One of the ''Farragut spin-offs'' (can I call it that?) is about to premiere this weekend. So this saturday at 9pm, we can have a look at another web feature (not sure if this is a full-length or vignette-sized) that was shot at the Farragut studios, now re-christened STC's Stage 9. https://youtu.be/Y6I9VEf53e0 https://youtu.be/NHgxMJxyHLI
According to their FB page they have a vignette called "Haunted," which they filmed early last year and were planning to release this spring. I'd say that's what we're getting on Saturday.
It was very hard to hear several of the characters and make out what they were saying in the dream sequence as well.
And, Goddamit, sound is actually one of the easier things to get okay. That's what I find so frustrating about most fanfilms.
Well, I'd say: Congratulations to the first outing of Dreadnought Dominion. If the goal has been that some fans gather and produce a film they are happy to have made it the way they did - they succeeded. It may not be to everybody's liking, but those who did the film, have reached their goal - at least for themselves - and others. Here's just one or two remarks for future installments (if that helps): The audio quality is badly recorded or edited. And while audio is important in ANY film, it becomes here a necessity, because it's a very talky piece of film. The story of man vs. himself because of guilt is displayed via dialogue only. The "Show, don't tell" obviously doesn't apply here - so it's of paramount interest to get the audio part right. Sometimes you don't understand a word - it certainly helps, that we have subtitles, but that shouldn't be the goal, at all... I guess, it's been done with Adobe Audition, as Randy has obviously been the sound editor. It should have been at least edited more carefully when recording became a problem. Voices are flat and sometimes a mere background noise. There must be more you can get out of it, I'd say, if you handle background noise reduction and dynamic boost more carefully. The video editing lacks pacing all over the place. Reaction shots lose valuable seconds and take you out of the experience, because it seems like there's been an unnecessary pause in dialogue or an actor forgot his/her text. Quicker cuts should do the trick at times. And to watch a commodore constantly nodding while his background narration continues doesn't create interest in the things he explains - it also takes you out of the experience. So there's much room for improvement. But it's nice to see some yet unfamiliar faces in the ever growing Star Trek Fan Film Universe. Hopefully the next installment won't be about man vs. himself and the results of past wars - but about the wonders of exploration and the journey into the unknown. After all, Star Trek is also a Science Fiction series, not just a morale play set in the future. ;-) But: There are many out there, who haven't done any single frame of fan filming. So I nevertheless applaud the effort! EDIT: And I applaud them for NOT using Kickstarter! LOL!
I didn't see much point in anything they did. The only thing to distinguish this show from any of the other TOS-based films is that it's a dreadnought starship. And that's about it.
I really don't know how much I want to critique this, because I have to commend them on the fact that they finished a film and told a story. It may not have been my favorite kind of story, but it was a story. I do look forward to their next production, and hope they get the sound better this time.
Ok, I'm going to feel like a bully afterward, but I want to begin by giving kudos to the Dreadnought Dominion group for actually creating and finishing the film they wanted to make. With that said, Haunted has a lot of problems as a film. I had an idea what I was in for during the opening title sequence, featuring no less than 9 actors\supposedly ''main'' characters. In my opinion, Starship Exeter and the first 3 webisodes of Starship Farragut did this right, limiting their stories and focus on less than a handful of characters, everybody else should either be window dressing or say lines\get a moment to shine only if it helps the story along. Ideally these bit players should be distinct from everybody else. Dr Azzato from Exeter is a great example of this. Phase 2 was guilty of this leading up to and including Kitumba as they let the story get completely hijacked with bits of needless business so that every face could have their moment to shine. It hurt the flow of their stories, but they learned from this and Mind-Sifter was a good example of putting the focus back on the characters that matter. Star Trek Continues and Farragut also need to quit trying to flood their episodes with needless bland characters that take time away from the story (looking at you Drake, Smith and Palmer from STC, and the sudden influx of second bananas on Farragut except Foster and Stahler). Ordinarily I wouldn't have made such a point were it not for the fact that in Haunted, EVERY character without exception has ZERO personality, including the commodore and lead character. I watched a full 20 minutes and still have no idea who anyone is, except that the older guy with the goatee does a bad british accent and the chief engineer would get fired in a real life situation. On to the episode: again they might want to rethink their huge cast list, because with the long opening titles and shuttlecraft shots, it takes a whole 2 and a half minutes before a single line of dialogue finally begins the story. Someone should tell the editor to stop machine-gunning needless cuts... For the story itself...how can you have the captain's log stating the main actor was away while his ship was refitted for 18 months and he was, supposedly, judged ''physically, mentally and EMOTIONALLY fit'' before reassuming command, but everything that happens afterward (and even the conversation he has on the shuttlecraft) suggests that on the contrary he is NOT? If this were a real Star Trek story, some outside alien disease, artifact or other would have provoqued the Commodore's feelings of deep-seated (and unmentioned?) shame and guilt that he would have needed to overcome, but this episode mainly tells you the commodore should have gone more often to see his mental health professional during his sabbatical... By the way, it might have helped to have either a line of dialogue or some sort of visual cue somewhere in the episode to explain to those of us, like myself, who fail to see the difference between a regular starship and a ''dreadnought'', apart from the 3rd nacelle...
I can't watch it. The sound is so awful that I can't follow chunks of it without effort, and a TV show/movie should not require effort on the viewer's part. And, goddamn it, if the audio is weak DIAL DOWN THE SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC so they don't make it even harder.
I have nothing to do with the sound from this release. I was the editor, and I solicited the soundtrack for production from one of Potemkin's regular OST musicians, But David R. Wrenn and Gary Davis were in charge of the sound, especially in terms of SFX, mixing, etc. I'm afraid you didn't have the advantage of viewing the footage before the editing. I did. This was their second production, and they had a number of issues that I managed to compensate for on a lot of levels. But there's a lot of stuff that could not be fixed, either because of lack of reaction shots, continuity errors, or even a lack of closeups. For this being their second effort, I think they did remarkably well. Sadly, I think many here forget that these are fan films.
Yes, but that shouldn't absolve a production from constructive critique that can help them improve in their next outing. What's being said here is reasonable and should be taken into consideration to improve the next release, not seen as bashing or taking a piss out of the effort.
^Exactly what you said. At what point does "It's just a fan film" stop being the go-to response whenever a project is offered constructive, helpful comments?