Doug Naylor’s one word confirmation of model shots News Posted by Jonathan Capps on 12th December 2011, 19:31 In what might end up being a common occurrence, our forum has broken news before we did. SoundableObject has spotted the following tweet by Doug Naylor in response to The K man’s question “can we hope for model shots or CGI? :)”: Models. It’s an odd way to break the news, and makes me a little reluctant to take it as read, but at the moment all I have in my head are visions of the glorious return of Mike Tucker and his team. Hopefully we’ll get more info this Friday or perhaps Doug will elabourate on the subject soon, maybe in a way that doesn’t involve breaking major news to a random Twitter user.
Funny how he says ‘Models’ and not ‘Both’. If this does turn out to be a model only show, would this be the first TV show in quite a few years to use models? Surely the first TV show to have models in HD?
The thing with CG is that it’s now very closely integrated with the actual making of any show (grading, greenscreens, mattes etc.) so if we get model shots there could well be some CG used to enhance starscapes and what not. We also have no idea how the on screen effects will work, either, so it could well end up being a nice hybrid.
Well he did confirm that the show would be set on both Red Dwarf and StarBug with a one word confirmation as well, Both I wonder if the Series VI/VII StarBug model still exists. Presumably they’ll be using a modified Remastered Dwarf.
>so if we get model shots there could well be some CG used to enhance starscapes and what not. Which we got in Series VI anyway!
I’ve got to say – Models, actual sets, audiences…you’ve got to wonder about the budget. It could be that Dave are investing a reasonable amount into this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting Hollywood-level visuals, but it could be that they know they’ll get a fair amount back from DVDs, sales etc, so are making a decent budget available.
Mike’s been saying for years at various DJs that a model shoot doesn’t end up being that much more expensive than CG. Looks like someone’s finally listened. He’s also been saying they could just shortened the current pencil they’ve got, which would be ideal because that’s a very, very good model.
Good news but I did think the Tikka 2 Ride remastered CGI was great and would be happy with CGI of a similar quality on the new series.
Mike’s been saying for years at various DJs that a model shoot doesn’t end up being that much more expensive than CG. Looks like someone’s finally listened. He’s also been saying they could just shortened the current pencil they’ve got, which would be ideal because that’s a very, very good model. In terms of shooting models, yes the budgets might be similar, but with CGI you’ve got the luxury of being able to be a lot more flexible with your shots, there are somethings that you just can’t do physically with a real camera. Reshoots take minutes to render, not days to remount… Series VII, VIII &Remastered CGI was VERY good at getting the backgrounds, whereas the ships were a bit lackluster. The model shots lacked the backgrounds. So each playing to their own strengths would be an amazing thing to see. I’m stoked to shit that we might be getting models though,(I’m still taking this news with a pinch of salt, though, things change, remember “Red Dwarf Unplugged?”), and yes, they need to use the pencil, but make it BTE-sized please.
>and yes, they need to use the pencil, but make it BTE-sized please. And make the back match the BTE version.
It is worth pointing out that, assuming they can get a large enough stage for the model they’d intended to use for RD Remastered, they’ve already saved a wedge of money on building a model. Or possibly they’re going to try and build something new that’s a little more old-school, a la the squat CG Red Dwarf we got in BtE.
>Or possibly they’re going to try and build something new that’s a little more old-school, a la the squat CG Red Dwarf we got in BtE. I thought the BTE version was just a modified version of the Remastered/Series VIII version so they could just do the same modifications to the physical model.
Hearing this news now, do you think that means we might get to see them at the audience recordings? I mean on the monitors. Not the warm up man running around with them going “vroom vroom woosh” inbetween cast scenes.
Not the warm up man running around with them going “vroom vroom woosh” inbetween cast scenes. I’d be strangely okay with that.
A thought hit me while I was trying to get to sleep last night (so it’s probably nonsense), but is there any way they could just re-use rushes of *old* model shots?
It’d work if all they wanted to sue were stock shots of Red Dwarf in space and Starbug coming and going, but if they wanted anything specific they’d have to shoot new stuff which would then not match the old.
Probably not worth posting a new piece on this, but this is a quick interview with Charles Armitage: http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/12/13/new-red-dwarf-sets-will-be-like-%E2%80%9Cthe-fifth-star-of-the-show%E2%80%9D/ Odd that he mentions that they have no Red Dwarf because it “fell off a shelf”, something that happened about 20 years ago and in the meantime two new models have been built, one which was blown up in series V and the pencil, that still exists. Also, what the fuck is “the fifth star of the show” when it’s at home?
I kind of hated the sets of Primeval 5. I think probably because they shot in locations mostly before that. Not sure. Just looked less believable and cheap to me the ark based stuff in the last series, compared to earlier ones. Not that that means these wont be great as they are built for a very different show.
…did they scrap the sleeping quarters set from BtE? The fourth wall was entirely separate (and, indeed, reused for corridor scenes), so surely it wouldn’t be too hard to adapt that for audience shooting if they still had it…
>Or possibly they’re going to try and build something new that’s a little more old-school, a la the squat CG Red Dwarf we got in BtE. I thought the BTE version was just a modified version of the Remastered/Series VIII version I think it basically was. They essentially chopped a chunk out of the middle and stuck the front and back together. (Okay, there was probably more to it than that.) It’s short like series 1-VII, but no longer all that squat. At least not in the way it was. so they could just do the same modifications to the physical model. On reading that, I thought “but it’d be so much easier with a CG version”. Then it occurred to me they could still edit the shots of the physical ship to similar effect…
They used the pencil design on the storyboards according to the set report. Possibly they haven’t the money to change the remastered model or they are happy with the way the remastered model looks (and have found a place to film it that can fit the model and the camera in!) Or the person who did the storyboard was not given specification as to the design of the ship.
Maybe it starts the series as the Pencil, and ends the series all squat-like, as in BtE, after a cheapo cut-and-shut?
Maybe it starts the series as the Pencil, and ends the series all squat-like, as in BtE, after a cheapo cut-and-shut? Well, going by the script it’s definatly set post-BtE so it would seem unlikely.
If they do use the pencil ship, Doug has already hinted a few months ago at a possible way to reconcile that with the storyline. Doesn’t explain how the ship changed between VIII and BTE though…