Another potential Star Trek fan film project submission has turned up over the weekend on crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Star Trek: First Frontier intends to show the first live-action appearance of Captain Robert April of the newly-created starship Enterprise. First time director and scriptwriter Kenny Smith hopes to raise 150 000$ thru this Kickstarter and get the feature released by fall of 2016. His film's main assets would be practical ship miniatures in lieu of CG models, casting SAG actors instead of amateurs, music by an actual orchestra rather than the usual one-man with a synthesizer gig, and an experienced Hollywood VFX Professional is already on board. So far he's already raised over 11000$, despite having no experienced director at the helm (believe me, that makes all the difference in the world, just ask Alec Peters), an insanely short pre-production period in his planning (2 months? I've worked on shows that were a lot less ambitious than this and we needed 6 months minimum), and no real plot details to speak of. But you can't say he lacks enthusiasm for his project. I wish him luck!
I'm really curious to see if this has any connection to Star Trek Begins, which seems to have fallen off the map completely.
Possible...oh, I forgot to mention Axanar also intends to show a live-action Robert April in its film. If this new group comes through, it will be interesting to see the different interprétations.
I'm only counting on Axanar right now, though. They proved they can at least film something and get it released.
Interesting - I wonder how they want to manage all that with that budget. I assume they will be using STCs sets (I think they are in Georgia, right?). But given that we know what a professional production likely can cost based on Axanars example, I wonder how they want to achieve all that. They haven´t shown anything in the Kickstarter video to show us they have any experience in doing this kind of production. And quite frankly, building an 11foot model of the E is a great thing, but using this nowadays is a very costly thing, as you need a huge motion control stage. And I doubt you can build such a model for merely 10K (the 3-4 foot professional models cost already half of that - and that´s mass-produced in comparison). So, I have really serious doubts and would rather bet on Axanar to do an April movie or series.
Groundhog Day... How long until CBS decides or recognizes, those methods are comparable to DVD sells? Or am I seeing it totally wrong? Honest question to everybody here. And yes, I'm NOT a Kickstarter Fan. Not. At. All.
I think "decides" is a better term to use. As long as the production breaks even, and nobody's profiting in a material way off of Star Trek, then it seems to be fine. And for now, CBS has decided that it's not a threat to them. But even if nobody makes a penny off it, they're still getting ahead in SOME way - after all, they get to use CBS intellectual property for free. Hence my "material profit" stipulation. But CBS might see it as a decent way to keep people interested in Star Trek at no extra cost. As long as people make and are interested in fan films, and as long as nobody is making a profit, it seems like it only benefits CBS in some way. Not only indirectly with people staying interested in Star Trek and buying merchandise, home video releases, etc. But also in direct ways - many fan films buy licensed Star Trek props and costumes for their productions, and that's sales for CBS. If CBS is making ANY kind of money off a fan film, they'd probably leave it alone.
I will be surprised, given the moderate quality of the video, the lack of perks, and the lack of a fleshed-out idea, if they make their goal. They clearly didn't look at past Star Trek Fan Film fundraising campaigns to learn from other's successes and failures.
Seriously, the guy can't even get enough light on himself for the talking head portion of his pitch video. This does not inspire confidence. I think it's time to Kickstarter my own damned film. At least my colleagues and I actually know how to shoot and finish the damned things.
The idea of using actual ship models is intriguing, but I need to see more of the plan. What have they already built, how will they shoot the models, a story outline, who are the actors already signed on, etc. It sounds like a good idea, but I need to see more. Doesn't Steve Neil have a scratch-built half-studio scale model? I bet he could be persuaded to rent it ...
Building practical models, at least the Professional kind made for movies is expensive. They might have blown their whole 150 000$ budget with just the Enterprise model right there...
Yeah, his six-foot model is by FAR sufficient for feature photography. And no matter where you live in the world, it'd be cheaper to fly out to his place and shoot with his model than scratch-build a huge new one. Just that oversight makes me think that what we're dealing with is straight-up Trekkies who are making a "wouldn't it be cool if..." self-gratification kind of movie rather than some fans who really want to tell a good story. That being said, I could be totally wrong, and these guys actually have a really awesome story. I just wish they'd tell us what it was.
I went to check their kickstarter page on a whim just now after having read that Equinox succesfully finished theirs. Oddly enough, I'm sure a few days ago they had reached as high as over 12 000$, but right now it says they have just over 9300$... Is that possible for a kickstarter total to decrease during a campaign?
Yeah people can and do back out at any time before the final minute. And you can freely up and down your pledge throughout. It's just the end total that really counts. --Alex