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"Polaris"

My Name Is Legion said:
Psion said:
Has there been any discussion amongst the Polaris crew about the new Space Command show Doug Drexler et al are putting together? Do you have any sense of competition with the new guys? Do you think you'll have a release first? You have a pretty good crew -- has there been any crossover from your production team to theirs?
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I think that those are all "No," other than that we've watched the progress of the Kickstarter fundraising campaign with obvious interest and have discussed that a bit.
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I wonder how many projects like Space Command can be supported by Kickstarter before the huge interest shown starts to wear off. I don't think Kickstarter has come close to its total potential audience yet, but when it does there'll have to be an upper limit to the amount of money that can be raised for similar projects.

I'm a bit surprised, though, that your response indicates that you think Space Command will beat you to release. Good-natured snark about Exeter's delays aside, your team is pretty good and you've already got all your principal photography in the can (right?). Is the Space Command team so good that you expect they'll still beat you to release?

I'm assuming here that your production and theirs are in the same "market" ... a SF web production; both with potential for becoming full-blown web series. There's certainly plenty of room in fandom for both. Do you think that both shows are likely to be compared to each other?

Maurice and Dennis, thanks for your responses!
 
As I said before, Space Command will be paying people, which will make it possible for them to treat the work like a job for a period of time. On Polaris it's all volunteer labor, so we can't just sit down and put 40 hours weeks in. Yes, we have principle photography finished, but these sci-fi shows have tons of post-production. If this show weren't laden with VFX and sound effects it would be done already. For example, there are something like 15 shots with visual effects elements in the opening scene, not counting what's on the viewscreen or cuts of the spaceships from the outside.
 
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Do you think a Kickstarter campaign would be helpful for you guys to finish? Our little production is going to have one soon to get money to buy a better camera -- which would be a lot less than the $75000 Space Command was asking for. But if you guys could raise about $3-5000, it might be enough to pay someone to devote some real time to the post production needs.

We, on the other hand. are trying to get by with next-to-no post production. ;)
 
I spent the whole weekend editing Polaris. I finally got around to cutting together a big protagonist v. antagonist dialog that Dennis wanted me to start with. Wee!
 
^^^Don't you wish you knew? lol

Pretty good, so far. Needs some tweaks. You'll see it soon, Dennis. :)
 
Looking through the footage reminded me of this:

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Ahhh, good times!
 
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7559971310_2db7fe440f_c.jpg

The top officers of the starship Polaris in a rare light moment on the Command Deck. From left to right,
Commander Paul Duncan (Nick Cook), Captain Sam Fredericks (Paul R. Sieber),
and Lt. Commander January "Howie" Howard (Susan Cirrincione).

Click for larger version!​
 
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I've had the privilege of being an "early adopter" of the film —
i.e. a test audience member — thanks to Maurice, the intrepid editor of POLARIS. In other words, I've seen a rough cut of the film. And I've been given permission to post a little something here of my initial reaction. That little something will be real brief as I don't want to give away anything of the actual story.

That being said, I can tell from just the rough cut that this is going to be a steller film (pun fully intended). There is an eeriness in the story that calls back to the film's antecedents, such as FORBIDDEN PLANET and the original STAR TREK. But what truly sets this film apart from any other fan production (and this is really an independent film production in its own right) is that it uses that particular era of science fiction to create something new and exciting. And it is exciting to watch a brand-new universe unfold and get to know new characters. More than that, it's just plain exciting to watch.

The film moves. It doesn't drag. Not once was I bored. The characters are quite fun. Fredericks and Dr. Young, played by Paul Sieber and Gina Hernandez respectively, have a great rapport, which gleams through the screen. The antagonist is captivating to watch. The humor, especially Nick Cook's lines and his delivery, hits just right more than once.

The best part is that POLARIS is plain fun. It's adventure science fiction with the emphasis on adventure. And I can't wait to see the finished product with all the final VFX shots in place. Trust me, it's going to be well worth the wait.
 
It's nice to see some feedback from someone who isn't so close to the production. Glad to hear you liked what you've seen. Like you, I can't wait to see it with FX in place. It really does feel, in tone, like a film from that special era of SF movies. I miss that tone.
 
Actually, Middyseafort saw the edit was up in Final Cut, and hit me with a shillelagh. When I came to he'd watched the whole thing. Good thing I hadn't edited in the climax yet. Denied! :)

All kidding aside, the feedback's been good so far, even though no one ever loves the rough cut.
 
Thanks, middy. I'm really pleased - and more than a little relieved - that you liked it so much. :)

You're one of the first, if not the first, person not associated with the production to have seen the rough cut.
 
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