our major regrets. Considering neither of the actors had ever held a sword they did a wonderful job of picking it up quickly on the day, but good cinematic fights are difficult even with professional crews so it's something we now give a lot more attention to. It's easy to forget how much of a steep learning curve making Aurora was for us.
Many of us were in film school too when we started Aurora and could never have anticipated just how steep the learning curve would be and how much time it would take to finish, but we came out of it with some amazing experiences and lasting friendships. I hope your first foray into creative directing is rewarding and enjoyable, despite all the late nights and stress it was always completely worth it.
Thanks for the comment mate. Sword fight choreography is actually something we've since become better versed in with contact through some stunt choreographers we previously didn't have any connection with. Its definitely something we'd look to bring more to in anything else. Thanks for watching :)
Thank you! So glad you stumbled on Aurora. It's been fascinating to see how it has struck a chord with some people. From the start our major goal was to make a film for audiences, something fun and adventurous that served no other purpose than to be entertaining.
To hear that for some people we succeeded is heart warming and humbling.
Thanks for the kind words guys. Much appreciated! Hope to be able to bring you more on a larger scale next time.
Dude, it was the scale wich prevented this from being any good precisely. Who tf would set out to shoot this kind of story on THIS kind of budget? Lower the ambition next time.
Cheers for the feedback! CGI was a constant learning process and improvement on skills learnt primarily for this project at the time. We'll blame the director for the music, he was blown away with it so much he couldn't hear it often enough...
Always so happy to hear that parallel being made. We're all huge fans of Firefly and it was a major influence on us throughout the project. If we were able to capture even a small portion of the magic and adventure of that show then we achieved what we set out to do. As for a sequel there are a number of different adventures we've penned for Emerson Marks and his crew but sadly without proper funding another effort like this would be very hard to do.
The best compliment we could possibly receive. When starting this out we all said "Lets just make a fun adventure film" so I'm glad we delivered.
This is a quality film and I can not believe that it only has 129K views. Very well done.
Thank you so much for your ongoing support and love of the film, it means a lot to us. That line was completely unscripted and what you don't hear is the director shouting "cut" right before. The man playing Raegon hit James very hard with the shoe so it was an entirely honest response. Those were very fun days to shoot and was all part of the banter and teasing that had been going on all day between the cast and crew.
Amazing production. Even 10 years on.
Steampunk, juxipostioning, objects out of their time line,is what the essence of.what steampunks all about. Mixing it all together, giving it a medieval x Victorian x 1900s feel. Plus the heavy flavour of British Victorian Industry .Add women in Saris, slaves in Roman period sackcloth, and somehow it works. I really enjoyed this,I wish there were more adventures, the way live actors and computerised graphics, (I think that's the wording, sorry if wrong.) Worked together shows some serious talent. Thanks.
Theres something really cool about the steampunk aesthetic that people have been developing in so many different ways. Glad you enjoyed it. We hope to bring you more!
Glad you enjoyed it mate. Our goal from the beginning was to make a straight up entertaining adventure movie so we're glad to have ticked so many boxes for you. In terms of getting to know the characters better we sadly had to cut many pages of fun banter and dialogue between the crew in order to keep the story short and concise. If one day we have the chance to expand the Aurora world the relationships between the crew would be one of the most enjoyable things to explore.
you all probably dont give a shit but does any of you know of a way to get back into an Instagram account??
I somehow lost my account password. I love any help you can give me!
@Dane Bronson instablaster :)
@Alejandro Forest I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and im in the hacking process now.
Takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
Well that was a lot of fun! Was it perfect? No. Did it do it's job... that is, entertain me? Absolutely, and then some! It would be fantastic to see more from you guys in the same world.
The whole room full of guys threatening each other with un-cocked flintlock pistols in both hands made me smile :)
Thanks for the kind words. Three and a half years in production on no money can be tough and the kind words are always a nice feeling!
Well done .Would have been better if the steampunk was carried over to the costumes .
The costumes were great!
Beautifully shot, great transitions, and flowed nicely. As an editor and cinematographer, this was very well done.
Steampunk is a genre that will always look cooler and more poetic with animated characters
Thanks for the write up. It was a huge amount of fun to make and an extraordinary learning experience. For many of us this was the first really ambitious film we'd made outside of university, most of us were still studying at the time. Looking back there are so many things we'd approach differently, but despite the flaws it's wonderful to see it still eliciting such a positive response from people.
I must admit, for such a small budget you made quite an incredible piece of short cinema. Hard to believe this was all done in three and a half years. Here's to hoping for more in the future!
This was really amazing. The air ships were incredible. I could watch 13 seasons of this.
Always a pleasure to hear people enjoyed the world building. It was something we discussed a lot, we tried to take the original Star Wars approach to create a world that felt culturally rich, worn and lived-in.
Thanks for the kind words. More than happy for you to write subtitles for the film as it can only bring it to more people! Feel free to send us a private message :)
Some of the best work I have ever seen outside a studio!
Holy.. This is AMAZING! So well done, the envoroments, the story, cast, amazing. Thank you for making this film.
Ребята я в полном восторге! Вы великолепны! Браво! Снимаю шляпу! Очень импонирует стимпанк, очень жаль что в подобном ключе практически нет работ. Думаю что некий пиратский сериал в подобном сейтенге имел бы ошеломляющий успех на экранах обывателей.
Very enjoyable. Some excellent location choices and, in spite of one or two clichéd moments, highly polished. Thank you. You deserve box office type ratings!
Whoever the female lead is in the beginning 3rd minute should be a famous Hollywood actress. I don't say that because of her beauty, I say that because her acting ability is very very strong and authentic. I hope to see her in major motion pictures one day.
Very impressed with the quality of the video for being 10 years old! Amazing work for such a small budget/crew. Of course there are things we would all probably do/want differently. But it sure is one hell of a start!
We've been in a dark room, sitting behind computers working on VFX shots... we've released the film and are readjusting to natural light. Hope it was worth the wait :)
The people were fantastic and we had lots of volunteers that were willing to pitch in. The trick was getting people to stay around and be willing to be in multiple parts of the film. I think making sure they're having fun and they're well fed plays a lot into it :P
I do appreciate the time to get us that answer,and must complement that NOTHING here looks like it's from a thrift store or its many equivalent venues, so a job well done there.
As I also said, what's great about such projects is that steampunk does not have that shackle that sci fi and fantasy do, where there are "generic" examples, so you can subtly do whatever however really, and here it definitely pays off. I again thank you for this thoroughly enjoyable film! You are an inspiration.
This was a hell of a lot better than I expected. It's great
I'm certainly glad I stumbled upon this. Best 30 minutes I've spent in a while! Keep up the great work!
omg so amazing this would make for a great series good job
i soooo agree loved it thankyou Urtext Film Productions Cast and Crew for a well done short Aussie Film
Great. Compleatley wounderful . Have been looking for a steampunk film and found the best one there is in this.
Simply amazing. Great production design! Very consistent and satisfying. God bless your armorer for overseeing good use of single-shot firearms, and your sound designer for making them sound right! Costume design: fabulous. This is like "Firefly" in an alternate 19th century instead of outer space. Brilliant.
4:57 "That's awful" - "That's business". Most ingenious line I have ever heard. And that is not a joke.
I would LOVE to see more of this!!! Well done!!!
Entertaining is the best critique we could possible ask for. We were all attending film school when Aurora started and the only things we had been able to work on were mostly dull, low budget dramas. Aurora really had no other motive than to be swashbuckling good fun with sword duels, gunfights and a love story. Just through natural evolution of an idea the final product became far moodier and morally grey than earlier drafts.
As huge fans of Pirates of the Caribbean, I hope theres room for both :P
Thanks for watching!
he is an mechanic and has a big pipe wrench as his first weapon(17:26) that is soo cool
What an entertaining piece. Fabulous production! Bring em on, I loved it
I agree with everyone else. Very well done. Characters and story. Quite refreshing. Bravo!!!
This is awesome! I hope you get the recognition you deserve. Made my day.
Thats actually one of the few shots we ran out of time to solve and I believe you're the first one to bring it up! Was waiting until someone did. Nice pick up ;)
I watched all of it now, it deserves a full blown television series.
Awesome! the whole thing had a mix of swashbuckling and 'Firefly' feel to it, both great things. Steampunk needs more films and projects like this to get it out there to the rest of the world.
Great work, I really hope you get more projects running soon, because you have some serious talent at work with this one.
Words can not desribe how much I love this movie. 11/10
This filled a gap in the market that baddly needed filling.
There needs to be more steampunk movies!
Beautifully done. Romantic and powerful. Great work
How does this not have more views, this was great.
I've not been a great fan of steampunk until now. This video is awesome!
This is a remarkable story of love. It reminded me of the place where I live in Sautee Nacoochee. The town got its name from two Indians who fell in love and they were warring tribes and forbade them to be together. Both tribes chased them to a mountain top and once captured they threw the the female off the steep cliffs and the the male broke loose from his captors and jumped off the cliff after her. They both died.
steampunk is an excellent genre in which to work and this film was a great example...
That's our favourite part too! It took a while to settle on the final story but once we figured out the major themes of family and selflessness we knew Emerson needed to chose between his own needs and the needs of others.
Narmon Tulsi who plays Dexter is a ridiculously handsome man with frustratingly perfect hair. To add to the hurt he is also once of the nicest people you will ever meet.
Very well made. This should've been on the silver screen.
FANTASTIC!!!
I appreciate the endeavor, as I know it's not easy to make a film. I got stuck on the oddity of the whole slavery thing. A quick explanation on why a small group was allowed to randomly walk in to a home and grab a married woman would have been helpful.
Great film locations and decent acting made this worthwhile to watch. :)
Oh man, I do so WISH I had been able to be part of this. Mr. Larkin, I anxiously await the next feature film you work on.
Mr. Larkin, sir, you are DA BOMB!!!! Incredible music!
This video is *the best* example of realistic sky pirates I have come across. Epic \m/
This is short film at its astonishing best. What a absolutely amazing movie. There isn't one fault to be found. Just the production alone was astounding, considering the small budget, especially the CGI shots. I truly have to commend everyone involved in its production for pulling off what most companies in Hollywood even can't. Excellent work.
This, right here is what we need more of. I loved every minute of it. That such a thing is possible on such a small budget is amazing. If Hollywood were to create quality stuff like this, I would actually begin to get excited about mainstream films again. However, it seems you can only find stuff like this here... and this awesome stuff is given to us free no less, I would happily pay to see this. Take note, Hollywood: This is how you do a movie.
Beautiful! I'm in love with this!!
@Steamgunk
Thanks very much! Huge collaboration of over 100 people without whom the film would never have been completed.
I am desperate for more of Your Stories!! It is incredible!!!
AWSOME!!! NEED MORE!!!
this was great! :D the scene when the captain had to make a choice was so INTENSE. loved it!
That 3 years encompasses the project from the early sketchy idea to the final cinema screening. We were all working or studying full time while Aurora was being made so there were very long breaks between shooting blocks, for instance the prison break and mansion scenes were actually shot a year apart. By the time we wrapped we had shot in 10 different locations, costumed around 90 characters, taught ourselves all the necessary VFX and had a 30 minute original score written. All volunteer work
Thank you so much. We still fan-boy over the main character. Peter Rossi did an incredible job playing Emerson and is a hilarious guy in real life. We began this project as students as were many of the volunteers, it was only through everyone's hard work and enthusiasm for their craft that we finished. For the FX make-up the best way to learn is to be out on sets as a volunteer, get as much hands on experience as possible in order to build up a folio, make contacts and collaborate with others.
The ship crossing the night sky shot was one of the most beautiful I've seen in a long, long time. And I know the B, S, & T. that it took to do it.
Spectacular! Absolutely gorgeous. Extra kudos for the music!
that...was... AMAZING!!!!!
I'm not even a steam punk fan, but I liked this one. In fact, my favorite series Firefly which was canceled, well this short film ranks up there with it. I guess if you think about it, Firefly was somewhat steampunk/sci fi. Either way, I enjoyed this one and I'd watch it if it was a series.
I like to think of Firefly as "spacepunk"
So awesome! So steampunk! I love it.
Love that one. I wish too there been more steampunk movies out there.. well done job!
This really needs to be a series or full lenght film :D Please, keep working, it's really awesome. And these actors are amazing.. I believe them every bloody word...
Superb! More, please. Loved it.
@AuroraTheFilm I will be waiting for more that is for sure. thank you for ever making this movie :D
More Please!!!!! Love It!
That is EXACTLY what it is and we love hearing it. We are huge fans of Taken and watched it a number of times while making Aurora. It influenced our decision in making the character of Emerson uncompromising to a fault, where his commitment to his goal endangers those he should really be protecting. We just wish we had the mind blowing fight choreography of Taken.
This was amazing with so many unexpected turns i loved it and it was sad and happy and exitiig *squee*
Congratulations!!! Absolutely brilliant! Well done everyone...
Excellent. Proof that a good story transcends genre.
You nailed it!
Definitely a TV series should be made for steampunk fans
This is the best short film I've ever seen. I got my fingers crossed for a series!
that was stunning the soundtrack was supurb and the diologe was great i loved it
Completely enjoyed it! Look forward to more to come.
100% True. We were very lucky to have some true Brits in the cast which added a great deal of class and authenticity to our Frontier Steampunk world.
Enjoyed it. Well researched for weapons and era. Thank you
That was amazing!
This is an incredible film, especially as it was made with only $1800. Really great job guys, I hope you continue making films :)
Oh my god that was intense! Great job!
Good! Detail was great. Enjoyed it.Scenery was amazing. His wife was beautiful.