Added: 2 years ago
From: SteveThinkTank
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  • Thank you for atleast showing the head of our machines correctly.

  • Stunning!! Wells' nightmare done perfectly!!

  • If you guys can achieve this on your own what couldnt you do with a major stuio behind you ? If you are not snapped up by a major soon they are all fools

  • my favourite kind of martian is the jeff waynes musical one but these are pretty awesome i love these too!

  • An excellent homage to a great piece of English luterature... great job!

  • This looks great!

  • ' Thunderchild stands its ground about to attack the advancing Tripod war machines' actually in the book the Thunderchild rushed towards the Martians as soon as they went into the water, brought her guns to bear on one, destroyed it, then was hit with the heat ray however the momentum carried her on to collide with another tripod (they were almost totally submerged) to also destroy that one.

  • Very interested in seeing how this turns out, although I think your HMS Thunderchild looks a little too much like a World War One vessel.

  • please make this film. and the jeff wayne machines look nothing like h.g. well's description whereas these do...they are "glittering machines" with a "fish-basket" like affair on the back,

    "whip like tentacles" a "hood" and a round mirrored heat ray held in a flexible arm, all of which this machine shows perfectly. of all the versions...pal's, the tom cruise version, the wayne version, the pendragon version etc this seems to me to be most faithful in imagery.

  • I prefer the Jeff Wayne version of tripods.

    If your story can keep well to the book and not like that tom cruise POS it could well be worth it.

  • Great!

    

  • Like many others I would love to watch the completed film....

  • Sorry, didnt like it, the martian fighting machines are nothing like what they are meant to be!

  • @britishpatriot12 What SHOULD they look like Mr Patriot?

  • @SteveThinkTank Like in the musical version...

  • @britishpatriot12 Why the musical version?! it's nothing like the H. G. Wells' description.

    Steve's Fighting machine matches the description perfectly. A Hood, Heat Ray on a flexible arm, A basket slung behind the main body. The musical version has none of these and is therefore wrong.

  • @britishpatriot12 Actually they are pretty close to how they are described in the book.

  • half life sounds

  • please bring this out! I would watch it many times :)

  • One thing thats unbalevibal is that a man named h.g. wells thout of this before even people started to think of lazers or alien life or giant tripods with tentacals.

  • Bertie Wells would be VERY HAPPY!! Superb interpretations, HMS Thunder Child was a bit more stout (torpedo-rams were squat and heavy), fighting machines are excellent!

  • my god, finally someone who respects what wells actually wrote! thank you thank you.

    i would certainly be interested in championing the final film. the machines are beautifully wrought!

    fingers, toes and all my tentacles crossed.

  • superb interpretation, fingers crossed we all get to see the extended directors cut!

  • Finally a version true to the original! Keep up the good work!

  • love the tripods

  • Dude, just make a full length film of this. I know I speak for everyone here when I say this trailer is 'the sh*t' and shows you have what it takes. HUGE fan of your work, Mr Tank, as you know, but the truth is the truth.

  • @ProjectFlashlight612

    Yep, I'll go with that. This film deserves to be made.

  • :O... OH MY GOD this movie would blow my mind, if its ever made I'm buying a copy for me and EVERYONE I know, good job sir, keep up the incredible work :D

  • THIS MOVIE HAS TO BE MADE!!!

    I'm sick of Hollywood destroying classic novels.

  • did they actually make a film of this?

  • Lol "Victorian version" Victorian version is the only version! xD

  • Hey there Steve,

    Just found this gem of a trailer!

    Looooove it!

    The shot you have of the steamer, reminded me very much of Cameron's flyby shot of the Titanic (Which cost oodles of cash).

    Yours however, has much more dynamic camera move, which looks, er, more dynamic!!!

    Back to the cash; How much do you reckon youv'e spent so far on this...Because I would gladly pay money to see the finished product...Maybe on Bluray??

    Best wishes with everything,

    John

  • @jmjmartin Hi John, thanks! To be honest, unless you count the cost of software and computers, Ive spent very little apart from a lot of time. I do this kind of thing for a living so its spare time only. Hence it is taking time... But we are getting there. We need to assess how much interest there is in this film before we lash out a fortune! In the meantime we are creating more and more of it. I'll update this page soon. Kind regards!

  • The trouble is, Wells never gave a precise description of what the Martian machines looked like....in fact, the story places much stock on the Journalist not being able to describe what he sees, as it blows his mind. The tripods depicted in the serialised original version of the story were not acclaimed by HG, who actually lampoons the 'stiff, tilted' things in Book 2 of the novel version.

  • @ProjectFlashlight612 I totally agree! I spent a few months researching as much opinion as possible on this and ended up totally bewildered! Finally I started work on a design which fulfilled as many ideas as possible and still be practical. There are still errors. There is a new refined design underway with a lot more detail and hopefully fewer problems. Wells was vague and boy does it court controversy amongst the fans.I'm not convinced Wells himself knew what they looked like! ;) cheers!

  • @SteveThinkTank Don't get me wrong, Mr Tank, your design/the execution thereof as it stands is quite superb. One thing I forgot to mention...and one thing none of the attempts to realise the machines has ever got right...is that Wells mentions on at least two occasions that the Machines are VERY FAST. They are described in the book as 'moving at the speed of an express train'. In 1900 terms, that's about 80 kph. They are also depicted as being ungainly, heeling over on two legs frequently.

  • @ProjectFlashlight612 I agree. Personally tho', I don't think Wells worked it out. In order for the Tripod to tower over the church, it needs to be around 150 foot tall. (Shepperton Church is well over 120 ft tall). This fits the descriptions. My tripods are 150ft. This means that taking 1 step per second works out at 60kph! In this clip one covers the field (300ft) in 11 seconds (36kph!) and its strolling. The top speed works out at over 120kph. Their size makes them look slow. An illusion?

  • @SteveThinkTank You have clearly 'dun the sumz', and I concur with your theory. Two comments: You are a bit down on the look of your CG tripods, though even in this provisional form they are VASTLY superior to the FX seen in Tim Hines' abomination. 2) Creating authentic daylight FX scenes with CG is always a task and a half...note how every daylight tripod scene in Spielberg's film has dust and smoke 'hiding the joins'. What are your thoughts on this ie how would YOU solve it?

  • @ProjectFlashlight612 You have raised a good point here. The original story is set in summer, which is pretty,..but doesn't really add to the scare factor. Its bright and cheerful! The original opposition of Mars in the book, suggests that in reality the invasion would take place in march/april..better for gloomy misty nights? what do you think? As for "daylight", the technology for rendering bright lit day scenes has moved on immensely (Mental Ray is fabulous). I'll show tests soon. Thanks :)

  • @SteveThinkTank I would dispute whether having bright and sunny conditions would inherently be any less scary than night or rainy conditions...it depends on the situation, I think. Taking your footage as an example, the alien quality, the disturbing disconnectedness, of these weird creations striding through a pleasant and sunny landscape, is if anything enhanced. I'm looking forward to seeing you tackle 'In The Storm', however. And Ch 16, with the 'sirenlike howls', Black Smoke etc.

  • @ProjectFlashlight612 Perfectly valid points. If anyone else has thoughts on this? Im very intrigued to see the responses to the howls. Many many people have become familiar with the "Ulla" (TM) sound of Jeff Waynes so any attempt to create what they REALLY sound like may hit a wall. As for the other features, black smoke, storm and even the flying machines and sea battle, they are things that no-one has satifactorily depicted as yet. im looking forward to those being completed immensely.

  • @ProjectFlashlight612 I agree. Personally tho', I don't think Wells worked it out. In order for the Tripod to tower over the church, it needs to be around 150 foot tall. (Shepperton Church is well over 120 ft tall). This fits the descriptions. My tripods are 150ft. This means that taking 1 step per second works out at 60kph! In this clip one covers the field (300ft) in 11 seconds (36kph!) and its strolling. The top speed works out at over 120kph. Their size makes them look slow. An illusion?

  • @ProjectFlashlight612 ps thanks for the comments. Its wonderful that people take such a keen and intelligent interest in Wells' work. I'll endeavour to make good the errors! Hopefully the new Tripods will tick all the boxes. Kind regards.

  • The head looks like the Sydney opera house, lol

    And the white sheen makes em look kind of Combine-ish

  • @Bangelibangladesh The design is as close as I thought it could be to the description in the book. It has since been modified slightly. The colour is physically correct as Wells describes the machines as polished aluminium. See the dead London shot where the blue sky reflection is more obvious. The trouble is, the head should be "brazen" or brassy. Im not sure if that would look odd? what do you think? regards!

  • @SteveThinkTank

    I was gonna bring up the brazen head it's not clear if it's referring to a brazen look as in metaphor or brazen as in brass.

    remember the book leaves it up to the readers imagination allot of the time, the heatray could do with a sturdier tentacle, but i am not sure, it's just the fact the body is so huge and supported by very spindly legs that look far too fragile to carry the bulk of the cowling, that correction would be easy to implement as it's a matter of weight ratio.

  • @SteveThinkTank

    But you seem to have the walk cycle well done, the middle leg moves forward and steps ahead slightly of the other two and the tripod leans back slightly on the hind legs while one on the side takes a giant stride then the other swings up and takes the next step and so on.

    Well that's how Jeff Wayne's tripods walk.

  • This is seriously epic!!!! >:)

  • You mean the ACTUAL version.

  • @madcat789 please see my reply to Richard600606!

  • @SteveThinkTank

    No i mean in general - the Victorian version is the ACTUAL version, not the 50s version or the 05' version. Very good design for the tripods by the way, how did you come up with that type?

  • @madcat789 Hi Madcat. I took all the references from the novel. Compared descriptions ( like boiler, cooking pot etc) and researched what they looked like in 1850-99: tried to ignore all modern references, and come up with a rig that could actually walk and yet fit Wells decriptions. ( tripod, arachnid, hooded or cowled head etc). It is difficult to make everything work as he describes.A new version is underway though, to correct the errors! cheers!

  • @SteveThinkTank

    WellI must express I am glad to hear that, I am sure it will be just as good if not more so better than this. Also I would like to point out, zero martians survived the war.

  • @madcat789 lol..If only the martians had NightNurse..

  • We need a Victorian WOTW, not one with nuclear weapons and Tom Cruise, but a turn of the century Army equipped only with cannon and bolt action rifles! Thumbs up on the project, and good luck for future releases.

  • I am so looking forward to seeing this version of the War of the Worlds. No movie, thus far, has been able to capture Well's ideas with any accuracy at all. It's been a while since I read the book, so I may have forgotten something. The tripods stand about 100' tall as evidenced by the bell tower scene. The depth of water in the English Channel varies to about 130' (more in some areas.) What are the Tripods standing on, when they face the Thunderchild?

  • @WarBerJr02 Hi and thanks for your interest! Firstly these are only test shots. The tripods are 1.2 million polygons each and Thunderchild around 1.4 million. So the scene was set up to test rendering. Secondly, the Thunderchild is a shallow draft ship and takes on the Martians in the shallow waters of the Thames estuary, not the channel. The book isnt exact but the main fleet have to wait in deeper waters.The scene here is set in 30 feet of water. The final scenes look quite different. Regards!

  • @SteveThinkTank Thanks for cluing me in. I am starting to remember more about the book now. I think I am going to read it again, after all these years. The battle between the tripods and the Thunderchild struck a real chord with me, when I read about it many years ago.

  • This is simply fantastic! Your version kicks the pendragon movie in the nuts twice over. I love the original version of War of the worlds, and you have done it proud. The design of your Martian Tripods are menacing, the way they should be. keep up the great work. The world needs an authentic movie version of H.G Wells Sci Fi masterpiece. Looks like you are on your way to achieving it.

  • i dont tink this is a real movie xD

  • @Bug8511 Hi, If all goes to plan, it will be. The second option is a mini series. A great deal has been done since this test video was made. Regards!

  • Excellent. This is one of the best interpretations I've seen and I like that is set in the period of the novel. I hope you can expand it.

  • This is actually very, very good. I love it. I'll be keeping my eye on this channel for further updates. Please do let us know if you plan to release the film on DVD or anything. =)

  • excellent work Steve, best yet IMO.

    one question though, how did you decide on the design for Thunderchild? i have read the book many times and i still cant picture it. Wells description is confused, he describes a torpedo ram/ironclad. the closest reference i have seen for a torpedo ram is HMS Polyphemus ( 1881 ) but describes it as sitting low in the water,almost submerged like the USS Monitor.

    was there anything inbetween these designs?

    once again, fantastic work.

  • @adamfinspain Hi Adam, yep you are right in that the description is confused, but that (it seems) is because Wells isn't describing an existing ship. He would have seen Polyphemus in the Thames estuary and he was interested in technology so the torpedo ram would have been of great interest to him. What Wells did was to extrapolate the design into what is now a destroyer. Bear in mind this is pre dreadnought so the fittings would be victorian not edwardian. Regards!

  • Awsomely scary! Definitely going to add this to my favorites! Go HG Wells and SteveThinkTank!

  • This is really good!

  • victorian version? ITS MENT TO BE VICTORIAN. THE FILM IS THE MODERN VERSION.....sheesh.

  • @Richard600606 I am aware of that Richard. The title is there to differentiate between this project and the millions of searches aimed at Spielbergs Film which is, as you say, modern. Kind regards.

  • @SteveThinkTank

    Thank you very much for your efforts. As a big fan of the original novel and the mucial adoption I must say that this comes closes to what H.G. Wells seemed to imagine and this is also how I imagines the tripods, though your details are en better can't wait until watching further parts or the complate story in that way. Great design!

  • This is very very very good will I give it a rating of 10 out of 10. This version looks many times better than the crap Pendragon Pictures version LOL Will you be posting the finished work on your channel and will it be in episodes involving each chapter or one whole movie

  • @tarantulaguy1998 Hi, We are hoping to finish the project as a full movie. It will be difficult to split it into episodes from a production point of view. Once finished it could be split into episodes if Wells fans wish it?

  • @SteveThinkTank Um....Is this full leagth?And will it be in theaters?

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  • Are the tripods using a camera? it looks like that

  • @tonilourdes Wells describes the Heatray, that the martians carry, as looking like a camera. Bearing in mind that this would be a victorian camera.. Plus they carry them using one of their tentacles. Odd looking for us but totally radical for the victorians who first read the book 110 years ago..

  • @SteveThinkTank Very much how I imagined the martian fighting machines when reading the book many years before Jeff Waynes musical version excellent work you should be proud of this.... Do please carry on I would love to see more of this I hope you get funding for the project you are obviously very talented

  • 1:36 a very smart tripod lol

  • @Martianelder

    Exactly what I was thinking. Haha. Inteligent race my ....

  • Very impressive work. Just comes to show what can be acheived on a low budget. TV networks, take note and do us Brits a favour and create a faithful adaptation. I particulary like the gate of these machines seen here. Nice attention to detail in their movements.

  • I love this and hope to see a movie like it, but everyone in the Up-loader Comments is a grammar Nazi.

  • what was that??? trailer? experiment? home made short?

  • This is cracking. The tripods look more like how Well's described them than any other depiction, and i'm really hoping to see more of this as your work progresses. Excellent so far!:-)

  • 1:00

    come on thunderchild!

  • Well, that beats the balls off every effort I've yet seen.

  • The pan shot between the CG ships and tripods was very well done!

  • Best walking tripod I have ever seen!

  • not bad. looking forward to it.

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  • I think that by imparting a slight, scarcely perceptible sense of humanoid form or behavior to the tripod, it can awaken a sense of fear in the human viewer that could not be acheived otherwise. Of course, I have experimented many times on this theme and have yet to come up with a design that I find satisfactorally frightening....

    I am also eager to see how you approach the challenge of depicting the fleshy invaders themelves...I'll keep my eye on the site for sure!

  • @christopherturkleton Cheers Christopher. I'd love to see your designs and I do agree. I have taken into account a great deal about what viewers expect on top of the Wells' descriptions. Wells uses the word "arachnid" for example. These are only early designs and are being modified . The martians themselves hold a few surprises! Kindest regards!

  • @SteveThinkTank

    Thanks, I know there are lots of fans out there and they each have their own designs, just thought I'd offer my two cents. I'm glad to see that someone is giving this much intelligent consideration and dedication to producing an accurate film adaptation to this very deserving story. This is long overdue.

  • ...The one part of the tripod I am somewhat dissatisfied with is the hood. The spider-like "eyes" are indeed creepy, but in my designs the hood is more open on the front, and a bit more shaped like a soft fabric hood. It looks a bit like the Grim reaper but is also suggestive of classical roman-greco helmets...without being obviously influenced by either (as I try to keep the design "alien" rather than human in appearance.).... (*continued in next post)

  • I really like what you've done here, as someone whose been a fan of the book (my favorite novel, actually) since I was very young....one of the few stories that gave me nightmares. I'm an art student...and as such I have spent many hours attempting to depict a martian fighting machine that satisfies me in addition to conforming to Wells's description. As far as I can see, your depiction does not appear to disagree with Wells's in any way.

  • Wow!! After just seeing a clip from Tim Hines WOTW, I was expecting something dreadful - but, NO! This is pretty spectacular. I am a long time fan of the book and must say, cinematically you do the work honors!

  • Hey, it's the Waverly!

  • @Wyrmshadow Spot on!! Now thats what I call observant! lol

  • awsome

  • I have seen this type of tripod design before - on an engineering university webpage.

    This type of tripod has three gates, like a horse where as humans just have one. It can walk, canter and run.

  • @Realfoxhawk Thanks for your comments!

    You are right. The work of Peter Balch was very much included in my research for my thesis including tripod walk cycles. I spent a full year researching every aspect of WOTW and Wells himself so that I could be as accurate as possible with all the designs for the film. Peter came to the same conclusions as myself over the structure of the tripods, the way they walk and balance.

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  • Really gorgeous. Thanks for this brilliant share.

  • Better than most attempts I have seen, hoping you will make this into a full length affair! Well Done! I love this story and have just finished listening to the full audio book, they key part is making sure the build up at the beginning of the story is right, and the observation of the aliens during captivity later on.

  • wow this is awsome, make a full film of it, i would buy it.

  • I may be confusing this, but from what i recall didn't the fighting machines lack any form of joints, even wheels, as the aliens themselves had no joints in limbs, having tenticles. As such the machines moved on legs of bending and contracting metal, described more as muscle? I fear im suffering the "Someone-Is-Wrong-On-The-Inter­nets" syndrome at this early hour.

  • Hi Lysit, you are right in that the martians do not have wheels as such but HG does describe the joints in the limbs as spheres or curved surfaces sliding over each other. His descriptions are very vague. The machines here are as accurate as I can make them but still make them visually interesting.They do have contracting "steel"muscles etc driving the "legs"( see 1.05). Thanks for the comments! Debates anyone?

  • if you watch the authentic version of war of the worlds made by pendragon you can see what the martians looked like. they had joints connecting 3 parts of the legs.

  • @Dinobot2468 The tripods in that movie were based off the praying mantis, which was HG wells favourite insect. But in no way did he liken the fighting machines as that of a praying mantis.

  • @reddalek555 cool, i think the martians look the way they did in the timothy hines war of the worlds. its my fav version of the film because its the only film which is true to the book

  • just watched this again for about the 5th time actually lol. I read the book first when i was about 9 and i have to say you captured the fighting machine so closely to how it was described it's uncanny...

  • ...even with the slight poetic license you have used it still works so well. I do hope you will share the final production when it's done, wouldn't want to miss it. Anyway once again many grats on some fine work.

  • totally amazing, this is the best i have seen yet, I look forward to the finished work :)

    ***** x 1 million

  • Stunning

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  • Also I meant to ask, what music was used in this?

  • @Commandingtripod -Thanks for the comments guys! Positive stuff. The music for those who wish to track it down is temporary as a score is underway BUT I thought it well suited for this. Its edited from pieces of Paul Haslinger score and Half LIfe 2! I'd be amazed if no-one recognised it! The PH score is from Underworld.

  • Steve, Steve, Steve!! That looks Amazing!!

    A certain film director (who will remain nameless) could learn a lot from this short clip.

    Well done, Excellent work. :)

  • War of the Worlds fans are soon going to have a new god at this rate!

    Great work! :D

  • i really like the town. doing a similar thing myself with a city :D

  • looks amazing, the ruined town at 1:52 is particularly impressive, nice work man

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