Super Academy: Episode One: Changes

[Hot Chocolate Media]

Episode One: Changes

Powerkid and Darkcop go on their first mission. Darkcop gets a lesson in teamwork with Corona, Starburst and Colorblind Kyle. Powerkid confronts Chaotrix in an attempt to divert her from the path of evil.

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[Slycne]

I feel secretly Batman always wanted to do the same thing to the Riddler.

 

[Barbas]

Well, this was well made and rather enjoyable. Cheers!

 

[Hot Chocolate Media]

Thank you! We had a blast making this series and are thrilled that you enjoy it.

 

[Lightknight]

Whoa, where did this come from? This is fantastic. I can't wait for the next episode.

It's like we suddenly got original programming. Are we Netflix now?

 

[Politrukk]

I can say a lot of harsh and mean stuff about this.

But I'm just going to be polite and say that I don't like this.

This ain't no brawl quality.

It's an outright shame.

Edit:

I had to force myself to watch it through till the end and Valkyrina or what's her name and the guy with Cobalt on his uniform? are the only actual halfdecent characters and actors in this.

oh and the "special effects" are sort of okay as well for as much as one can expect from this.


Edit2:

Okay darkhaired witch chick also scores some points but it's still not very impressive.

 

[Therumancer]

Great to see more content like this on The Escapist! I hope the manage to land more features/shorts/skits and such to come.

 

[Lightknight]

I can say a lot of harsh and mean stuff about this.

But I'm just going to be polite and say that I don't like this.

This ain't no brawl quality.

It's an outright shame.

Edit:

I had to force myself to watch it through till the end and Valkyrina or what's her name and the guy with Cobalt on his uniform? are the only actual halfdecent characters and actors in this.

oh and the "special effects" are sort of okay as well for as much as one can expect from this.


Edit2:

Okay darkhaired witch chick also scores some points but it's still not very impressive.

I'm not sure you're appreciating what they're able to do with the budget they've got. It's got the charm of a small budget work with a good sense of humor (if it were large budget then it would lose said charm) and at times has surprisingly good effects that I wouldn't expect to see in low budgets.

So... were you expecting AAA Tom Cruise movie effects?

 

[Clankenbeard]

Bravo! Bravo!

The acting in here isn't the world's best. But you are off to a terrific start! I'll definitely be tuning in for more of this. And now, because none of you asked, here are my thoughts on what I feel went badly and what went well.

CONS:

Sound levels for actors are faint in big scenes. I'm guessing you're using a shotgun mic and you may actually have to break down and get a boom mic and somebody to hold it. No, I don't know anything about this. You fix up! Oh. You credit two boom operators. Perhaps I misspoke.
Acting is a little goofy at times. It seems like you are a bunch of A/V whiz kids who decided to make a superhero series. You're not a bunch of liberal arts kids who decided the same. Hmmm. I think I prefer you guys to those guys, so maybe this shouldn't be a "CON".
Fights seem a little timid. I don't know how to fix this without actually fighting.
Big dialogue needs to be bigger. I feel like there are some scenes where someone needs to yell, but they don't want people uninvolved in the production to hear them screaming. Let it loose.

PROS:

Special effects are top notch. Wow.
Sets are really good. Bad guy headquarters is well done. Dangly cords and dark and spooky--no obvious background pieces to give away true room size. Somebody had to cut and grind that actual hole in that actual steel door.
Warehouse fight is open and flowing.
Everybody did a decent job of acting in small scenes with one-on-one or self dialogue. When they could just talk, everything seemed more genuine. Power Kid was best in front of Dark Cop's terminal.
Holy shit! The computer graphics on screen were amazing. This was a tremendous opportunity to film from behind the computer and not show any of it. But you guys showed everything! Well done.
Glyph's acting was really good to me. Again, all she got was a simple close dialogue scene.
All of the camera work in the alley at the end was excellent. Soft lighting with tight focal lengths on faces. Super good job to convey a warm/close feel for that whole scene.
The buddy walk off at the end was a perfect closer. Good sound. Nice sentiment. "I'll get you a small one. You can carry it around with you."

BEST STUFF EVER:

Marquis states "Thigh bandolier exhibit now public at the Liefeld Museum."
The Punster's "Suspenders of Disbelief". No explanation--just there.
Reading and Wrighting 1

 

[Politrukk]

I can say a lot of harsh and mean stuff about this.

But I'm just going to be polite and say that I don't like this.

This ain't no brawl quality.

It's an outright shame.

Edit:

I had to force myself to watch it through till the end and Valkyrina or what's her name and the guy with Cobalt on his uniform? are the only actual halfdecent characters and actors in this.

oh and the "special effects" are sort of okay as well for as much as one can expect from this.


Edit2:

Okay darkhaired witch chick also scores some points but it's still not very impressive.

I'm not sure you're appreciating what they're able to do with the budget they've got. It's got the charm of a small budget work with a good sense of humor (if it were large budget then it would lose said charm) and at times has surprisingly good effects that I wouldn't expect to see in low budgets.

So... were you expecting AAA Tom Cruise movie effects?

Actually I stated that the graphical effects are one of their stronger points.

 

[Hot Chocolate Media]

Bravo! Bravo!

CONS:

Sound levels for actors are faint in big scenes. I'm guessing you're using a shotgun mic and you may actually have to break down and get a boom mic and somebody to hold it. No, I don't know anything about this. You fix up! Oh. You credit two boom operators. Perhaps I misspoke.
Acting is a little goofy at times. It seems like you are a bunch of A/V whiz kids who decided to make a superhero series. You're not a bunch of liberal arts kids who decided the same. Hmmm. I think I prefer you guys to those guys, so maybe this shouldn't be a "CON".
Fights seem a little timid. I don't know how to fix this without actually fighting.
Big dialogue needs to be bigger. I feel like there are some scenes where someone needs to yell, but they don't want people uninvolved in the production to hear them screaming. Let it loose.

PROS:

Special effects are top notch. Wow.
Sets are really good. Bad guy headquarters is well done. Dangly cords and dark and spooky--no obvious background pieces to give away true room size. Somebody had to cut and grind that actual hole in that actual steel door.
Warehouse fight is open and flowing.
Everybody did a decent job of acting in small scenes with one-on-one or self dialogue. When they could just talk, everything seemed more genuine. Power Kid was best in front of Dark Cop's terminal.
Holy shit! The computer graphics on screen were amazing. This was a tremendous opportunity to film from behind the computer and not show any of it. But you guys showed everything! Well done.
Glyph's acting was really good to me. Again, all she got was a simple close dialogue scene.
All of the camera work in the alley at the end was excellent. Soft lighting with tight focal lengths on faces. Super good job to convey a warm/close feel for that whole scene.
The buddy walk off at the end was a perfect closer. Good sound. Nice sentiment. "I'll get you a small one. You can carry it around with you."

BEST STUFF EVER:

Marquis states "Thigh bandolier exhibit now public at the Liefeld Museum."
The Punster's "Suspenders of Disbelief". No explanation--just there.
Reading and Wrighting 1

Thanks for the kinds words and feedback! To address your points:

CONS

1. Sound - we did use a boom mic for every shot in the show. Sometimes in our outdoor locations there was plenty of other sound pollution. We did plenty of post work to clean it up as much as we could. I agree that some parts could be a little better, but I think we did a fantastic job considering out time/budget constraints.
2. Goofy acting. The Punster and Dapper Dan by design are a bit goofy, in world they are supposed to be an appropriate threat level for student Superheroes to handle. They get to deal with the schtick heavy bad guys. We are a good mix of film school grads, and liberal arts folks, but the overall tone of the show is intended to be a little silly and irreverent.
3. Fights. We spent tons of time in choreography and rehearsal of our fights. They do get much more intense as the show progresses. But at times we do need to slow them down a bit to keep everyone safe. Because of budget all of our actors did their own fights and stunts and many were fighting for the first time. They did spectacularly well, but safety was and is our first concern.
4. Stay tuned!

PROS

1. We really wanted them to be a good as possible for our budget and spent hundreds of hours on them.
2. Our set design and props team were stellar. We spent tons of time in pre-production as well scouting the best locations we could find.
3. That warehouse was one of our favorite spots visually.
4. Nearly our whole cast are experienced stage actors are were extremely dedicated to the show, this really shines.
5. We are giant nerds and wanted to show off Darkcops own OS and more, stay tuned for some more goodies.
6. Meredith Larson (who plays Glyph) has worked with us before and we are honored to have her in in this production. Episode three centers on her character.
7. Ben Enke our DP, really did excellent work on this show. His skill and style shines through.
8. This was one of our favorite scenes to shot and still makes us laugh.

Best Stuff Ever
1. We loved writing the news channel scrawl, wished we could have done more.
2. We had fun (perhaps too much) on that costume.

Again thanks everyone for the kind words and feedback (even the negative). Over 100 people worked on this project and we hope our passion to create a great superhero series shines through.