Balance of Power III -- "A Force Undying"

[Novastar]

15 actors. Each one wields a saber. All will fight. At least 2 of these sabers will be Plecter-driven, and at least one will be driven by the Ultrasound board. Many will contain TCSS parts...

More story and dialogue... but also about 4x as much fighting. Possibly more--but I think 4x is good way to say it. You will see all three saber styles (single, dual, and staff), and in addition to one-on-one battles, there will also be a "power duel" (2 on 1).

As always, you'll see Force actions... but some of the fights will become more "intimate" and close-quarters.

Acro! I'm not 100% sure at this point what my actors will be capable of, but... some of them are training for it!

Finally, a super-special prop that I won't go into detail over, but it should be very sweet to see.

I'm entertaining the idea of a BOP IV... but... we'll see. There are plenty of ideas that I have that could make the story become even more interesting, but... sometimes it's just a financial thing.

Besides, I don't really know how many people out there even care if we continue doing this sort of thing. I don't want to keep it up if a huge majority of viewers out there don't get any enjoyment out of it. I only have so many resources, and I pretty much do EVERYthing. I really could use a lot more help... but you know how it is. Hard to find people who both WANT to join and are CAPABLE of actually doing something.

For those who do not know, Brian (gundamaniac) has joined our team also.

As of yet, it's too early to start posting any videos or whatever, but would love to hear anyone's thoughts on what they'd like to see!

[ArkaiHalon]

as far as finding people to enjoy watching it, I thnk you have several on this board.

IF I lived in your area, i'd definately offer more help than building sabers.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I personally get a kick out of watching the performances, and if were closer I'd be willing to help out as well.

[Angelus Lupus]

I enjoy them, and I was dissapointred you didn't get to do your studio recording of BOP II, that would have been cool.

Just one thing for BOP III: Is master Novastar really dead?

[37H4N]

Cool I can't wait to see it! as long as theres lots of saber fights, I'm happy.
I wander what this mysterious super prop is. Sounds cool.
I have no idea how I could be of help. I'm in fresno but I don't have a job, so there goes financial help, I can't drive so there goes helping in person. Well you have my viewer support!

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

I finally got around to watching BOP I & II a few days ago, and I was impressed. You did an amazing job with the resources you had!

My school had a pretty good drama club when I was growing up, and I helped out with producing three or four of their stage productions. I have a good idea how much work goes into putting something like this together, and I appreciate the effort you made.

I'm looking forward to seeing BOP III, and I'll shoot over to the website and send a few bucks your way to help.

[Novastar]

Thanks guys... support from afar is just as good as support from close by. I guess think of Williams' nicely done theme "Across The Stars", heheheheh!

Simply passing on the youtube links is a GIANT help. I really want to get a good idea of what the general onliner thinks. It's clear that BOP I was received VERY well--far better than I imagined, given our paltry resources and literally having one guy (me) doing ten different "jobs" that would normally each be done by singular, separate persons with the correct experience, training, and time. So... THANKS to all of you for helping in any way... it does not have to be solely $$$ donations!!!

Angelus, I too was disappointed we were unable to do the Berkeley studio recording as well, but those are the breaks. I'm sure we could have rescheduled, but there comes a time when it would just drag on and on and on. It was time to say goodbye to BOP II in August... as was the case with BOP I in Aug 2006.

Additionally, we rarely have access to "setting it all up ahead of time, super pimp style". Most of the time, the actors have to show up--never having seen the venue before, and just... well... "go"!!! No joke. The nature of live performance in DIFFERING venues is like that--especially without having rehearsals AT such venues. In fact, no rehearsals were EVER done at ANY venue, lol! We had our primary rehearsal space... and then we'd go off to place X and do the show. Space was often too small. Ceilings were often too low for acro. When I did my tuck off the console table in BOP II (at BayCon)--the ceiling was VERY low, and I knew my feet would hit the ceiling if I did not "chuck" it back and go less upward. I'm glad I stayed sharp, or I could have literally hurt myself. Anthony and Phil chose NOT to do their acro there, and I do not blame them for one second!!

The ceiling was even WORSE at the state fair. I still decided to do it, and it worked out. However, again... this time it was DEFINITELY prohibitive for Phil & Anthony. Bummer.

Anyhow... just a small tidbit of ONE of the concerns we have to deal with since we do not have our "own" specialized theatre or whatever. lol

Ryu... re: lots of fights

Where do I begin. I had a feeling some folks might have "missed" the whole 5 on 5 kind of thing BOP I had to offer. Well, BOP II took place on a spacecraft, and the mission/story was different... so you got a BIG surprise watching Nova get thwacked, and you essentially saw one major saber battle...

...BOP III will put BOP II to shame. My own BOP II choreography will pretty much cower and feel like a piece o' junk in comparison.

Without revealing everything and ruining the fun... let's see...

5 on 5 fighting?... YES. Not as you might expect, but... YES.
1 vs. 5 battle?... YES!!!! Yes?!! Holy cow, that's right. I'm not going to say too much. It should be very fun.
Power duel?... YES.
Staff used?... YES.
Dual sabers?... YES.

NINE different battles?!??!!!??!!

.
.
.
.

Yes.

BOP III. It's going to thwack you on the head with a polycarbonate sting that will leave you Crystal Focus clear on what's true SW battle bling.

[ArkaiHalon]

I can definately relate to not being able to rehearse on location. I used to do old west reenactments, and although we knew our skits like the back of our hands, it was amazing the changes that had to be made on seconds notice upon seeing the venue. and we were using firearms (yes, loaded with blanks, but at blanks can be more dangerous to the actors than live ammo).

and I've passed the youtube link around at my office.

[37H4N]

YAY! lots of saber battles!
Well if passing along the links is help then at least I can help some how.

[Novastar]

I just gave a general "count" to the amount of maneuvers/saber attacks or defenses in just ONE of the particular battles in BOP III.

@210.

That's more "moves" in ONE of the nine battles... than there were in Cael v Necro during BOP II (about 130).

Also--there will be a few areas where the battling becomes a bit more "unorthodox", and you'll see all sorts of ideas approached. As well as the (now 'par for the course') Force actions...

Keep your eyes peeled for several slow-motions sections too... Surprised, were you? heheheh

Additionally, I've collected many vocal readings from folks and things are sounding good. It's going to take a MASSIVE amount of work for me to compile everything easily and strategically... but I'm sure I can do it.

Finally... the saber sounds will be the most difficult to get "timed" correctly... but I won't be going for perfection there. It just has to sound very close--passable enough! Granted--there will certainly be some Plecter boards out there making some noise... so... let's hope we hear 'em over the music and everything else, lol... (d'oh!)

If anything, they might give me a clue as to the rythym of the choreography, from battle to battle.