The OFFICIAL STNG-R general discussion thread!

Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by jefferiestubes8, May 14, 2011.

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  1. RAMA

    RAMA Admiral Admiral

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    Also noticeable on the view screen...the star fields are different...

    RAMA
     
  2. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Very different. They look more like stars on the screen rather than a cluster of Christmas lights.
     
  3. Tomalak

    Tomalak Vice Admiral Admiral

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    There were also the VHS reissues, but I think they only went up to the end of season four when the DVD boxsets were first released.

    Plus the VHS releases of the two-parters in movie format. The UK's had its share of TNG in home video.
     
  4. Asbo Zaprudder

    Asbo Zaprudder Admiral Admiral

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    Now £6.99 at play.com - obviously market forces at work.
     
  5. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    I think that someone already mentioned this but the colour seems to be ever so slightly too much into the green spectrum. Maybe it's just because I'm so used to seeing it with too much red.

    Anyway, it's not a complaint. It looks loads better now.
     
  6. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    The DVDs are way too pink (for certain seasons), so I can't help but assume this is how it was always supposed to look. It's my go-to reaction for pretty much any TNGR news. :)
     
  7. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    I'll reserve final judgement for when I watch it on my TV at home. Only three weeks to go!
     
  8. USS Mariner

    USS Mariner Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I wonder if those are the starfields from later seasons, or if they ARE the same starfield mattes but the star patterns are shifted because of the slightly expanded frame and increase in frame resolution.
     
  9. Dac

    Dac Commodore Commodore

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    I think they're more likely modern created digital starfields.
     
  10. NewHorizon

    NewHorizon Captain Captain

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    Agreed. Much like the updated planet in the "Sins of the Father" clip. Something tells me that the stars were early CGI in the exterior shots and in some of the interior shots.
     
  11. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    That's what it looks like to me, although I'm not sure how they would have done it because the starfield in the viewscreen there would have been an in-camera effect. But it does seem that when the "wipe" happens from DVD to BD that the pattern of the "stars" changes, as well as the size of the stars. (In the DVD version they look like the large lightbulbs/Christmas lights that they are. In the BD they look like tiny twinkles of light.)

    Nope. Such a thing would be absurdly expensive in that time. The only time CGI or any kind of post-production effect was used for the stuff going on outside of the windows is when there was something out there to see (the going to warp effect, a planet, another ship, etc.)

    Starfields were created by a simple wall with twinkling lights on it. In some of the BTS stuff we see the one that was outside of the Observation Lounge windows. The viewscreen window was similar, it was a series of very real lights. When an effect was needed to be seen they'd remove the panel with the lights, repalce it with a chroma-key screen and then the effects were added in later.

    It would've been prohibitive expensive for them to always put in CGI starfields inside the window/viewscreen when an in-camera effect would have served just as well and be cheaper.
     
  12. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    Are we sure that the starfield in that shot was an in camera effect and not a blue screen shot?
     
  13. NewHorizon

    NewHorizon Captain Captain

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    If not early CGI, that particular shot of Zorn in front of the view screen was definitely blue screened and not an in Camera shot. If you look at the comparison shots, some of his hair had been taken out of the shot when they added the stars. In the new shot, his hair is much more full.

    I know they built a moving starfield for the conference room, but most of the time I'm pretty sure the bridge view screen was blue screened.
     
  14. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, the shots of Zorn in front of the viewscreen are visibly done via bluescreen, and for obvious reasons. Later shots in the scene have the Farpoint aliens rising up behind him. (and Riker.)

    I believe (but don't quote me on it) that the viewscreen used the "twinkle wall" much more sparingly than anywhere else.

    The windows almost always used the twinkle wall except when at warp or something was visible outside.
     
  15. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    I could certainly see the viewscreen making the least use of the "twinkle wall" as the viewscreen when we see it almost always has something important on it we need to see. The only times we see the stars (likely the twinkle wall) is when the ship is stationary/at impulse.
     
  16. FrontierTrek

    FrontierTrek Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yes, the viewscreen scenes in Farpoint were all done using blue-screen. It's most evident looking at these two images I posted at the weekend:

    SD - http://tng.trekcore.com/bluray/compare/farpoint5_sd.jpg
    HD - http://tng.trekcore.com/bluray/compare/farpoint5_hd.jpg

    Look how in the original version they were overly aggressive when chroma-keying Zorn on the starfield behind him, resulting in a lot of his wild hair disappearing. In the HD, we benefit from the latest blue-screen processing technology in 2012 with every strand of his hair visible.

    Not my image, but this was posted over AVS Forum, showing the bluescreen in place:

    [​IMG]
     
  17. trekker670

    trekker670 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    They did use chromakeying for the viewscreen, but I know from many BTS sources, they did have the physical starfield they would use as often as possible as well, to reduce the costs involved in the chromakeying process. Like stated about, later in this scene there are exterior effects, so it's reasonable to assume that the clip in question was done using a bluescreen as the picture above indicates, but this was not the case for most of the times we see a plain starfield on the screen.
     
  18. FrontierTrek

    FrontierTrek Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I think so, yes - I'm sure I've seen some behind the scenes footage of them wheeling in a starfield screen in front of the viewscreen. However, it's normally obvious when bluescreen was being used in TNG due to easily visible chromakeying - you can see a few examples here:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  19. 22 Stars

    22 Stars Commodore Commodore

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    I agree, these were all done with the chroma key board in place. Having a static star field behind them would greatly reduce the flexibility of where in this scene in particular to use certain insert shots of the actors etc. It would cause continuity issues if they needed a shot of Riker for example, and they couldn't choose what to put on the screen behind him.
     
  20. 22 Stars

    22 Stars Commodore Commodore

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    Yes, I mentioned that and agree, esp the shot of Zorn. I'm sure they got it right for this, but unlike most shots that just looks 100 times clearer, this one looks very different and yes loads better now.

    It just reminds me of Ceti Alpha V in the ST II bluray. The planetoid was brown in the movie theaters, and on VHS and DVD, and now all of a sudden it is grey on the bluray!? Not something I like, and that one I'm not sure they got right, I think they messed it up in the transfer.
     
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