Dark Reflection returns in a new version!

This weekend, I recut and uploaded a new version of "Dark Reflection". This is a film I made of Damon Dark in my pre-YouTube days, back in about 2003/4.

It's the tale of Damon Dark's discovery of a hidden alien ship, a kind of automated, computerised space probe from a distant planet which is concealed behind a holographic illusion that makes it invisible in the suburbs. Everyone in the area's been melted by a flesh eating pathogen and weird, masked mummy-like zombies are stalking and patrolling. Damon is scanned and replicated by Zanadon, an artificial intelligence inside the probe. It's origins are linked to that of the Collective, coming from another planet in the same region of space. And Damon is recounting this tale after being stripped, drugged and interrograted by his own branch of the Secret Service. What exactly is going on? Well, the story's up now in 3 parts and you'll have to watch it to see what its all about.

There's a few things I'd like to have changed...maybe some new effects and a different voice for the Zanadon character...I might have to do an even more jazzed up version some time! But for now, I feel it's come up quite well.

Anyway, if you happen to see the show, I really hope you all enjoy it!
Ade

I think this is one of the most creative and fun videos that you've done, Straker. There's some really nice camera compositions, lighting and editing (including sound edits). It's got quite a pace to it too because of the editing being sharper, particularly as it progresses in part 2/3 and the new music's proving to work well for the series.

"It looks to me like the last thing that went through his mind was his arse."


There's a noticeable change in Damon's character to how he was at the start of this year. I'm not sure how much of this is old and new footage because I never saw the original version, but the balance seems to work well in this. Btw, Straker... are you giving the "two fingered salute" to the alien as you go out of the door in part 1?

I've watched it through again. It's all old footage, isn't it? and I've only just realised that pacey music is the same track Camus did for the Magician story - I didn't recognise it when it was in UFO Hunter. It's a cool track. Anyway... I think the lighting at the start of part three is terrific and the monster zombie at the end reminded me of Omega. I dig this one.

Hi Mate, this story was shot at the flat where my wife and I lived when we first started going out at the end of 2001. I am guessing this was early 2004 as my daughter was born in December 2003 and I recall there's a distorted noise on one of the slo mo shots which is actually the baby making a "goo-gah" noise while being held by my wife nearby when I was shooting.

Basically, I'd bought a camera and we were a long way from anywhere and I'd not done any Damon Dark since Maddox. So I made a couple of attempts to do something while I was there. This was the second attempt, I think. I think this was what I did when I first got my own PC and WMM, so it was my first chance to edit.

There was no YouTube, so I just kind of shot bits and pieces over a period of weeks or months.

It all came together after a while, but when I first uploaded it, I had no music to put to it, (which it needed) and there were a few bits that were a bit long or slow. So, it was no real problem, this time, to trim a few bits, add the music and present it better than it looked before.

Your comments about Damon's character are interesting: I guess that indicates that what I did recently with "UFO hunter?" was getting Damon Dark back to his "roots". He was originally intended to be like "Straker" in the "UFO" ep "Timelash." If you've evet seen UFO, Commander Straker was a great character, but he spent many episodes in a control room giving orders and the jets and space ships then went off and shot down the aliens. But in "Timelash", everyone's frozen in time, so he has to get out and there and become "Hands on" and fight an alien zombie and shoot down a UFO with a hand-held rocket launcher. Plus there was an ambiguous element...he's telling the story from inside the medical ward, to Dr.Jackson, a psychiatrist.

So, Damon Dark was "modelled" upon Straker in his "hands on" and "ambiguous" mode from "Timelash". He fights aliens and their human zombies in a very down and dirty hands-on manner, and there's an element of "is this nightmare true or is he delusional?"

Anyway, I'm *really* glad you liked this one, it really cheers my day to hear its gone down well, as this version has been a long, long time in coming for me!

It's got a lot of energy and a good narrative. The music helps the pace go along like a rocket when it kicks in. I thought some of the footage might have been done recently, like the bits in the interrogation, but I wasn't sure. And the pace of editing matches some of the ones you've done lately. Great stuff anyway, Straker.

I love the effects too, btw. They're very colourful and work extremely well.

I looked at that gesture you give the alien again... it's not what I thought it was, is it? I can see it's just a wave!

I've only seen one UFO (Mindbender) and that was many years ago. I'll have to check them out at some point. I'm aware of the show's setup though.

Cool! Yes, the gesture to the alien is indeed a playful "bye bye" wave, like "better luck next time" as he exits the place! Another hint of Tom Baker-ish playfulness, I suppose, like greeting the sheep.

If you wanted to see "Timelash", I believe the whole story is still on YouTube. It seems when I get back to Damon Dark's UFO influence, that's when the Damon Dark series works best.

I have a DVD with the last four UFO eps, Timelash, Mindbender, Reflections in the Water and The Long Sleep. Those eps are strongly influential on Timeslip, Maddox, Dark Reflection and UFO Hunter.