Star Trek - Horizon (Enterprise Feature-Length Fan Film)
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The ‘World Gate’ was an Iconian tool/weapon (depending on your point of view). Unlike a ‘Stargate’ it does not need another gate at the other end to function. It was used by the surviving Iconians to transfer the ‘Horizon’ to a new galaxy. The ‘Horizon’ was an artificially constructed planet, an enemy weapon of immense power.
I loved the World Gate scene in the film, but what impressed me far more then the World Gate or the Horizon itself was how calm this bird was as its planet is being swallowed up!
Here is a really good video interview with Tommy Kraft:
http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Local-filmmaker-version-of-Star-Trek--370314151.html
http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Local-filmmaker-version-of-Star-Trek--370314151.html
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I loved the World Gate scene in the film, but what impressed me far more then the World Gate or the Horizon itself was how calm this bird was as its planet is being swallowed up!
"Look at all the Eggs I don't give!"
I thought this might be of interest. It is a short sci-fi called ‘ElizaNewton’ (2013). It’s from the makers of ST:Horizon and has some of the same actors. It is about a young woman who is granted superhuman abilities.
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It didn't hurt your eyes?
Does it really bother you so much that some of us have aesthetic issues with the film?
These thoughts will be a little scattered...
This is a phenomenal achievement for a fan film. I could quibble about a few acting choices, a few lines of dialogue, or a plot thread that wasn't pulled taut. But on the whole? I'm blown away.
The lighting choices were clearly designed to hide green screen limitations. However, that didn't bother me. It reminded me of the black-and-white treatment of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"; if I recall correctly, John Ford wanted to make Jimmy Stewart's age less apparent. (Those are obviously very different situations; it's just what sprang to mind.) It took me a few minutes to adjust to Horizon's visual style, but after that, I had no issues watching it. In fact, no other fan production has had such a cinematic feel. This blows away the likes of "Of Gods and Men," in my opinion.
I thought the actors portraying the captain and first officer gave the strongest performances (along with the film's primary villain). The others cast members had more false notes but were still solid overall. While T'Mar could have used more development, the actress made her very sympathetic.
The return of the captain's love interest was interesting. I thought his reaction was too reserved. However, the first officer's reaction was spot on; he looked dazed, struggling to focus as the captain requested information.
All in all, Tommy exceeded my high expectations for Horizon. His passion permeates every moment of the movie. I'm shocked at what he was able to achieve given the budget and studio space.
This is a phenomenal achievement for a fan film. I could quibble about a few acting choices, a few lines of dialogue, or a plot thread that wasn't pulled taut. But on the whole? I'm blown away.
The lighting choices were clearly designed to hide green screen limitations. However, that didn't bother me. It reminded me of the black-and-white treatment of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"; if I recall correctly, John Ford wanted to make Jimmy Stewart's age less apparent. (Those are obviously very different situations; it's just what sprang to mind.) It took me a few minutes to adjust to Horizon's visual style, but after that, I had no issues watching it. In fact, no other fan production has had such a cinematic feel. This blows away the likes of "Of Gods and Men," in my opinion.
I thought the actors portraying the captain and first officer gave the strongest performances (along with the film's primary villain). The others cast members had more false notes but were still solid overall. While T'Mar could have used more development, the actress made her very sympathetic.
The return of the captain's love interest was interesting. I thought his reaction was too reserved. However, the first officer's reaction was spot on; he looked dazed, struggling to focus as the captain requested information.
All in all, Tommy exceeded my high expectations for Horizon. His passion permeates every moment of the movie. I'm shocked at what he was able to achieve given the budget and studio space.
Actually, I think it's amusing.
I have no idea what you and Maurice are teasing about, because I haven't read the thread, but no!
Actually, I thought several times, "Thank God they did such a good job hiding the greenscreen." The Hidden Frontier series and its many spinoffs were pioneers in so, so many ways, but I found them often challenging to watch because the greenscreening was so obvious. Here, it was never a problem. (Admittedly, that may be as much because greenscreen technology has advanced since 2007 as because of any stylistic choices Tommy made. I dunno. I mean, I'm an audio producer! I don't know the first thing about this visual stuff! It's all excessive in my book! Use your imaginations! Get off my lawn!
)
I am not a fan of Enterprise. But I gave Horizon a chance and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I think Captain Hawke was a much more believable military commander than a certain other Captain whose name rhymes with "Onothan Jarcher". The story was well-constructed, and I liked the sense of camaraderie and professionalism the crew had.
I'm not going to sit here and complain about the fanfilm-y elements of this fanfilm. That would be stupid. I will say that Horizon is an excellent accomplishment, and kudos to Mr. Kraft for the incredible amount of work he put in to make it a reality.
I'm not going to sit here and complain about the fanfilm-y elements of this fanfilm. That would be stupid. I will say that Horizon is an excellent accomplishment, and kudos to Mr. Kraft for the incredible amount of work he put in to make it a reality.
Not a huge fan of the Enterprise Era...that being said, I thought this was a really well done fanfilm and you should be proud of what you've created. thanks for sharing it.
I love Enterprise, so finding a fan film set in that era was a surprise, and I ended up enjoying this more than I expected to. Most fan films are across the board awful, but Horizon actually had more good than bad going on.
The ship and battle effects were pretty great, and other than the pimp collars on the SF uniforms, the costumes were quite good. The Iconians alien of the week look was pretty crap and the floppy holster in the opening scene didn't exactly inspire confidence, but things improved once past the prologue. The visual effects to disguise the CGI sets was a good choice, considering the low-low budget, and I was actually fooled at times into thinking the production had somehow gotten ahold of discarded Enterprise sets.
The story was OK. Not thrilled with yet another world-destroying super weapon, but I always liked the TCW plots from the series, so seeing more of Future Guy and his machinations here was cool. Nitpicky - Not having the Enterprise lead the assault didn't really make any sense in-universe, since Archer has fought off how many alien threats to Earth by that point, including the Romulans? Having the Discovery support the assault and simply be the one that conducts the attack run on the weapon's aperture, leading to getting sucked down the time tunnel, would have worked just as well.
The side plots with the Romulan infiltrator/Chief Engineer and Captain/Helm Officer relationships kind of fell flat, because they were underdeveloped. Too much was told about how various people felt about things instead of having scenes spaced throughout that effectively showed those interactions. The captain's dreams could have been an avenue to show his relationship with the helm officer in flashback before they morphed into the causality warping visions, for instance. A few more passes with the script to punch up the dialogue all around would have done wonders. I could see where they were going with the infiltrator/engineer stuff but the dialogue just wasn't there.
Similarly, I liked the decision to go with a more stoic/sardonic older captain, and in some scenes it worked really well. I even laughed at a few lines (that were meant to be funny). In the first battle scene and a few of the longer exposition scenes, though, the actor wasn't given much to work with on the page.
Acting overall was a bit of a crap shoot. The Captain was good (after that first battle scene), though his physicality during the shootouts was weak. Daikon was a decent villain with a clear, distinctive voice and great screen presence. The helm officer was good, too, especially during the third act when she wasn't just a dreamland burn victim. Was it T'mar, the infiltrator? She was good but could have been much better if she'd had better lines to work with. The Ensign Sato stand-in and the engineer were meh.
The tactical and science officers were, unfortunately, pretty horrendous. Any time I got lost in just enjoying the show, I could always count on one or the other to wobble into the scene and drag everything down into a charisma black hole. I've heard more evocative line readings from Charlie Brown's teacher and parents.
"Deck whatever is damaged, Captain." *blank, expressionless face, unmoved by fires and explosions right behind him*
"I'm getting some sort of readings or something about some stuff, but it's like weird. I don't know..." *voice trails off into mumbled nonsense as his soulless, staring doll's eyes sap your will to live*
Seriously though, for a fan film with a bare bones budget, it's pretty amazing what these people pulled off. I couldn't even get through the one with Walter Koenig and Captain Cameron after two tries and those guys are supposedly really reals actors, but I watched and enjoyed all of Horizon in one sitting. Best Star Trek fan film I've seen by at least a parsec.
The ship and battle effects were pretty great, and other than the pimp collars on the SF uniforms, the costumes were quite good. The Iconians alien of the week look was pretty crap and the floppy holster in the opening scene didn't exactly inspire confidence, but things improved once past the prologue. The visual effects to disguise the CGI sets was a good choice, considering the low-low budget, and I was actually fooled at times into thinking the production had somehow gotten ahold of discarded Enterprise sets.
The story was OK. Not thrilled with yet another world-destroying super weapon, but I always liked the TCW plots from the series, so seeing more of Future Guy and his machinations here was cool. Nitpicky - Not having the Enterprise lead the assault didn't really make any sense in-universe, since Archer has fought off how many alien threats to Earth by that point, including the Romulans? Having the Discovery support the assault and simply be the one that conducts the attack run on the weapon's aperture, leading to getting sucked down the time tunnel, would have worked just as well.
The side plots with the Romulan infiltrator/Chief Engineer and Captain/Helm Officer relationships kind of fell flat, because they were underdeveloped. Too much was told about how various people felt about things instead of having scenes spaced throughout that effectively showed those interactions. The captain's dreams could have been an avenue to show his relationship with the helm officer in flashback before they morphed into the causality warping visions, for instance. A few more passes with the script to punch up the dialogue all around would have done wonders. I could see where they were going with the infiltrator/engineer stuff but the dialogue just wasn't there.
Similarly, I liked the decision to go with a more stoic/sardonic older captain, and in some scenes it worked really well. I even laughed at a few lines (that were meant to be funny). In the first battle scene and a few of the longer exposition scenes, though, the actor wasn't given much to work with on the page.
Acting overall was a bit of a crap shoot. The Captain was good (after that first battle scene), though his physicality during the shootouts was weak. Daikon was a decent villain with a clear, distinctive voice and great screen presence. The helm officer was good, too, especially during the third act when she wasn't just a dreamland burn victim. Was it T'mar, the infiltrator? She was good but could have been much better if she'd had better lines to work with. The Ensign Sato stand-in and the engineer were meh.
The tactical and science officers were, unfortunately, pretty horrendous. Any time I got lost in just enjoying the show, I could always count on one or the other to wobble into the scene and drag everything down into a charisma black hole. I've heard more evocative line readings from Charlie Brown's teacher and parents.
"Deck whatever is damaged, Captain." *blank, expressionless face, unmoved by fires and explosions right behind him*
"I'm getting some sort of readings or something about some stuff, but it's like weird. I don't know..." *voice trails off into mumbled nonsense as his soulless, staring doll's eyes sap your will to live*
Seriously though, for a fan film with a bare bones budget, it's pretty amazing what these people pulled off. I couldn't even get through the one with Walter Koenig and Captain Cameron after two tries and those guys are supposedly really reals actors, but I watched and enjoyed all of Horizon in one sitting. Best Star Trek fan film I've seen by at least a parsec.
Finally watched this.
An unbelievable accomplishment for a fan film! Incredible work! Well done to all involved!
I haven't read the entire thread, but I'm guessing your stylistic choices have been discussed at great length already. I found the lens flare and blurring a tad overdone but I can see why you went that way with it and, I must confess, it really adds a distinctive look to the film that grabs attention. Perhaps more than it should, but it's damned impressive.
I really liked the virtual camera moves and things you did around the bridge and other sets. As someone who's dabbled with greenscreens and CGI myself, you made it seem so effortless (I'm gonna watch some of your post-production videos next! ).
I would have gone for some more wide shots whenever feasible as some scenes felt 'cramped', too many close-ups cutting to close-ups. Also I couldn't help notice a fair bit of 'line-crossing' where actors were clearly looking the wrong way or the camera placement got confused by someone moving. Again not helped by the 'crampedness'.
It's fantastic to see an Enterprise-era project, and have it look like it belongs in that universe. I can only imagine the amount of effort this must have taken to get everything so authentic-looking and sounding. Really, truly, well done. I'm impressed.
It's an ambitious plot (it's certainly 'movie scale') but some of the characters didn't get enough development for me. And some of the dialogue made me cringe (I've written my fair share of cringey dialogue myself, so I know how easy it is to fall into). And these are obviously important things to get right in any film but I find it hard to criticise too much due to what you've managed to achieve beyond that. I don't often get 100 minutes of Me Time to watch fan films (more's the pity) but I got through this one and enjoyed it a lot. I hope you do more!
One other tiny nitpick, but actually it amused me, was the conveniently-placed chest-high walls wherever gun fights took place. It was like Star Trek meets Gears of War. :P
An unbelievable accomplishment for a fan film! Incredible work! Well done to all involved!
I haven't read the entire thread, but I'm guessing your stylistic choices have been discussed at great length already. I found the lens flare and blurring a tad overdone but I can see why you went that way with it and, I must confess, it really adds a distinctive look to the film that grabs attention. Perhaps more than it should, but it's damned impressive.
I really liked the virtual camera moves and things you did around the bridge and other sets. As someone who's dabbled with greenscreens and CGI myself, you made it seem so effortless (I'm gonna watch some of your post-production videos next!
).I would have gone for some more wide shots whenever feasible as some scenes felt 'cramped', too many close-ups cutting to close-ups. Also I couldn't help notice a fair bit of 'line-crossing' where actors were clearly looking the wrong way or the camera placement got confused by someone moving. Again not helped by the 'crampedness'.
It's fantastic to see an Enterprise-era project, and have it look like it belongs in that universe. I can only imagine the amount of effort this must have taken to get everything so authentic-looking and sounding. Really, truly, well done. I'm impressed.
It's an ambitious plot (it's certainly 'movie scale') but some of the characters didn't get enough development for me. And some of the dialogue made me cringe (I've written my fair share of cringey dialogue myself, so I know how easy it is to fall into). And these are obviously important things to get right in any film but I find it hard to criticise too much due to what you've managed to achieve beyond that. I don't often get 100 minutes of Me Time to watch fan films (more's the pity) but I got through this one and enjoyed it a lot. I hope you do more!
One other tiny nitpick, but actually it amused me, was the conveniently-placed chest-high walls wherever gun fights took place. It was like Star Trek meets Gears of War. :P
I liked it quite a bit. Not often to see feature-length san films of any kind, and this one was upper crust as efforts go - I'm able to look past the vaseline vision and limitations of the greenscreen they used (unless there's some other reason all those closeups cut the heads off most of the actors), and the ill-fitting costumes (barely anyone had a proper neckline, and the actresses had the sleeves obviously rolled up!) and enjoyed what we got.
Writing was positive,but unpolished. It was tough remembering who everyone was, and it's up to halfway into the movie that some of the characters were even referred to by name, an even the Captain was called "Harrison" and "Hawke" alternatively to the point that I wondered if there was a script errors! The characters however were distinct and played well enough. I also felt the Romulan infiltrator and Temporal Agent relationships were not developed, and IMO they should have focused on one or the other. As it stands the infiltrator plot barely contributed to the story and felt out of place, but could have been made more relevant and thus enjoyable.
Overall a nice work and I'd like to see more. There's really no ENT-era fan stuff and this is a great addition to the pantheon.
Mark
Writing was positive,but unpolished. It was tough remembering who everyone was, and it's up to halfway into the movie that some of the characters were even referred to by name, an even the Captain was called "Harrison" and "Hawke" alternatively to the point that I wondered if there was a script errors! The characters however were distinct and played well enough. I also felt the Romulan infiltrator and Temporal Agent relationships were not developed, and IMO they should have focused on one or the other. As it stands the infiltrator plot barely contributed to the story and felt out of place, but could have been made more relevant and thus enjoyable.
Overall a nice work and I'd like to see more. There's really no ENT-era fan stuff and this is a great addition to the pantheon.
Mark
I loved it! I really enjoyed the follow up to the TCW story plot, and tied up the loose ends.
Hoping down the line you can make a sequel. I would recommend moving away from TCW story plot. Perhaps take another story plot from Enterprise that needs to be wrapped up, or one of the proposed episodes for season 5 and turn it into something?
Hoping down the line you can make a sequel. I would recommend moving away from TCW story plot. Perhaps take another story plot from Enterprise that needs to be wrapped up, or one of the proposed episodes for season 5 and turn it into something?
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