Starlight Pictures
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| Logo As Of 2007 |
Starlight Pictures was a no-budget film company created by Johnnyswitchblade in 2000, when he was eight years old. The company name was dropped in late 2007 due to it already having been taken by a pornographic film distributer, as well as already having existed as a real working production company (See Links At Bottom).
History
Pre-Camera
In the summer of 1999, Switchblade was in the second grade. Before owning a camera, he intricately planned out a film entitled, "SHIP", involving an alien spacecraft in it's invasion of earth. Claiming he was soon to be purchasing the neccesary equipment for such a film, he cast all of his classmates as different parts, even storyboarding key scenes from the top of his head.
This fascination with space and the film industry inspired Switchblade to create a fake movie company he could use to back up the film and convince others that he was legit. He named it "Starlight Pictures" in reference to his favorite painting at the time, Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night.
Early Years
The television only furthered the interest in filmmaking, until one day in late 2000 he finally bought himself a SONY Hi8 Handycam with money he had saved up since the year before.
The first film he made, Cassie's Strange Life, was merely a jumble of small stories tied together by a title card stating each scene. It revolved around a young girl named Cassie Brooke and her siblings, who apparently live by themselves. Johnny made an appearance as Cassie's friend, and the narrator.
The films that followed grew in structure and plot, although many of them did not sport the "Starlight Pictures" logo and were mostly open-ended and never finished.
Early Fims Include:
Introduction Into Digital Film
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| Animated Logo used in Intel Play films |
In December of 2001, Switchblade received the PC software Intel Play Digital Movie Creator (later redistributed as Digital Blue) and began making movies immediately.
The new company logo was animated by Switchblade via stop-motion animation, and consisted of letters writing themselves on a piece of paper, with the letter "I" replaced by a lightbulb and the "A" replaced by a star.
From Then To Now
After years of experimenting with the Intel Play software, Johnny decided it was time to move on. In late 2004 he purchased the SONY Screenblast Movie Studio (a more updated version was released soon after titled VEGAS Movie Studio) and received a brand new camera for Christmas.
The camera, much like his first, was a SONY brand Handycam. But unlike the first, this one had the capabilities of being hooked to a computer via USB, and supported digital formats.
Since then, the Starlight Pictures team has been using the very same camera. Now, the more up-to-date VEGAS software is used instead of the Screenblast software, a switch made in early 2007.
Filmography (2006 - 2007):
- Jackass Park
- Terminator 4: Fall Of The Machines
- Terminator 4: KIDS
- Remotely Funny
- Le Ice
- Attack Of The Serpent
- Toy Tanks
- Series Of Spontaneous Events
- Zombie Train
- The World As We Know It
The End Of Starlight Pictures
Many issues were raised when the team realised their website (and company name) was strikingly similar to one that already existed. It was brought to their attention that many people aiming to reach their webpage, starlightpictures.tk, mistakingly entered starlightpictures.com and were directed to a site containing innapropraite material.
To avoid further confusion, the team decided to change the company's name altogether and start fresh. So rose the question of what to call it, since the name "Starlight Pictures" had been used for such a long time up until that point.
Name Changes
The names "Mesne Films" and "Unseen Productions" went into consideration, the latter was soon found to be already taken. They finally settled on "Mordacious Films Ltd." and that name stands to this day.
See Also
- Mordacious Films Ltd.
- IMDB Listing - The Other Starlight Pictures
- Starlight Pictures (Adult Site) - Literally, They Screwed Themselves...
