Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes Questions

[NEO f/x]

dayxday1000 wrote:

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Thanks for the updates! I was thrilled when I first read about this project and saw the teaser. There was some talk about an animated Exeter production a while back but it never seemed to get off the ground. I've enjoyed the work of Kail Tescar and NeoFX and I'm really looking forward to following this and watching the final product(s). Thanks!

Guys, thanks for all of the kind words...

I guess now would be as good of a time as any to ask for some 'help'. As you know, we have a dedicated web site for these episodes (Farragut-Animated.com). Since we are such a small crew (pun), we haven't had much time to put together the web site that will accompany the release. Since it appears we have a LOT of skilled folks out there I wanted to put an invitation out for a web designer for our go-live site.

Since this is a fan-production, we cannot pay you. However, we can offer you the following:

1) The fame and glory associated with creating a very professional site that will have your name on it.
2) You name forever immortalized in the closing credits of the episodes
3) A personalized 2D image of you as a TAS Starfleet officer (yes Kail, I will pay for this )
4) A sneak preview of the final episodes before they are released to the public
5) A free DVD copy of the episodes when they are released

To qualify, I would like to see JPG 'mock ups' of what you are proposing. There will be a 'home' page, a cast/crew page, a downloads page, FAQs, and a press page (with press releases and links to articles about the programs).

Please send the mockups (and, please, mockups only) to animation (at) neo-fx (dot) com. If you are skilled in flash I wouldn't mind (but isn't required) a Flash opening to the page as well.

Sorry for pandering, but I have a feeling we have some folks here that would be a perfect match for this assignment.

[FalTorPan]

Another question -- how many frames per second will the animation be? I believe Filmation did "one for two" -- meaning one frame of animation for every two frames of film -- or 12 fps. Video is 29.97 frames per second, so pure "one for two" would be about 15 fps. If you wanted to truly mimic Filmation's style, then you could make 12 fps as one for two and later interpolate to 29.97.

[NEO f/x]

FalTorPan wrote:

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Another question -- how many frames per second will the animation be? I believe Filmation did "one for two" -- meaning one frame of animation for every two frames of film -- or 12 fps. Video is 29.97 frames per second, so pure "one for two" would be about 15 fps. If you wanted to truly mimic Filmation's style, then you could make 12 fps as one for two and later interpolate to 29.97.

It is actually a bit more complicated at that...the episodes were originally on film and then converted to NTSC (telecine) just like any film-to-television conversion.

However, let's take the televsion format out of this and just talk about the raw film...You are correct that many of the items (displays, character lip syncing, etc.) appeared to 12 fps but are still 24fps. It was just the cels were not maniuplated every frame but every 2 frames...which does give a 12fps appearance...However, some items had movement on every frame that went by. For example, the ship moving across the screen was full motion, as were some of the run cycles, and anytime they used optical effect instead of an animation move.

We are doing the exact same thing with our episode and I think you will be very pleased with the result. We are working at 24fps, the lip syncs are 2 frames per move, and ship movements and opticals will be every frame. We will release it at 24 fps on the internet, and the DVDs will play on televisions just like the live episodes, which are also 24fps (23.976 to be exact) and converted to 30fps by your DVD player.

Hope that help...

[FalTorPan]

I look forward to whatever information you may have to share about this project. It looks like a great deal of fun!

[NEO f/x]

FalTorPan wrote:

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I look forward to whatever information you may have to share about this project. It looks like a great deal of fun!

Well, there should be another small blurb about the project on TrekMovie rather soon. But anyone who has read this forum knows John Hazard has joined team. He turned in a rough sketch of some of his ideas, and they look fantastic. I can't wait to see the end result.

[Starhawk]

Very cool. The more I learn about this project the more I can't wait for it to be released.

[johnhazard]

dayxday1000 wrote:

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Thanks for the updates! I was thrilled when I first read about this project and saw the teaser. There was some talk about an animated Exeter production a while back but it never seemed to get off the ground. I've enjoyed the work of Kail Tescar and NeoFX and I'm really looking forward to following this and watching the final product(s). Thanks!

Yeah, I'm the dirty culprit behind the animated Exeter tease- I really wanted to do it, wrote a script and half a storyboard, then had to call it off when, among other things, I got a weekly newspaper strip which pretty much eats up whatever free time I would have had for the project (in fact, I'll be up tonight working on this week's strip). when you've got a family, paying projects take precedence.

Now that I see the Exeter guys are finally nearing the end of their long "Tressauran" odyssey and still wanting to do more episodes, I'd really love to find a way to revisit the project in some form- we'll see.

In the meantime, I am SO looking forward to doing my animated Farragut bits. It's going to be so much fun to work on, and an honor to be included in the final product. I'm going to be using some modern trickery (Maya), then retrograding it to match the painterly goodness of those old Saturday morning cartoon backgrounds.

By the way NEO fx, thanks for announcing my participation- considering how little my contribution will be, it's most kind of you.

[Kail]

Welcome aboard John. Looking forward to your contributions.

[NEO f/x]

[quote=johnhazard;1791857]

dayxday1000 wrote:

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By the way NEO fx, thanks for announcing my participation- considering how little my contribution will be, it's most kind of you.

John,

No problem...I really like your sketch concepts and can't wait to see what Maya can produce.

[RobertScorpio]

NEO f/x wrote:

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Guys,

It thrills me to see the positive response this is getting....I will certainly NOT be a stranger here.

johnhazard-I believe I e-mailed you last year about helping . If you still have my e-mail I would certainly love to have your name in the end credits...I will have to go over the scripts, but I am almost sure we can find a background or two for you to do.

Mallory-Where abouts are you located? The director of Exeter is up here too and we have worked on a couple projects together. You know how the beer is around here...maybe you have seen me at one of the local pubs.

Cheers!

This is going to be a real treat. I can tell you guys really care about what you are doing and that will come through I am sure!!!

Rob
Scorpio

[NEO f/x]

For anyone interested, Farragut has a new 'promo' that will be shown at the Shoreleave convention this weekend. It is about a new set of episodes called 'Crew Logs'...Basically short, character-driven vignettes. However, the teaser also about about 30 seconds of TAE footage in it, and a sample of what the style of music will be like.

http://starshipfarragut.neo-fx.com/ (See Coming Soon 2008/2009).

Enjoy.

[FalTorPan]

Cool stuff! Having just finished watching the first season of Filmation's Flash Gordon, I'm ready to watch the animated Farragut stories. (Hopefully there will be no counterpart to second-season Flash Gordon's Gremlin the Baby Dragon. I have great respect for Lou Scheimer, but Gremlin is on par with Jar Jar Binks.)

[johnhazard]

NEO f/x wrote:

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For anyone interested, Farragut has a new 'promo' that will be shown at the Shoreleave convention this weekend. It is about a new set of episodes called 'Crew Logs'...Basically short, character-driven vignettes. However, the teaser also about about 30 seconds of TAE footage in it, and a sample of what the style of music will be like.

http://starshipfarragut.neo-fx.com/ (See Coming Soon 2008/2009).

Enjoy.

The quicktime link is the old series teaser.

The rest is pure awesome.
I like the captain without the 'stache!
The TAS Gorn made me smile!

[Hudson_uk]

Absolutely great peak at the animation episodes. Very much looking forward to it. The "short stories" idea looks good too.

[NEO f/x]

johnhazard wrote:

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The quicktime link is the old series teaser.

The rest is pure awesome.
I like the captain without the 'stache!
The TAS Gorn made me smile!

John,

Thanks for the heads up on the MOV...That is now fixed. The captain with the green girl actually looks like a flashback to an earlier Carter...Hmmm

All,

Thanks for your comments...This has been a fun project so far, and it is getting more interesting by the day!