Commentary for The Quest Part 2
Sep. 10th, 2007 12:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaCommentary for The Quest Part 2 by Director Andy Mikita and Exec. Producer Paul Mullie.
The production people said it couldn't be called The Quest Part One and the Quest Part Two. It had to be The Quest, and then The Quest Part Two.
PM doesn't like pure CG creatures because they might not look right. When the cast run out of the cave, it's all CG except for the grass, and the grass was the only thing that looked fake. They wanted people to know that the dragon burst through a caldera so they changed the shot to be from above.
Anytime you see a visual effect where the camera is moving is BIG bucks. Usually the camera is locked into place.
They wondered if they would be able to get away with the dragon eating the C4.
There was a miscommunication with props, so instead of getting the Sangraal pendant with the gold setting, we get the red gem, which Mallozzi called the Legendary Nose of Bozo.
Now the story changes from an adventure to a much more personal story when we get to Merlin's cave. The cave set is redressed with big droopy red stalactites. Caves are hard to film because the Director of Photography will insist that the only light will be from flashlights and the actors will need to light each other as they give their lines.
They talk a lot about the cave set as it relates to the plot, how the cave is the same but the planets are different.
More praise for Cliff Simon, Ba'al, and how they kept bringing him back. They liked how he related to SG1. Ba'al is a Cannite (sp) diety. Joe M. would dress like Ba'al if he could. They talk again about the golf shirt with Ba'al's symbol on it.
They talk about the Merlin scene where there go over the back story. PM wanted Merlin to get a sense of Daniel and to know they had similar experiences with having been ascended and having issues with the other ascended.
The hologram building machine took many different versions to realize. They wanted it to be similar to the one in Torment of Tantalus.
The snow storm was all a practical shot. They kept the set and just changed the lighting to warm lights to be the desert planet--so no green screen on either place. The snow was a new product and if you caught a flake, it was like a soap bubble and when it contacted a surface it would 'melt.' Any 'snow' can't be toxic. The snow on the ground was traditional (potato flakes?) and PM got it on his shoes and tracked it all over for days. They also used a 'snow blanket' which is foam.
PM only did two scripts that year as he concentrated on rewritings and production stuff.
PM liked the concept of going on a Merry Go Round of planets. The easiest planets to do are snow, desert and forest planets. The face grabber light effect was reused from Season 1.
They remark about Morena's long swan-like neck and those collars they dressed her in.
The forest planet was at first too dense with trees and they had to clear out trees, and this is when all the exec producers came down to visit the set and AM was having a terrible day.
The snow planet dialogue had to be looped because of the roar of the fans used to blow the snow about.
This show was close to coming out right on length of time. They compliment their editors and talk about editing styles intrinsic to SG1. One of the things they will take into consideration when thinking up new shows is will it give them the opportunity to have new editing, or direction or something else new that they haven't done before.
Daniel's telekinesis with the water bottle was a guy with a fishing rod swinging the container into Michael's hand. Joe's contribution was the scene where Carter punched Ba'al (originally, PM had Carter just give in and work with Ba'al and it made Carter seem weak.)
In the scene where Vala and Mitchell are worried over Daniel as he gets weaker and Merlin comes and goes, PM and AM compliment the actors. PM says he really likes these scenes (where the characters talk to each other and are concerned) better than the space battles/action scenes. They both agree that this was their fav scene of this ep and even of the last season. When they were shooting it, it was inspirational for the crew, and they said, "wow, these guys are really good." PM remembers writing this scene and he wasn't sure what would happen except Vala and Mitchell were concerned about what was happening to Daniel and this whole thing just kinda came out. He thinks it's a scene about what the show is about. AM said it was really uplifting for the himself, the guys, the crew, everybody. After a day of fighting monsters, shooting this scene at the end of the day, everyone was inspired by it. They spent a long time rehearsing it and trying it a few ways but this simple way worked the best.
Chris didn't get a lot to say but they tried to give him good lines.
When the DHD is flickering through the glyphs really fast, that was a visual effect because the thing isn't wired for that and if all the lights were on at the same time, the DHD would melt.
Ba'al's line, "you hold them here, I'll get help" is a line Joe Mallozzi has been saying for years, that that is what characters would really say. Joe is the inspiration for Ba'al. It was Rob's idea to bring back that idea from Maternal Instinct to have lightning bolts from the sky dispatch their enemies. Originally, Daniel was going to hold out his hand and have a ball of light form and fly out of the cave to strike down the soldiers, but some people didn't like it for one reason or another. They just had a pure CG shot of the bolts come down from the sky. The director was surprised to find that shot missing. Daniel's energy is blue white while Adria's are fire colors. Daniel protecting the team as they left was reminiscent of him fighting Anubis. Daniel's final shot with Adria on the Ori ship was blocked shot with the Shroud. On a show like their's with so many sets, they have to group the shots together for a day of filming. The Ori ship is on a set 20 minutes away from Bridge and it would be too expensive to have everyone go out there for one small scene.
The production people said it couldn't be called The Quest Part One and the Quest Part Two. It had to be The Quest, and then The Quest Part Two.
PM doesn't like pure CG creatures because they might not look right. When the cast run out of the cave, it's all CG except for the grass, and the grass was the only thing that looked fake. They wanted people to know that the dragon burst through a caldera so they changed the shot to be from above.
Anytime you see a visual effect where the camera is moving is BIG bucks. Usually the camera is locked into place.
They wondered if they would be able to get away with the dragon eating the C4.
There was a miscommunication with props, so instead of getting the Sangraal pendant with the gold setting, we get the red gem, which Mallozzi called the Legendary Nose of Bozo.
Now the story changes from an adventure to a much more personal story when we get to Merlin's cave. The cave set is redressed with big droopy red stalactites. Caves are hard to film because the Director of Photography will insist that the only light will be from flashlights and the actors will need to light each other as they give their lines.
They talk a lot about the cave set as it relates to the plot, how the cave is the same but the planets are different.
More praise for Cliff Simon, Ba'al, and how they kept bringing him back. They liked how he related to SG1. Ba'al is a Cannite (sp) diety. Joe M. would dress like Ba'al if he could. They talk again about the golf shirt with Ba'al's symbol on it.
They talk about the Merlin scene where there go over the back story. PM wanted Merlin to get a sense of Daniel and to know they had similar experiences with having been ascended and having issues with the other ascended.
The hologram building machine took many different versions to realize. They wanted it to be similar to the one in Torment of Tantalus.
The snow storm was all a practical shot. They kept the set and just changed the lighting to warm lights to be the desert planet--so no green screen on either place. The snow was a new product and if you caught a flake, it was like a soap bubble and when it contacted a surface it would 'melt.' Any 'snow' can't be toxic. The snow on the ground was traditional (potato flakes?) and PM got it on his shoes and tracked it all over for days. They also used a 'snow blanket' which is foam.
PM only did two scripts that year as he concentrated on rewritings and production stuff.
PM liked the concept of going on a Merry Go Round of planets. The easiest planets to do are snow, desert and forest planets. The face grabber light effect was reused from Season 1.
They remark about Morena's long swan-like neck and those collars they dressed her in.
The forest planet was at first too dense with trees and they had to clear out trees, and this is when all the exec producers came down to visit the set and AM was having a terrible day.
The snow planet dialogue had to be looped because of the roar of the fans used to blow the snow about.
This show was close to coming out right on length of time. They compliment their editors and talk about editing styles intrinsic to SG1. One of the things they will take into consideration when thinking up new shows is will it give them the opportunity to have new editing, or direction or something else new that they haven't done before.
Daniel's telekinesis with the water bottle was a guy with a fishing rod swinging the container into Michael's hand. Joe's contribution was the scene where Carter punched Ba'al (originally, PM had Carter just give in and work with Ba'al and it made Carter seem weak.)
In the scene where Vala and Mitchell are worried over Daniel as he gets weaker and Merlin comes and goes, PM and AM compliment the actors. PM says he really likes these scenes (where the characters talk to each other and are concerned) better than the space battles/action scenes. They both agree that this was their fav scene of this ep and even of the last season. When they were shooting it, it was inspirational for the crew, and they said, "wow, these guys are really good." PM remembers writing this scene and he wasn't sure what would happen except Vala and Mitchell were concerned about what was happening to Daniel and this whole thing just kinda came out. He thinks it's a scene about what the show is about. AM said it was really uplifting for the himself, the guys, the crew, everybody. After a day of fighting monsters, shooting this scene at the end of the day, everyone was inspired by it. They spent a long time rehearsing it and trying it a few ways but this simple way worked the best.
Chris didn't get a lot to say but they tried to give him good lines.
When the DHD is flickering through the glyphs really fast, that was a visual effect because the thing isn't wired for that and if all the lights were on at the same time, the DHD would melt.
Ba'al's line, "you hold them here, I'll get help" is a line Joe Mallozzi has been saying for years, that that is what characters would really say. Joe is the inspiration for Ba'al. It was Rob's idea to bring back that idea from Maternal Instinct to have lightning bolts from the sky dispatch their enemies. Originally, Daniel was going to hold out his hand and have a ball of light form and fly out of the cave to strike down the soldiers, but some people didn't like it for one reason or another. They just had a pure CG shot of the bolts come down from the sky. The director was surprised to find that shot missing. Daniel's energy is blue white while Adria's are fire colors. Daniel protecting the team as they left was reminiscent of him fighting Anubis. Daniel's final shot with Adria on the Ori ship was blocked shot with the Shroud. On a show like their's with so many sets, they have to group the shots together for a day of filming. The Ori ship is on a set 20 minutes away from Bridge and it would be too expensive to have everyone go out there for one small scene.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-10 03:28 pm (UTC)Duh. And yet, they keep going back to putting their attention on the space battles/action scenes rather than the human story. *eyeroll*
If I haven't said it before, thanks for doing these!