SG1: Commentary on Bounty
Sep. 27th, 2007 04:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaCommentary on "Bounty" by Producer John G. Lenic and Director of Photography Jim Menard.
PDL was the director, and Kindler was the writer. This is JL's 206th episode of SG1; he was there from day one. JM worked on one ep in the first season, and has been steady since second season, episode one. SG1 has the record for most number of tv shows (ETA: in North America) and JM has shot the most of them.
The set where the team is sabotaging the grain is the cargo ship set with a few containers positioned about. The green laser scan was a practical effect instead of CG. It's a Veri-light, which is a light designed for rock and roll concerts and can be programed to do different things. JM liked this episode because the actors were separated into their own storylines and it was nice to break away from science fiction and do an earth based ep.
The challenges for JL on each episode varies. A bit of it is about the money, it's also a bit about the logistics and how to get everything to their places that they have to be at the appropriate time. Unlike a tv movie or a feature film, you are prepping one ep while you are shooting another one. He's always onto the next episode. It's about trying to utilize the infrastructure efficiency, but it gets pushed beyond its limits at times.
They compliment the actor that plays Netan, Eric Steinberg. JM says he always like the Goa'uld ships with their gold panels and flame lit surfaces and how that supplies a lot of texture.
JL asks Jim which actor is the hardest to light. He answers none of them. They laugh. JL says they all look perfect and their makeup is perfect. Jim says you can have some fun with the guest stars like Eric and have more dramatic lighting on them.
With reference to the new main title, Jim liked the old one that he shot with the Frazier lens and shots of the gate as opposed to the CG ones on the season 10 titles--they have more texture, more reality. Jim wants to know why shot it different but kept it the same. JL said they just wanted a different texture, different feeling. They feel that the original Showtime credits were better for a one off sort of thing and it's better to have a montage and update it frequently.
Claudia Black was recently nominated for a Spacey Award for the most annoying character on television. So her character is working. Anne Marie DeLuise is married to PDL; they met on Higher Ground.
There are new rules; if you draw attention to people in the background, they need to be paid as actors instead of extras (referring to the science groupies for Dr. Bill Lee.)
The farm stuff was shot at a farm in Ladner. It was the summer and they had some beautiful days. They thought Mitchell's father looks like George Bush.
Daniel's library scene was shot on Main street at the Heritage Hall. They had to build the bookshelves (about $10,000) and then had to put all the books in them. They think maybe the Hall had been a bank at one time. As Daniel brushes off the woman's flirtation, they remark that they start to question Daniel's restraint here. (more laughter)
With reference to the two alien bounty hunters, they always use the same actors and it takes a while to get prosthetics made. These two were used in Space Race and they just rebuilt the prosthetics again.
Location work is harder as there are a lot more elements to bring out:
trucks and people and parking and permits. It's just more expensive because of all the manpower.
In the scene were Teal'c is shot at, they say this was filmed in a park up the street. If you look at the base of the trees, you will see they are evenly spaced and growing in grass. The camp was shot at Red Rock Quarry about 25 minutes outside of Vancouver and they've used it many times.
In the gym scene, they said a lot of their lighting technicians are ex rock and roll roadies so they had no problem throwing up music lighting. This is Claudia getting a chance to show off her small figure she got back after having her baby. School was in session while they filmed in the gym. The school had a film program and the deal was that they'd let the students come watch some of the shooting.
When they divide the actors off into their own storylines, they can shoot up to two episodes at the same time. The art dept and the construction crews don't like it because their lead time gets eaten in half.
Set dec did a great job with the library. They only had two lights on lifts outside the windows for lighting because they had to be careful of the interior of the building. Next time they were in there they weren't so lucking and crew member put a ladder through a priceless chandelier. Unfortunate, and it cost them a location. When the woman is asking if Daniel would like to get out of there with her, PDL's direction was "make it harder for him to say no."
How much do you light an actor? You have to make them fit their environment, and since they wanted her to look fantastic, they gave her the complimentary strong back lighting with a little bit of flatter fill. They think the bus scene is great CG. It was filmed on a side street off of Main.
Carter's scene was in a theater in Coquitlam. They already had the lighting there so all they had to do was re-aim it. They shot all of Beau's stuff on a second unit day when no one else is around using the set.
Back on the farm while they're target shooting, you used to just be able to go and fire the guns. Now you have special effects make the cans jump. You have to have someone go out there and register how load the sound will be and how it will effect the livestock. Also, you have to be aware of which birds are nesting in that area and how they will be affected by the sound.
PDL wanted more extras in the theater but that was cut for budget reasons (extras are $200/day/person. The stuntman/actor who was the alien sniper was supposed to fall out of the balcony all the way down, but that was cut for budget reasons. I think they said the stunt would be $5,000.
Back at the school dance, they had Bill Martin, their video playback guy who is a dj part time bring in his stuff for the scene. This scene was the most fun they've had in years. The lighting set up allowed the director to shoot his coverage from any angle; they love that as it cuts down the time needed. It's easier when you get to put 100 lights in the shot.
For the night parking lot scene, he had scouted it out and thought they had plenty of ambient light for the shot. But while they were shooting those really tall lights in the background went off at midnight. Luckily, they had brought in some cranes and matched the light from before, and also had to shine lights up at the turned off lights to make them look like they were on.
They discuss their own high school reunions and whether they went or not. Then, they say they ought to have a 10 year Stargate reunion and should set a date, make a convention out of it. They mused how many children had been born to cast and crew during SG's run. They say they've been fortunate that not too many people have died in those ten years.
They shot the interiors day for night. Luckily, the school had shutters and they could just lower them, saving them a bundle for masking them off. When the alien lays his hand on the shoulder of the human, they just sped up the film later to make his head wobble so fast.
They thought the school didn't allow them to use smoke; a lot of big buildings don't want that because they are afraid it will set off their smoke detectors. They thought maybe they used some in the library with Daniel. It's great to get shafts of light but sometimes not so good as it might expose your light source.
The auditorium where Vala is flirting with Mitchell's friend is at the school. It was shot very quickly. They added that PDL has a knack for shooting quickly. He gets the coverage he feels he needs and is done a lot earlier than other directors.
When you shoot a scene with music, you have it playing right up to the point where the actors start to talk, then you turn it off. It gets added in again in post production. Joel Goldsmith does all the music for the show, including the dance music here. They did buy a song from Credence Clearwater Revival for Unending. Neither Robert Cooper or they would mention how much that cost. Big budget network shows can buy a new song each week. They couldn't comment on how much it costs to score an episode as it is someone's wages. The budget includes Joel's wages, plus musicians and studio time--and it's a bargain compared to buying a song. MGM owns Joel's compositions.
There was a lot of discussion about the use of the ring vs beaming technology. And where were the 3-D projectors? How can they ring though the roof but there's no debris falling? It's important not to over analyze or it goes back to "how come they don't fall through the floor?" "Inertia dampeners."
This scene on the bounty hunter's ship is back at the cargo ship set. They had built it and torn it apart many times, then finally left it as a standing set. They first built it in season one. They kept the original sides and have slightly new versions.
This was Cameron's first kiss in the three seasons he was on the show and it's not an alien either. The lighting was natural there, but they still had a little roof over them to protect them from the uplight and a couple of 12 by 12 foot giant reflector boards to bring the levels together.
The kiss was awkward for Ben since it was the director's wife he was kissing. And then they craned up to follow them off into the sunset, but it was actually a sunrise and it didn't matter anyway because it was cloudy.
PDL was the director, and Kindler was the writer. This is JL's 206th episode of SG1; he was there from day one. JM worked on one ep in the first season, and has been steady since second season, episode one. SG1 has the record for most number of tv shows (ETA: in North America) and JM has shot the most of them.
The set where the team is sabotaging the grain is the cargo ship set with a few containers positioned about. The green laser scan was a practical effect instead of CG. It's a Veri-light, which is a light designed for rock and roll concerts and can be programed to do different things. JM liked this episode because the actors were separated into their own storylines and it was nice to break away from science fiction and do an earth based ep.
The challenges for JL on each episode varies. A bit of it is about the money, it's also a bit about the logistics and how to get everything to their places that they have to be at the appropriate time. Unlike a tv movie or a feature film, you are prepping one ep while you are shooting another one. He's always onto the next episode. It's about trying to utilize the infrastructure efficiency, but it gets pushed beyond its limits at times.
They compliment the actor that plays Netan, Eric Steinberg. JM says he always like the Goa'uld ships with their gold panels and flame lit surfaces and how that supplies a lot of texture.
JL asks Jim which actor is the hardest to light. He answers none of them. They laugh. JL says they all look perfect and their makeup is perfect. Jim says you can have some fun with the guest stars like Eric and have more dramatic lighting on them.
With reference to the new main title, Jim liked the old one that he shot with the Frazier lens and shots of the gate as opposed to the CG ones on the season 10 titles--they have more texture, more reality. Jim wants to know why shot it different but kept it the same. JL said they just wanted a different texture, different feeling. They feel that the original Showtime credits were better for a one off sort of thing and it's better to have a montage and update it frequently.
Claudia Black was recently nominated for a Spacey Award for the most annoying character on television. So her character is working. Anne Marie DeLuise is married to PDL; they met on Higher Ground.
There are new rules; if you draw attention to people in the background, they need to be paid as actors instead of extras (referring to the science groupies for Dr. Bill Lee.)
The farm stuff was shot at a farm in Ladner. It was the summer and they had some beautiful days. They thought Mitchell's father looks like George Bush.
Daniel's library scene was shot on Main street at the Heritage Hall. They had to build the bookshelves (about $10,000) and then had to put all the books in them. They think maybe the Hall had been a bank at one time. As Daniel brushes off the woman's flirtation, they remark that they start to question Daniel's restraint here. (more laughter)
With reference to the two alien bounty hunters, they always use the same actors and it takes a while to get prosthetics made. These two were used in Space Race and they just rebuilt the prosthetics again.
Location work is harder as there are a lot more elements to bring out:
trucks and people and parking and permits. It's just more expensive because of all the manpower.
In the scene were Teal'c is shot at, they say this was filmed in a park up the street. If you look at the base of the trees, you will see they are evenly spaced and growing in grass. The camp was shot at Red Rock Quarry about 25 minutes outside of Vancouver and they've used it many times.
In the gym scene, they said a lot of their lighting technicians are ex rock and roll roadies so they had no problem throwing up music lighting. This is Claudia getting a chance to show off her small figure she got back after having her baby. School was in session while they filmed in the gym. The school had a film program and the deal was that they'd let the students come watch some of the shooting.
When they divide the actors off into their own storylines, they can shoot up to two episodes at the same time. The art dept and the construction crews don't like it because their lead time gets eaten in half.
Set dec did a great job with the library. They only had two lights on lifts outside the windows for lighting because they had to be careful of the interior of the building. Next time they were in there they weren't so lucking and crew member put a ladder through a priceless chandelier. Unfortunate, and it cost them a location. When the woman is asking if Daniel would like to get out of there with her, PDL's direction was "make it harder for him to say no."
How much do you light an actor? You have to make them fit their environment, and since they wanted her to look fantastic, they gave her the complimentary strong back lighting with a little bit of flatter fill. They think the bus scene is great CG. It was filmed on a side street off of Main.
Carter's scene was in a theater in Coquitlam. They already had the lighting there so all they had to do was re-aim it. They shot all of Beau's stuff on a second unit day when no one else is around using the set.
Back on the farm while they're target shooting, you used to just be able to go and fire the guns. Now you have special effects make the cans jump. You have to have someone go out there and register how load the sound will be and how it will effect the livestock. Also, you have to be aware of which birds are nesting in that area and how they will be affected by the sound.
PDL wanted more extras in the theater but that was cut for budget reasons (extras are $200/day/person. The stuntman/actor who was the alien sniper was supposed to fall out of the balcony all the way down, but that was cut for budget reasons. I think they said the stunt would be $5,000.
Back at the school dance, they had Bill Martin, their video playback guy who is a dj part time bring in his stuff for the scene. This scene was the most fun they've had in years. The lighting set up allowed the director to shoot his coverage from any angle; they love that as it cuts down the time needed. It's easier when you get to put 100 lights in the shot.
For the night parking lot scene, he had scouted it out and thought they had plenty of ambient light for the shot. But while they were shooting those really tall lights in the background went off at midnight. Luckily, they had brought in some cranes and matched the light from before, and also had to shine lights up at the turned off lights to make them look like they were on.
They discuss their own high school reunions and whether they went or not. Then, they say they ought to have a 10 year Stargate reunion and should set a date, make a convention out of it. They mused how many children had been born to cast and crew during SG's run. They say they've been fortunate that not too many people have died in those ten years.
They shot the interiors day for night. Luckily, the school had shutters and they could just lower them, saving them a bundle for masking them off. When the alien lays his hand on the shoulder of the human, they just sped up the film later to make his head wobble so fast.
They thought the school didn't allow them to use smoke; a lot of big buildings don't want that because they are afraid it will set off their smoke detectors. They thought maybe they used some in the library with Daniel. It's great to get shafts of light but sometimes not so good as it might expose your light source.
The auditorium where Vala is flirting with Mitchell's friend is at the school. It was shot very quickly. They added that PDL has a knack for shooting quickly. He gets the coverage he feels he needs and is done a lot earlier than other directors.
When you shoot a scene with music, you have it playing right up to the point where the actors start to talk, then you turn it off. It gets added in again in post production. Joel Goldsmith does all the music for the show, including the dance music here. They did buy a song from Credence Clearwater Revival for Unending. Neither Robert Cooper or they would mention how much that cost. Big budget network shows can buy a new song each week. They couldn't comment on how much it costs to score an episode as it is someone's wages. The budget includes Joel's wages, plus musicians and studio time--and it's a bargain compared to buying a song. MGM owns Joel's compositions.
There was a lot of discussion about the use of the ring vs beaming technology. And where were the 3-D projectors? How can they ring though the roof but there's no debris falling? It's important not to over analyze or it goes back to "how come they don't fall through the floor?" "Inertia dampeners."
This scene on the bounty hunter's ship is back at the cargo ship set. They had built it and torn it apart many times, then finally left it as a standing set. They first built it in season one. They kept the original sides and have slightly new versions.
This was Cameron's first kiss in the three seasons he was on the show and it's not an alien either. The lighting was natural there, but they still had a little roof over them to protect them from the uplight and a couple of 12 by 12 foot giant reflector boards to bring the levels together.
The kiss was awkward for Ben since it was the director's wife he was kissing. And then they craned up to follow them off into the sunset, but it was actually a sunrise and it didn't matter anyway because it was cloudy.
