No Budget Films
The 2018 Films
Dinosaur Attack: The First Attempt (2018)
Release Date: February 15th, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Written by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Nathan Nguyen and Kai Jacklin
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Puppeteering by: Nathan Nguyen
Cast:
Nathan Nguyen as kid with the loud stomach who gets killed
Kai Jacklin as idiot kid who sells dinosaur DNA to the mad scientist known as Bob Bobbington
Rubin Cassidy as kid in the park with like two seconds of screen time
Ian Kennedy as Bob Bobbington (cameo)
Witness No Budget Films history with this primitive first attempt at Dinosaur Attack!
Production notes:
Unseen for almost seven years, this early prototype of Dinosaur Attack remained untouched in my computer because I had pretty much forgotten about it, and plus it just seemed so lackluster to me that I never gave much thought into actually releasing it. However, in the early months of 2018, with school and such preventing me from working on new projects, I thought back to this pile of footage and decided to finish editing it so I'd at least have SOMETHING to upload in February. I had actually already begun editing it in 2017, but for whatever reason, it slipped from my attention and the project went dormant again. Anyway, when this thing was first filmed, in early 2011, I had every intention of making this into the final product of what would one day be Dinosaur Attack (2011), but unfortunately I got into some sort of argument with Kai and he quit the project. Because of this, the first attempt of Dinosaur Attack was never finished, but this was probably for the best since the film wasn't exactly groundbreaking. The resolution was low, the acting was mediocre, and the sound was poor. The only thing making it mildly entertaining today is the modern editing, which improved the pacing, and added some extra effects and additional footage. Story-wise, we can already see the final story of Dinosaur Attack developing, with Kai in Idean's role, me in Cooper's role, and Rubin (then going by Kate) in Tim's role. This was back when my/Cooper's character was intended to be killed, an idea that can still be seen in a deleted alternate ending of the final Dinosaur Attack. Rubin would later be recast in Dinosaur Attack 2 (2012) as the reporter, and I would come into the series as several different characters.
The Package (2018)
Release Date: February 19th, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Story by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Nathan Nguyen and Nhu Nguyen
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Puppeteering by: Nathan Nguyen
Cast:
Nathan Nguyen as himself
A mysterious package arrives at Nathan's door. What could be inside? Surely nothing dangerous.
Production notes:
No Budget Films' first original film of 2018. The Package was created to showcase my new dragon puppet, and creating this film was quite enjoyable after a multi-month hiatus from making new content. Pretty much everything was done on my own—the photography, the puppetry, the acting, and the story were all done by me, for the most part. My dad, however, did perform one uncredited role in one shot in which he is holding the bag of chips, with his hands supposed to be representing mine. The only reason I didn't credit him for this was because I had no idea what to call this role. Hands stunt double? Everything was shot in one day, and by the next day I was pretty much finished with editing. There is no dialogue in this movie, for two reasons: A) My dad was taking a nap, and B) the film was adapted into a silent picture to fit an assignment for school. The Package was also great opportunity for me to practice fire breath effects, which, while still a little rough here and there, turned out mostly satisfactory to me.
Procrastinathan
(2018)
Release Date: March 29th, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Story by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Thomas Nguyen
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Cast:
Nathan Nguyen as himself
Zaki Lisha as himself
Ah, the age-old dilemma between schoolwork, and video games. This video was actually my final for a film class I took, and yes, the man who appears at the end was indeed my professor.
Production notes:
The next No Budget film after The Package (2018) was this one, and like the film preceding it, it was submitted as a project for the film class I was taking. A concept and plan were created ahead of time by far, but the filming itself was done rather close to the due date—which totally fits given the film's subject matter! It was all filmed in a day (discounting about two shots that were filmed separately), and the process went quickly and smoothly. It was a repetitive filming session, since what we were doing was pretty much repeating the same stuff over and over but getting a little more extreme over time. In the editing stage, I made sure to dull the vibrancy over time for the homework-doing Nathan, while increasing the vibrancy over time for the video game-playing Nathan, in an attempt to represent the states of mind for the alternate selves. Overall I'm not too happy with this film because it is a bit boring and repetitive, but hey, it helped me get an A in the class so who am I to complain? Though if I could do it again, I've always thought it would've been more visually striking to shoot the whole film in composite shots like what is seen at the 0:59 mark.
Allosaurus Meets Dragon (2018)
Release Date: May 18th, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Story by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Nathan Nguyen
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Puppeteering by: Nathan Nguyen
A short, simple little fight sequence in which I thought I'd pit my dragon puppet versus a dino.
Production notes:
Thus far 2018 had been a dry year for videos, and I just wanted to post SOMETHING—anything! So I grabbed two of my puppets, went outside and made 'em fight for a bit. All the while my dinner was cooling on the kitchen table. Obviously this was a quick production, but for what it is, I don't think it turned out too badly. Think of it as a small preview of what's to come when the dragon joins Dino Duels! This video relies pretty heavily on a green screen, and I think I did that because I wanted to be able to place fire behind the two creatures. This was the first time my dragon puppet has fought another creature (besides me, I mean).
Dino Duels Ep. 7: Spinosaurus vs Deinosuchus (2018)
Release Date: June 1st, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Story by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Nathan Nguyen and Nikki Feskanich
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Puppeteering by: Nathan Nguyen and Nikki Feskanich
Dinosaur and crocodilian clash once again, this time in an aquatic battle for supremacy!
Production notes:
The most ambitious Dino Duel yet due to its extensive water scenes. A script was written many months ahead, but I kept putting off production because A) other obligations, and B) I knew it would not be an easy episode to do. Filming was done at the reservoir by my house, which has also been used as Lornwood Lake. Since I'd be having two semi-aquatic creatures battling it out, I just knew I had to make it a water fight. To make the water scenes even more visually interesting, I opted to use my GoPro camera for underwater shots, which would have been difficult/impossible to do alone. Luckily I enlisted the help of my friend Nikki, who even volunteered to jump into the water herself to assist with the water shots. Nikki also did a lot of the puppeteering, an honor I would normally reserve for myself. There were a number of green screen shots as well, one of which took something like three hours to edit because of all the effects—remember, not only do I have to add in the two creatures, and all... those... splashes... but I have to do it TWICE to account for the reflections! You can bet that there was more than a little lag on my computer for this. That's why these water fights are so difficult!
Milestones:
First use of an underwater camera (not counting 2016's Dino Woods, which used stock footage for its underwater scene)
A Psychology Lesson with GreatNate98
(2018)
Release Date: July 3rd, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Story by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Nathan Nguyen
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Cast:
Nathan Nguyen as himself
A little school project of mine.
Production notes:
This video was created for a psychology of gender class I took. The assignment was supposed to be just a run of the mill presentation with slides and such, but because I don't like public speaking, I found a loophole to get out of talking in front of the class—that loophole being, of course, the production of this video. I did try to make it entertaining and humorous, in an effort to make what could've otherwise been a fairly standard presentation more enjoyable to watch. It did take quite a bit of effort to add all the animated visuals and stuff, but I think they really enhanced the video and plus I wanted to show that I wasn't just trying to find an easy way out of the assignment. No, I may have found an alternate way of doing it, but it was by no means easier—harder, if anything! Overall I think the video turned out pretty good and the professor seemed especially impressed. Too bad the video hasn't garnered all that much attention on YouTube though.
Dino Duels Ep. 8: T-Rex vs Carnotaurus (2018)
Release Date: July 6th, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Story by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Nathan Nguyen
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Puppeteering by: Nathan Nguyen
For the umpteenth time...
Production notes:
Four whole T-Rex vs Carnotaurus fights have been done on my channel already... PLUS the one in Dinosaur Attack: The First Attempt (2018), so that technically makes five. So you'd think people would be tired of this stuff by now... nope. Over time the Dino Duels votes have piled up and piled up, and apparently the public has spoken! The world needs MORE T-Rex vs Carnotaurus! And so, I obliged, this time aiming to create the best and most definitive version of the fight yet. This is a video I figured might become popular, not only due to past popularity of these battles on my channel but also thanks to the same matchup occurring in the recently released Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). Therefore I knew I'd have to make the video good, and although the effort required was much less than for the preceding Dino Duels episode, the resulting battle was still impressive enough (for a couple of puppets nipping each other in my backyard). I included copious amounts of blood, making the fight much more brutal! I also used a whole bunch of new sound effects I had recently purchased from AudioMicro.com, which I really think enhance the whole thing.
Dino Duels Ep. 9: Spinosaurus vs Roboraptor (2018)
Release Date: July 22nd, 2018
Director: Nathan Nguyen
Story by: Nathan Nguyen
Photography by: Nathan Nguyen
Edited by: Nathan Nguyen
Puppeteering by: Nathan Nguyen
Cast:
Shotaro Watanabe as Dr. Wannabe
The Roboraptor has been unleashed into the world of Dino Duels! Its first opponent: Spinosaurus!
Production notes:
For the first time, two Dino Duels episodes appear as consecutive videos. This one debuts the robotic theropod known as the Roboraptor, and as such, this episode became one of the more complex ones to pull off. As a futuristic machine, the Roboraptor requires more special effects work than your typical dinosaur. There are the lasers of course, of which there are two types: the small bolts, and the continuous beam. A new animation for the latter was created, giving it a more dynamic and powerful look. A new weapon was also introduced for the Roboraptor, that being a missile rack located in a back compartment. The toy itself doesn't actually feature an opening back, so that had to be created using some semi-advanced editing techniques. With all these fancy gadgets at the Roboraptor's disposal, you'd think the Spinosaurus would stand no chance. However, I'm not about to let a robot come in and crush all the dinosaur combatants, so I did my best to depict a way in which the Roboraptor could plausibly lose... in an epic way! I also had fun throwing in stock footage of Shotaro in his role as Dr. Wannabe. Personally I'm pretty proud of the Roboraptor's entrance through the time portal. I used the same basic method as in Dinosaur Attack 3 (2015), but this time I figured out a slightly more realistic way to do it. One last thing worth noting: This is the first Dino Duels episode in which neither combatant bleeds.
But wait! There's more!