Project: Potemkin, a Star Trek Fan Film

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Thanks! We film our vignette Friday, so we're scrambling to get things done. I'm buying a portable air-conditioner tomorrow to install in addition to the other work. We'll run the exhaust out the side of the carport along with the condensation hose. Shouldn't take but thirty minutes to do...

I'm not sold on the fabric covering on the rail myself. I think I'm going to have my daughter re-do them after filming the vignette. I put them on with a staple gun, and I think we need to glue 'em on instead for the actual episode. She cut the material then went back to Troy to move her stuff out of her old apartment and into her new one. She'll be back Friday to help and all with the production, but it'll be too late to try gluing them down that day.

I'm about to post a link in a few minutes to our first special effects shot (Page 1, Frame 5 & 6, Scene 0b) from "The Old Guy." Bill Walker did a very nice job with it.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Here's the link to the Project Potemkin channel which has the SPFX scene described above: http://www.youtube.com/user/Potemkin1711

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Six hours until we film. Bridge is completed; appliques hung. Air conditioning installed and chilling the set. All that's left is vacuuming the set.

I wonder if every one who does a fan film is as nervous as I am right now during their first shoot...

 

[lennier1]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

^^
Crossing my fingers and toes.

Most important of all: Have Fun!!!

BTW: Interesting VFX shot. That planet looks almost like a blend between TOS and early TNG and gives it a TV episode feeling.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Thanks! I'll pass that along to Bill Walker. I think a lot of things about our set are crosses between TOS/Movies/TNG. Apropos since the movie is set a couple of years after STVI:TUC.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Give you one piece of advice for while filming. Your actors are going to want to be touching buttons at a million miles a second. This looks awful on screen, the slower the better.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Good advice, thanks. I'm definitely going to tell that one to James.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

I also ment to say Good luck and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Well, it's 1:30am, and we've just wrapped production. Things went extremely well, and we'll be handing over the footage to our editor in the coming days. Too tired for an update tonight, but overall, it was awesome to see it all come together like it did.

My thanks to everyone involved (and I'll list them properly in our next website update), and we'll have some publicity stills and such posted soon.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

I've created a page on our website for "Filming the Old Guys": http://www.projectpotemkin.com/filming_the_old_guys.htm

The backstory for this episode is quite simple. After a number of people looked at our cast photos, they asked the question, "Where are all the old guys?" Well, this little vignette examines why there aren't that many senior officers on the Potemkin at this time.

I also created Building the Bridge 12 which shows the last two days of building the bridge. That'll probably be the last in the bridge series as we're now about to start construction on the turbolift, rear alcove and captain's ready room.

I intend to take a week off before resuming any construction. Just need to recharge my batteries and let my tennis elbow heal a bit before getting the saw and OSB out for the next installment. Something about filming 5 hours in 95 degrees that takes a lot out of a guy!

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Did you ever get the Air Conditioner?

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

We did, and it was pumping 64 degree coolness. But it was nearly 100 yesterday. With the humidity, it felt like 109 degrees. The thing was working its fan off, but kept it around 80-85 until we turned on the lights. Instantly it jumped 10 degrees. We finished filming after midnight, and by then it was mostly tolerable.

We're looking at scheduling our next shoot either in late September or October.

 

[lennier1]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Ouch, that definitely sounds tough!
But despite the weather conditions all that work still paid off and you got to shoot your first scenes on the new bridge.

Looking forward to the details on that vignette. Those girls look so young they'd barely be out of the academy. Reminds me of the later movies where the Enterprise was used to give cadets and ensigns their first field experiences.

BTW: Will you really take a week off or did your wife simply decide that your new experiences as a carpenter should be put to use in other parts of the house as well?

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

We're looking at scheduling our next shoot either in late September or October.

When we filmed Tales of the Seventh Fleet, we tried to film in the fall and winter months for this exact reason. I don't know what kind of bulbs you are using for filming, but you may want to look into using Florescent. The are brighter, cover better and no where near as hot.

Really glad to hear everything went well, looking forward to when this gets released.

 

[USS Intrepid]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Heat? Bah, we never have to worry about that in Scotland.

Congrats on a successful shoot!

 

[lennier1]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Heat? Bah, we never have to worry about that in Scotland.

Sure, instead you have plenty of rain during a shoot on location.

I'm surprised Bodo doesn't pack an inflatable boat whenever he travels up there. But then again with his luck with airlines putting stuff into his luggage won't help him much anyway.

 

[USS Intrepid]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

True that.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Ouch, that definitely sounds tough! But despite the weather conditions all that work still paid off and you got to shoot your first scenes on the new bridge.

That we did.

Looking forward to the details on that vignette. Those girls look so young they'd barely be out of the academy. Reminds me of the later movies where the Enterprise was used to give cadets and ensigns their first field experiences.

That's sort of the back story there. Ours is not a training ship for midshipmen. I specifically wrote this short film in answer to a number of comments along the lines of "Where are the old guys?" There are a lot of twenty somethings aboard the Potemkin. Of course, our alien tactical officer is actually around 70 years old. His species just ages at a slower rate than ours.

BTW: Will you really take a week off or did your wife simply decide that your new experiences as a carpenter should be put to use in other parts of the house as well?

No, I'm really taking a week off from construction. This past week has been a real rollercoaster ride as we had to scramble for various fixes to problems: the back door alcove, for example, was a failure. Complete and total. Going to have to go with a different approach there. Started looking at it half an hour ago, in fact, trying to figure out a different approach.

When we filmed Tales of the Seventh Fleet, we tried to film in the fall and winter months for this exact reason. I don't know what kind of bulbs you are using for filming, but you may want to look into using Florescent. The are brighter, cover better and no where near as hot.

I don't want to think about how hot those lights we used were, but the choice of lighting went to our director of photography, Jeff Green. They were bright, hot, and reflected by use of umbrellas and filters.

Really glad to hear everything went well, looking forward to when this gets released.

Thanks! Me, too!

Heat? Bah, we never have to worry about that in Scotland. Congrats on a successful shoot!

Thanks!

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Quick Update Time: The miniDV with the vignette footage is now in the hands of our editor, Thomas Scott of Magique Productions. We're looking forward to seeing the results!

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Re: New Star Trek Fan Film

Saw the teaser on Facebook, your CGI looks really good. Interesting take on the uniform, the set looked good with people in place.