Opening night of Supanova brought to screen the talented Steve Worland; screenwriter for the film ‘Bootmen’ and TV series ‘Farscape’ and ‘Big Sky’, script editor and actor in the short ‘Rust Bucket’ and action adventure novelist for the titles ‘Velocity’ and upcoming sequel ‘Combustion’.
At the beginning of the seminar, Steve explained to the audience that screenwriting is extremely hard to write, but extremely powerful when you get it right. Steve described the cinematic style of screenwriting as “an edited, yet more interesting version of real life”. Which is very true, based the appeal of screenplays as a portrayal for how our lives should be.
Screenwriter Steve Worland.
Steve handed audience members a variety of stand-out scripts, such as Alien, to read through. With the example of the 1977 Star Wars: Episode IV -A New Hope, Steve gave a very detailed explanation of the three act structure required in all scripts to the audience. Act 1 consists of setting up the main character, Luke Skywalker and an inciting incidence that leads to him following his father’s footsteps as a Jedi Knight. Act 2 requires development of all characters, Luke, R2-D2, Obi-Wan and Han Solo as they cross paths in order to save Princess Leia. Act 3 draws together the final climax of Luke and Han destroying the Death Star and saving the Rebel Alliance, illustrating to the audience that the main character has learnt something that was imperative in reaching their final goal.
I thoroughly enjoyed Steve’s masterclass at this year’s Supanova 2013, as it taught me that scripts take a few months to get out a final draft, they should be interesting, unexpected, but logical and it is important to always stay one step ahead of the audience, to ensure that they keep turning the next page of the script. Be sure to also check out our interview with Steve here.
If you don’t know Steve Worland he is a fellow Aussie who has worked deeply in film and television both in the USA and here in Australia. He has written scripts for Working Title and Icon Productions and has also worked in script development for James Cameron.
CC: So how did you start off in the business? What made you want to do this work as a ki- *I was cut off*
Worland: Starwars! Yes! I was eleven! That resonated with me on a different level. You see at that age there was nothing like it! This cool science fiction stuff really resonated with boys of that age. That sci-fi stuff hadn’t really been around. That’s where most of us got the spark to get into screen writing or film-making, after that initial spark you tend to look out into the world and see the bigger picture of sci-fi. That’s when you start to realise you want to do it for the rest of your life.
CC: The movies of this generation; it’s obvious they’ve changed. Do you think that’s for the better?
W: Look you get what you deserve ultimately. The Batman stuff, the Spiderman stuff, it’s working…to a point. It’s just not working on the level I’d like to see it work. I enjoy the Batman films, same with the Spiderman films and even The Man of Steel but I just love the originals. What I loved about the original Superman was the characters! Ultimately if you can create characters that resonate with and touch the audience you’re onto something good. The movies are getting darker and grittier, we see it in The Dark Knight, what’s more interesting than that is the relationships between the characters like Alfred and Bruce Wayne, the emotional connection tends to be what really grabs people. You have to have both of those things, when you lean to much one way that’s when they tend to loose me.
CC: What character from the new generation of movies grabs you in that way?
W: Look, the things that resonate with you are usually the things you see when you’re young. I love Robocop as a character. He’s this damaged guy who is remembering the life he once had, he just wants to do good. You know? He’s such a tragic character and he’s also a big smart-arse, you need to have that balance, you need the tragedy and you need the kick-arse to be one! You want him to be cool, you want him to save the day, it’s finding the balance that wins it for me. I don’t know what the new Robocop will be like but I can imagine.
CC: Do you have a favourite style of storytelling?
W: Deffinitely for me it would have to be the action/adventure. We really don’t have a lot of guys in Australia that are doing this. There’s literally ten of us and we all know each other. We have this American Cultural Imperialism that has taken over the country. I love America, I do but I also tend to get sick of it. We all like to see Hugh Jackman and Russel Crowe on screen, we like to see Chris Hemsworth as Thor because they’re Aussies and we feel connected to that! What I try to do in my novels is take an American form, keep the form, keep the Americanism of it yet meld it with this great sense of Australia. You get the big buzz of the American story yet with the Australian element that you can hook into and resonate. You want to create something that feel familiar to people yet keeps it fresh, the audience has to be able to understand it yet feel delighted while viewing it. You don’t want to create stuff that feels cliche’, you want to turn that cliche’ into something fresh and new. That’s why I loved the movie Psycho; it took the thriller, slasher concept and twisted it around on it’s head. That’s what you’re looking to do. Everybody has seen everything.
CC: With these new movies being released are they doing that right? Are we doing the apocalypse right? We’ve seen so many zombie movies and now we have World War Z where the zombies are faster and different.
W: Well I think that’s why people loved 28 Days Later because the zombies were so different, they twisted the zombie things up. We had the original Day of The Dead which turned into a bunch of those 80’s zombies movies and now we have The Walking Dead, World War Z, the idea is that you can keep the old wine but you just have to put it in a new bottle, you’ve actually got to create something about it that makes it relevant to you. What am I going to create that will make YOU want to go see my zombie movie? Is it Brad Pitt? Is it the wave of zombies? You have to appeal to the mass audience.
CC: Well we have to finish it there, thank you very much for taking the time with us today!
W: Thank you! It was a pleasure!
We would like to thank Mr. Worland for taking the time to sit with us and for the Staff at Sydney Supanova for allowing us to use their conference room for the interview. Also check out our Supanova’s Screenwriting Masterclass with Steve Worland here.
Disney have today proudly unveiled their latest game to all mobile and tablet gamers. Where’s My Mickey is the latest installment to the hugely popular Where’s My… franchise, after the highly-rated Where’s My Water? and Where’s My Perry?
Where’s My Mickey? is being launched as a tie-in to the upcoming Mickey Mouse Cartoons that will be shown on the Disney Channel (in Australia). The game itself will feature small episodes where players have to complete the puzzles in order to see the conclusion of these episodes.
Where’s My Mickey will follow the same style as the previous installments, where players use their fingers to dig through the dirt in order to direct water to Mickey Mouse and complete the stage. Mickey’s water seeking adventures will feature additional hazards and mechanics such as: clouds, weather, rain and plants. The game will also feature 20 XL-Levels, specifically for iPad and Tablet owners.
Where’s My Mickey is available right now on iPhone, iPad, Android and Android Tablet Since a picture is always worth 1000 words, Disney have also released a trailer for the game, which you can check out below. For all the Where’s My Mickey news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Ubisoft‘s free-to-play gladiatorial smack down simulator; Spartacus Legends is set to release next week on XBLA (a little later on for Playstation owners). Putting you in the role of what is effectively a manager, you are tasked to recruit slaves, train them up and enter them into a gladiatorial ring. The better your gladiators do in combat (see: the more opponents they maim and kill), the more fame they, and in turn you get. More fame brings more money, more weapons and more opponents to eviscerate.
We got our first look at Spartacus Legends last year, but since then Ubisoft have been largely quiet about the game. Today however, in lead-up to the game’s impending release date, Ubisoft gave us a brand new trailer for the game. Saying that the gameplay will be violent is an understatement. Despite the game’s less than cutting-edge visuals, the kill-moves look absolutely visceral, and will likely have you cringing as a man’s head is disembodied from its torso.
Check out the trailer below, and remember that you can download the game on XBLA on June 26th, 2013, completely free of charge. We will be sure to update everyone when the PSN version will be available so for all the Spartacus Legends news, be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Nordic Games have just announced that the 5th installment of downloadable content for Painkiller Hell and Damnation is now available on Steam for PC. The DLC is titled ‘Heavens Above’ and takes players out of the first person perspective and places them in a top down shooter style in a way that has never been seen before in the Painkiller series.
You can pick up the ‘Heavens Above’ downloadable content for Painkiller Hell and Damnation on Steam right now. It certainly seems to be a very interesting new direction for the Painkiller series and a must play experience. Let us know what you think of it in the comments section below.
2K Games has just announced that the wildly fun XCOM Enemy Unknown game will be invading mobile devices through the iOS App Store. That’s right, XCOM Enemy Unknown is now available on the iOS for a smooth price of AU$20.99.
To celebrate the XCOM Enemy Unknown iOS invasion, 2K Games have released a brand new trailer for the iOS version of the game which you can check out below. Undoubtedly this game looks like it will set the iOS market on fire with its strategic fun. You can check out our review of the console version of XCOM Enemy Unknown here.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS is now available on the Australian and NZ iTunes stores. Be sure to pick up and let us know what you think of it in the comments section below.
The celebrations continue for Luigi in his 30th Anniversary year, with the release of the highly anticipated New Super Luigi U, an exciting new add-on content pack for New Super Mario Bros U. The game will retain the same level structure as the original Wii U title, with the 80+ levels receiving a massive makeover to welcome Luigi and his friends.
With Mario on a break, Luigi is firmly in the spotlight, and brings with him a whole new set of skills for players to master. Luigi has always been the more athletic of the brothers, being able to jump further and higher than Mario could ever dream of, and the new addition to the Wii U is no different. New Super Luigi U has been designed with a heavy emphasis on replay value. Players will have to not only dodge trademark enemies and even wider chasms, but now only have a mere 100 seconds on which to clear the level, challenging players to find new and more efficient ways to beat the clock.
Joining Luigi for multiplayer mayhem are Yellow and Blue Toad, as well as the infamous Nabbit, invincible to all enemies around him, and a perfect character for beginners to use alongside Luigi. New Super Luigi U is now available for $19.99 via the NintendoeShop. Please note that you must already own a digital or disc version of New Super Mario Bros U in order to enjoy Luigis latest adventures. For the collectors, and those who dont own the original, the standalone version will be released at $29.99 on July 27th .
We saw a little bit of what Titanfall had to offer back during Microsoft’s E3 press conference last week but how about a developer diary which gives us a look at the game’s development? Well today the company behind the game, Respawn Entertainment, released a developer diary where they give us a look at some of the in-game models in motion and more.
You can check out the video below, which continues to look extremely impressive on the next-gen console, and keep an eye out for the game itself when it is released sometime in 2014 exclusively for the Xbox One and PC at the moment.
Siren Visual have just made a major title acquisition announcement for this weekend’s Supanova Sydney 2013 event. They have confirmed that they have secured the license for the following anime titles:
Queen’s Blade: Exiled Virgin
Night Raid 1931
Durarara!! (Blu-Ray release)
Not only have they announced those anime series, they have also announced that they will be releasing FIX a documentary based around the industrial metal band known as Ministry. Along side that release will be a Blu-Ray release of the controversial cult-classic Cannibal Holocaust.
It is certainly good news for Durarara!! fans that there will finally be a Blu-Ray release of the series. Currently no date has been set for any of these titles from Siren Visual. Stay tuned for more information on these titles as it comes to light.
Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne Set 1 Studio:Xebec Publisher:Viz Media Format:Blu-ray, DVD (Reviewed) Release Date:June 11, 2013 Price:$44.82 – Available Here
Overview There are quite a few anime featuring mechs battling against one another as well as a large number of series focusing on the bonds between the cast and even more focusing on cute girls doing cute things. However what happens when those three things are combined together to create an anime series? Well Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne is what you get; however is Set 1 of the series worth your time?
Story At the all-girls school of Kamogawa, a certain girl named Madoka Kyono is the sole member of a club called the Jersey Club. This club is a continuation of when her cousin attended the school and the Jersey Club serves as a Jack of All Trades where its members help out anyone who is in trouble or requests assistance. This means everything from helping out other clubs when they need an extra member, to assisting teachers and even saving people who may be drowning out in the ocean.
However when someone she has never seen before requests that she become someone who will defend the earth against alien invaders, Madoka may be getting more than she asked for. You see, a strange girl named Lan has appeared on Earth and introduces Madoka to the fact that not only do aliens exist, but Lan herself is from the alien organization named Le Garite, and Madoka must join a human organization working alongside Le Garite on a traveling island named Pharos to defend the earth from another alien threat.
Madoka is never one to turn down a request and as she becomes fast friends with Lan, she accepts the role of piloting a mecha called the Vox Aura which she seemed to have bonded with many years before during an incident. As she begins defending the Earth from incoming threats, not only does she become closer with Lan, another Vox pilot, but Madoka also becomes fast friends with a ditsy girl named Muginami, yet another bonded Vox pilot.
With these three Vox pilots together, it seems like everything may be heading towards a successful end with the humans and the co-operating alien forces succeeding. However little is as it seems and as the dark past of the Vox is revealed and more light is shined upon the various alien forces, Madoka and her newfound friends must try to persevere, even when they know little of the machinations of those around them.
Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne is a rather interesting series as it takes a number of rather generic stereotypes and actually manages to blend them together into something quite interesting. The three main girls all feature personalities that we have seen before but thanks to the amount of character development and their interactions with one another help these three simple archetypes work well with one another.
Whenever the series chooses to focus on these three it usually always focuses on the more light-hearted comedic elements of a “cute girls doing cute things” series as these three tackle various Jersey Club tasks and grow closer to one another despite initial complications and one of the more interesting aspects of the series is watching how close knit these three become as they overcome the challenges in their path, whether it be an approaching army, dark stories from the past or simply capturing eels in swimming pool.
On the other side of the coin, these three are Vox pilots and whenever the focus shifts towards the drama aspect as these three find themselves caught up in the politics of the warring aliens battling over the Vox and to make matters worse, neither side reveals all of their cards. This means that even though plenty of explanations are given, for every answer the viewer receives another question is raised. Though considering there is a second season, these various questions will likely be answered then.
In the end, Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne Set 1 features both light-hearted moments of three girls growing closer together through adversity as well as plenty of drama and mystery about the warring factions and the Vox. Not everything is revealed but there is a nice balance found between light and dark and thanks to strongly developed characters and an interesting plot Set 1 leaves us with plenty to look forward to in the second season.
Visuals Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne features both standard animation techniques as well as a fair use of CG elements whenever the mech units and the Vox are focused on. These CG designs are rather intricate looking and look great in motion as the combat sequences are not only extravagantly animated but also quite colorful thanks to the nature of the machines the girls are piloting.
The character designs are rather simplistic and a bit stereotypical as well but even though they are usually well animated, the standard animation sequences often see drops in quality, especially at mid-range with facial expressions and details becoming vague semblances of themselves at close-range.
It is worth noting that although Viz Media has given Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne a “Explicit Content” label and rated it MA, the anime’s fan-service elements are fairly tame in comparison to many of the other series out there. Sure the girls’ Vox uniforms are a bit revealing and there are a few suggestive themes involving eels as well as shaded nudity with no actual nipples shown, but nothing overly sexual occurs and no full blown nudity is presented.
That being said, there are some yuri undertones and a few instances of girl on girl sexual harassment, but these tones can simply be passed off as a close friendship between Madoka, Lan and Muginami.
Audio Being a Viz release, Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne Set 1 features both the English and the Japanese voice track. The English cast handles the dub quite nicely, though Muginami’s Karen Strassman does seem to oversell the character’s ditsy personality a little too much.
As for the series’ soundtrack, it sports a number of memorable background tracks which, the most notable of which play during the action sequences or as the Vox are set to take-off. The opening theme for the series is “Try Unite!” by Megumi Nakajima which is set to some rather outstanding animation and works well as the series opener while “Hello!” also by Megumi Nakajima provides a fitting ending theme that highlights the light-hearted side of the series.
Extras Viz has provided a bit more than the standard fair of bonus features for Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne Set 1 by including fifteen minutes worth of “Kamogawa Drama” bonus shorts which are mostly comedic and also a bit fan-servicey and focus on side-stories that occur to the girls.
Besides the inclusion of the bonus shorts, there are also your standard clean opening and ending theme and the addition of production art. There isn’t much in the way of production art here besides the girls in different outfits, some side character art and images of the Vox robots. Sadly the company did not choose to highlight the various end-card artwork featured in each episode as a bonus of any kind.
Overall Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-Ne Set 1 takes a number of tried and true anime fallbacks and creates an interesting story that features a memorable cast of characters and their bonds with one another, fluid action sequences and a number of comedic light-hearted sequences paired with dark drama. While numerous questions viewers are left with by the end of Set 1 may be problematic, these revelations will likely lead us to an even better second season whenever it graces store shelves with this charming trio of female leads.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
