Things will be sparse here for a couple of weeks, now. I’m deep into the writing process, aiming to have the first draft of the script written by the end of the first week in June. It would have been done by now, but I lost three weeks to illness, which, given my other deadlines, put me solidly one month behind.
The outline, thankfully, is pretty much airtight, which speeds up the scripting process: I just expand it section by section, and then blend in the joins when I go back and turn it into screenplay format.
It also helps that I’d done the historical research already. Not that much of it will show up in the film, I’m sure, but I find it’s good to have it in my head. 1370s Wallachia was, of course, an incredible shithole, with all the hallmarks of an energetic feudal society — beautiful buildings, constant internal strife and a life expectancy of about ten minutes.
I’d researched Vlad Tepes pretty thoroughly for another job some eight or ten years back, and I may apply some of his ideas on exterior decor to the Curse Castle. He did, after all, have very devious and knowing reasons for decorating the outside of his own keep with impaled bodies.
As I said before, all the changes and new stuff (including new characters like the Bishop of Gresit) have been approved by IGA. This also covers a new background for Sypha. I knew going in that I wanted to weave a richer backdrop for the story, essential for verisimilitude if you’re writing something set in a near-Dark Ages feudal society, which is also defined by its clans, tribes, houses and peoples.
Which leads me to the themes of the work. Which I’ll talk about later, as I need to work up the scene where Trevor gains entry to the walled city of Gresit now.
– W
57 responses so far ↓
Thomas Belmont // May 24, 2007 at 7:31 am
Oh, man! I’m so excited! I can not wait for this trilogy! And I’m sorry to hear that you were ill, but glad to hear you’re feeling better.
Anthony // May 24, 2007 at 7:34 am
Ah. Glad to see you back up to speed. Keep up the great work.
MAX_LE_FOU // May 24, 2007 at 9:18 am
This Blog is a blessing for all the fans. Thanks for the update (once again).
By the way, if anyone wants to be a little more familiar with the history of Vlad Dracula, the book ‘In search of Dracula’ by Radu Florescu & Raymond T. McNally is a great read.
Danial // May 24, 2007 at 9:49 am
Warren, is there any chance that you might do a commentary track or “pop up” facts on the DVD? I think it would be really interesting to get your view on the CV world and backgrounds to the research and the choices you made.
Ralph // May 24, 2007 at 12:34 pm
I’m glad you’re focusing on making Dracula more in-tune with his historical self instead of the “totally new guy” IGA has been trying to make him.
Props.
LBD "Nytetrayn" // May 24, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Not that much of it will show up in the book…
This caught my eye. I’m sure it’s probably not what you meant, but now I’m curious as to the possibility of any accompanying literature, like a full screenplay being published, or something.
I could so go for that, especially if there’s extras and stuff. Go a little further beyond what the DVD is likely to include.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”
Doom Saber // May 24, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Sorry for your illness, Warren Ellis. I hope your story becomes canon for the game since I think it is fitting for a writer to weave a story for a partial media as oppose to a non writer. It just works better because of the experience and research the writer has to offer.
RJG // May 24, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Not that much of it will show up in the book…
I’m sure it was just a slip of the tongue, but the aforementioned idea of having a “director’s commentary” by Warren, and even one by IGA himself, would be awesome.
Of course, it would come packed in with the pre order bonus of the soundtrack CD and artwook booklet, like CV usually gets. =P
Arikado // May 25, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Glad you’re feeling better Wareen \(*O*)/!
Definetly including IGA commentary, you’re commentary, and maybe even James Jeans commentary would be cool. Extras on the dvd are a must. A promotional soundtrack, artbook, and history+screenplay book would be cool. How about a map of the world?
Warren // May 26, 2007 at 3:20 pm
How about I just show you a film?
Jerkofwonder // May 26, 2007 at 7:29 pm
How about a hardcore porno?
Warren // May 27, 2007 at 4:07 am
How about you fuck off before I track back your ISP and inform them you traffic child porn?
Jerkofwonder // May 27, 2007 at 8:36 am
First wouldn’t I have to… traffic child porn?
Warren // May 27, 2007 at 9:50 am
No, you get summarily arrested and raped in the holding cell BEFORE they check your net traffic.
Plus, they’ll ask you why you’re wearing the Turd Cape Of Shame™.
Now be quiet.
Richter Belmont // May 27, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I agree that DVD extras such as commentaries from the Staff are a must.
As someone said before, a promotional Booklet with some cool illustrations would also be apreciated.
But I’m still feeling uncomfortable with the “Trilogy” stuff…
Nightrider // May 28, 2007 at 8:17 am
When will some of you people get that you have no input into this project? As stated many times before this is just a blog to keep us up to speed as to what is going on. If Warren and the gang wants our opinion on something they will ask. If you guys want to have in depth discussions about the movie go find a forum to hang out at.
Thomas Belmont // May 28, 2007 at 8:28 am
Warren, can you tell us if the trilogy will be released at the same time or do you plan on releasing each part at different times? Thanks.
Jerkofwonder // May 28, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I garuntee they don’t release all three at once… that would make no sense.
Arlington Cruz // May 29, 2007 at 7:09 am
That’s great. I hope that the historical research pays off. It’s hard to write a good story with great characters that the audience cares for. Aiming at finishing for the First week of June? I would say deadlines are very important. However, if one is not happy with the result , I would just take as much time as I need until I find something I am happy with. ( however, I also understand the pressure coming from above)
There is no better way than having fun doing what you love to do.
Arikado // May 29, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Jerkofwonder:
With a name like yours you knew the cape was coming…
Warren:
1)”How about I just show you a film?”
Yeah, that works.
2)Does nude art count as porno? Trust me, I’m not a perv, but a huge hard covered book would probably sell more than the film (so bundle them together and…) Oh! and I’m not dissing your film by saying that “certain book” would probably sell better.
Arlington Cruz // May 29, 2007 at 5:21 pm
About writing for the trilogy, I would have prefered to have draculas curse as the first movie and the story to work its way up to SOTN by the third film. However, but there’s a saying that to knock out Tyson you have to work your way up.
Therefore, starting with this one by all means go and make an awesome story, I hope that the whole staff does an awesome job bringing our beloved castlevania series to life and this project is succesful enough to make sufficient revenues and bring the following chapter in the world of castlevania to life .
Ryan // May 29, 2007 at 9:42 pm
I’m excited about all that, but I’m still wondering who you’re putting on the goth spoons. Whoever it is, I hope “Overture” from the game is staying. Because you just can’t have the four ascending the red carpet-draped steps to the throne room without the epic Overture piece playing in the background.
Obviously the composer likes it too, since it made another appearance in “Portrait of Ruin”. It’s practically PERFECT for what comes next.
Otaku-Man // May 30, 2007 at 7:10 am
Ooh, wonder if a soundtrack CD could come out. It could contain orchestrated pieces of the NES game’s music. Classics such as:
“Prelude” (Title Screen)
“Prayer” (Opening - When Trevor decides to march towards the castle)
“Beginning” (Stage 1 - Village of Wallachia)
“Clockwork” (Stage 2 - Clock Tower that destroys quick route to Castlevania)
“Encounter” (When Trevor meets a new partner)
“Mad Forest” (Stage 3 - When Trevor travels through the forest and meets the petrified Sypha)
And other such hits like:
“Dead Beat”
“Anxiety”
“Nightmare”
“Rising”
“Aquarius”
“Stream”
“Demon Seed”
“Deja Vu” (”Vampire Killer”)
“Riddle”
“Pressure”
“Overture”
“Big Battle” (with Up Tempo version)
“Evergreen”
“Flashback”
“Boss Fight”
“Destiny”
And also possible are some classics from other games such as:
“Wicked Child” (Castlevania 1)
“Heart of Fire” (Castlevania 1)
“Cross Your Heart” (Haunted Castle)
“Basement Melody” (Haunted Castle)
“Bloody Tears” (Castlevania 2/Haunted Castle)
“Silence of Daylight” (Castlevania 2)
“Theme of Simon” (Super Castlevania 4)
“Forest of Monsters” (Super Castlevania 4)
“Reincarnation of Soul” (Castlevania: Bloodlines)
“Iron Blue Intention” (Castlevania: Bloodlines)
“Opposing Bloodlines” (Castlevania: Dracula X)
“Picture of a Ghost Ship” (Castlevania: Dracula X)
I don’t really expect much of these to make it into the film itself, but as a tie-in music CD would be WICKED cool! I do hope to see most of the original game music in orchestral form in the movie. It would be a fan appeasement dream come true.
Course, as a fanboy, sometimes the dreams are just that.
~Otaku-Man
RJG // May 30, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Damn, that cape suits you well.
Otaku-Man // May 31, 2007 at 5:35 am
Hey, I already had my turn with the freakin’ cape! I’m just wishfully thinking out loud! That’s all!
Is that so wrong?
~Otaku-Man
Ralph // May 31, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Yes, this isn’t your blog.
Nightrider // May 31, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Warren I think its time to turn the comments off again.
XTAP // Jun 1, 2007 at 5:58 am
Yes, I agree about commentary on the DVD, that would be excellent, though I know you aren’t taking requests. It’s nice to know you’re implementing some of the history behind it into the film, too. At first hearing someone want to change things a bit can be a bit frightening but it appears you’re keeping the look and feel of the Castlevania world so no complaints from me.
But, I do hope there is a badass whip fighting scene or two.
Arikado // Jun 1, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Or 12.
Kwizzy // Jun 3, 2007 at 1:00 pm
“Themes?” O_O
*Changes dial on brain to “Slightly Less Cautious Optimism”*
This is being taken seriously? Like, as a dramatic work? Wow… And here I was wondering if there really was a God.
Sypha has a background……. Characters… With backgrounds to their stories? Thought being put into this instead of throwing together a mismash of subtle video game puns, whip fights, and topless vampiresses? I think I’m going to go weep for joy now.
Otaku-Man // Jun 4, 2007 at 5:41 am
Is it so wrong to do lengthy comments? I actually pride myself on them!
Besides people, it’s the comment section of a production blog. Just HOW serious is it supposed to be anyway?
~Otaku-Man
Arlington Cruz // Jun 4, 2007 at 10:00 am
About the music in the game I definitelly would I agree on keeping Overture at the very least.
And Vampire Killer and Bloody tears is a must on every Castlevania.
Remember before trying to attract more audiences , by trying different things, Make sure that the core is strong.
P.S. SImon’s theme would be awesome too.
Soma // Jun 7, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Grant?… no more Grant?
matt // Jun 8, 2007 at 9:45 am
wow, I hope all goes well. I’m very curious is there any chance we’d be able to see the script?
Not for criticism but simply because I like to read scripts
Warren // Jun 8, 2007 at 12:17 pm
No.
Genya Arikado // Jun 9, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Who is the Composer of this Production, this production.
This production includes some classic themes of Castlevania series or Castlevania 3?
Otaku-Man // Jun 11, 2007 at 5:39 am
Nothing like pure, unabashed ignorance to keep a blog going, no?
~Otaku-Man
Arikado // Jun 13, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Genya Arikado:
Copycat. Stole my name………
*continues sulking*
Genya Arikado // Jun 14, 2007 at 6:20 am
Arikado: No, im not a copy, if u used the nick “Arikado” doesnt make u the owner of that, and i dont want to start a fight for something with no sense. Its better to put attention in Grant DaNasty.
Maybe sounds dumb to have a pirate as Grant in Rumania, but want it or not is part of Castlevania (come on its thing of use imagination). Example, William Walker (Born in Tenesse, USA) was a pirate ands not necesary to be near to some, if William Walker did it, why not Grant?
Arikado // Jun 14, 2007 at 11:30 am
Genya Arikado:
Greats minds think alike, right (honestly, I always thought a great mind would think differently)? Also I think pirates were more common around the Castlevania III time period.
Paranoia // Jun 14, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Well I saw this a little while ago and it got my hopes up, now Im deciding to put my opinion out there and say even with the changes I can say as a gamer Im so very proud at how close your staying to the game, and how awesome its gonna be. Now I will tell everyone about it and try to get a big following.
Art Grafunkel // Jun 22, 2007 at 3:18 am
BWAH HAH HAH HAH… heh heh… hmm.
Heh.
Love this blog. If Warren’s script turns out to be only half as entertaining as this blog is, it’ll still be gold.
GOLD, I tells ya!
- Art -
lovestheladies // Jun 22, 2007 at 9:12 am
Is there any chance we can see some more concept art? I’m very interested in the visual development of the films even more than I am the writing, no offense to Warren Ellis I’m just a visual guy. James Jean’s image is great and everything but I doubt that the animated end result would resemble it at all. This sort of raises some red flags for me - will it be up to some american animation company to sort of reinterpret Jean’s designs? Let’s face facts: American animation is mainly stylized and kid friendly. What will happen when this goes to a character designer who has never even worked on a film that tried to convey a sense of realism?
Probably the best visual adaptation I have seen in recent years was the Sci-fi Channel’s “The Amazing Screw on Head” which was based on the comic by Mike Mignola. A low budget production but so true to the original in design and implementation.
Arikado // Jun 22, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Like someone mentioned previously; go talk about Hellsing on another forum !please!. In the meantime, has anyone noticed the sudden increase in external links? Any one know anything about what Tomer Hanuka is doing in this film trilogy?
lovestheladies // Jun 23, 2007 at 11:53 am
I think I’m more interested in what the body art guy “Andrew Jones” is doing on the film more than Tomer Hanuka. His stuff looks more like video game designs from God of War. I could maybe see him as a background artist but that’s a big MAYBE. Consecutive geometric forms do not make a building. I’d like to see something with an actually sense of gothic / pre-renaissance architecture rather than something that resembles a bunch of stacked cardboard boxes.
It’s easy to see how Hanuka’s work would translate to animation. Though his style seems somewhat reminiscent of Peter Chung’s who has a big fan base but I’ve never really liked. His designs always seemed too exaggerated to the point that were almost comical.
Sam Weber looks like a definite for monster designs. His work walks that line between beauty and the grotesque, that monster designs for this project require. I’d like to see monsters that are thought provoking rather than just gross. The last thing I’m really interested in is seeing a bunch of maggot-eaten-half decomposed zombies running around that explode into a torrent of blood when Belmont whips them. Why not? Because I can find that ANYWHERE! The last thing this movie should be is generic.
The more I think about this project I can’t help but think about Vagrant Story. Am I right? It was everything that Castlevania was in terms of environments except it was 3D. The open air parts of the city that were just ruins overgrown with vegetation, contrasted by the moonlit underground caverns where the bodies that litter the ground spring to life, and the dark, earthen catacombs.
Akihiko Yoshida’s work on that game (and every game he’s ever worked on) was amazing especially considering that he had a hand in every aspect of it’s design from envionments to creating the actually textures used on the 3D models. I would definitely like to see an artist of his talents doing character/monster/costume designs.
Ryan // Jun 24, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Including or excluding Ashley Riot’s notorious assless shorts?
lovestheladies // Jun 24, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Especially the assless shorts.
lovestheladies // Jun 25, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Man, this forum is dead.
Somebody needs to question another person’s sexuality based on what kind of anime they like in order to get it fire up again.
“If you like Full Metal Alchemist, then you’re, like, a total homosexual.” - That should do it.
It’s hard to believe that this blog has been up since January. How long are animated films usually in production? I guess if your building this from the ground up it takes a while to wrangle all of the writers, financial backers, production coordinators, artists, and that’s just to get production started. Is there a time table worked out yet or is it still too early?
I remember in 2003 when Madhouse sent out the press release that the Ninja Scroll sequel would be out in 2005… looks like they missed the 10 year anniversary, hopefully they’re shooting for the 15th and not the 20th now.
Otaku-Man // Jun 26, 2007 at 5:44 am
This isn’t exactly a forum. It’s a comment section of a board, and those are dependent on how much time and effort the blog operators put into it.
Once the blog owners stop posting, so do the comments. For new things to start up, it really takes new blog posts. Otherwise, things just fizzle.
However, by your suggestion there, I’d say you are a prime candidate for the Turd Cape of Shame.
~Otaku-Man
Arikado // Jun 29, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Yeah…………
This forum even smells dead (or perhaps its the cape). Until a new blog post then… I’m fizzled over and out…
Pedro // Jul 1, 2007 at 10:44 am
Yeah, it really got slower. I wonder if we’ll get to see something of the script posted here in the coming weeks.
Malocchio // Jul 1, 2007 at 6:25 pm
I was so excited when I heard about this a week ago…yea I’m a little late for the show lol, but anyway, I hope we see an update soon…
Malachi // Jul 3, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Does anyone have any idea when the first DVD will be released and how much it will cost?
MAX_LE_FOU // Jul 5, 2007 at 4:47 am
I sure hope the project is going ok, I visit this blog everyday in the hopes of finding an update. Maybe the team is in a rush to get the best possible script. One way or another, we’ll wait and see.
Richter Belmont // Jul 7, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Hey, it’s about time for an update…
When we will be able to some more Artworks?
Auturgist // Jul 9, 2007 at 10:25 am
Hello, Warren!
I’m just now catching up with this blog, and I’d like to let you know that I definitely appreciate the time you have taken so far to give us some insight into your creative process and decisions.
I’ve done some consulting work on the translation of a manga series with a strong fanbase. Having done so, I have been in the position to share insights into how the translator and I have worked on the volume scripts, and found that the fans are often impossible to please, wanting to criticize every decision without listening to or fully understanding the reasons for those decisions. It can drive you crazy. So having been on that side of the table, I’d just like you to know that, whether or not I end up agreeing with everything you do with these movies, like I said previously, I appreciate your efforts to keep us in the loop, as it’s quite above and beyond what any of us should expect.
That said, the only fanboy advice I would offer you is this: play the classic Castlevania games, and really listen to the music. Get into them and figure out for yourself what makes them so special if you haven’t done so already, or haven’t do so recently. (I trust that you have, but as it’s my only piece of advice, I’m saying it anyway.)
I bolded (assuming the HTML tags work in this post) “classic” because I really feel like many of the newer games have lost a certain quality that I can’t quite capture with words that was present in the older games. And by “classic”, I’m primarily referring to the NES titles and those that most closely resemble them, including Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (Rondo of Blood) for the PC-Engine/Turbo Duo. [Though it was released after the milestone Playstation title Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, I have always felt that Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for the GBA, despite having characters who do not fit into the established continuity, was much closer to a “classic” Castlevania game in spirit than any since.]
Anyway, I just ask this because I believe that anyone who can recognize what is so special about those titles that I love, and stay true to their aesthetic and what they evoke through their music and gameplay will undoubtedly produce a worthy adaptation.
All that said, I have much faith in you and the rest of the creative team working on these films, and again, thank you for your effort, and your consideration in keeping us informed!
Sincerely,
Mike
TheUnbeholden // Dec 8, 2007 at 7:58 am
Gresit… i would love to see this come to fruitation. The movies give a huge opportunity to expand and give insight on details that games neglect or only give very vague hints at occasions.
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