May 12

What’s in the Box?

Alright, you guys have been patient enough. The wait is over. We’ll let you in on the mystery of the box…

We received the case and its contents last week from a few guys in Bend, Oregon. Adrian had been contacted with a request for an address to send the package to. Its sender called it “an audition piece”. After discussing some legal concerns regarding intellectual property, the sender agreed to waive any rights to the piece and Adrian offered up his address.

What follows is the movie contained within the pretty little package:

Video not available

We were really impressed with the resourcefulness and dedication these guys showed in making their bid to work with us. Ultimately, we aren’t really in a position to take on any more team members, but we felt that their hard work certainly deserved to be seen.

Check out the website for Delve Films to learn more about this project and an upcoming documentary they are working on.

Thanks to Isaac, Nate, Ashley and crew for sharing your work with us!

Posted at 1:28 am by Patrick & Adrian in communications · tags: , , , , , , , , ,
72 others write,
  • blackmesaboyreply
    May 12 2009 2:16 am

    Ahhhh, How cool! Oh yeah, first post!

  • NicholasBatesreply
    May 12 2009 2:21 am

    Interesting. They put a lot of work into that. It’s cool to see a live action interpretation.

  • blackmesaboyreply
    May 12 2009 2:47 am

    These guys definitely put some work into this! I think they did a great job, especially with no previous experience! I loved it! Even though its just an audition I loved seeing Myst in action. I especially loved the desert scene. It was just how i imagined it would look in the movie.

  • Ryan Davisreply
    May 12 2009 3:28 am

    To get a 13 minute movie, with location shooting, music, editing, etc….for $800 is absolutely stunning. Remarkably efficient filmmaking. I love the fact that Myst fans are this ingenious, this dedicated, and this passionate. It makes me proud to be one of them. Nate and Isaac, if you ever are in LA for any reason, let me know. I’d love to meet you.

  • Ryuu Tenshireply
    May 12 2009 4:14 am

    Wow, nicely done. Can’t say I’m too impressed with the acting – a lot of it falls rather flat (no offense, guys) – but the film itself is quite impressive for a fan project. Dang, yo.

    Man, I always love to see what this fandom is capable of. <3

  • Ryuu Tenshireply
    May 12 2009 4:17 am

    As a random aside, I was listning to an artist today, one Azam Ali, who I felt has a very Myst-ish feel to her music. you can listen to her on Imeem. Fantastic stuff, gotta say. If nothing else, the kind of thing I like to put on my writing playlists

    PS: Adrian, ALMOST done with my thesis, at which point I’m going to re-read Ti’ana and try to get our discussions rolling again.

  • Erikreply
    May 12 2009 6:11 am

    Wow! Cool! :D Thanks for sharing!

    It looks like you don’t have to do this all by yourselves, and who knows, they may a big help in the future.

    I must say I enjoyed the D’ni writing scene with all those D’ni characters a lot. :P The look of the characters was quite different from what I had imagined them to look like. The film had a medieval look in overall, while I expected the characters to look more like Gehn did in Riven.

    I really enjoyed watching it! :)

  • AndyBlooShoesreply
    May 12 2009 9:50 am

    You know guys, what you really need right now is more team members! And if people are approaching you wanting to work with you I say you should definitely let them on!
    _
    Even if you still feel like you can’t take them now, contact them back when you’re making the film.
    _
    I can’t watch the film right now, but I will later.

  • Juneereply
    May 12 2009 9:57 am

    This is really impressive. I always admire people who has the courage to do something with their ideas and with the dedication these guys do it.. wow…
    I also found it interesting to see how the medieval style of clothing would fit into the D’ni universe because that’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. Instead of going into a rambling about clothes I’m just going to say that I think it’s very interesting to see what kind of style would fit the D’ni society as a whole. If only we knew more about their lifestyles and perspectives…
    -
    On a totally unrelated point I now understand all the script woes. The assignment for this course I’m taking now is to make a poster. So we started by writing it all down but when we laid it out on the page there wasn’t any room left for pictures. The text didn’t fit if it was bigger than 8pt, yes we’re talking about a wall of letters here. >.< Today we’ve shortened it by a third (precious! *cries*) but it still looks daunting. So now we have to start chipping away at the more important parts and the end result will be so much less awesome than it could’ve been. It’s still awesome though. And it will be… So… Totally… Awesome. 8)

  • Mike Theodorereply
    May 12 2009 10:42 am

    I really enjoyed the movie. It is great to see people get excited and follow their dreams. Thanks for sharing.

  • Isaac Testermanreply
    May 12 2009 10:57 am

    Thanks for all the support! I’m glad everyone’s enjoying this!

  • Gloareply
    May 12 2009 11:44 am

    Awesome. (and I didn’t even get to see to the end of it*)

    That was very impressive. Not really the acting itself (no offense meant, but the acting was not extraordinary for video acting [it's good theatrical acting]), but the whole production. It was clear and quite spectacular. It’s a great vision spun out for us in an extraordinarily coherent and resourceful way. Amazing. Just amazing.
    -
    *I accidentally clicked outside of the box when they were talking about their acting experience and now the video won’t start again :(
    -
    and I loved the credits, by the way – BoT should have credits like that

  • KatrAnnareply
    May 12 2009 2:12 pm

    I’m impressed, for people with no prior editing and filming experience, that was well done! It’s great to start to see the possibilities of this project on film, even if the final movie doesn’t look anything like this. I still got a thrill out of it!

  • cho233reply
    May 12 2009 4:26 pm

    Its great to see a sample of work from fans done so nicely. No dumb shaky camara myst stunts on youtube. While you may not be able to use anything like this right now, there may be a time where it is very useful. Very well done, much enjoyment here

  • Turjanreply
    May 12 2009 4:35 pm

    definitely ! the fans are full of resources !

  • Turjanreply
    May 12 2009 4:42 pm

    Oh… and….
    it’s very nice from you Adrian and Patrick to share these things with us ! thank you ! it’s always nice to have feedback on their work! It’s a chance for us that this film is in the hands of people like you ! le Monde conspire à votre réussite !!!

  • Sardareply
    May 12 2009 4:55 pm

    Looks really cool, guys!

    Also, if you’re having trouble viewing it, it only works if you left-click on it. If you right-click or click the scroll wheel, it says the video isn’t available.

  • Inferiority Complexreply
    May 12 2009 7:00 pm

    Wow! That was stunning!

    Hopefully you will be able to get that team involved eventually – to see such a passion for the project is very encouraging.

    And for $800??? That’s mind-blowing what they’ve achieved!

  • Zander the Hereticreply
    May 12 2009 7:54 pm

    Very nice mechanically. Acting-wise, they really were pulling their punches–so far from good theatrical acting, I don’t think it would be visible or audible beyond the first three rows–but that’s something everyone starts out doing, whether through embarrassment or lack of confidence or whatever. (Like singing in public. It took me three years to learn to let go and just belt it out, and before that nobody could hear a word even with the PA on.) And given that they were doing everything else as well, I think it’s an amazing effort.

  • Benjamin Testermanreply
    May 12 2009 7:58 pm

    Oh sweet they got it put up on here Sweet!!!

  • Flowerpowerreply
    May 12 2009 8:09 pm

    Wow!!! You guys are awesome. Who knew short movies of high quality could be made for 800 bucks! Though, I have to admit, I wasn’t too impressed with the acting :-( (Hope that doesn’t crush anyone’s dreams or anything) But all in all you guys have the potential to be great!

  • Flowerpowerreply
    May 12 2009 8:10 pm

    Oh and i for got to add:
    GOOD LUCK!!!!
    :-)

  • Isaac Testermanreply
    May 12 2009 8:36 pm

    WOW I’m flattered with all the encouragement! I can tell you that we knew the acting was the weakest link… for one, it was the first time on film for all of us so… ;)
    Something I will never do again is direct, write, produce, be the DP (director of photography) and try to act all in the same film! It was almost impossible to get into character while trying to do everything else too :) I would set up shot, try to get everyone in position and ready to roll, then try to jump into character at the drop of a hat… not easy.
    I think everyone else suffered as well, I was not able to direct the way I should have and watch for the small nuances that make a performances good. All in all though I am very happy with the end product. You learn a lot on your first project!
    Anyway, we love the constructive criticism and the enthusiastic support – Thanks again!

  • Isaac Testermanreply
    May 12 2009 8:48 pm

    Thankfully I had Nate for all the post! All the color, design, motion graphics etc was done by him. GOOD JOB NATE!

    P.S. He also designed that cool case everyone was wondering about :)

  • Geotisreply
    May 12 2009 11:21 pm

    The acting wasn’t that bad. I’ve seen A LOT worse. Besides, the acting wasn’t the main point, it was the technical competence. That’s what matters here. I applaude your work!

  • LostThymereply
    May 12 2009 11:23 pm

    That was really interesting. The desert scene was cool, and I really liked Aitrus’ jacket from when he was talking to Veovis. It seemed very Myst-ish to me. If this is what you can get with a tiny budget, imagine what a full-blown Myst movie will be like. :)

  • Jubileereply
    May 13 2009 12:17 am

    That is so cool Isaac!!
    you did such a good job, i really loved it!

  • Blade Lakemreply
    May 13 2009 12:33 am

    Very Nice. Though I think that it says a lot about me that one of the things I thought was coolest was Veovis writing in D’ni. ;)

  • Isaac Testermanreply
    May 13 2009 12:57 am

    If the video is choppy in the shadowbox you can see it @ http://www.vimeo.com/4580313 it seems to be streaming there a lot cleaner and in HD.

  • Patrickreply
    May 13 2009 1:09 am

    Yeah, the site went through some upgrades last night — shadowbox got a push for stability and the capability of displaying Vimeo embeds and I again extended the left-side nav. If you guys see anything ultra weird, please try CTRL-F5 (or APPLE-R or CTRL-R in some browsers or on mac) to do a hard refresh — and let me know of any persistent troubles.

  • Isaac Testermanreply
    May 13 2009 1:49 am

    @ Blade: Yeah we had fun with writing the D’ni! That was the last thing we filmed and Nate and I found a program online that converted English into D’ni script, then Nate learned how to copy it correctly so what you see is real D’ni.
    Also if you look closely at the books behind Aitrus and Ti’ana while they are talking, and in the library behind Veovis (at times) you might recognize something… ;)

  • blackmesaboyreply
    May 13 2009 2:21 am

    Haha, yeah I noticed that. And D’ni is totally the new Elvish!

  • Kevin Ghadyanireply
    May 13 2009 2:33 am

    I really can’t wait. I have the money ready! lol

  • Juneereply
    May 13 2009 6:29 am

    So the title says “vehovis kvehr” (Veovis is lonely so he writes letters to himself tee hee). As for the rest of it.. well at least it isn’t Dninglish. With some effort I can see a “tehl” in the first sentence, the rest is gibberish to me. I think the handwriting is throwing me off but it’s cool that Nate has his own style. (I tried writing a little now and it looks more like stick figures than letters, eep!)
    Now someone do the next sentence. :mrgreen:

  • Juneereply
    May 13 2009 6:34 am

    Adding: Those pics in the caves are so cool! And picture 16 in the library is priceless. (Link to their site below movie clip, then go to myst ;) )

  • Natereply
    May 13 2009 11:53 am

    @Junee The title is supposed to say “Veovis : K’veer”; or it would, if my handwriting was better. The thought was Veovis would be starting a letter to someone, and denoting his name and location. However, I like your explanation better. Veovis probably does spend a lot of time lonely in his tower.

  • Ryuu Tenshireply
    May 13 2009 12:14 pm

    And a random aside, I found a quote in my travels that I think you all would appreciate:

    Micel biþ se Meotudes egsa, for þon hī sēo molde oncyrreð, from The Seafarer, which means “Great is the might of the Maker, before whom the world transforms.”

  • Isaac Testermanreply
    May 13 2009 2:15 pm

    Nice catch Junee! We put Veovis K’veer at the top and I don’t know why :) the rest of it does not really mean anything it’s just D’ni.

  • cho233reply
    May 13 2009 4:39 pm

    I did notice that some of the books in the ‘library’ said Myst on them. Yet Myst did not come into existance for another 200 years or so. Just a random aside….

    The acting was done well for never having acted on camera. I find it weird to act/speak in front of a camera rather than live

  • Juneereply
    May 13 2009 5:59 pm

    the rest of it does not really mean anything it’s just D’ni.
    Aww! Well, translating text for a whole page might be taking things a bit too far anyway haha.
    -
    Actor Alert! I just watched this show on tv called The Line of Beauty and I was looking at the main character thinking “wow his eyes are really bright”. Dan Stevens, judging by the last hour he’s very talented. (And hot! <.<) I did some research on him and he played Edward Ferrars in a BBC series of “Sense and Sensibility” (adaptation written by the same guy who did Bleak House!). I have to watch it now, no it’s not just because I love Jane Austen, it’s to study him.. yes..

  • Sardareply
    May 13 2009 6:43 pm

    I did notice that some of the books in the ‘library’ said Myst on them. Yet Myst did not come into existance for another 200 years or so. Just a random aside….
    That’s because they were the Myst book series. If there’s a scene with a bookshelf in the film, you guys need to stick the Myst series in somewhere :D

  • Tariamreply
    May 13 2009 10:40 pm

    Wow! I’m totally impressed! Great job for first-timers!

  • AndyBlooShoesreply
    May 13 2009 11:03 pm

    I just watched it. That was damn good. Once again, I suggest recruiting Isaac and Nate when you can.

  • Puddleglumreply
    May 14 2009 11:11 am

    Cool deal. This was fun to see.

  • cho233reply
    May 14 2009 5:35 pm

    @ Sarda – yes but still, in the flavor of the story…

  • Michaelreply
    May 14 2009 6:39 pm

    Anyone happen to know the name of the song at the beginning of the film? It sounds oddly familiar but I can’t place a name on it.

  • Angelareply
    May 14 2009 7:21 pm

    Wow. Now this makes sense given the previous snippet. Quite an impressive project! I wish I had enough creative determination to do something like this.

  • Isaac Testermanreply
    May 14 2009 7:23 pm

    “The King” From the Kingdom of Heaven soundtrack.

  • TOOOreply
    May 14 2009 8:28 pm

    Really nice looking film (although I have to agree that the acting was a bit on the timid side). You certainly have the technical side down.

    I think of this as the closest thing to a live-action preview of The Book of Ti’ana.

  • Deiusreply
    May 14 2009 8:47 pm

    That was too cool…I love this community – its passion and dedication. I do agree with some that the acting wasn’t the strong point, but nevertheless I throughly loved it. Bravo, Team Delve! :)

  • Flowerpowerreply
    May 14 2009 11:30 pm

    There is something addicting about. It’s something ya’ just got to watch again and again. Maybe it’s a good indicator that there’s a myst shortage…

  • hobbesreply
    May 15 2009 2:50 am

    It was a pleasure to watch that ! The best acted scene is I think the scene where Aitrus argue with Veovis.

  • BenMechreply
    May 15 2009 8:21 am

    Nice job Isaac, Nate, Ashley, etc.

    What was the backdrop behind the interview? Big D’ni text over cave walls or something?

  • Natereply
    May 15 2009 11:05 am

    @BenMech Yeah, that was the idea. I had originally used a calligraphic brush to write a bunch of D’ni script for the titles in the movie. That didn’t seem to work, but we did find a use for it in the DVD packaging (the inside of the package), and also for this backdrop.

  • Øystein Håvard Færderreply
    May 16 2009 6:22 am

    Very good job. Full of soul. I can see that you’ve really lived into the roles!

  • Dave Greply
    May 16 2009 6:41 pm

    I really am trying to keep up with all of this development.
    But for some reason the largest percentage of the time, it simply stops working for me. The website collapses or the videos just will not run.
    Oh well I can see from all your feedback that you guys are doing a remarkable job with all the work needed for this production.
    What sort of time frame do you have with expectation for completing the project? I do hope I am not too long in the tooth to enjoy it when it’s released.

  • AndyBlooShoesreply
    May 17 2009 12:48 pm

    Well Dave, at the moment they’re editing the first draft of the script. Then once they have it all neat, they’ll have to look for…um….I’m not sure if they’re using a studio or not, but they’ll need a team, of course. So maybe the movie will be in 2010 or 2011?

  • the Jokerreply
    May 17 2009 8:25 pm

    Cool!
    someone mentioned something about the acting earlier, so since that has been said already, I will not… (i also guess that there will be more experienced actors to the actal movie)
    but the visuals, the scenes was pretty cool. finaly we got see D’ni in live… can’t wait, I really can’t wait for the movie to be done.

    is it done yet?

  • stuckinspacetimereply
    May 18 2009 3:00 pm

    Wow! Great film! Where did you guys come from? You should definitely be apart of the team in my opinion…

  • amyjenc1reply
    May 19 2009 3:52 pm

    What’s really amazing is not only that these two guys could do this so well but even the fanbase can. It amazing that if it was desired a great production could be made by the fans and still, personally I think, be just as powerful as a “professional team”. Many of the fans have been inspired by the Myst series to go into fields like cinematography and game design and have become professionals. I know I have been. Pursuing a design career was heavily influenced by the beautiful characters of the D’ni language and many other aspects.

    So amazing! They did a wonderful job!

  • Trayreply
    May 20 2009 12:04 am

    hee hee, first thought after reading the title to your post… Tracy (aka. Gwyneth Paltrow) and her decapitated noggin. Oh, and of course Mr. Pitt screaming “ahhh, whats in the box?!

  • Adrianreply
    May 20 2009 2:45 am

    Tray, so glad you got the reference. It was a conscious one. I remember seeing that movie at the Ready III with you so many years ago. Ah, memories :)

  • Valary Edgarreply
    May 21 2009 11:14 pm

    Very proud of all of you. Fabulous finished product including the packaging. Great job! Loved the desert scene! Thanks!

  • Artovelireply
    May 22 2009 11:40 am

    I was just able to watch this! Bravo you guys! *claps for all she’s worth*
    Acting, acting, yes that’s been talked about (though I did think that Ashley carried Ti’ana’s feelings across pretty well in her voice). I was really impressed with the different lighting you had in every scene, and the costumes too. Veovis’ cloak framed him really nicely.

  • Core43reply
    Aug 01 2009 3:13 am

    I’d like to see it, but it says it’s private…. :(

    (If needed, my Vimeo username is “Core 43″)

  • rayreply
    Aug 13 2009 6:57 pm

    I can’t see it! I would love to see it.. But says its private…
    (if needed – my vimeo username is “xtintion”)

    Sorry Core43 for almost copying your comment but i’m in the same position :\

  • Zymminreply
    Aug 23 2009 11:47 am

    Me too, I would like to see it but it’s blocked as private…

  • Redreply
    Aug 24 2009 3:30 am

    Blocked as private for me, as well.

    Also, on the note of auditions: how much of the casting has been done thus far? Are the major roles cast already, will you be holding auditions in the future, what’s the scoop?

  • Mike McCallreply
    Sep 27 2009 3:01 am

    wtf, it says that I don’t have permission to watch this video even after I sign up???

  • Turjanreply
    Sep 28 2009 8:31 am

    YES we want a permission !!!!

  • Isaacreply
    Nov 17 2009 4:04 am

    Hey Guys, I’m so sorry about having to remove this video! With production and development progressing as far as it has, the need arose due to IP issues etc. Perhaps we will include it in the DVD extra’s, who knows. :D

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