Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: I Have Been and Always Shall Be Your Fangirl

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  • giovanni tiso,

    You do know that with this, it's not so much a matter of "leave the lens flar in" as "carefully and expensively create a lens flare on this shot so it looks like it was actually shot with a real camera, not entirely CGI", right?

    I translate promotional material for a software company and it kills me when they boast the use of their stuff in movies. 'Such and such digital effects studio spent three years and hundreds of thousand of man hours to simulate the splashing of a bucket of water on the character played by Hugh Jackman.' One can't help feeling that splashing an actual bucket of actual water would have been cheaper, if not perhaps quite as realistic.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    the splashing of a bucket of water on the character played by Hugh Jackman.' One can't help feeling that splashing an actual bucket of actual water would have been cheaper, if not perhaps quite as realistic.

    I'd be prepared to extensively test that theory.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I was referring to misty eyed memories of TOS

    Those velour shirts were teh suckage, but the ripping did make for great continuity errors.

    Trivia for the day: in The Motion Picture, Kirk and McCoy get into an elevator, and when they get out, they're wearing each other's shirts...

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'd be prepared to extensively test that theory

    Not helping.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    One can't help feeling that splashing an actual bucket of actual water would have been cheaper, if not perhaps quite as realistic.

    was it W.C Fields who might've said:
    "Never work with children, animals or water"

    well I'm sure he said:
    "You can't trust water: Even a straight stick turns crooked in it."

    Water wranglers are so expensive...

    Apparently the American Government owns it al lthese days anyway...
    woe betide anyone who wants to use it for mere entertainment!

    Also it can be notoriously prima donna-ish and over act
    (remember all tthose scenes in Thunderbirds where the water
    was just too big!)

    best we hook a Shekel & Hydro-Power Station up to a massive Server Farm and render that sucker in Hi-Res and Slo-Mo.

    yer actual bigger splash is a Hockneyed cliche... : )

    yrs H. Duo

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    Emma, is it possible you're being too generous?

    Trekkies bash new Star Trek film as 'Fun, Watchable'

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Michie,

    J. J. Abrams on lens flare.

    I'm looking forward to seeing Star Trek once the first weeks' crowds decline but with with the number of spoilers I've bumped into think it looks good.

    And as probably a team of one I'd like to give some love to Voyager especially before the need to up the ogle with 7of9: Cool ship, effects (i do think the title sequence the best of all series), and a woman captain placed not on a 5 mission with station visits but almost completely isolated from all Federation assistance. Oh and NZ shows up as a prison colony in the pilot looking lush and green.

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    Those velour shirts were teh suckage, but the ripping did make for great continuity errors.

    I loved the Star Trek Futurama episode. When they all fight at the end, before anything happens the first thing Kirk does is rip his shirt

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • B Jones,

    I _love_ little digs in CG movies where they've carefully faked camera artefacts on the film.

    The thing I'm liking the most about CG movies at the moment is how it allows much cooler things to be done with the camera work than you could do with the real ones. Beowulf is an example of this - the characters all look so-so, too real to be fakes but not quite real enough to be real, but the camera work is loads of fun. Something about Kung Fu Panda made me think that too, can't remember what.

    Then again, all this fakery makes you appreciate the virtuosity and real world trickery of films like Children of Men and Atonement, both of which have spectacular long continuous shots. There could well be hidden CGness in either, but it adds to the reality rather than pulls you into thinking "cool, that looks almost real".

    Best budget effect I've seen recently - The Hunt for Gollum. Poor thing spends most of the film tied up in a sack.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And as probably a team of one I'd like to give some love to Voyager especially before the need to up the ogle with 7of9: Cool ship, effects (i do think the title sequence the best of all series), and a woman captain placed not on a 5 mission with station visits but almost completely isolated from all Federation assistance.

    And who needs them. Ron Moore (whose tenure on the staff was short and unhappy) put it much better than I can:

    TrekMovie: On Voyager and Battlestar, it is a ship on its way to Earth with no infrastructure, there are some parallels. Would ‘Ron Moore’s Voyager’ be like Battlestar, if you were the showrunner?

    Ron Moore: Yah…probably…when I was on my brief tenure on Voyager and I was starting to think in terms of what I wanted to do, I remember sitting with the writing staff and saying ‘I really think…that when Voyager gets damaged it should get damaged, we should stop repairing the ship, the ship should be broken down more and devolving a little bit more.’ One of the ideas I had is that they should start developing their own culture within the starship and letting go of Starfleet protocols and stop thinking of themselves as Starfleet people on some level, even though they still wear the uniform and still try to adhere to the regulations. I thought it would be interesting that by the time this ship got back to Earth, that it didn’t even belong at Earth anymore. That it sort of had become its own culture, it had formed its own civilization which was dissimilar to that which they had left behind…Now that you mention this there was somebody, I don’t think it was me, somebody had pitched the notion of them having to guard some alien ships they had encountered. It was a convoy and through some plot I can’t remember that they had agreed to protect and Sheppard through some hostile star systems on their journey. And they were going to be the warship tending the little convey of civilian ships. And I was really taken with it and really liked the idea and thought it would be cool and it was sort of Galactica. We might have even mentioned Galactica….but to your question, If I had been the showrunner from the beginning I probably would have sent it into a darker direction and sent it into a more harrowing journey yes. And made them more on the run and more less of a pretty journey getting back, and at the same time, I probably would have felt compelled to stay within certain boundaries of what Trek was and how Trek had established itself. So I don’t think I could have taken Voyager to the places I have taken Galactica, even if I did have the reins.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    and a woman captain placed not on a 5 mission with station visits but almost completely isolated from all Federation assistance

    Yeah, see, not really enough for me to just shove a random vagina in the big chair. I didn't like Janeway, and I didn't 'buy' her. I have this theory that at about that time, US tv really wanted to do women in charge, but just didn't know how to portray a woman as powerful unless she actually pysically kicked arse a lot. If you want Star Trek female characters with natural authority, Major Kira leaves Janeway in the dust.

    And yeah, what Ron Moore said in Craig's quote. They had this intriguing situation where they were cut off from the Federation, and three years later everyone was still getting up and putting on their uniforms in the morning. They just didn't use it.

    I loved the Star Trek Futurama episode. When they all fight at the end, before anything happens the first thing Kirk does is rip his shirt

    "Front row! yes!"

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Graham,

    Janeway was a pain but the stories were ace.

    I have to say that some of the flaws in the movie grated:
    * Why TF are there plastic sheets hanging for someone to dramatically walk through? WTF is that all about?
    * The most advanced ship from the future has a dinky triangle shaped drivers seat without that looks like something picked up from a dodgy discount designer furniture shop!
    * What are these bozos doing pushing buttons on a console - surely there's going to be direct mind to machine interfaces not that far away - certainly by the time we have FTL travel? And I KNOW it means no dinkedy dinkedy buzzes and pings as buttons are pushed, but come on...
    * Why do the baddies look like bad taste skinhead Maori rockstars? They're a different race of people FGS - not leftovers from some sad metal band.
    * You're telling me an Ensign, who isn't even supposed to be there, assumes captaincy of the ship over other senior officers?

    On the other hand, Solo stole the show with the sword, Kirk kept getting his arse kicked (he should have studied Shatner's delivery a bit better) and NEVER seemed to win (alternative universe indeed), the opening sequence was 'O' for Orsome (Imax), Scotty was brilliant but WTF was the ewok doing there?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Graham,

    PS - apologies for the syntax and grammar - passionate you see and didn't check before posting.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    * Why TF are there plastic sheets hanging for someone to dramatically walk through? WTF is that all about?

    Heh, so they're having this dramatic fight sequence on these inexplicable narrow platforms over an abyss INSIDE the enemy ship so they can channel some Empire Strikes Back , and my partner and I are both riffing on the clangers from Galaxy Quest . "What the hell are these things doing here? This makes no sense!"

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    I also have a painful confession.

    I have never watched a Star Trek movie, nor an entire tv episode.

    And yet, I find myself inextricably drawn to watching this movie. Maybe it's my love of Jabrams and Pegg, but still...it's Star trek ...I'd have to mock myself. And that seems like a lot of work.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    WTF was the ewok doing there

    That wasn't an ewok. That was Rocky Dennis.

    Megan, join us. Jooooooin usssss...

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Oh, also (have I mentioned this?): I wanted a Majel Barrett-related character, dammit. Where's Christine of the Unrequited Love?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    but still...it's Star trek ...I'd have to mock myself. And that seems like a lot of work.

    I am pretty confident that's a job you could out-source.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Probably for very cheap rates too.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    Megan, join us. Jooooooin usssss...

    You see this is how it starts. At first it's all these awesome brainy, funny, talented women (and then all the boys as well, those Trekkies are hott ), and next thing you know I'm dancing in a field at midnight covered in cows' blood worshipping Spock.

    Or so I imagine.

    I am pretty confident that's a job you could out-source.

    Yes, but imagine sifting through all the applications. There'd be sooo many.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    next thing you know I'm dancing in a field at midnight covered in cows' blood worshipping Spock

    Oh hell, Danielle, she's onto us.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Where were these Spock-lovin' girls when I was a wee lad with a bowlcut, stick-out ears, and a an overly logical approach to everything?

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Jolisa,

    Oh, 3410! Sad rofflenui!

    Maybe your trousers weren't tight enough?

    Auckland, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 1472 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    wanted a Majel Barrett-related character, dammit.

    "Are you tryng to seduce me, Mrs Roddenberry?"

    surely they could have sampled her voice and created a facsimile for the computer voice one last time... sob

    who is the new Number One?

    yrs Captain Slog

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    'Such and such digital effects studio spent three years and hundreds of thousand of man hours to simulate the splashing of a bucket of water on the character played by Hugh Jackman.' One can't help feeling that splashing an actual bucket of actual water would have been cheaper, if not perhaps quite as realistic.

    Heh. I share an office with several people who spend a lot of time working on water modelling software. I am reliably informed that water is a lot harder than you'd think.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

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