<![CDATA[The Official Ultrakids Website - Home]]>Wed, 16 May 2012 18:28:59 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Ultrakids 6 - Development]]>Sun, 13 May 2012 01:04:01 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2012/05/ultrakids-6-development.htmlI'm continuing early story work on Ultrakids 6. I don't have an official title yet, but I wanted it to be something simple yet cool. Two words: Ultrakids __________. 
I was going through title ideas, but can't think of anything that hasn't already been taken.

Ultrakids Rising
Ultrakids Awakening
Ultrakids Revolution

This is probably the hardest title I've had to think of. All the other titles came pretty naturally, except for The Recruits (I had to think a bit for that one, despite it seeming very obvious).

The good news is that I have a villain (and an actor to play him). He's probably going to be the coolest Ultrakids villain yet....one that may have actual superpowers himself! 

Well, I just gave away a super important plot point. Should I even publish this blog post? I'm honestly writing this off the top of my head. 

Anyway, the story's looking really exciting. I'm hoping that this will be the best Ultrakids movie yet. It may be a thing of personal pride, but I'm always trying to make each Ultrakids movie better than the previous one. I was a little disappointed with The Recruits despite having a great time filming it, mainly because I didn't have enough Time to make it better than Ultrakids 4. 

But if all goes well, this new movie could definitely surpass Ultrakids 4 at all levels: story, special effects, acting...it's going to be a blast. 

We do have less time to make this one...I think we made Ultrakids 4 in three months? I'll have about two months to finish this movie, but I'm also trying out a new schedule. 

The way I filmed Ultrakids 1 - 3 was pretty simple: everyone would gather after church on Sundays and shoot a movie scene for an hour or two. Or three. This was really difficult because on Sundays people like to relax (except for me at the time, because I thought I was the next Steven Spielberg and had unlimited energy to achieve that dream). Since we could only film during the day, there were no night scenes. Each individual scene had to be completed within the few hours we had that day, so there were no super long scenes. 

Things changed with Ultrakids 4, because we stopped filming after church and organized dates on weekends to shoot for longer periods of time. Our first filming session was five hours long. it was heavily scheduled, and we got both of the big battle sequences done that day.

Shooting on a more prioritized schedule (instead of after church on Sundays) really helped make things more relaxed. Besides, Sundays are to focus on God, not movies!

Things are going to be different with Ultrakids 6. This year, I'm running a movie camp, similar to VBS, but with the goal of making a short film (that being Ultrakids 6). It's going to be six hours a day for seven days. That's a lot of time! Usually I can get one minute of footage shot in one hour, so do the math: a 42-minute movie??? Well, wait we also break for lunch, so minus one hour a day. That's still a 35-minute movie, compared to Ultrakids 4, which was 36-minutes (including credits). 

In the official statement, I wrote that we would be shooting a 15 minute movie, just to take the stress off. Who knows, I'm pretty sure we didn't shoot for 36 hours for Ultrakids 4. Maybe my hours per minute of footage rate has gone up. 

Well, i have been ranting for quite a while now. End statement: I'm excited. I'm really, really excited, and think that this movie could possibly be the best Ultrakids ever. If not the last one. Probably will be the last one. I'm tired. Seriously. I said Ultrakids 3 would be the final Ultrakids. At least, that's how it was introduced at the premiere. What a lie. Look where that got me. 

Honestly, one day I have to make an Ultrakids animated serious. Anime-style. Like Avatar the Last Airbender. That would be sick. I can already see it in my head. I have so many other Ultrakids stories to tell. But not ones that I want to spend all this time doing it live-action. A TV show would work perfectly. Let me pitch it to Cartoon Network. Get me a real job. As long as I retain complete ownership over the Ultrakids idea.

That actually scares me. What if Ultrakids becomes someone else's legal property? I'm pretty sure I legally own Ultrakids, simply because I've been using the idea for a while. That's why I wouldn't give Ultrakids to Nickelodeon or Disney, because they'll probably want to own it. Then again, I'm not sure about Cartoon Network. It's probably the same. I just didn't think it was because CN isn't as big as the other two. Blast. Maybe I'll just make a web series instead. Which will most likely result in zero profitability.

It doesn't really matter because I have a hundred other ideas better than Ultrakids, I just haven't been able to use them because they're 1) too expensive to make and 2) I can't distribute them probably. The only reason I primarily make Ultrakids movies is because they're so easy to make, and they're fun! I love all the characters, even though they weren't too developed in the early movies. But that's okay, because when I create the TV show, I'll be able to develop them fully.

A thought just occurred to me. Maybe Veggie boy will read this post. For those of you who don't know, Veggie boy is my cousin, and he seriously doubts my ability to become a Hollywood director.

What the heck is this blog post about? Anyway....

It started back in Ultrakids 2, when I promised him that this movie would be in film festivals and we'll make money off of it, blah blah blah. Well, most of you know how that turned out. We showed Ultrakids 2 at my church's winter retreat and that was that. The film was too cruddy to be sent anywhere else (although compared to other films made by kids my age back then, it wasn't that bad). So ever since then, whenever I talk of some grand plan of mine, Veggie boy rolls his eyes and laughs. 

But I'm going to prove him wrong. To the four or five people who will read this blog post, I'm going to prove my cousin wrong. I am going to go to Hollywood one day. It's my calling. I won't have to do anything but obey because God is working things out for me. I can already sense Him moving. I'm dead serious about this. In the past few months, I've had chance meetings with several other people who were called to Hollywood, to bring God's light into the entertainment industry. These meetings were completely random, completely accidental. Or so it would seem. 

That's the cool thing about trusting in God. It may seem deathly scary at times when you don't know where He's leading you, but the entire time you know that He has the greatest plan for your life, greater than one you could dream of yourself. Now that's exciting. 

And when you finally get to the place He's called you? Wow, what a feeling. It feels so good to be in the center of God's will.

But here's the catch. Your life's plan really isn't important. Your life's goal isn't important either. 

There's only one thing that's truly important, and that's simply knowing God. Enjoying His presence. Living in His love from day to day. That's it. 

Some people can't live without accomplishing something great in life, or achieving their dreams. Sure, dreams are God-given tools of inspiration, but they're never greater than God himself. God is enough. I read that in Phil Vischer's autobiographical book, Me, Myself, and Bob, when I was 13 years old. I didn't believe him back then (for those of you who don't know, Phil Vischer is the creator of Veggietales, which crashed and burned after a series of financial disasters). Phil tells us that Veggietales was his dream. His company, Big Idea, was his dream. And when that crashed and burned, where was he now?

That was when he realized that being successful wasn't as important as having a relationship with God. Sounds crazy, I know. But I hope that's the one thing I'll be able to achieve.

If I die tomorrow, will I be satisfied that I've done my part on this earth? If my dreams never came to reality, would I continue to trust God and be okay with that? I hope I would be.

You never know until it actually happens. But keep praying that it will.

Well, thanks to everyone who bothered to read this extremely random but inspired blog post. I don't even remember what this post was about. Oh, that's right, Ultrakid
]]><![CDATA[New Ultrakids movie - this August]]>Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:40:33 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2012/04/new-ultrakids-movie-this-august.htmlThere is no script, no title, no official plot. All I know is that it will be made, and will premiere in August. 

- Josh]]><![CDATA[The Recruits Script]]>Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:04:27 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/09/the-recruits-script.html
therecruits_script.doc
File Size: 54 kb
File Type: doc
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Here you can check out the original script for 'The Recruits.' I was really happy that we were able to stick very closely to the original script, with a few minor changes (such as characters and stuff). Check out the original ending which included Laserboy delivering the closing line instead of Obie.
Note that the actor that played Obie (Jesse) was originally meant to play Silas (see script). Guess who was first cast as Obie? Everyone's favorite actor: Timmy a.k.a. Odor boy.
The idea was that in the not-so-distant future, Odor boy becomes the director of the Ultrakids headquarters (with Laserboy still the primary leader). Now that he's an adult, he changes his name to Obie (O.B. Odor boy. Get it?).
But when it came down to it, Timmy wasn't available to film his scenes (which is why he has one quick cameo at the beginning and not a major role). So we quickly switched actors, erased Silas, and merged him with Obie. 
One of the random facts about the movie which is completely useless information, but now that you've read it you'll never forget it. :)
]]><![CDATA[The Recruits]]>Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:06:20 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/08/the-recruits1.html
Here's the movie. Enjoy! Lots of behind the scenes and blog posts to come. :)
]]><![CDATA[Late At Night]]>Sat, 13 Aug 2011 16:03:35 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/08/late-at-night.html
Yesterday....It was 1:00 A.M. 'The Recruits' was almost finished. I carefully typed up all the names in the credits, making sure not to miss anyone. 
I watched the movie two times, once to approve the visuals and second to approve the audio. Then I rendered it.
At 5:45 A.M., I woke up and checked the renders. Done. I watched it again. 
It was finished.
We had an incredible premiere later that day. God protected us from technical difficulties and other mishaps. The parents loved the movie, as did other church members . The cast was ecstatic when they saw themselves on the big screen.
Just like all other productions, there were times when I doubted that this movie would be finished. At least, finished well. But God came through again, and the movie ended up looking as great as I imagined it.
Links coming soon! If you're good with a computer, you can probably find the movie before we post it here. 
Praise God for another awesome movie experience!  ]]><![CDATA[Wrapping Up]]>Thu, 04 Aug 2011 23:24:29 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/08/wrapping-up.htmlWe're almost done shooting 'The Recruits.' It's been about a week since we started filming; I think this is a record for the fastest Ultrakids movie ever made, from script to screen. I'm really excited to show everyone the movie, yet also nervous because the premiere is next Friday (not tomorrow, the Friday after that)! Hopefully everything will go smoothly in editing. I purposely wrote it so there wouldn't be a lot of visual effects, so for those of you hoping to see the Ultrakids version of 'Avatar' you will be sorely disappointed.
On the other hand, my true passion for this project comes from the story itself, and the themes within. I'll do another blog post more about the theme of 'The Recruits' because it's something that God has put in my heart recently, and has urged me to share this message to others. 
Okay, that's all for now. TTYL (Triceratops Teasing Young Leopards). ]]><![CDATA[The Recruits]]>Tue, 26 Jul 2011 07:02:04 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/07/the-recruits.html
Picture
Round 5....
]]><![CDATA[Actor Trust]]>Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:47:22 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/06/actor-trust.htmlIt was a sunny day in the park. I set up my camera on a tripod and positioned Laserboy on the field. I told him to swerve his head from right to left. He did so without hesitation. He looked like he was dancing, and some of the other actors laughed.
Several months later, everyone ooh-ed in awe of a cool shot of Laserboy releasing a powerful optic blast during a midnight battle scene. I smiled as I thought about the day we shot it. Of couse it looked silly then. But when an actor completely trusts his director even if the director tells him to do something completely ridiculous, great movies come out. ]]><![CDATA[Deleted Script Scene from Ultrakids 4]]>Sat, 21 May 2011 19:35:07 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/05/deleted-script-scene-from-ultrakids-4.htmlThis is a draft of the climax for Ultrakids 4. You can tell many elements of the finale are the same, just reordered and changed a bit. 
deleted_scene.docx
File Size: 103 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
What do you think? Should we have followed this draft of the script, or make the changes seen in the movie?
]]><![CDATA[The Beginning of the End]]>Tue, 03 May 2011 15:12:38 -0500http://www.ultrakids.org/6/post/2011/05/the-beginning-of-the-end.htmlU4 button
Assuming Ultrakids 4 will be the last Ultrakids movie in a while, here's the email that started production (I sent this out to the cast and crew near the end of Sept 2010):
Okay, I've got a starting idea for Ultrakids 4, but I need your guys help.

What I've got so far:
Laserboy, Veggie boy, and Odor boy volunteer to help out at a superhero camp. There, they meet new recruits and also a suspicious camp counselor (no name yet). Meanwhile, Odor boy is feeling really really sad because he stinks so much. HE JUST WANTS TO BE ACCEPTED!!! His sweet-smelling sister Daisy isn't helping and just rubbing it in more (quote: "Odor boy, you and a cup of milk contribute to half the world's pollution"). Back at Ultrakids HQ, Invisigirl has created a time machine that accidentally turns her into her younger self. She goes to camp hero to retrieve a memory charm from Odor boy to turn her back to her present self. But Odor boy refuses to give it to her. (quote:"Now you'll learn how it feels to be an outcast like me.") Odor boy, under the pressure of the evil camp counselor, finally turns bad, cleaning himself but at the same time threatening to turn the world into a big smelly fart. Laserboy gets help from the new recruits to stop Odor boy from destroying the world.

New Recruits

girls:
Brooke - control water, btw i did some water tests and it looks cool
Destiny  - sees future
Casey - sense movement like toph in avatar

boys:
Kai  - control fire
Jalen - can heal wounds

We probably have room for one more main character and everyone else will be minor characters.

So do you guys have any other ideas for conficts and character arcs for the new recruits? rule: you can't make a character arc for your own character! if you want to play a character (or have an idea for one instead of the ones I've listed) please email me.

we don't have a lot of time. We should start filming in october. If you want to act, please give me your schedules (eg sports practices, family events, etc.) so that we will know what days to film. Thanks!
Josh
Yep, that's how this whole mess started. Obviously we made some major changes to the plot, but the emotional core of the story (acceptance) is the same. 
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