Eclipse Spiffy Edition

Eclipse SE

Streaming 480p | Streaming 720p (may cause slow playback)
Watch at Vimeo | Watch at YouTube

480p (105 MB) | 720p (297 MB) | 1080p (393 MB)
(Right Click, Save As...)

Eclipse

For completeness, here's the original version submitted to LCC3 (30 MB), and it's accompanying B-cam behind the scenes reel (14 MB) in Sorenson3 QuickTime. For a higher quality comparison, you can watch the original with a modified music track in a 480p WMV (35 MB), 720p WMV (96 MB), or QuickTime h.264 720p (311 MB).

History

Inspired by a scene from the extended cut of Yimou Zhang’s Hero, Eclipse was conceived as an entry to TheForce.Net's Lightsaber Choreography Competition III. It was shot November 20-21, 2004, and after an exhausting month fighting the brand new HDV format, it was completed January 1, 2005, and won 3rd place in LCC3. You can view all the LCC3 entries here. Due to the short development time and 4-minute competition time limit, numerous plot points and effects shots were eliminated from the original release.

With a new edit that includes a few pick-ups shot November 19, 2005, Eclipse SE features completely re-done digital effects, and a brand new stereo (except on YouTube) sound track, and includes an original score for the Master sequence. So yes, even fan films get revisionist special editions.

Playback notes for Eclipse SE:

  • H.264 Streaming versions and download versions are identical.
  • Streaming versions require Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 or greater to play back. You probably have it installed already.
  • If you download the H.264 files Apple's QuickTime Player and WILL NOT play these files. This is because Apple's implementation of H.264 is not High Profile H.264 compliant. You will have much better luck with playback in VLC Media Player. On Linux, you may also have luck with MPlayer.
  • Depending on your graphics card, VLC may render the footage at lower contrast (PC?) or higher contrast (Mac?) than you see in the flash player. So far as I can tell, this is VLC's fault. Colours display correctly in all variants of the Flash player, including YouTube and Vimeo.
  • If you experience slow playback, work your way down the quality chain. The High Profile H.264 playback is very CPU intensive, and if you haven't bought a new computer within the last 3 years, playback at resolutions higher than 480p may be compromised.
Spiffy Productions