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Posted: |
Mar 6, 2021 - 3:00 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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I suppose it was inevitable that with the current space-mission to Mars, the movie MISSION TO MARS would come up once more. I must confess that I wasn’t too fond of the movie when it came out back in 2000, so maybe I need to watch It again. Perhaps I’ll change my mind as some of you apparently have.
I also must confess that I am zero degrees of separation from MISSION TO MARS---since I was the 2nd Unit Director of Photography on the film, primarily for the special effects sequences. We shot the film in Vancouver, and because of the extensive effects to be inserted later, the producers needed a much bigger negative quality. It was determined that we would photograph these sequences in horizontal VistaVision, which turned out to be ideal.
Every evening I got to see my dailies from the previous day's work on the giant screen, actually projected in horizontal VistaVision, and that was a great and rare thrill. VistaVision was a brilliant, sharp, spectacular process and I’ve always thought it a shame that so (relatively) few films had been shot in the format---mostly because of budgetary limitations.
Your various comments on MARS were interesting to read, and I recall that I had a good time working on the film---and with the other wonderful crew members---on location in Canada for the nearly 10 weeks it took to shoot. Each day was full of hard work and usually had new technical or logistic issues to overcome, but I think everyone was pretty happy with his own work on the final product.
Curiously enough, even though my position was in the photographic arena, I had some knowledge of the ongoing music discussions since my personal camera assistant spoke Italian, and was delegated to act as the translator on various phone conversations between Morricone and Di Palma on the direction the projected music would take.
Sorry to interrupt the thread with these meanderings but it was interesting to remember a moment in my life---now 20+ years ago.
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Posted: |
Mar 6, 2021 - 3:34 PM
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By: |
eriknelson
(Member)
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I suppose it was inevitable that with the current space-mission to Mars, the movie MISSION TO MARS would come up once more. I must confess that I wasn’t too fond of the movie when it came out back in 2000, so maybe I need to watch It again. Perhaps I’ll change my mind as some of you apparently have.
I also must confess that I am zero degrees of separation from MISSION TO MARS---since I was the 2nd Unit Director of Photography on the film, primarily for the special effects sequences. We shot the film in Vancouver, and because of the extensive effects to be inserted later, the producers needed a much bigger negative quality. It was determined that we would photograph these sequences in horizontal VistaVision, which turned out to be ideal.
Every evening I got to see my dailies from the previous day's work on the giant screen, actually projected in horizontal VistaVision, and that was a great and rare thrill. VistaVision was a brilliant, sharp, spectacular process and I’ve always thought it a shame that so (relatively) few films had been shot in the format---mostly because of budgetary limitations.
Your various comments on MARS were interesting to read, and I recall that I had a good time working on the film---and with the other wonderful crew members---on location in Canada for the nearly 10 weeks it took to shoot. Each day was full of hard work and usually had new technical or logistic issues to overcome, but I think everyone was pretty happy with his own work on the final product.
Curiously enough, even though my position was in the photographic arena, I had some knowledge of the ongoing music discussions since my personal camera assistant spoke Italian, and was delegated to act as the translator on various phone conversations between Morricone and Di Palma on the direction the projected music would take.
Sorry to interrupt the thread with these meanderings but it was interesting to remember a moment in my life---now 20+ years ago.
Thanks for your interesting comments, Manderley. I always love to read your behind-the-scenes accounts. When I saw this film during its theatrical release I remember being impressed with the realism of the effects. Everything was so sharp. And not too long ago I watched the film again on AppleTV and your work still looks fantastic. Bravo!
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I suppose it was inevitable that with the current space-mission to Mars, the movie MISSION TO MARS would come up once more. I must confess that I wasn’t too fond of the movie when it came out back in 2000, so maybe I need to watch It again. Perhaps I’ll change my mind as some of you apparently have.
Sorry to interrupt the thread with these meanderings but it was interesting to remember a moment in my life---now 20+ years ago.
I can only say: Well done!
A nice film and most importantly: It is a positive film!
Unfortunately there are so many SF films and TV series about evil extraterrestrials, their constant invasions against Earth, and all the star wars conflicts(unfortunately also in STAR TREK) that it is simply a rarity for someone to make such a positive film.
And unfortunately this "other" films and series are usually much more successful as well.
Such positive films have always been and will be unfortunately far too rare an exception still in the future.
Shame!
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This score doesn't appear to be on any streaming services anymore. This is why you need physical media!
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I think one of the main problems with the end is how the CG comes across. I recently read Paul Hirsch's autobiography, and he is clear that the alien they encounter isn't supposed to actually be there, but is itself a hologram projection, like the evolution scene they have just watched.
Unfortunately it comes across as all too solid, but rendered insubstatially, and blows a lot of the scene.
Overall I do really like the film. I revisited it last year, and it's so nice to have a truly optimistic sci-fi, which is - if not entirely successful - well-intentioned. The way De Palma envisioned and the crew created the shipboard scenes with those long camera movement still blows me away, and I'm totally in agreement about "Where?" being one of Morricone's best pieces.
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I think one of the main problems with the end is how the CG comes across. I recently read Paul Hirsch's autobiography, and he is clear that the alien they encounter isn't supposed to actually be there, but is itself a hologram projection, like the evolution scene they have just watched.
Unfortunately it comes across as all too solid, but rendered insubstatially, and blows a lot of the scene.
Overall I do really like the film. I revisited it last year, and it's so nice to have a truly optimistic sci-fi, which is - if not entirely successful - well-intentioned. The way De Palma envisioned and the crew created the shipboard scenes with those long camera movement still blows me away, and I'm totally in agreement about "Where?" being one of Morricone's best pieces.
i do still remember james being down on his knees and thanking god for "where" and morricone´s talent to compose such a piece of music...
thank you james for your work on movie-wave.net, i was always impressed by your outcome and highly musical sense and understanding.
stay with us please!
dominique
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Jeff Bond: Morricone's cue "Where?" never fails to reduce me to tears and it almost ranks with "The Ecstasy of Gold" as one of Morricone's greatest cues for me. The movie has its moments--the whole asteroid collision/evacuation scene is one of the great space sequences in film for sure. I actually was at the premiere of the film with a lot of the cast in the audience and presumably De Palma (whose work I find increasingly impressive)--but even they couldn't buy the movie's finale with its lame CGI alien (you could hear people snickering). With its visual references to 2001 and all the buildup, I just think the movie could not find an ending that was original or imaginative enough to overcome all the weight of previous sci-fi movies.
Jeff, take a look at the DePalma documentary--recently and maybe currently on Netflix--for DePalma's own take, a brief one, on how the SFX process, or at least how it was conducted in the early 2000's, diminishes the director's vision.
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