Just an update, I've already got about 1:45 done, so production is proceeding quite well. This scene is going to involve some new shots of the main bridge, as well as some tricky visual effects (including a VERY cool "Borg shields" effect), so we'll have to see what happens.
This isn't perfect, it's still in the early stages so some of the character motions and background plates still need to be refined. But in principle you can tell what's going on, so that's the important thing. Enjoy! Pt 2 coming soon.
@homer: now you know what that little scene in the ready room with Kendra was all about!
By the way, gang, someone over at Trek BBS just PM'ed me to ask about a "series" based on this film, they said the Fitzgerald crew has grown on them and they'd be interested in seeing "the further adventures of" once the movie is finished. I responded that after Specter is done the first thing I want to do is learn some new modeling software, but even so, for my humble fan production to spur that response, I consider that pretty neat.
I'm working as fast as I can on Scene 49, hoping to have the whole thing done very soon!
This for me is a major, MAJOR milestone, in more ways than one. Aside from putting me very close to being finished with Specter, this is one of the keystone scenes that I first made back in 2006. For many years, the only thing I had was a lengthy audio track with just black for video. For me to see this scene completely fleshed out, for the first time, feels like a major accomplishment. For you guys, this is what Reyf's character arc has been building towards from the very beginning ("I realize the position this puts you in, but I'm counting on you to put aside your personal feelings and do what needs to be done" and "Some of the crew are concerned that when the moment arrives, he might not be able to make the tough decision").
This scene still isn't quite perfect--the backgrounds still need work, as does Reyf's motion when he first sits down. But I hope you enjoy it just the same!
brandon, with your current software and rig set up, are you able to render up some feature-quality stills? I'm thinking something with the Fitzy Chasing the voyager, but heart-poundingley awesome. Like, Ships of the Line-awesome
@homer: Bryce does support higher-res renders so anything's possible! Got something specific in mind?
@Dr-Timelord: is this more in line with what you expected from Garr?
(BTW everyone does understand what happened and why it's significant, right? In Scene 47, the female android reminded Garr that he'd started out with the best of intentions, but quickly let his own anger and rage over what he'd lost--and by extension what everyone else had--consume him, basically a "right thing for the wrong reasons" type deal; then, when he asked how thoroughly they'd examined her, he was wanting to know if they'd discovered a site-to-site transporter module he'd built into her, which they used to return to the ISS Voyager, hence why she's visible on Garr's bridge when he and Reyf are talking)
Did Garr travel back in time? Did he meet with an untimely (no pun intended) demise? We'll find out soon...stay tuned!
By the way, gang, Scene 49B isn't that long--it's just the post-mortem as they pick up the pieces--as you can see by the end of this scene the Fitzgerald is damaged, and they got shaken up pretty badly on the bridge--but there's some tricky cinematography involved (Ronston has the first line, a groaned "Activating emergency stabilizers" as he picks himself up, and that might be a tricky animation for me to do, so we'll see), so this one might take me a few days. It'll be worth it though!
Then, after that, Data and Reyf have a chat in his quarters as Data seeks a lesson about humanity (and you'll find out what Specter is actually about), and then we have the wrap-up montage, then the epilogue in which Reyf talks to Chellik and they return to the bridge--where Garrett is back at his post, fully recovered--and the Fitzgerald takes off on a new mission.
I can hardly believe that after four long years, I'm so close to being done. Seeing the remaining scenes written up like that makes it real...I'm excited!!!
And, for all those that have asked, the full voice cast for this movie will be announced this Friday, September 24th. By now, we've been introduced to every speaking role we're going to have, so I can post a full cast list and match voice actors. There will be a YouTube video about it, and then the voice actors will be posted alongside their assigned roles on the Wiki.
Actually I take that back. The more I look at this the more I like the raw idea, a longer title sequence would allow me to get more of the cast in than just a few of the leads. (Plus I really like the blue-and-gold motif in the text there). So we may get a new title sequence (and by extension, a new structure for the first few scenes--title sequence, then Scene 1, then straight into Scene 2. I'm not going to worry with that until the movie is finished and I can take a breather, do some editing, and experiment a little.
Either way, I'm changing my answer from "Nope, keeping TMP" to "undecided." Which do you like better, the casting call/alternate title sequence or the TMP one?
Yeah, man, love the opening credits theme remix. Loved it so much, I added it to my Trekspace MP3 playlist. (high 5's tnpir for a job well done there.)
I absolutely love the Voyager style intro! It makes the movie look like a natural successor to both the series and the movies! I even love the fact that your recreation is almost exactly the same!
(one thing that always bothered me about the VOY titles is that it looks like Voyager has a totally blue Deflector dish when flying over the asteroid- the part that matches around 2:48 on your video)
I've posted a proposed alternate title sequence for Specter. As the video's caption says, I like this approach better because it lets me work in the entire cast instead of just some, plus it introduces us to the Voyager theme which will be reprised numerous times throughout the movie. Using this would mean restructuring Act I so that this appears before the prologue, which would then move directly to "5 Years Later / Mellis II." To me this feels more like how a Trek movie should start than the other format.
Yet, I like the other format too because it's faster-paced and we can keep the structure of Act I exactly the way it is. The drawback is we can't show the entire cast because the TMP/TFF mix isn't long enough, and I think that lengthening it as is would slow things down too much.
I'm asking for feedback on which of the two title sequences you like better? (Acknowledging that while it looks cool, I can't use any of the graphics from the VOY title sequence as seen in the final casting call, so that option is out entirely I'm afraid)
@JM: I note that this is your first post, may I be the first to welcome you to SFM! I'm glad your first post is for my humble project! You gotta be careful about using the word "why" around me, I have a habit of writing long answers to short questions!
The graphics that you see that are replicas of the Voyager intro were originally made for a different version of the title sequence (which was originally to have basically been the VOY title sequence in 2.35:1). But that title sequence was a holdover from a very early version of the script which focused a lot more extensively on the ISS Voyager; when the principal action was moved to the Fitzgerald, that title sequence no longer seemed appropriate. Using the Voyager theme makes sense, since here it's being "borrowed" as the theme of Garr's non-evil side (and for the "V'Ger Flyover" sequence). But using the graphics and showing the USS Voyager would be going a bit too far, mostly because it gives away that we'll be seeing some version of the starship Voyager later on (the music arguably does that anyway but still).
In any case, I've gone back through all ten (STXI doesn't exist for me) films, and in order, this is how they did their title sequences:
1. Star Trek TMP: fast-paced music against black
2. Star Trek TWOK: the TWOK suite which is long and only moderately fast-paced, against a moving starfield
3. Star Trek TSFS: a reprisal of the TWOK suite against a moving starfield
4. Star Trek TVH: Leonard Rossman's upbeat suite against a few shifting nebulae
5. Star Trek TFF: Jerry Goldsmith's stirring and fast-paced piece against a starfield for the main titles, with additional credits over the "scaling El Capitan" sequence
6. Star Trek TUC: Cliff Eidelman's suspenseful and heavyhanded music (another LONG piece) against a moving starfield
7. Star Trek GEN: Dennis McCarthy's slow cue against the champagne bottle tumbling through space (this sequence bored me to tears as a child and it still does today)
8. Star Trek FC: another stirring Goldsmith piece with unique coming-into-focus credits, against black
9. Star Trek INS: the cast names appearing over a montage of Bak'u life, set to a very fitting and peaceful Goldsmith cue
10. Star Trek NEM: the film title appearing against a moving starfield set to a rousing Goldsmith cue, before cutting straight to Romulus
The best title sequences I think always kept it simple: you showed your main cast to some exciting (but not cheesy like STIV) music, with the stars to emphasize that we're in space. The worst ones--II and VII--were way too long, and in my opinion NEM was too short. First Contact had about the best title sequence of the bunch, with INS not far behind.
The way I look at it is, your title sequence introduces you to your cast of actors and maybe shows a bit of relevant "life around the 24th century." The older title sequence I linked to from the new one did that, by showing the Daystrom returning to port followed by the shot of Utopia Planitia and the Fitzgerald being built. I realized though that I can't use that because of the five-year time span between the prologue and the "present day." Failing that, I think the best way is to keep it simple, and stick with the moving starfield, which makes the actors the focus.
Aha. I see now... Sorta. And technically, you've already taken me into the project. I'm part of the voice cast. I decided it'd be fitting to have my first post here.
If anything, I'd say the new alternate sequence would be best.
why cant you just mix the two? i liked how the one that you have currently adds to the story while being very quick, since as you have pointed out it is a long movie.... and with this new sequence where will you put it in the movie? in the beginning, or where the current one is. Because with it at the beginning it will lessen the value of the for Kristie / prologue stuff.
So why not leave it where it is in the movie, and then mix the ideas of the two together, where you show them leaving the asteroid field, and then add to it, maybe show the commissioning of the Fitzgerald and some of its mission in the gamma quadrant IE: flying around cool planets and nebulae and for the big finish it could enter or leave the wormhole
If I use the new sequence, it'll be placed before the prologue, which will go directly into what's now Scene 3, "Five Years Later." Conversely, I'm a little ambivalent about the idea of doing anything which would make the sequence any longer where it is, since it would slow down the action too much (as is, feels like the movie gets off to a running start and doesn't slow down).
Mixing the two concepts is an interesting idea, once I finish the last few bits (there are exactly two and a half scenes left as of this moment) I may toy around with that a little.
Headsup everyone, Scene 50A is about to go up. This is a very important scene because it's going to tell you what this adventure is supposed to have taught you. And it contains one more plot twist--upload coming very shortly, you won't want to miss this one!
Posts
Just an update, I've already got about 1:45 done, so production is proceeding quite well. This scene is going to involve some new shots of the main bridge, as well as some tricky visual effects (including a VERY cool "Borg shields" effect), so we'll have to see what happens.
This isn't perfect, it's still in the early stages so some of the character motions and background plates still need to be refined. But in principle you can tell what's going on, so that's the important thing. Enjoy! Pt 2 coming soon.
By the way, gang, someone over at Trek BBS just PM'ed me to ask about a "series" based on this film, they said the Fitzgerald crew has grown on them and they'd be interested in seeing "the further adventures of" once the movie is finished. I responded that after Specter is done the first thing I want to do is learn some new modeling software, but even so, for my humble fan production to spur that response, I consider that pretty neat.
I'm working as fast as I can on Scene 49, hoping to have the whole thing done very soon!
This for me is a major, MAJOR milestone, in more ways than one. Aside from putting me very close to being finished with Specter, this is one of the keystone scenes that I first made back in 2006. For many years, the only thing I had was a lengthy audio track with just black for video. For me to see this scene completely fleshed out, for the first time, feels like a major accomplishment. For you guys, this is what Reyf's character arc has been building towards from the very beginning ("I realize the position this puts you in, but I'm counting on you to put aside your personal feelings and do what needs to be done" and "Some of the crew are concerned that when the moment arrives, he might not be able to make the tough decision").
This scene still isn't quite perfect--the backgrounds still need work, as does Reyf's motion when he first sits down. But I hope you enjoy it just the same!
@Dr-Timelord: is this more in line with what you expected from Garr?
(BTW everyone does understand what happened and why it's significant, right? In Scene 47, the female android reminded Garr that he'd started out with the best of intentions, but quickly let his own anger and rage over what he'd lost--and by extension what everyone else had--consume him, basically a "right thing for the wrong reasons" type deal; then, when he asked how thoroughly they'd examined her, he was wanting to know if they'd discovered a site-to-site transporter module he'd built into her, which they used to return to the ISS Voyager, hence why she's visible on Garr's bridge when he and Reyf are talking)
Did Garr travel back in time? Did he meet with an untimely (no pun intended) demise? We'll find out soon...stay tuned!
Then, after that, Data and Reyf have a chat in his quarters as Data seeks a lesson about humanity (and you'll find out what Specter is actually about), and then we have the wrap-up montage, then the epilogue in which Reyf talks to Chellik and they return to the bridge--where Garrett is back at his post, fully recovered--and the Fitzgerald takes off on a new mission.
I can hardly believe that after four long years, I'm so close to being done. Seeing the remaining scenes written up like that makes it real...I'm excited!!!
Stay tuned!
Yup
49B, "Aftermath." This one's another rush job, so I know the backgrounds still need work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awDVlJ3atPQ
Are you still keeping the TMP music intro , and this vid was just a special ' trailer ' ?
Either way, I'm changing my answer from "Nope, keeping TMP" to "undecided."
http://www.trekspace.org/profile/JasonHauck
(one thing that always bothered me about the VOY titles is that it looks like Voyager has a totally blue Deflector dish when flying over the asteroid- the part that matches around 2:48 on your video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rep_tnmjJ7s
I've posted a proposed alternate title sequence for Specter. As the video's caption says, I like this approach better because it lets me work in the entire cast instead of just some, plus it introduces us to the Voyager theme which will be reprised numerous times throughout the movie. Using this would mean restructuring Act I so that this appears before the prologue, which would then move directly to "5 Years Later / Mellis II." To me this feels more like how a Trek movie should start than the other format.
Yet, I like the other format too because it's faster-paced and we can keep the structure of Act I exactly the way it is. The drawback is we can't show the entire cast because the TMP/TFF mix isn't long enough, and I think that lengthening it as is would slow things down too much.
I'm asking for feedback on which of the two title sequences you like better? (Acknowledging that while it looks cool, I can't use any of the graphics from the VOY title sequence as seen in the final casting call, so that option is out entirely I'm afraid)
The graphics that you see that are replicas of the Voyager intro were originally made for a different version of the title sequence (which was originally to have basically been the VOY title sequence in 2.35:1). But that title sequence was a holdover from a very early version of the script which focused a lot more extensively on the ISS Voyager; when the principal action was moved to the Fitzgerald, that title sequence no longer seemed appropriate. Using the Voyager theme makes sense, since here it's being "borrowed" as the theme of Garr's non-evil side (and for the "V'Ger Flyover" sequence). But using the graphics and showing the USS Voyager would be going a bit too far, mostly because it gives away that we'll be seeing some version of the starship Voyager later on (the music arguably does that anyway but still).
In any case, I've gone back through all ten (STXI doesn't exist for me) films, and in order, this is how they did their title sequences:
1. Star Trek TMP: fast-paced music against black
2. Star Trek TWOK: the TWOK suite which is long and only moderately fast-paced, against a moving starfield
3. Star Trek TSFS: a reprisal of the TWOK suite against a moving starfield
4. Star Trek TVH: Leonard Rossman's upbeat suite against a few shifting nebulae
5. Star Trek TFF: Jerry Goldsmith's stirring and fast-paced piece against a starfield for the main titles, with additional credits over the "scaling El Capitan" sequence
6. Star Trek TUC: Cliff Eidelman's suspenseful and heavyhanded music (another LONG piece) against a moving starfield
7. Star Trek GEN: Dennis McCarthy's slow cue against the champagne bottle tumbling through space (this sequence bored me to tears as a child and it still does today)
8. Star Trek FC: another stirring Goldsmith piece with unique coming-into-focus credits, against black
9. Star Trek INS: the cast names appearing over a montage of Bak'u life, set to a very fitting and peaceful Goldsmith cue
10. Star Trek NEM: the film title appearing against a moving starfield set to a rousing Goldsmith cue, before cutting straight to Romulus
The best title sequences I think always kept it simple: you showed your main cast to some exciting (but not cheesy like STIV) music, with the stars to emphasize that we're in space. The worst ones--II and VII--were way too long, and in my opinion NEM was too short. First Contact had about the best title sequence of the bunch, with INS not far behind.
The way I look at it is, your title sequence introduces you to your cast of actors and maybe shows a bit of relevant "life around the 24th century." The older title sequence I linked to from the new one did that, by showing the Daystrom returning to port followed by the shot of Utopia Planitia and the Fitzgerald being built. I realized though that I can't use that because of the five-year time span between the prologue and the "present day." Failing that, I think the best way is to keep it simple, and stick with the moving starfield, which makes the actors the focus.
If anything, I'd say the new alternate sequence would be best.
I knew that name looked familiar! Sarifus, right?
So why not leave it where it is in the movie, and then mix the ideas of the two together, where you show them leaving the asteroid field, and then add to it, maybe show the commissioning of the Fitzgerald and some of its mission in the gamma quadrant IE: flying around cool planets and nebulae and for the big finish it could enter or leave the wormhole
just a thought.
If I use the new sequence, it'll be placed before the prologue, which will go directly into what's now Scene 3, "Five Years Later." Conversely, I'm a little ambivalent about the idea of doing anything which would make the sequence any longer where it is, since it would slow down the action too much (as is, feels like the movie gets off to a running start and doesn't slow down).
Mixing the two concepts is an interesting idea, once I finish the last few bits (there are exactly two and a half scenes left as of this moment) I may toy around with that a little.