Star Trek Secret Voyage: Rise of the Gongdea

Discussion in 'Fan Productions' started by Newtrek, Mar 27, 2014.

  1. Newtrek

    Newtrek Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2011
    Location:
    las vegas
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2014
  2. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2001
    Location:
    Boise, ID
    I'm really looking forward to the second go-around. Watching fan film producers sharpen their skills is for me one of the most fun things about the entire genre! best of luck and keep going!
     
  3. Newtrek

    Newtrek Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2011
    Location:
    las vegas
  4. USS Intrepid

    USS Intrepid Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 1999
    Location:
    Left the building.
    I am very much looking forward to this. While perhaps not the most polished of the TOS era fanfilms, I found Secret Voyage, much like Exeter, brought a certain character chemistry that appealed to me.
     
  5. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2001
    Location:
    Boise, ID
    While I"m not blind to the rough spots, this project holds a ton of promise. I'm really eager to see how they're doing.
     
  6. USS Intrepid

    USS Intrepid Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 1999
    Location:
    Left the building.
    Well when I say it wasn't the most polished, I mean in comparison to the likes of Phase II, Farragut or Continues. But the rough spots (which weren't that egregious IMO) really didn't detract from the experience, and that's not often something I can say.

    Secret Voyage is certainly one of my favourites.
     
  7. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2001
    Location:
    Boise, ID
    My sentiments, exactly...more clearly stated by you than me!
     
  8. Barbreader

    Barbreader Fleet Captain In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2009
    Location:
    New York, New York
    I'm EXCITED!! :)
     
  9. Newtrek

    Newtrek Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2011
    Location:
    las vegas
    Audio on our first feature was clearly the biggest challenge we learned from. Even though we filmed episodes 1 and 2 as a single production, we learned much and applied the majority of those as we moved in to production on the scenes needed for episode 2 so 90% of the audio captured was better to work with. We've reviews the master audio for episode 2 this past week and have just a few clean ups that were blantently problematic. Having Ralph Millers expertise in post has surely raised standards of our release.
     
  10. USS Intrepid

    USS Intrepid Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 1999
    Location:
    Left the building.
    Audio was certainly the only major stumbling block, at least for me, and it was still better than a lot of first efforts. Our own included.

    As I said upthread though, it wasn't something that detracted from the experience for me, and I really enjoyed episode one.
     
  11. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2001
    Location:
    Boise, ID
    When you're learning by doing, issues are bound to crop up and find their way into the final mix. As I've said repeatedly, part of the fun of following fan productions is seeing how they apply the lessons learned along the way. Certainly, those who have followed the adventures of our audio drama (Excelsior) will have noticed that there's a lot more chrome and polish in our later episodes than there were at the beginning...and that's just an audio drama. I shudder when I think how much more complicated a video project would be.
     
  12. Newtrek

    Newtrek Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2011
    Location:
    las vegas
    IN 7 DAYS THE GONGDEA SHALL RISE!
    http://youtu.be/HVKH4kcyLs8

    Star Trek Secret Voyage Episode 02 Rise of the Gongdea to be released Tuesday April 15th, 2014
     
  13. Newtrek

    Newtrek Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2011
    Location:
    las vegas
  14. Barbreader

    Barbreader Fleet Captain In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2009
    Location:
    New York, New York
  15. CaptainSerek

    CaptainSerek Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2003
    Location:
    Burbank, California, USA
    I watched it yesterday. I enjoyed it.
     
  16. USS Intrepid

    USS Intrepid Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 1999
    Location:
    Left the building.
    I enjoyed it very much. And audio was very good this time, at least watching it on the iPad using headphones.
     
  17. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2001
    Location:
    Boise, ID
    Good job of cleaning up the audio issues! There were some other minor problems, but overall a much cleaner effort and lots of improvement overall! Keep going!

    I have written a brief story about Rise of the Gongdea.
     
  18. Newtrek

    Newtrek Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2011
    Location:
    las vegas
    Thanks Mike, appreciate your take on the episode :)
     
  19. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2001
    Location:
    Boise, ID
    You have my admiration for your determination in getting this done and released! Keep going!
     
  20. lennier1

    lennier1 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    May 3, 2004
    Location:
    Germany
    Quite entertaining.

    The CG elements tended to stick out more than necessary, which you could tackle by using image-based lighting and a radiosity approach to lighting/rendering the elements.

    For future use: A decent-sized silver gazing ball with a diameter of 10 inches or so costs roughly 20 bucks new and would make work a lot easier for your CG guys:
    http://gl.ict.usc.edu/HDRShop/tutorial/tutorial05.php
    http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Creating_a_Light_Probe

    For amateur productions it doesn't need to be perfect and since you already have a decent camera on site anyway you'd only have to invest in a cheap chrome ball and a makeshift stand.