B5 Lost Tales Update Dec 15

D

djclark

Mongoose
BABYLON 5: THE LOST TALES
I turned in the director's/producer's cut last Friday, the studio viewed it yesterday, loved what they saw, and now we've locked the cut. Friday I have a music spotting session with Chris Franke, and up north, Atmosphere is churning out CGI as fast as they can. (We're not going for the shakey-cam look that BSG has made something of its house style in order to not poach, out of courtesy. Our production offices at the Vancouver Film Studios were right next door to the BSG offices, incidentally. And just two stages down they were shooting the Fanastic Four sequel.)

Fairly soon, probably starting late January, the director's blogs will start showing up on the net. I can't tell you how much I hate being in front of the camera.
 
I think the "shakey-cam" is actually a siganture-style of the effects house that BSG uses - Zoic Studios. You can see the same style in the "Firefly" TV show (Indeed, the firefly ship has a cameo appearance in the BSG miniseries, outside Rosalin's Doctor's office window.)
I believe the intention of this effect is to give the viewer the perception that there is an actual camera, handheld or otherwise, in space filming the sequence.

I'm not sure how B5 would look with the "Shakey" cam - It's space sequences have always seemed more "grand" in nature. Bigger conflicts, more ships, etc.

Chern
 
I've never been a fan of the "shakey cam" either, because it makes me feel like I'm having a seizure. Also, I really dislike the "sudden zoom" that accompanies the fleet shots. Notably, Star Wars Episode 2 used that zoom feature quite a bit at the Battle of Geonosis. In a few years, these little digital tricks will look very old-school and dated.
 
While thats true i didn't think anyone would imagine that I was the director. Thanks for the compliment. But no this is a quote from JMS.
 
Reaverman said:
Should'nt all this be in quotes, otherwise its looking like DJ is actually narrating the the information? :roll:
Click to expand...

Has anyone ever seen DJ and JMS in the same place at the same time? No? Well, I wonder why... :roll: :wink:
 
The "shakey cam" worked for firefly... it looked very low-tech, which fit the theme of the show.

I'm hoping the final effects are truly just modernized versions of the old effects. Just because things can be 'different' doesn't mean they're better... I know the "improved" jumpgate/hyperspace effects of Legend of the Rangers were disliked by many, including myself. Also, not showing recognizable elements of the old series really weakens things... Even if an episode is 10 or 20 years down the road, there should be ab occasional White Star or Omega or similar to help tie things together.
 
As with anything, good effects are secondary to a good story. Maybe LOTR effects didn't seem as good because the story was so lackluster? I thought the jumpgate effects were an improvement, but overall the story was forgettable.
 
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