I've always loved flying combat movies. One of the greatest ever made was Howard Hughes' "Hells Angels". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqD3hN9G2AM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8wmyCcbnX0 where actual aircraft took part in simulated combat. It has been recognised as one of the inspirations for George Lucas' dogfight scenes in Star Wars. A lot of WW1 and WW2 films have tried to emulate the raw excitement of this film, but none, even with physical models or with cgi, have managed to come close to Hughes' masterpiece.

In my upcoming Iclone movie, "Colour Blind" I hope to capture some of the essence of those great WW1 films.

Background:
No. 32 Squadron RFC took possession of the Royal Aircraft Factory SE5A aircraft in November 1917. On April 1 1918 No. 32 Squadron officially become part of the Royal Air Force. The SE5A was used in a number of combat rolls, primarily as an air to air fighter and as a air to ground attack aircraft. It is the latter roll in which Colour Blind takes place during the first few days in April in the Battle of Amiens. Aircraft of 32 Squadron being called to attack ground targets near Moreuil SE of Amiens.

Colour Blind (length 5-10 minutes):
Gregory Shaw joined the RFC to fulfill his childhood dream to fly, but an accident leaves him grounded...

Production:
I use a program called Sophocles to write my screenplays. Unfortunately the program is no longer available, but it has some cool features which enables you to build location, set, prop, and cast lists as well as the screenplay itself.
I find it extremly helpful when developing a film, particularly when creating scenes and listing the needed props and sets.

Aircraft in this production:
SE5A (modeled - undergoing refinements)
Handley Page O/400 Bomber (to be modeled, gathering reference material)
DH. 5 (to be modeled, gathering reference material)
Fokker DVII (modeled, undergoing conversion to iprop)

Development time:
Open at the moment as I'm in preproduction.

Screen shots:
(Please note this film will be in b&w (sepia) as in my trial screen test in a previous post http://youtu.be/S6Oyr2qdvOM


Cockpit SE5A. Not that sophistcated, but sophisticated enough to get the job done.


SE5A Engine running, note pilot not in costume.


SE5As before take off


Another view before take off

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Cancer Survivor - Retired Teacher - Geriatric Icloner still learning
Hardware: ZX80; Operating System- ZX80 Basic; CPU - ZX80 @ 3.25 MHz; Memory - 1KB; Hard Drive - N/A; Storage - Cassette; Monitor: Any old CRT TV

Shots look great - this is something to look forward to for sure. :)

Alley

brilliant, love the way you approach your projects!!

have you ever tried - https://www.celtx.com/index.html ?

cheers.

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Thanks Alley and planetstardragon

@planetstardragon
I have indeed used Celtx but having purchased Sophocles many years ago I got used to how it works, and several scripts later it is still my favourite.

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Locations:
"Colour Blind" is going to be filmed in three major locations: an airfield in England, An airfield in France, and around Amiens, France.

Location #1: Netheravon Airfield Netheravon Airfield
Was the initial home of RFC 32 Squadron in 1916 32 Squadron RFC

Location #2: Beauvois RAF Airfield. Remembering that this airfield was the home of other squadrons other than 32 Squadron means that some other aircraft will have to be present in the background airfield map locations

Location #3: Battlefield area between La Bassee and the Lys (northern France). This will be mainly for aerial combat and the bombing of enemy positions.

I'm taking a minimalists approach to these locations, and creating only the sets that will be used in the film.

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Hardware: ZX80; Operating System- ZX80 Basic; CPU - ZX80 @ 3.25 MHz; Memory - 1KB; Hard Drive - N/A; Storage - Cassette; Monitor: Any old CRT TV

Looks great. Love the early morning mist. Will you be using voice actors for this? I loove a good production thread. Keep us up to date Colonel.

Thanks thebiz.movies. Yes I will be using voice actors. While the script so far centers mainly on the action sequences, it is fast developing into a dramatic piece as well.

Update:

Progress: 30-4-2013
I spent about 10 hours yesterday with Google gathering tons of reference material of locations and vehicles, aircraft etc. It reminded me of when I was assisting in the Falklands Mod for Operation Flashpoint many years ago. In fact gathering reference resources for this little movie is very similar to gathering stuff when making a game.

Today I'm formulating a list of props I need to make. as this is low budget (read no budget) everything will have to be made.

I had thought of creating a full terrain for both airfields, but seeing Netheravon Airfield is only a minor part I'd keep to the main scenes and keep the background simplified. For topology I'll grab the area in Google Maps and build a basic terrain and scenario in Sketchup.

Beauvois RAF Airfield is a little different as it features in the movie more than Netheravon. Once again I'll capture topology data from Google Maps and go from there.

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The screenshots look good, CK! I'll be following your progress with interest. It's good to see iClone being used in so many different ways. I for one wouldn't know how to film a battle scene, so we learn from others.

One of the things I enjoy myself is doing background research for a story, and there is indeed a lot to be found on-line.

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Colonel Klink: :)

Those shots are awesome sir. You are really getting a feel there that is quite authentic. I think arial work is an area where being able to control the camera without the bothersome nuisance of gravity and wind will make iclone shine. The ability to hang the camera anywhere in the sky at any moment of the battle is a luxury that Howard Hughes would have envied. ;)

Great work, can't wait for more. Tally Ho! :D

:cool: pete

PS: This takes me back to my WW1 days flying Camels, SE5's, Fokkers, and Nieuports in the old "Red Baron" game. (Always had to watch putting a Nieuport nose-down as the struts were weak and had a tendency to snap in a prolonged dive. I "bought the farm" many times because of my stubborn unwillingness to pull out of them. Sopwiths were notorious for over-torqueing and spinning into the ground. You always had to have a heavy hand on the right aileron to keep from going in. :P


http://www.youtube.com/user/peterblood50?feature=mhee

Thank you Peter

I must admit I was inspired also from an old PC game Wings of Fury. Flight sims were always my favourite until I bought Operation Flashpoint. The flight model in that game was cool.. one could fly anything from a Cessna to a Hind. My modeling started with a very rough looking A4 Skyhawk. I got a lot of criticism, but that inspired me to do better. It must of worked because several of my aircraft ended up in the commercial VBS military simulators used by several nations... Ah fun days. Now I do my own thing :)

Progress:
Not much today as I spent half of it playing mechanic repairing my daughter's car. For all that though I continued my research and added more in the storyline... I'm beginning to wonder just how much will end up in the final film. A 5-10 minute epic? We'll see. :)
Care
Bob

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