A whole new take on remote production, eh? The kind of screens used for backdrops on The Mandalorian have been in use for years to get lighting and reflection to match a virtual scene (I first remember hearing of them being used for Gravity, I'm not sure if it goes back further), Mando's big innovation was one of scale; movies that filmed earlier this year were running into trouble finding that kind of screen for their own visual effects sequences because the show had bought up most of the world's supply. While it's entirely possible that Mandalorian-style tech could, in years to come, lead to actors having home film sets the same way they have home recording booths for voice-over work, we're probably not there, yet (come to think of it, what we're thinking about is basically what Guy Montag's wife aspired to have in Fahrenheit 451; a room where all four walls are entirely screens). For one thing, it's not just the costume, there's also a matter of lighting, camera operation, and make-up/hair. I can see a world where all these problems are solved, but I don't think it's one we'll get to at the drop of a hat, while enforcing social distancing. But, like I said, in five or ten years, it could be commonplace for actors who are unwilling or unable to travel for cameos, or to film quick pick-up scenes or shots after principal production.
Sure, the quality of an episode made that way would be kind of sketchy, but at least we'd get the stories told. Heck, for most of human history, drama was performed by people standing on an empty stage. Or heck, just get the actors to record the audio, then recruit top comics artists to illustrate the scenes and do the whole thing as motion comics.
How to use some useless characters (to compensate for the absence of beloved Kara, Lena - even if she lost her luster with her project Non Nocere - and Nia)? In giving them scenes together, of course. Alas, that doesn't make them more interesting!
I swear I could see the cable when Dreamer jumped down but I don’t have the frame-by-frame playback to say for sure.
Looks like Batwoman and Supergirl have run out of completed episodes? https://www.comicbookmovie.com/tv/d...-supergirl-have-been-pulled-by-the-cw-a174055
ComicBookMovie is not a legitimate news source. SpoilerTV has more credibility, but thus far they are the only place that has mentioned this, so I would advise that people be skeptical until or unless this is reported by other sources.
The supporting cast would have been getting their own stand out episodes to cope with Melissa being preggo. Those episodes are probably penciled in, if not typed out. By the time this virus has fucked off, Mel is going to be able bodied, and lost all the baby weight. Is the supporting cast still going to get their stand out episodes if Melissa is ready to work? They should. Someone has been paid.
I believe Marc Guggenheim tweeted that they can still do editing even through this pandemic, so that's a thing. As for the VFX, no idea about that, but I would assume one could theoretically "work from home" to finish that too. Things might be delayed, but here's hoping it's only by a few weeks and not a few months. https://twitter.com/mguggenheim/status/1242515502892630016
Yeah, I'd imagine that these days, most everything in post-production could be done digitally and delivered online. It's probably just a question of reorganizing the post-production pipeline to sort that out, or maybe to make sure people have the right assets at home, maybe some software or equipment they only had at work. They might have to settle for synth music rather than assembling an orchestra, but I think they already do a mix of synth and orchestral cues, and maybe they could record some soloists individually to sweeten the synth scores.
There's also software that allows you to remotely control one computer from another on the internet. That's what I'm doing; my job involves processing large data files that require more computing power and more storage than I can support at home (plus they don't want things leaving the building for security reasons), but I can operate my office workstation from anywhere using a remote access program. I'm not sure if it took off, it's been a while since I heard anything about it, but a few years ago, there was a system that was using the same technique for VFX as standard operating procedure; rather than having to give every artist around the world their own high-powered computer, they all remotely controlled mainframe-scale systems at server farms elsewhere. Apparently, the lag from transmitting the keyboard, mouse, and screen back and forth over the internet wasn't terrible compared to how much faster these massive machines were to work on, but I remember there being a degree of trepidation about putting all your work on someone else's computer that you couldn't even see. There's a similar principle at work behind remote-gaming services like Google's Stadia; the dream is that, since people don't use their computers or game consoles 24/7, by having the whole world share from the same pool of devices on-demand, they can satisfy everyone's needs with fewer, more powerful machines and actually provide more computing power to each user for less cost. There are applications where that's more less practical; with large-scale VFX, you might be used to having to wait a half or quarter second to see the result every time you do something, but for games or audio/video editing, not getting full-quality output and having even fractions of a second of lag can be noticeable.
While it's terrible that this is happening, we're incredibly fortunate that it's happening at a time when we have so many technological alternatives to gathering in person. Which makes this Supergirl season's "technology is scary and bad because it isolates us from each other" arc seem even more naive and misguided.
And to end, but in this scene, Seven really terrified me as the new Bord Queen (especially, look at the eyes).
How much does Obsidian and the subscription cost? Most families shouldn't be able to afford it, even if they pick VR over cable and the internet, if it wasn't an even plan to take over the world that required maximum saturation. So only people that earn 60 grand a year, with less than three children can swing Obsidian Platinum, comfortably... After they are all murdered by VR, the meek will finally inherit the Earth.
Imagine the concentration of advertising. You'd need very illegal adblock software to avoid being drowned in pop ups at every given moment. Lex doesn't care about obsidian, or taking over the world. He just wants to liquidate Leviathan. Lex is the goodie? Maybe obsidian platinum is at one side of the spectrum where its ad free, and the other end is obsidian dog shit where you have to sit through a 3 hour long sales pitch about gum once a day.
I didn't realize Brent Spiner was originally casted as President Baker but had to back out due to family circumstances. Not that Bruce did a bad job as Baker, but Spiner would have been interesting. Actually, come to think of it he should be casted on this show for another role at some point anyway.
New episodes resume April 26: https://tvline.com/2020/03/30/the-cw-return-dates-riverdale-the-flash-full-schedule/