Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes Questions
- Thread starter FalTorPan
- Start date
Copy that! This is a great new adventure all its own.
Yeah, I'd like to know as well. I am really looking forward to this production. I've enjoyed all the Farragut adventures so far.
Ask and ye shall receive...
This is Michael, manager of the NEO f/x team. I appreciate everyone's interest in our project, so I joined specifically to give you an update on our progress.
As for the question FalTorPan asked about how we are creating this, the answer is actually very similar to the original series. While there are animation software packages out there that could help us with this, we are going 'old school' and creating individual 'cels' in programs like Photoshop, and then 'staging' the cels in After Effects. They are then hand animated, just like the original. I have spent hours personally 'dissecting' the original episodes and found a technique that seems to replicate the 'feel' of TAS.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments about this project.
This is Michael, manager of the NEO f/x team. I appreciate everyone's interest in our project, so I joined specifically to give you an update on our progress.
- We have the primary voices recorded (Chase Masterson, Chris Doohan, Vic Mignogna, Tim Russ and the rest of the Farragut crew). We are going through and finding any areas we need re-takes, but we are close to being done with recording.
- I met with Lou Scheimer, one of the founders of Filmation, when I was last in LA. I was invited to his house where I showed him what we had so far. He gave his full endorsement on the project. As many of you may know, he also voiced quite a few characters in the original Filmation cartoons, and he may be making a cameo appearance in our productions as well.
- I finally got to meet Jack Trevino (DS9) while in Texas last month. He is a great guy, and monitors this forum on a regular basis.
- We have a new illustrator on board from Japan. While his expertise is anime, he is delivering some high-quality TAS stuff.
- Our Associate Producer, Kail Tescar (from startrekanimated.com), is still working on a comic book of Starship Farragut as well, and he hopes to release that toward the end of the year. He is also our primary illustrator and is producing some great characterizations of the Farragut crew, along with some TAS-style backgrounds.
- Our composer has turned in some sketches of some great TAS style music. This is one area people remember from the original series and many of the cues will be reminiscent of TAS.
As for the question FalTorPan asked about how we are creating this, the answer is actually very similar to the original series. While there are animation software packages out there that could help us with this, we are going 'old school' and creating individual 'cels' in programs like Photoshop, and then 'staging' the cels in After Effects. They are then hand animated, just like the original. I have spent hours personally 'dissecting' the original episodes and found a technique that seems to replicate the 'feel' of TAS.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments about this project.
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It sounds awesome.
I wouldn't have a lot of time to volunteer, but if you need some drawings or animation of aliens or props or backgrounds, I'd love to have a picture in there.
I wouldn't have a lot of time to volunteer, but if you need some drawings or animation of aliens or props or backgrounds, I'd love to have a picture in there.
It does indeed sound awesome. As a fan of the original TAS, I can't wait to see these. All you guys need a red shirt security guard who trips over exploding rocks. I also find it very cool that this is being developed just down the road from where I live.
And welcome to the board NEO f/x! Don't be a stranger.
And welcome to the board NEO f/x! Don't be a stranger.
Guys,
It thrills me to see the positive response this is getting....I will certainly NOT be a stranger here.
johnhazard-I believe I e-mailed you last year about helping
. If you still have my e-mail I would certainly love to have your name in the end credits...I will have to go over the scripts, but I am almost sure we can find a background or two for you to do.
Mallory-Where abouts are you located? The director of Exeter is up here too and we have worked on a couple projects together. You know how the beer is around here...maybe you have seen me at one of the local pubs.
Cheers!
It thrills me to see the positive response this is getting....I will certainly NOT be a stranger here.
johnhazard-I believe I e-mailed you last year about helping
. If you still have my e-mail I would certainly love to have your name in the end credits...I will have to go over the scripts, but I am almost sure we can find a background or two for you to do.Mallory-Where abouts are you located? The director of Exeter is up here too and we have worked on a couple projects together. You know how the beer is around here...maybe you have seen me at one of the local pubs.
Cheers!
I'm in Hillsboro, mere minutes up 217 and 26 from your offices, at 3am anyway.
And you're right about the beer around here. The Portland area is definitely Beervana!
NEO f/x/Michael, thanks for registering and replying to our questions!
You met with Lou Scheimer? I'm both impressed and envious. That must have been a thrill!
That is so cool. Wow.
You met with Lou Scheimer? I'm both impressed and envious. That must have been a thrill!
That is so cool. Wow.
johnhazard-I believe I e-mailed you last year about helping
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Crap! I'm sure if I saw it I would have jumped at the chance- I love Faragut. If you sent it to my "trek at thehazmat dot com" that would explain it, I had to ditch that one because it was nothing but tons of spam.
If you need anything, please email me at john at thehazmat dot com
I visit the Roadhouse on Cornelius Pass by 185th on a pretty regular basis.
Will do!Anyway, good to know you are on the board...if you see me around tap me on my shoulder...or better yet...buy the next round
Yeah...there are some pictures of it over at the Farragut forums. He is probably one of the nicest older gentlemen I have met in a LONG time. And VERY VERY funny. He is also, for 80 years old, sharp as a whip. He spent a couple hours at lunch telling stories of the 'old days' in Hollywood and how he got Filmation started.
It was a true thrill to meet him.
Thanks for the updates! I was thrilled when I first read about this project and saw the teaser. There was some talk about an animated Exeter production a while back but it never seemed to get off the ground. I've enjoyed the work of Kail Tescar and NeoFX and I'm really looking forward to following this and watching the final product(s). Thanks! 
Thanks for the updates! I was thrilled when I first read about this project and saw the teaser. There was some talk about an animated Exeter production a while back but it never seemed to get off the ground. I've enjoyed the work of Kail Tescar and NeoFX and I'm really looking forward to following this and watching the final product(s). Thanks!
Guys, thanks for all of the kind words...
I guess now would be as good of a time as any to ask for some 'help'. As you know, we have a dedicated web site for these episodes (Farragut-Animated.com). Since we are such a small crew (pun), we haven't had much time to put together the web site that will accompany the release. Since it appears we have a LOT of skilled folks out there I wanted to put an invitation out for a web designer for our go-live site.
Since this is a fan-production, we cannot pay you. However, we can offer you the following:
1) The fame and glory associated with creating a very professional site that will have your name on it.
2) You name forever immortalized in the closing credits of the episodes
3) A personalized 2D image of you as a TAS Starfleet officer (yes Kail, I will pay for this
)4) A sneak preview of the final episodes before they are released to the public
5) A free DVD copy of the episodes when they are released
To qualify, I would like to see JPG 'mock ups' of what you are proposing. There will be a 'home' page, a cast/crew page, a downloads page, FAQs, and a press page (with press releases and links to articles about the programs).
Please send the mockups (and, please, mockups only) to animation (at) neo-fx (dot) com. If you are skilled in flash I wouldn't mind (but isn't required) a Flash opening to the page as well.
Sorry for pandering, but I have a feeling we have some folks here that would be a perfect match for this assignment.
Another question -- how many frames per second will the animation be? I believe Filmation did "one for two" -- meaning one frame of animation for every two frames of film -- or 12 fps. Video is 29.97 frames per second, so pure "one for two" would be about 15 fps. If you wanted to truly mimic Filmation's style, then you could make 12 fps as one for two and later interpolate to 29.97.
It is actually a bit more complicated at that...the episodes were originally on film and then converted to NTSC (telecine) just like any film-to-television conversion.
However, let's take the televsion format out of this and just talk about the raw film...You are correct that many of the items (displays, character lip syncing, etc.) appeared to 12 fps but are still 24fps. It was just the cels were not maniuplated every frame but every 2 frames...which does give a 12fps appearance...However, some items had movement on every frame that went by. For example, the ship moving across the screen was full motion, as were some of the run cycles, and anytime they used optical effect instead of an animation move.
We are doing the exact same thing with our episode and I think you will be very pleased with the result. We are working at 24fps, the lip syncs are 2 frames per move, and ship movements and opticals will be every frame. We will release it at 24 fps on the internet, and the DVDs will play on televisions just like the live episodes, which are also 24fps (23.976 to be exact) and converted to 30fps by your DVD player.
Hope that help...
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Well, there should be another small blurb about the project on TrekMovie rather soon. But anyone who has read this forum knows John Hazard has joined team. He turned in a rough sketch of some of his ideas, and they look fantastic. I can't wait to see the end result.
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