Eddie Lebron's Fan Film, "Sonic"

Hmm...I'm less shamed but actually amused by these commentaries...I must be sick...

 

I see it as you being able to take criticism and either laugh it off or understand where the weaknesses were so you can improve next time.

Nothing sick about it at all, man.

 

Yeah, it's good to be able to have a laugh at your own mistakes and move past them. The Sonic movie didn't turn out that great, but some of your other work has been pretty good (I liked the Metal Slug parody short). As others have said, you should try your hand at an original film and go from there, you're a pretty decent director.

 

Well, the commentary wasn't meant to be hurtful. A lot of the comments were dumb jabs, but as what you intended for the movie to be, I feel it works. It doesn't stand on its own, but it does work as a presentation that a Live Action Sonic movie could work.

If I hated it, I wouldn't have watched it a second time to make a commentary for it. I look forward to seeing more of your original content in the future.

 

I know chances are that you aren't here anymore but...

Your movie was bad. I mean I watched your Megaman fan film and even thought that had bad acting and horrible CGI at least it felt like a movie. It had focus and the plot move at a decent pace. The problems that one had were more with the fact that you were lacking the budget to get better actors and IMO should have used special effects as opposed to visual effects. But your Sonic film was just plain bad. It had no redeming qualities what so ever. No story, no focus, nothing. It felt like a trailer than a movie. It was crammed with so many youtube nobodies and e-celebrities that it undermined the precense of Sonic. And Sonic, you cant tell me with a straight face that your Sonic looked in any shape of form presentable. You should have went with a more cartoony look instead of the pseudo-realistic, uncanny vallish look. I love Jaleel but you should have played to his strenghts, he is a Comedic actor. Putting him on a serious movie was a HUGE miscast, had the movie been less realistic he would have fit in just fine. But the way you set him up was awfull and I think Jaleel White could have been used better.

tl;dr Your Megaman film was a movie, this not so much.


Also keep in mind that I wish you take our constructive criticism and ponder on them. Think why many considered it bad and see if you could fix it in a future film you make. I think you have talent to make good adventure films, but you gotta man up to your mistakes and learn from them.

Indeed, its a masterpiece!

 

Hey uh, Epsilonsama. Try to be casual about it, but uh... look up.

And I do find it kinda silly that people toss out completely non-neutral lambastations of a work to the creator, and then follow it up or precede it with "no offense". I mean, wasn't that the same thing everyone was saying with the last fan film, while simultaneously laughing their asses off at Metallic Hoe-Down? I'm not saying your opinions aren't justified, but at least don't try to cover it up. If you're going to be rude about giving your opinion, just take it all the way and don't try to hide it.

 

You can criticize a work of somebody, even to the point of using hard language, and it still makes it ok. I'm not personally attacking the person of Eddie Lebron, I'm criticizing his craft and his artistic choices. In doing so, I do it not to be a jerk or anything like that but as a well to express my opinion of why his works was not of my liking. I give my opinions, in the best way I can, on this sort of internet podium of sorts. Saying somebody is a dick just because you are critical, doesn't make the criticism less valid. Also If Eddie is offended by my views of his work, then thats fine by me. Being offended means that you care enough about the work you did and I hope that he takes the criticism he has got and really think about it.

Eddie has talent, but it seems it was misguided in this work. He's Megaman fan film, wasn't great or anything like that but it was a film. It had a simple tale. You had a villian and a hero to stop him. You had scenes of the Hero facing odds and having a character arc. It wasn't perfect but it was a movie. The same cant sadly be said of his Sonic film. The Sonic film barely had any Sonic, it should have been called GUN Vs. Eggman. Sonic was just there to deliver some awkward, out of place lines and have some badly CG action scenes and thats it. It felt like a 20 minute trailer than a movie, and it could have been more.

 

Metallic Hoe-Down eh? LOL that brings back memories. Anyway, I can relate to the hostility that Eddie is currently braving through,which is why I feel the need to chime in a bit. While there were harsh comments and vile criticism during the release of my fan film preview, it gave me insight on what to improve on and even had me and my crew contemplate on starting from scratch. However, being that I spent nearly half a decade on a project that caused nothing but frustration, I was burnt out from the energy put in and exhausted by the bitterness of the fanbase. Of course, it didnt help that my "questionable reputation" at the time was being used as ammunition to sabotage my work, but at least I learned that making a fan film should focus on what YOU wanna do and not what everyone wants. People will watch a film regardless of the material as long as its engaging. I suffered the same plight with Eddie's mudslinging, just cause I incorporated all the elements of the franchise that would hopefully appease everyone from all angles. In reality, I wanted to make a full on SatAM movie that was akin to the TV show. Despite the SatAM haters, I shouldn't have let that deter my ambition cause shoehorning references for the sake of avoiding hate was wrong and created unnecessary stress on a project that was supposed to be fun. The other problem is that I got so wrapped up in the community to where I was seeking approval from anonymous people I didnt even know instead of focusing on my true vision. Its what really hindered the project in the first place and it became a jumbled mess. That being said, I think its time to finally an intervention on "SONIC."

Eddie, I know you're talent lies within dramas. I've seen your other non-gaming related films and they have substance that delivers a cohesive story. Mega Man may not be perfection, but it at least had my interest throughout the conflict, struggle, and backstory. However, SONIC doesnt really incorporate any of that. Theres no direction or semblance of a plot. Im aware that its a spec film, meaning its used as a pitch presentation. From my experience being at Universal Pictures and such, most of the people there believe it or not will not know what Sonic the Hedgehog is. It was bewildering, but apparently Hollywood ironically is full of ignorant suites who only see dollar signs. Im sure youve attended more pitch meetings than I have, but even when you have 5 minutes to throw your idea at someone, its important to at least have a story that compliments the visuals. You can have subpar CG and horrible acting (that shit can easily be fixed), but that foundation needs structure before you can build on top of it. So heres my issues with the plot. Its a non-existent, incoherent sequence of stuff that happens. Right from the beginning, its difficult to follow. You say that its the PLANET MOBIUS, but show focus on humans. You say that the city is STATION SQUARE but constantly hammers it in that it's New York. You say its the year 4013, yet societal progress has remained stagnated for 2,000 years. This is why the setting becomes convoluted since it jumps from one part of a Sonic continuity to the next. Heres my advice to help with the visuals and you definitely don't need a budget for this. Use After Effects and digitally remove any recognizable architecture and signs to maintain the immersion that this IS Mobius. This mysterious place needs a surreal backdrop that the audience can get a sense of wonder from. Using a regular footage of New York takes you out of "Mobius." In one shot, it stays on a familiar street sign from downtown Manhattan for 5 seconds. Again, use After Effects and digitally alter the sign so its a street that Station Square would have. Perhaps a street corner from a Sonic Adventure hub. I know its nitpicking, but if you want to maintain the consistency of the setting, its important to create that illusions that the audience has been transported to this new and strange world. Speaking of the city, there was a shot where a female newscaster posts a security snap shot of Sonic and its poorly placed on the monitor. In my line of business, I get chewed out for misaligning an image to its proper perspective and I'm really surprised nobody caught that during its raw screening.

The other issue is the humans. For years, many have complained that the incorporation of human characters in Sonic made it stale, bland, and jarring. We learned this from Sonic X and Sonic 06 and when you personally told me back in 2010 that you were going to add GUN soldiers, it created initial concern and just like I suspected, all the attention was centered on the human characters rather than Sonic. It was irritating that I was watching a film called SONIC, where the main character was barely in his own film. Instead, were greeted with unnecessary cameos from internet personalities that added nothing to the film. Plus when Sonic finally shows up and was going to "tell us about it" why was the exposition lazily done through a series of human newscasts? Remember the number one rule in screenplay writing. SHOW do not TELL. I wasn't sure if that was due to the low budget, but I'm sorry man, it just made these scenes boring to watch. For a film about Sonic, its incredibly slow paced and I feel that nothing was accomplished or established. It just played out like a string of events that had no meaning or purpose while Sonic destroying a bunch of robots. A few more of the negatives before I get to the positives. This is already been said by many, but I want you to hear my opinion since we did exchange dialogue a couple years back on this project. That Sonic design was a horrible choice since day 1. The CG Green Hill Zone looked out of the place from the consistent live action environments that were constantly shown. And can on, Knuckles with fingers? Its a minor complaint, but his name reflects his upper anatomy, hence the name Knuckles. Plus if this is supposed to be a prequel to Sonic 1, shouldnt that be Tails? A wondering kid admiring this super fast being from afar?

Ok a few more nitpicks. The mispronunciation of "Roboticzation" and "Kintobor" and the unconvincing acting. It kinda shocked me since the acting in Mega Man was honestly better, the people casted here were just not into their roles, especially the GUN solider being tortured and sadly Jaleel White. Oh man, what a huge let down to here his eldly, gritty man voice that's trying to capture that 90s attitude but just plays off an the uncool dad impressing his kids. I respect Jaleel for even reprising the role, but lets not delude ourselves. He simply cant voice a teenager anymore. Now lets talk about the final element that brings emotion to a film. The music score. I was excited to here that orchestrated version of Green Hill Zone that was in the trailers, but how come the actual film lacks any musical cues from the games? Instead its this brooding Han Zimmer score that lacks any connection to the Sonic franchise. Going back to Mega Man. There were several remixed, rescored versions of Mega Man tunes throughout the movie to the end credits. How come SONIC doesnt contain Sonic music? Not even in the credits.

Well, with that cleansing out of the way, lets dive into the good. The actor who played Robotnik was great. I totally get the SatAM vibe you were mentioning years back and the cold malicious tone really did capture the personality of SatAM Robontik. In fact, I applaud your choice of openly calling him Robotnik instead of Eggman. Never thought that would ever happen in a modern piece of Sonic media. Using locations such as Mobius and South Island were a nice concept, but as mentioned above, not visually executed. The CG on the robots and Egg Carriers were passable, but I have seen Sonic CG artists on youtube capable of something much more impressive. I just have this impression that you didnt shop around for CG artists and just settled on the first person that approached you.

I know this is a long winded review, so heres my overall perspective. The film was a valiant effort and I respect anyone whos dedicated and persistent in seeing a project to its end. However, the amount of time that was spent and what was presented on this versus Mega Man, doesnt really justify 18 minutes. I know theres been several setbacks and technical issues, but Im really surprised from the quality of your other work, than you and anyone associated with this was actually pleased with the final result.

It's been 2 years since I officially left the fanbase or made my presence known in the community, but since I've been following this project since its conception, I needed to voice my opinion since I agree with the majority of the flak its been receiving. Hopefully, this can be a checklist of how to improve the sequel or if anyone else attempts a Sonic movie. Personally though (and Moviebob has stated this) but Sonic does not work in a live action environment and should remain a cartoon. Don't worry man, just move on and learn from your mistakes.

 

Rant:

Please, do not ever... EVER make fan-movies again.

That was horribad. This is why fans and anyone shouldn't make live-action movies. This is why we have anime's and cartoons stupid. You don't go around and make a live-action pokemon game, will you? How much cocks would it suck? Even though sexuality shouldn't be taboo because as animals, it is in our nature repressed by age-old outdated immature ideals and beliefs which contradicts nature.

You should feel bad.

And two great giants bent over to this shitty mockery. Nostalgia Critic and The Angry Video Game Nerd.

Heck, a video of those two nerd heroes would have been so much better, but no we have some Robotnik General Shepard look-a-like from Modern Warfail 2 who is, despite being a decent actor, isn't really that good.

I bet this guy collected money to pay those actors to volunteer on this shitty movie, since money drives us to survive, it makes more rational sense than 'Rendering' issues.

Megaman Fan-Film is the worst.

If you want to do a good movie, do it completely on CGI and get some godly animators. And please, no shitty plot-lines or crappy president.

What would be hilarious, is if real-robotnik can take off his clothes, and a startled sonic wide-eyely shocked, says 'snooPenis as usual I see'.

And you forgot his mustache.

0/10

 

Damn, this thing actually happened. And it's piss-awful. What a surprise!

I want to know who's bright idea it was to put realistic hedgehog spines atop cartoony simplifications of actual hedgehog spines. What the fuck.

 

Apologies to the author.

If you want to be creative, you can learn 3D animation and make a kick-ass animation version of your live-action thing.

Look at how shit live-actions were of Mario, Megaman, Doom and now Sonic.

Live-Action Theatre Productions are actually acted out, and use props and costumes and make it look art. Look at the movie War Horse.

Learn from the failures of others.

The Plot is horrible. Explain how Eggman Robotnik Kintobor I don't give a fuck what his name is now called controlled the TV stations and the confusion of whether the government went against Sonic suddenly, or just bad writing. I was confused as fuck.

Yuki Naka is an idiot for thinking it's so great. Jaleel White made a mistake.

This is why Nintendo doesn't make any movies based on characters.

Oda, the author of the Shonen Jump Manga One Piece and Director of the Anime (I think) who is a huge childhood fan of Dragon Ball Z authorizes Anime Movies.

A Vidya Game adoption doesn't work. Not enough mechanics, no character details, no good writing and fleshing out of objectives for characters. Do the characters want to get stronger? How do they know each other? What are their dreams?

Please, to anyone else, no live-actions. At least keep it to yourself.\

Sega Genesis only is the best. I like Generations because you can mod it. If SEGA can release a mod toolkit, host a modding challenge tournament and think of a smart way of making money, they can make a killing while finding talent. Make a 'Sonic Fan-Team' group to replace Sonic Team so that people growing up with the blue bugger knows what makes things right.

Oh I give up.

 

I just hope at least you actually take some criticism and your "amusement" is not a form of "It's a masterpiece, your are idiots and I'm great" , because for me comparing your "Mega Man" to your "Sonic" you really droped in quallity. in my opinion.

But congrats on one thing, you actually made an example of how a live-action movie of Sonic would be.
After all it focused more on the "stars" than actually have a plot, hardly had respect for the source material using blended scraps of it just to say "it was based in this"
(the name "Kintobor"? Backwards names from old lore are soooo gooood. An serious Robotnik/Eggman with the silly Classic Japanese outfit that uses Gammas with Eggcarriers on Planet Mobious with Robotized Humans? That serves as a prequel on a world where birds pop from animal robots? Is this a fan-fic from a 8 years old?)
It was just watching Dragon Ball Evolution or the Last Airbender the movie, just like real Hollywood!

But now seriously, compare to your "Mega Man", that had plot, actually followed the game itself, and not some wierd prequel that clashed with the game (just look at Green Hill in your movie, tottaly like everything around it right?), and don't depend on "OH LOOK ITS THE ANGRY VIDEOGAME NERDDDDDD!!!!" , and you didn't really have to go all crazy to be entertaining, for example your Wily hardly looked like Wily but actually acted like it and was one of the best characters in it.

 

I may have pride in the project but I do not think the film is, by any means, a masterpiece. The amusement is genuine, no sarcasm :p.

The absolutely polarizing response is intriguing to me and I will keep my eyes and ears open to any and all feedback and comments. I can to use this to by betterment, development, and even restructuring of the concepts if I desire to move further with it. Things happen for a reason and if this film turns me into a stronger artist, all the flack this film may take would have been worth it.

 

I'm pretty neutral on the whole thing, but then I never really go in much for the story-related side of things, and particularly not SatAM et al., so that's to be expected.

One thing I definitely appreciate is your attitude to the various responses, Eddie. You aren't just ignoring people or replying with ‘STFU I RUEL', or anything like that, and it seems like you'll take the usable elements of the feedback on to whatever you do next. Which is great. And it's still an achievement that you had an idea and saw it through, regardless of people's reactions and whatever happened in the lead-up (the latter of which I have no idea about, as I didn't follow any of it).

A: moar female GUN team leader

 

Make her name Elise/Elizabeth for maximum trolling potential. :v:

 

I'm getting a real sense of "we failed, so we don't want anyone else to succeed."

 

Blah blah blah, most points already said, but I'll comment on some other things anyhow in case Eddie is still taking notes, since I sometimes wonder if people are still trying to feed him bad ideas.

I'll start by saying that I think people need to seriously give up on the idea of bringing SatAM to theaters, even in "spirit". It's been almost 20 years since that cartoon came and went. Most of it's fans have nostalgia-tinted glasses as to how seriously it took it's "drama" to start with, and it's really just as full of obvious plot gaps and bad writing as any of the other Sonic television adaptations. Sonic as a franchise doesn't have anything resembling it's tones or themes anymore. Furthmore, any Hollywood attempt to lift it's motifs would have it be directly compared to James Cameron's Avatar.

While I agree that the over-focus on secondary cameo characters harmed this more than did good, your starting statements seemed more set on going "AAHH HUMAN CHARACTERS BAD". Incidentally enough, human characters in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 didn't cause such alarm from what I remember, because for those two games Sonic Team didn't make any more human "main characters" (besides the ones with obvious blood ties to Dr. Robotnik) and they didn't hog screen time. It's also important to note that other furries are just as prone to stealing Sonic's spotlight (I'm looking at you, Shadow.) to the detriment of the product. In short, don't blame the movie's flaws on some inherent ideas fueled by personal bias.

As for the movie's interpretation of "Mobious", I felt it would've felt a lot more natural if furries and humans co-existed a la the world of Dragon Ball, with them all being in the city, and dropping the "furcist" G.U.N. agent doohickery that's only there to suck screen time away from the nonexistent plot.

Ideally I'd have gone for something more "Sonic Adventure" like in tone (except with less abstract elements or corny non-deaths) than this mismash of DiC Cartoon elements and Hollywood cliches. I think the biggest disappointment out of this is how badly this failed at capturing the spirit of the classic games - which, you know, is understandable with executive-made drivel like "Street Fighter: The Movie" and Uwe Boll's shenigans, but this is supposed to be a film by the fans, and yet it fails to show people why Sonic is good and why we played those video games when we were younger.

 

Ad hominem needs to stop right here.

Thing is, I wanted to see this be something. It wasn't. I wanted him to look at the mistakes we made on our fan film and correct those in the development of his. He made the same mistakes plus making this live action and focusing very little time on the main character.

As cool as it would have been to work on a successful project, we didn't. So we wanted to see Eddie's be far better than ours was. Say what you will about some green eyes with envy bullshit, but I would have liked this to be a high quality film. Art takes time and the people who can make it happen. There was too much time with people who just couldn't make it happen. That's that.

Is it so much to think that I was trying to give constructive criticism?