Behind the scenes: The Remnant Threat
From Jalassociatecomics
And now - the all-knowing guide to the formation of The Grand Marshal Trilogy Episode α: The Remnant Threat.
P.S: do not be daunted by all the text. Read on for insider info on how the comic came to be...including tips if you want to do stuff at home!
Contents |
Steps
Idea Formation
First off - the idea. Both L and J--for which this Wiki is named--are giant Lego Star Wars fans, and this is, of course, a Star Wars Lego comic. It came to L in the last phase of the year 2005. He was terribly bored, and came to his good friend J with an interesting prototype idea and a digital camera. L drew inspiration from Lego online webcomics.
After a few iterations, a serious plot was developed, and a fiendish character called the Grand Marshal (a prieviously unseen rank) and a treacherous plot to undermine the New Republic.
Before that, though, there were original plans, including the plot to star a Padawan (later used in the second comic)This idea was later deemed too Mary Sue-ish for the premiere comic. Another plan was to have the plot focus on a GIANT Yavin 4 invasion, complete with giant tank robots. This plot idea was eventually dropped and replaced with an epic space battle and a smaller-scale Yavin 4 invasion, nonetheless with the neat AT-RT set.
The space battle underwent serious modifications. As hard to believe as this seems, Han and Leia were originally meant to ride Ep. 3 era starfighters (in fact we still have the shots of this) Thankfully the Millennium Falcon came along as a combo birthday-Christmas set (J's). The battle was planned, from the start, to have TIE Interceptors and A-Wings, although these sets arrived much later and, as of 7 March '06, had still not been filmed! At the point of time, the comic was still very much a work-in-process.
Both L and J were very busy with school so the comic was put quite on hold, with ideas further developed whenever the two met. "Wrath of the Marshal" was idealized with concept shooting and character design developed. At the same time, a short story written by Jedd and started on his 13th birthday (14th Jan '06) was undergoing work. You can read it here. The "novel", or so it was nicknamed, featured new ideas and was based heavily on the comic. The Red Guard duel first appears in this form.
The Process
Capturing on camera was an especially arduous process. The comic was shot mostly at Jedd's house, with Al's camera and a combination of Jedd and Al's sets. An Al custom model called the Jedi Strike Fighter was also featured.
A combo of primitive and common as well as high-tech special effects were utilized. The foggy atmosphere of Yavin 4 was replicated using layered kitchen plastic wrap. It worked too well at times, though. Al was a little frustrated when the outcome was over-foggy. At times, he even insisted that no wrap be used, as can be seen from some panels of the Yavin ground battle. The grass used for Yavin 4 was actually a military model grass mat, which can be bought at most model shops.
A painted black backdrop served for stars in one impressive shot of the Imperial Shuttle. For the space battle, though, green screening (just like the experts)with construction paper was patched-in with Macromedia Fireworks software. Photoshop software was also utilized for the other brilliant effects you see.
Building upon the original idea, most of the story was made up as the shooting went. The occasional "production shot" was made, as well as other bits of goofing around to relax a little. One of the more obvious gags is the Rebel pilot diving head -first into his X-Wing cockpit at the Rebel base.
Minor mishaps actually helped the story along. The dimly-lit strategy-lecture scene on board the Remnant encampment was so as the scene was shot at night. The lights in Jedd's room, like most in-house lighting, tends to cast a slight orange-ish glow even more noticeable on camera. Thus, we had to resort to a torchlight. That actually gave a slightly cold and eerie effect, and was explained-off in the novel as caused by electricity control intercepted from the ground by Rebels, which made more sense and has place in the story.
Like many things, it's all in the presentation. Mixtures of long-shots and mid-shots brought about more dynamic angles. A comic, in all of its essence, is a movie translated into its most powerful instances. This comes into great use during the space shots and the tense climatic battle.
Building The Comic
This is not just a Star Wars comic, but a Lego one as well. There was extensive building required, most quite fun. First off the minifigs. There were a few custom minifigs used, study them carefully and they are quite easy to put together.
The rebel soldiers use mainly torsos from the old "Res-Q" range, with the decal on the back covered by a backpack. The Jedi use smiley-faces and generic Jedi torsos. There also a few running gags in the comic, though most are barely visible. Anakin and Obi-Wan make various unobvious cameos.
The custom Jedi Strike Fighter is based upon the Ep. 1 Flash Speeder set. Look out for another custom craft (a Jedi Padawan's examination airspeeder) ,this time by J, in Wrath of the Marshal. The snowspeeder service bay at the start of the comic is also custom-made by J, and the landing port for the Imperial Shuttle as well. The conference room, Rebel base, Death star and many other settings are actually built on the same mega-base plate belonging to L.
The corridor was put together last minute using J's single-row bricks. The Death Star scenes were a mish-mash of custom control banks as well. General Vanden's office is actually quite a neat little room and can be easily put together. Han Solo's Yavin Base office follows the same concept, although a little less well-designed. Luke's cell is quite a design, and is a great template if you want to build your own prison cell. L thought that the control room where Luke and R2 were working on the sabotage was quite neat as well.
The custom set J and L are most proud of, though, was the Rebel museum seen at the end of the comic. Jedd's brother, t, thought that those really were Anakin and Obi-Wan fighting in the centre! You can recognise tons of artifacts and characters, though some new ones, like the Sith's skeleton, are original. A lot of time went into putting the scene together. You get to see more of the museum in an exciting opening sequence for "Wrath of the Marshal". It features a "transportation hall" including memorable craft and bits of crafts, with two mini-models (one contributed by T) and two small minifig-scale ones.
Post-Production
With all said and done, J and L were ready to present their masterpiece to the world! It had been nearly half a year, but it was well worth the wait. Character bios were done with pictures shot and all, which can be viewed here. A poster was planned, though as of 2 June '06 was yet to be completed. Finally, the novel itself was published. Follow this link to view the completed masterpiece.
