Personally, I've never been compelled to donate to any of the fan films. If I ever were to do so, I'd probably offer up money to one of the smaller, less-well-known productions because even though you've got people like Phase II or Axanar bringing in dumptrucks of cash, the smaller shows really could use the help. That said, the Renegades trailer is as somsone said above better than the previous trailers released. Still no clue what the story is really going to be about, but I'll be happy to watch it at least once before deciding about it one way or the other.
Given the number of films Phase II has released, I'd hardly call $64,918 dollars "dumptrucks [sic] of cash." I was surprised at how modestly fans reacted to their fundraiser. The biggest individual fundraisers were, to the best of my knowledge, Axanar (of course, $101,171 + $638,472= $739,643), Star Trek: Continues (126,028 + 214,584 = $340,612.), and Star Trek Renegades ($242,483). But then, you don't donate, so I guess you also don't pay attention. Among those currently raising very modest funding, Star Trek Valient Exeter Trek Yorktown There are more, but those come immediately to mind. Also, most groups can use funds at any time you are interested in offering them. If you want to give your time or work, I have a Star Trek Fan Film production map as well. Find a film being produced near you here: http://startrekreviewed.blogspot.com/2009/06/4.html
Thanks for the info Barbreader, but you misunderstand my point. My point was simply that I would be far more likely to donate money or time to one of the smaller productions that actually need it, rather than to add to the chorus of fans who continually support the same top four or five productions. Also - and maybe it's just me -- I also detect something of a tone of indignation in your reply that is rather off-putting. Not sure why you might be feeling so bent out of shape over my comment, but that's how it came across to me. You get more flies with honey, not vinegar dude!
By all means donate to whom you please, but this impression you seem to have that having raised a few hundred thousand dollars means the "top four or five" productions are rolling in Midas-style dough and don't need money strikes me as quite questionable. I would defer to someone with a better understanding of the costs of make-up, effects, filming and crew maintenance etc., but relative to the quality of the work they're putting out those budgets strike me as pretty minuscule.
I do not know where you got the impression that I think any of the top tier productions are "rolling in Midas-style dough and don't need money." All I said was that I'd support the underdogs and outliers. I do not understand why that's so objectionable?
I got the impression from your saying that you wanted to donate to "one of the smaller productions" that "actually need it," which quite clearly indicates a belief that there are productions that do not "actually need it." Again, donate where you like but have no illusions, all of the fan-productions are underdogs and outliers. There aren't any exceptions.
In the context of fan films, I would submit that a smaller production like Ajax or Valiant most certainly would "need" the influx of money/help more than say, Phase II o Renegades. Different strokes, I guess.
You said it, pal. All of us with miniscule to no budgets barely squeak by sometimes on production costs, and end up paying for stuff out of our own pockets because we love what we're doing.
Looks like a video production that involves actors. 0 STARS. Naw. I'm just happy that this ins't another fan production of TOS since that seems to be the 'go to' route for most of these fan projects. While I enjoy Phase 2 and Star Trek Continues, I'm still in the camp that believes Star Trek can be more than Kirk and the original crew. I also like that the characters in the film are actually played by their original actors AND we get new characters that we haven't seen before. Also, a Star Trek production with a female protagonist? That alone is always worthy of my attention given the complete lackluster and delusional treatment women have been getting in Star Trek as of late. Cripes, Lexxa's Captain's chair is in the center of the bridge. Not even Voyager was brave enough to give Janeway the center seat.
So I've just read, their World Premiere at the FedCon in Germany had to be cancelled, because they'd been unable to finish the film in time. Maybe the Con customers are able to watch an unfinished version there, if they're lucky. So there might be a delay of sorts ahead.
A friend of mine, who is attending the con, told me, they had technical difficulties and the plan is to show the film tomorrow.
I agree - Granted the sets and that are easiest to replicate but there are dozens of 5ym era group now doing webseries! Farragut though are moving into the movie era though with Isolation, their sister series. I was thinking that I'd love a studio where they have replicated TNG but the question there is which to do because you have 3 TNG era shows; which corridors to build, the bridge? Two bridges, a small one and a big one? An Engineering set and DS9 would be impossible to recreate - it makes me sad they tore down the Las Vegas Experience!
Personally, while I like TOS-era best, I'd love to see more good fan films set in the later eras. I just think we'll get most of them coming around later, at least partly for financial reasons. TOS-era fans as a demographic got wealthy enough to fund these films first, and the physical sets were easier to get right than green-screen earlier. Give it another 5-10 years and I think we'll see more of the later era stuff coming to the fore.
We are on track for a showing tomorrow at Fedcon. This is not the final film but pretty dam close. The sound track in mostly temp but part of it are some exciting new stuff from Justin Durban. Mostly all vfx are complete, but some are still are not added, specifically Archer bridge modifications, and a few other minor ones. The credit roll is also not on this version. Some other minor tweaks here and there yet to complete. Tomorrow will be an interesting day to see what people (outside of the cast and crew) think of the film. Some feedback could have implications on tweaks made to the final version.
I believe the availability of sets, props, and budget costumes is part of what is driving the preference for TOS era films in the US. You don't see it in the overseas films, many of which are not in English. Some people are reviving (or have revived, I haven't checked recently) a TNG bridge from The Star Trek Experience that is either available or going to be available for shoots. In addition, David Whitney is creating backgrounds and rentable/lendable props for people who want to do TNG/DS9/VOY era films (what I call 'silver age') using green screens, so that might make those films easier to create, and more attractive to 'no budget' filmmakers. See Starfleet Studios which offers backgrounds for green screens and other help with Silver Age Fan Trek, http://starfleetstudios.com/
If anything TNG era sets are easier to build because of all those backlit displays. The ease of construction is not, IMO, the issue.
I think this is a great reason why to do a fan film in the first place. People get to establish their own personal canon. These personal preferences shouldn't have to be seen in a negative light. It's like, should everyone who covers a wellknown song make it sound exactly like the album version? That would be boring. I'm all for people mixing it up, although of course that doesn't mean I'll like everybody's unique take. But I welcome people's freedom to spin it their way.
I agree that TNG era sets are the easiest to build, and they can be redressed to be other rooms easily. Look at TNG s1 they used the sickbay set as the conference room, to create engineering they expanded a corridor section added consoles and the warp core They also redressed counselor troi's office as science labs, the galley in ST6, and the bridge of the Sutherland. in DS9 they used the same set room for the defiant mess hall, sick bay, and transporter room. And in Nemesis they built a small corridor set a straight section and a 1/4 circle, they had the quarters on the 1/4 circle which was redressed as the mess hall in a deleted scene, and on the inner circle they had a small sickbay. https://www.flickr.com/photos/99878876@N02/13972733919/in/album-72157644542637766/ I would say the defiant sets would be the easiest to build, but from a bridge standpoint the easiest would be the Sutherland bridge, or the Prometheus from DS9 'Second Sight'.
haha yet there are 3 replicas and counting of the TOS sets in America and barely any of the 24th Century!! Someone built the Defiant bridge and it looked rather snazzy; generic TNG sets would be easy; corridors, quarters (although you probably wouldn't be able to have as big rear-viewing windows!) you'd just redress a bit or even just change the lighting for a new ship. For Engineering you could either hide the Warp Core somehow (I'm thinking Star Trek: BORG) or matte it in via green/blue screen (do people still use blue?). Shuttle or Cargo Bays would probably not be viable for a fan film. For TNG the bridges were the most distinct sets, youu couldn't build a Galaxy class bridge and pass it off as an Intrepid! However rather like how Renegades has done redress it for other larger cruisers, Sean Torengau's Titan bridge design has elemetns of both.