Johnny Ringo said:
I don't propose to swap out footage based on looks alone - not using original footage at the start means that there is more to work with later for the the proposed attack scene without repeating visuals.
I fully agree with that statement.
We need the story to flow like an original series episode as much as possible. The Motion Picture takes it's self far too seriously, and that is just not Star Trek. Even the original series pilots had little jokes here and there.
If you look very very deep, there are some light and funny moments in the film. It's just that they are so over shadowed by the monotony. We need to cut the lingering moments of the movie, and use our talents to bring the film more in line with what comes in the next five films. Changing the lighting in the transporter room is right on the money. That kind of change makes such a big impact. The Vulcan shots are very impressive, but remember Vulcan has no moons. Or are they other planets in the same solar system? The original theatrical shots on Vulcan never made any astrological sense to me, nor my friend. If Something that huge was so close to Vulcan, Vulcan would be it's moon right? I love the beuaty of the shots, just not the science or how it violates information established in historical cannon. In one of the original episodes, Spock says something like "Vulcan has no moon"...
About the Klingon ship at the start. I like the idea of using an updated ship from the series if it looks good. Just need to let you know what I am planing for that scene so we keep continuity with our work.
So far I have been working on two main ideas for the opening.
Footage of the Klingons seen on the Epsilon-9 station monitors will be used from the Theatrical cut (This version has the computer audio translation about the battle cruiser Amar continuing to attack...), as well as using the directors cut. The directors cut footage without audio translation will be used on the epsilon 9 monitors, and the theatrical version will be seen by kirk on Earth. One version may have Kirk see the first V'ger Klingon attack on the huge view screen with a crowd at Star Fleet, or he may be alone looking at a monitor. I am not sure what will work out best, so I am doing it both ways.
The above Star Fleet HQ shot from ST-IV is being incorporated, we are changing how the white shuttle looks that is flying over the HQ in that shot. We are trying to match it to the air tram shuttle entering the station in TMP. It's hard to explained. You first see the shuttle fling next to the bridge, then the HQ shot from ST-IV (shuttle flight angle adjusted), then cut to shuttle entering tram station, Kirk exits shuttle and we cut just before he sees Commander Sonak.
Kirk could be looking at the briefing footage of the Klingon vs. V'ger attack from this building seen in Voyager. We would need to make it day time, and maybe able to place a few flying things in the background.
I'll try to post some demo work soon. It will be very VERY rough, but will give you an idea of where we can go. No use in concentrating on perfection yet, as we need to brainstorm as much as possible at this stage and comb the entire film for tweaks again and again. If I get too focused or hung up on one segment at thins point, I will forget or skip other small details in other parts of the film. The best thing is just to keep posting ideas, any ideas, right here, so we have a record of all these great ideas to refer back to later.
doubleofive said:
I decided this morning what my ultimate goal with this is: to have my dad enjoy this edit. My dad loves Star Trek, but hates TMP. I've tried to tell him that the DE fixes a lot of the boredom problem, but I don't think I've convinced him. I'd love to take this edit to his house and be able to say that I helped make an edit I knew he'd enjoy.
Right on!