FilmNut Interviews Director Trey Stokes

Director Trey Stokes, Ark Pink Five was the guest tonight. Ark is an exciting new Sci-fi thriller web series starring Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess). Stokes talked about it all from concept to completion. Having a strong visual effects background definitely came in handy for Stokes on Ark. We show a clip from Ark with and without effects with Trey then explaining how it was done. Pink Five is a Star Wars fan film that has won multiple awards and is simply a must for an fans of the original three movies.

You can find out more about Ark with Renee by going to the AUSXIP Renee O'Connor Ark subsite

News submitted by Barbara

ARK received 4-1/2 out of 5 Stars in a review by John J. Joex of Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy dated February 3, 2011.

"Ark was made on a rather hefty budget (for a web series) of around $50k and is quite an impressive production for this format."

"The acting is quite good, though (....) Connie is also way to (sic) bad-ass for a third grade teacher, but as the series progresses we get the suggestion she may be more than she seems."

"In any case, this is a great web series for those new to the format because of its near professional production values. And it’s also a great story that any Science Fiction fan should enjoy."

Read the full review

*the image of Renee from ARK is courtesy of ROCNET.US

-- AUSXIP Reporter: Gabsfan

Unification France has an interview with Renee. Unfortunately for those who can't speak French, you may have to fire up Babel Fish and have the interview translated.

According to Babel Fish translation (maybe a french speaking fan can tell me if this is correct) Renee said that Ark is going to be a tv series:

Can you say some to us more?
It is the history of Connie, a unmarried mother who finds herself transported in a spaceship of the Fifties. Heroin has a common point with Gabrielle, it is a strong character, one beating. The series received very warm welcome and could become soon television series.

and Renee's movies:

Which are your current projects?

I finished three films recently. The first, Fitful leaves this year. I play there the part of a civil servant charged to index to classify them and who is confronted with strange phenomena. The second is a remake of Moby Dick in the course of post-production and which should leave directly in DVD, on November 23, 2010. The third, Beyond the farthest stars, will leave as for him in 2011. Lastly, the next year, I will turn has State Of Hate, where I interpret a police inspector plunged in the medium of Ku Klux Klan.

Read the interview (in French)

Read the interview (in English Babel Fish Translation)

News submitted by Barbara Davies

As for things you can actually watch right now, Renee O'Connor (from Xena, duh) is currently starring in a new, wonderfully creepy sci-fi webseries called Ark .

The show features some of the creepiest, most intriguing action this side of the original Alien and The Matrix. Here's what O'Connor herself had to say about it:

It's about this woman who wakes up, and she finds herself on this "ark," and she's in space and she has to figure out how to get home. And there's a really strange ending where you're not really sure if it's a set-up, or if it's part of a higher conspiracy... It has an Alien-esque feel to it. It's very dark and moody.

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I09 talks to Renee at the recent Entertainment Weekly / Syfy Party at Comic Con about the web series “Ark”

It’s about this woman who wakes up, and she finds herself on this “ark,” and she’s in space and she has to figure out how to get home. And there’s a really strange ending where you’re not really sure if it’s a set-up, or if it’s part of a higher conspiracy… It has an Alien-esque feel to it. It’s very dark and moody.

A child’s voice call out “Mom, wake up.” Connie obliges, slowly regaining consciousness after a deep sleep. But she doesn’t wake up in her bed. She is not in a bed of any kind. Consumed with panic, Connie screams and pounds against the glass of the coffin-like pod in which she is mysteriously confined. But the relief that comes with escape is only replaced by fear and confusion unlike any Connie has ever experienced. Because Connie is not in her bed. Connie is not on this planet.

For more about Ark visit the AUSXIP Renee O’Connor Ark Subsite

Reported by Teresa Ortega

The following was posted on AUSXIP Talking Xena ROC Chat by Trey Stokes and it's the official word on Ark and why it suddenly appeared without warning (and great news for non US fans...we will eventually get to see it!)

You can find the series here and on hulu

Trey Stokes

I told Renee you guys would wonder why we didnt say anything...

long story made very short because I'm posting from someone's iPhone:

yep, it's legit. Syfy and hulu are both affiliated with NBC/universal, so this came about as a result of the syfy "interest". It happened very fast, all within the past week. We asked hulu to give us a warning before the show went live but they didn't. So we didnt have a chance to announce anything. When Renee gets back from comiccon I'm sure she'll say something about it on her site.

Also Renee and I were real busy with... something else this week, and we'll both be saying more about THAT as soon as we can...

let's see, what else... I have no idea what "huhu" is, but they have nothing to do with any of this. I guess that was a misprint of "hulu" somewhere.

And for non-US viewers, be patient - I just took over that long-dormant Ark page on YouTube, and the episodes will all show up there after we see how we fare on hulu. We might throw some other extras on there as well.

Gotta go - but for now, spread the word about ark: watch it, tell everyone you know to watch it, post reviews on the hulu site, etc. If we get a big response on hulu, that only increases that potential "interest" that could lead to bigger things

Discuss this on ROC Chat!

Okay this is an interesting development. Ark The Series - the web series starring Renee hasn't been seen since the initial flurry of promos at the last 2008 Comic Con when the official teaser came out.

Eagle eyed Cata over at AUSXIP Talking Xena ROC Chat discovered the entire series online. There hasn't been any advertising or promoting of the series so far. The other possible explanation is that someone has pirated the show and posted it.

The show cannot be seen outside the US and it's a streaming video (very slow for those not on broadband).

If you are in the US - go here

Word has gone out to Trey Stokes, the director, to see if this is really legit.

The following was posted by FilmNut on AUSXIP ROC Chat:

Since the last ROC interview on Filmnut I have been in touch on and off with Trey to wait for the best time (re: Ark) to have him on the show... I emailed him for the first time in a while the other day to see how it was going and he said my timing was perfect! Sounds like good news for Ark! You can watch the interview (and get the latest updates) live a week from today, Wednesday December 2nd at 8pm pacific time and 11pm eastern... As always you can instant message in questions during the interview and watch it on:

http://www.thestream.tv

If you miss it live I will post a link to it here the next day...

Also you can try posting an advance question for Trey here:

http://www.thestream.tv/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3938

Happy Thanksgiving guys!...

Jeff

Discuss this on AUSXIP ROC Chat

Renee's new web series "Ark" will soon premiere and Carpe Chakram has created artwork based on the series.


Click here to view



For more about Renee's series Ark - go to the AUSXIP Renee O'Connor Ark Subsite

The following is from SciFiScoop about Ark the Web series starring Renee. It's been a while since we've heard anything about the show and Renee posted the link to this article on her website.

Trey Stokes Delivers Brilliant Sci-Fi With 'Ark'

Upcoming Web Series 'Ark' Looks Promising

Since writing the above article I have been fortunate to view an early screener of the entire ten episode series.  I say "fortunate" because Ark delivers brilliant sci-fi and in my opinion is the best science fiction web series that I've seen so far.

Read Article