And at that point, yes, coherence often goes out the window. The trench run in Star Wars is laid out graphically so you can understand every element of it. Long trench, hole at the end, eventually just one fighter being chased by three more fighters en route to the hole. Now they can put a thousand ships going in every direction, and it's spectacular but dramatically inert.
The Last Battle in Star Wars remains brilliant and enthralling. Far more than most big action sequences nowadays. The Snow Battle in Empire, The Battle In The Nebula in WOK as well show how to put together a well read thrilling action sequence. Of course the music helps too!
Orville season three has gone CGI crazy. I find most of the shots boring and very hard to read. Episode 8 had one shot where the ship was slowly turning around in a nebula and the gases were floating off of the Orville. That one shot (while its been done before) was cooler than all the other shots that had dozens of things whizzing around on screen at the same time.
But when they made that movie, just getting anything down on film felt like a miracle. It's not that everybody has forgotten how to do it. The irony is that pressures from all sides when every image is possible make it in some ways harder to make a coherent sequence than when it was nearly impossible to shoot anything.
To this point, you were given a bit more latitude on special effects in the ILM-miniature age because it took more time to do photochemical compositing, and the technical awareness of executives was such that far more trust was put in the technicians doing the work. It's true that now with the tools being much easier, it has led to more filmmaking by committee than usual.
That said, in my experience there is also a level of discipline that doesn't always occur. Making a film isn't just about the film itself, but the process as well - how updates are communicated, maintaining schedules, keeping stakeholders happy. A lot of productions are disorganized and just don't have A+++ people working on them so some executives are right to be worried and putting pressure on the production team. If your approach is run-of-the-mill boiler-plate in the pre-production phase and your teams aren't defining the creative approach early in the process, it's going to pile up really fast in the end. To Schiffy's point though, there are still good people working in the film industry who know what they're doing, but if a team of all-stars is being led by someone who isn't cutting it, they can only do so much.
I don't know precisely why a lot of Disney's purchased IPs are hit-or-miss now, but my guess is a lot of them are pushed into production as a business-led decision as opposed to being a creative-led decision. So in the end you have Disney farming out the creative work to a bunch of disconnected creative agency teams doing their best, but all disconnected from each other and too late in the process.
But when they made that movie, just getting anything down on film felt like a miracle. It's not that everybody has forgotten how to do it. The irony is that pressures from all sides when every image is possible make it in some ways harder to make a coherent sequence than when it was nearly impossible to shoot anything.
To this point, you were given a bit more latitude on special effects in the ILM-miniature age because it took more time to do photochemical compositing, and the technical awareness of executives was such that far more trust was put in the technicians doing the work. It's true that now with the tools being much easier, it has led to more filmmaking by committee than usual.
That said, in my experience there is also a level of discipline that doesn't always occur. Making a film isn't just about the film itself, but the process as well - how updates are communicated, maintaining schedules, keeping stakeholders happy. A lot of productions are disorganized and just don't have A+++ people working on them so some executives are right to be worried and putting pressure on the production team. If your approach is run-of-the-mill boiler-plate in the pre-production phase and your teams aren't defining the creative approach early in the process, it's going to pile up really fast in the end. To Schiffy's point though, there are still good people working in the film industry who know what they're doing, but if a team of all-stars is being led by someone who isn't cutting it, they can only do so much.
I don't know precisely why a lot of Disney's purchased IPs are hit-or-miss now, but my guess is a lot of them are pushed into production as a business-led decision as opposed to being a creative-led decision. So in the end you have Disney farming out the creative work to a bunch of disconnected creative agency teams doing their best, but all disconnected from each other and too late in the process.
Good point. Nowadays with the magic of the keyboard you can make changes or add a thousand new elements on screen in seconds. There's really no restrictions. I'm exaggerating a bit, it still comes down to time and money, but the ease of going over board is far to tempting. Back when they shot models and did optical they had to be precise because it took half a day to do one shot. They couldn't afford to mess it up or go overboard.
In those bygone years everyone had a specialty. You hire people based on their skill sets. Industrial designers designed the hardware and sets, model makers made the models, painters painted the models, etc. Then you got the camera operators who knew how to set up and light a shot. Nowadays everyone has their hands in every aspect of the production and you just end up with a mess. Everyone is a Jack of all trades, master of none.
New on our “Screenplay Power Hour,” Charlie Vignola and I talk to writer Isabel Dréan, who has no less than five Christmas movies in various stages of production. We hear about the doors it’s opened and what comes next. Thanks Isabel for a great chat!
Obi-Wan was another bait and switch. The mini series was an excuse to shoe horn in Reva as the main protagonist. Her story was vapid and rang hollow. Her redemption was a disgrace. While Leia shouldn't have been in the story the actress was fine and I really believed she was a 10 year old Princess Leia. What failed her was the writing and directing. The script was so profoundly bad one could write a book critiquing the mini-series. Ewan McGregor was exceptional and I feel really bad for him. He clearly was into this but the producers, writers and director did him bad.
Yet another "people had a problem with this because they're racist!" excuse.
No, that is not what I said. This is what I said:
"The real problem is that, narratively, it’s Third Sister Reva’s story. She is the one with the “arc.” And I liked Moses Ingram, who apparently was on the receiving end of a bunch of racist harassment online—which is just so depressing and pathetic.
What is wrong with people? Wait, don’t answer that."
You can criticize the character, the actor, her acting, the show, whatever!
I'm talking about "fans" who sent the actor racist messages.
With the sometimes abusive hijinks that go on here, I think having an anonymous identity here is a good choice. You're probably immune as the founder, but I applaud the Yavars and John Schuermanns who go out on a limb with their identities. Coupled with the prevalence of data mining though, not for me.
All of that said, these boards aren't always that bad if you know who to interact with and block the more obvious trolls.
The members who use their real names have been pretty nasty too. (Excluding Lukas) So sorry to say, using real names doesn't bring about civility or good behavior among men.
Oddly, I started out using my real name, John Fitzpatrick, but got into one of those annoying login snafus and was told, "That login is taken." Hence, the alternative.
I don't have too many problems with the nasties here. Maybe I've just learned how to avoid them. In fact, there's one individual who was apparently banned for life whom I wouldn't mind seeing pardoned.
I've never used my real name but keep myself civil everywhere so have no regrets. After all it's not my fault anonymity and civility never merged on the internet. But there's the other side of it. Because it never merged, the internet has always (for me) seemed like glorified graffiti. Even today on this board and social media (fake name there too, haha!) it's customary for many people to express words or tone that they wouldn't - and don't - in real life. In part because of this I just don't perceive the internet as equivalent to real life. Never have.
However I do try to remain sensitive to the custom that ALL CAPS is "yelling." It's still weird to me - only an auditory yell feels assaultive - but I comply.
Greetings, LK. Reading the travails of your trek through the screenwriting jungle brought back memories of my trek through the sports jungle prior to becoming this semi-nameless spirit haunting the messageboard from close to its inception. I had some pretty good success with all the "fame" of local media trappings and all but man, the price is having your name dragged through the mud while enduring a constant state of defending and repairing that otherwise good name what with the slander and malicious gossip so endemic to competitive endeavors. The effects never go away, tempering the joys of looking back with satisfaction at what you achieved on (and often times off) the field. Still, it was worth it in the long run.
I just watched Star Trek The Voyage Home about two weeks ago, and it felt so right. It was so nice to see the script allow character moments for everyone. They gave Nichelle quite a few moments to shine. I was just thinking about that terrific scene in The Search for Spock in the transporter room, what a great moment for her also. I was always ridiculously hoping that we would get her back on Trek in some format after The Undiscovered Country but alas it did not happen.
I just watched Star Trek The Voyage Home about two weeks ago, and it felt so right. It was so nice to see the script allow character moments for everyone. They gave Nichelle quite a few moments to shine. I was just thinking about that terrific scene in The Search for Spock in the transporter room, what a great moment for her also. I was always ridiculously hoping that we would get her back on Trek in some format after The Undiscovered Country but alas it did not happen.
going to watch Star Trek V Final Frontier which also stars David Warner who died recently (watched Star Trek VI Undiscovered Country in his honor).
Nice piece, Lukas. I hadn't seen that NASA video before.
She did so much with so little, on Trek. Can you imagine if they'd REALLY consistently written her a character worthy of her talents? But still grateful for what we did get...
