rorkesdriftvc.com Forum Index


rorkesdriftvc.com
Discussions related to the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879
Reply to topic
mons14


Joined: 23 Jan 2006
Posts: 64
Reply with quote
Rock,

Could you please let us know which file sharing site you will be loading the movie, as I am very keen to see it.

In addition, for one who is not very good with computers, could you briefly explain the process I and others should use to obtain a copy of the movie.

Thank you for your help,

David

_________________
'Ah! Those red soldiers at Isandlwana, how few they were, and how they fought! They fell like stones-each man in his place.' - A Zulu Warrior
View user's profileSend private message
Rock Savage


Joined: 29 Mar 2010
Posts: 25
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit Preview Trailer can be seen at

http://zuludawnfanedit.blogspot.com/

Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit Soundtrack

20 Tracks MP3 320 kbps & Soundtrack Cover Art

RDVC Forum will be the first to know when Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit becomes available.


Last edited by Rock Savage on Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:39 am; edited 4 times in total
View user's profileSend private message
richard


Joined: 06 Nov 2005
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
can someone please tell me if the fan edit of zulu dawn is available yet as i wish to see it and compare it with the original.
View user's profileSend private message
Rock Savage


Joined: 29 Mar 2010
Posts: 25
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit

As promised RDVC Forum is the first to know that Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit is now available for viewing.

You may watch the completed Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit at

http://zuludawnfanedit.blogspot.com/

Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit Soundtrack

20 Tracks MP3 320 kbps & Soundtrack Cover Art

http://zuludawnfanedit.blogspot.com/
View user's profileSend private message
GlennWade


Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 151
Location: Swansea
Reply with quote
Hi Nick,

May I just congratulate you on Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit. I've anticipated viewing it since your initial post some time ago and watched it the night before last. Your choice of music was splendid and I especially loved your new handling of the invasion scene. The stripping away of Bernstein's jingoistic and melodramatic (yet admittedly catchy) score and the use of Barry's tracks from DWW gave it a fantastic new edge.

As you say, certain things were out of your hands due to poor costuming and direction in general, but I liked your successful attempt to get rid of the carbines and lame original sounds effects. The battle of Isandlwana itself now has more sense of the rush one would expect from one of the most violent engagements of the colonial era. Gone are the hundreds of wandering, stumbling extras and present is the punch and shock of such a crushing Zulu victory.

I could say a lot more but all I can do is suggest that everyone watch this and enjoy Nick's incredible efforts to salvage a movie rightly described by Ian Knight as 'something of a missed opportunity.'

Thanks again,

Best wishes

Glenn.

_________________
Tell it in England those that pass us by, Here, faithful to their charge, her soldiers lie.
View user's profileSend private message
Mel


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 345
Reply with quote
Nick
What a fantastic piece of work. Your editing and soundtrack has transformed the film. The quality of the sound effects contributed to the feeling of watching the battle scenes, particularily, for the first time. Inspired ending using Richard Burtons voice over. Congratulations.

_________________
Mel
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
peterw


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 865
Location: UK
Reply with quote
I finally got around to watching it. I can only marvel at what you have achieved.

Many congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Peter
View user's profileSend private message
Rock Savage


Joined: 29 Mar 2010
Posts: 25
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Thank You Glenn, Mel and peterw for taking the time to watch Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit and for leaving your positive comments.

Zulu Dawn: The FanEdit was created with the Zulu War enthusiast in mind and somehow I wanted to create something that is more closely linked to Stanley Baker's classic ZULU (1964).
View user's profileSend private message
Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
Reply with quote
Well, I certainly don't want to be a sourpuss but I'm obviously missing something here. I managed 10 minutes or so and noticed different music, an opening scene lifted from ZULU instead of Zulu Dawn (is that allowed? - copyright and all that - I suppose it must be if it's been done here) but the rest (of the first 10 mins) was the same.

Obviously I should have perservered a little longer to recognise any further differences or improvements mentioned by others above, all of whose opinions I value, but I fear nothing can rescue this awful film. The utterly ridiculous Taras Bulba is still followed by the vicious portrayal of those baddies, Frere & Chelmsford, before the even more ridiculous Irish navvy's hilarious arrival. (I won't mention the sacrilegious destruction of the outfield on the PMB Oval by those b....y horses, an idea they must have got from the ruination of the Cumberland turf at the Empire Stadium ten years earlier by the Horse of the Year Show).

How can you re-do ZD by simply pinching scenes from ZULU? How silly is that? The howlers in the original film were so widespread that tinkering with the music or scooping up scenes from other films is scratching the surface. What about the script? It was - and looks as if it still is - awful. AWFUL! What about that "Yul Brynner" fellow? TERRIBLE. And the appalling distortion of history throughout? DIABOLICAL. What about the casting of a token American? STUPID. And what about the performance of that American? Lost the film its entire credibility the moment he opened his mouth! Worst EVER. Would one cast an Englishman in a film about the Alamo or Little Big Horn? Of course not. All the drawbacks of the first ten minutes remain. Perhaps I really should watch the later bits to see if the Battle of Isandlwana now resembles (even just a little) the Battle of Isandlwana, but I wouldn't be optimistic, unless Rock Savage has re-filmed the whole lot, which I presume is beyond the scope of a "fan-edit."

Keep going Rock, but get stuck into the real faults now - like Taras Bulba and Dermot Kelly & the nonsense they spout. That'll cover some of the worst of the first ten minutes. ZD is irredeemable ...

Peter

Wink Smile Surprised (Just to show I'm not cross, just realistic!)
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
Alan
Site Admin

Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1530
Location: Wales
Reply with quote
Laurence Harvey was in the Alamo.

The eclipse sequence seemed to work quite well to me. The colours were better, apart of course from the scarlet tunics and those silly helmets.

_________________
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mailVisit poster's website
Rock Savage


Joined: 29 Mar 2010
Posts: 25
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Robert Shaw was at Little Big Horn in 1967.
View user's profileSend private message
Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
Reply with quote
I knew I'd choose the wrong films as examples!!! But did those two stand out like chapel hatpegs, as Lancaster did, while his horribly misguided attempt at portraying an English gentleman (regardless of Irish birthplace) led him to ridicule both the character and the film, which must have been excruciating for the rest of the cast (why did no-one tell him, stop him or simply get rid of him?) and contribute to the opprobrium it attracted.

He can't take all the blame, however. The production clearly suffered awfully from the political agenda mapped out beforehand, so the script throughout is just tortuous to listen to. In the film, the day of the battle itself is very difficult to reconcile with what happened on 21/22 Jan 1879, but I suppose that's film making. Don't let what actually happened get in the way of a rip-roaring yarn, and all that. We'll have to diplomatically call it "an opportunity missed." Not all this can be blamed on a shortage of funds.

I've only managed to force myself to sit through it once, plus a few bits at other times. (I remember I did like the crossing of the Buffalo scenes on the 11th, and the move of the column on the 20th. The rest - as soon as a conversation started - ugh!) But, all in all, this film strikes me as the sort of action picture aimed at kids, who'll lap it up at that age but see through it all (and either chuckle or cringe) when they watch it again as an adult.

The fan-edit has clearly succeeded musically, going by the comments here. Is anything else going to be different if I watch it further in?

Peter
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
Mel


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 345
Reply with quote
PeterE,
Gosh! That's some rant mate. Those bl...y horses have a lot to answer for! Smile

ZD is not a great film but, for the ticket buying public, it's not a "bad" film either. It just didn't have those ingredients that "Zulu" had. It also suffered even more from a totally misplaced soundtrack and sound effects. No one should underestimate the contribution of a good soundtrack/effects. As a film, the ZD Elmer Bernstein soundtrack just didn't work.

We've covered this ground before: A film is not a historical documentary. It's a film. It's sole purpose is to entertain the ticket buying public.

Braveheart was full of historical errors but it was an entertaining film. After watching it, I felt I needed to find out more about William Wallace. That's the bonus. The parallels with "Zulu" are very apparent. "Zulu" was full of historical errors. But, as has often been said here, it spurred us on to find out more.

We've also previously discussed at length why "Zulu" was successful as a film. Personaly, I measure how good a film is by the amount of times I can view it over time.

ZD, I feel, didn't achieve that "bonus". I can't watch ZD like I can watch "Zulu". However, what Rock Savage has achieved, is to make the film watchable again as a "film". Try listening to it with headphones or a good set of speakers. (Watch the first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" with the sound levels set low and to mono, then view again on a good 5.1 stereo set up.)

The sountrack and shorter running time, has, for me, lifted it into a watchable (not too often) film and I'm prepared to overlook Lancasters portrayal of Durnford or the inclusion of the Taras Bulba charactor or the fragmented battle scenes. It's no different to overlooking the portrayal of Hookie or the dramatically choreographed battle scenes (which, as we all know, never happened) in "Zulu". Some additional scenes didn't work for me such as the eclipse, and, let's face it, no amount of "tinkering?" will transform it into a blockbuster but Rock Savage has put in a tremendous technical effort here and I welcome it. And, don't forget, it's all we have until Mel Gibson makes the authentic, definitive version. Wink

_________________
Mel
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
Reply with quote
Mel

Yes, I'm getting to be a bit of a curmudgeon in my old age! Although I realise these films are for entertainment only and very little else, I still find it difficult to excuse the habit of hanging an almost entirely fictional story onto the skeleton of a real event. I haven't seen Braveheart (and have to say I'm unlikely to!) but I think the idea of overlooking the twisting of history for the sake of entertainment is a little too easily excused. Yes, many films attract people to a historical topic but I don't find that a particularly good reason to deliberately mess about with history. Interpretation is another matter, of course, but wholesale fiction? What's the point? Why not just create a fictional story anyway and make up the name of a battle? I think that would be much better.

To be fair to the makers of ZD, I think the construction of the battle would have been very difficult anyway, unless they could work at Isandlwana itself. This led to a disjointed mess, made much worse by the decision to muck about endlessly with characters, narrative and just about everything else, before, during and after the actual battle. Why pretend to make a film about Isandlwana and then deliberately do no such thing? (Back to Braveheart!)

I hear Churchill is now in the completely opposite camp as far as the Abdication is concerned. And this in a film which has been lauded for its attention to detail and historical accuracy. It was considered perfectly OK to make a few deliberate distortions "for the sake of the film" - but "historical accuracy" has been pushed hard as one of the selling points of the film! Might as well portray Maggie as a socialist or Kinnock as a fox hunter. No difference. But why do it? ZD is chock full of these. Oh well...

Peter
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
Mel


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 345
Reply with quote
Peter
I have to agree with the points you make. If you can't make it accurate why bother? Just make a totally fictional film. However, I refer back to the point I made about the "bonus". If it spurs you on, etc., then it's better than no film at all. I can remember seeing "Zulu" for the first time at the Clifton as a very young youngster. My, even younger, brother and I then visited the library. There was one book containg one chapter about RD. "Martin, look at this It really did happen!" Many years on and we're about to make our third visit to SA.

Braveheart is worth watching. It has the ingredients and it makes you think about the history. That's the bonus. (what ever you do, don't take too much notice of the historical errors. eg., the battle of Stirling Bridge without the use of a bridge.) But it doesn't matter. A great film.

There is a very funny film called "The Strike". It's a spoof on everthing that is wrong with a Hollywood film version of historical events. It's based on the Miners strike with Scargill played by Al Pacino. Well worth watching. Suggest you take a tranquiliser just before viewing. Smile


Last edited by Mel on Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:21 pm; edited 3 times in total

_________________
Mel
View user's profileSend private messageSend e-mail
ZULU DAWN: The FanEdit
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
All times are GMT  
Page 3 of 4  

  
  
 Reply to topic