CreatingSFF podcast

Sci-fi film producer Royce Essig interview

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Royce Essig has been pursuing a 25 year dream to produce a sci-fi drama. He and his team are close to completion and have used virtual reality technology to finish the product. I interviewed him at Far Point 2018.

1:07 – Royce Essig and his team are doing an independent sci-fi series called Dark Operations Terminus. It’s been a 25-year dream and ten years ago they released their first DVD. It’s a three part sci-fi drama.

2:32 – They hope to release it next fall. It has a virtual reality element to it. One is the Oculus Rift where you get into the world. They have also applied the Microsoft Hollow Lens technology. It projects a hologram you can see and record and import into the game.

4:49 – The game is done in memoriam to some developers who they’ve lost. One of the people who helped with Terminus was a Major who passed away in Iraq.

5:52 – He uses Magic Vegas to edit. Everyone on the team is self-taught. He uses music to inspire his work. Muppets music and tv for example. He also loves to edit.

7:37 – They all started doing this twenty-five years ago when they were all in a sci-fi club and wanted to do a fan film. The realized they needed a good camera guy, good equipment and so on. Now they can do it professionally.

10:03 – Royce likes The Greatest Showman because it breaks the typical mold of American television actors and actresses. Star Trek inspired the film they’re working on now. He also liked Space Battleship Yamato, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. The people into this nerdy stuff are the best people around. He loves John Williams and James Horner. Horner used his Battle Beyond the Stars music for Star Trek II.

13:07 – He wanted to be a pilot when he was young.

13:27 – They’re on Facebook/Dark Operations and post updates from the set.

 

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Battleship_Yamato

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/

https://www.facebook.com/DarkOperations/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Royce Essig

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, video game, film, virtual reality, magic vegas, oculus rift, microsoft hollow lens, space battleship yamato, battle beyond the stars, star trek, star wars, battlestar galactica

 

Fantasy weapons maker Matt Stagmer interview

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Matt Stagmer is a prolific weapons maker. He’s part of the Man At Arms Reforged youtube show and he spoke to me at Magfest about his work.

1:14 – Matt was in charge of making the Optimus Prime sword handle. He loves the old school cartoon. He’s made up to 40 or 50,000 weapons over his career.

2:26 – He never really feels a weapon is finished but he has deadlines to meet so they’re done on deadline.

3:20 – Matt’s a big video gamer and games sometimes inspire him. But much of his work is history inspired. He uses lots of books and museums for history. He used to be part of some fighting societies but not anymore.

4:29 – He listens to all kinds of music and comedy while he’s working on weapons. Music inspires and helps kill the sounds of weapons making.

5:23 – He loves to hammer the tang over the pommel. He loves that last step and tries to do that on every weapon. His older brother got him into weapons making. He thought he might be an engineer or architect. Creating three-dimensional art is addictive. He’s used auto CAD and uses CNC tools to make the weapons.

7:22 – The first time he sold a folded steel Damascus sword he knew he wanted to stay with weapons making. You won’t get rich making weapons so you have to love it.

8:09 – Sword makers used to be social outcasts but Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings changed that. Weapons makers are cool now. They’re just grungy guys in a shop thought but he loves making his fans happy. Things changed around 2000 when the fantasy stuff started coming out.

10:14 – He’s a huge Zelda fan. He plays Pub G and Ark. He’s got a lightsaber handle that he can put a blade into. They’ve worked with Robert Rodriguez on a project. He loved Never Ending story and Flight of the Navigator when he was a kid. He liked a program about a football team that became knights of the Round Table (King Arthur and the Knights of Justice.)

12:04 – He wants to make some of the Star Wars hand-to-hand weapons. He wants to make Chaos Eater. He also wants to make the rapier from Princess Bride.

13:08 – He streams on twitch and his gamer tag is stalkertron. The Man At Arms: Reforged vidoes are online hosted by AWE Me.

 

Links

https://playbattlegrounds.com/main.pu

http://store.steampowered.com/app/346110/ARK_Survival_Evolved/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292411/?ref_=nv_sr_2

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNKcMBYP_-18FLgk4BYGtfw

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Matt Stagmer

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: weapons, blacksmith, weaponsmaker, fantasy

Fantasy weapons maker Matt Stagmer interview – Super Magfest 2018 – youtube

 

Matt Stagmer is a prolific weapons maker. He’s part of the Man At Arms reforged youtube show and he spoke to me at Magfest about his work.

1:14 – Matt was in charge of making the Optimus Prime sword handle. He loves the old school cartoon. He’s made up to 40 or 50,000 weapons over his career.

2:26 – He never really feels a weapon is finished but he has deadlines to meet so they’re done on deadline.

3:20 – Matt’s a big video gamer and games sometimes inspire him. But much of his work is history inspired. He uses lots of books and museums for history. He used to be part of some fighting societies but not anymore.

4:29 – He listens to all kinds of music and comedy while he’s working on weapons. Music inspires and helps kill the sounds of weapons making.

5:23 – He loves to hammer the tang over the pommel. He loves that last step and tries to do that on every weapon. His older brother got him into weapons making. He thought he might be an engineer or architect. Creating three-dimensional art is addictive. He’s used auto CAD and uses CNC tools to make the weapons.

7:22 – The first time he sold a folded steel Damascus sword he knew he wanted to stay with weapons making. You won’t get rich making weapons so you have to love it.

8:09 – Sword makers used to be social outcasts but Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings changed that. Weapons makers are cool now. They’re just grungy guys in a shop thought but he loves making his fans happy. Things changed around 2000 when the fantasy stuff started coming out.

10:14 – He’s a huge Zelda fan. He plays Pub G and Ark. He’s got a lightsaber handle that he can put a blade into. They’ve worked with Robert Rodriguez on a project. He loved Never Ending story and Flight of the Navigator when he was a kid. He liked a program about a football team that became knights of the Round Table (King Arthur and the Knights of Justice.)

12:04 – He wants to make some of the Star Wars hand-to-hand weapons. He wants to make Chaos Eater. He also wants to make the rapier from Princess Bride.

13:08 – He streams on twitch and his gamer tag is stalkertron. The Man At Arms: Reforged vidoes are online on AWE Me.

Links

https://playbattlegrounds.com/main.pu

http://store.steampowered.com/app/346110/ARK_Survival_Evolved/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292411/?ref_=nv_sr_2

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNKcMBYP_-18FLgk4BYGtfw

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Matt Stagmer

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: weapons, blacksmith, weaponsmaker, fantasy,