On Friday, I was able to post video updates and features throughout the day from the first day of shooting for the long-awaited AXANAR sequel fan films. But on Saturday, I had to drive down to (and back from) San Diego to appear on a fan film panel at a Dr. Who convention there.
I wish I could have been down in Lawrenceville, GA for this amazing event. But alas, I can only afford one trip across country, and that’ll be in less than four weeks to shoot my fan film INTERLUDE! However, when Alec brings the Axanar shoot back to Los Angeles to film GARY GRAHAM’s scenes as Soval, along with other aliens like Threl and Mor’o, you’d better believe I will be there…camera in hand!
Now, when I say “event,” I really have no better word to describe what is happening this weekend at Ares Studios. There’s 80 people working on set each day! And yes, they are all doing something important—from director PAUL JENKINS to MARK EDWARD LEWIS doing sound and editing, to all of the actors, to the lighting guys, the assistant director, DP, construction people, the script coordinator, set security, to the guys recording interviews for the Blu-ray/DVD extras, to the caterers serving chicken cordon bleu, fresh trout, stuffed ravioli, and vegetables.
Truth to tell, I’m both a little jealous and kinda nervous that we’re looking at less than HALF that number of people on set when we shoot Interlude! But then again, we’re only making one 10-12 minute fan fan while ALEC PETERS is creating two full 15 minute films plus Blu-ray extras. Also, I’ve crowd-funded only $20K. He’s trying to crowd-fund (privately through e-mails) $50-70K…just for this one shoot! To each his own.
Anyway, the most amazing thing about this shoot is how much of it has been livestreamed and/or quickly posted to the Internet in real-time. Never before have fans been able to get this much coverage of a fan film shoot as it is happening!
I’ve collected the videos from Day Two below. There’s a LOT worth watching…
The second day of filming begins as Alec walks the bridge, introduces some behind-the-scenes folks, briefly discusses the letter he received last week from CBS, and shows why this shoot is costing $50K…
Next, it’s a super-quick look at J.G. HERTZLER on the bridge of the USS Hercules and a glimpse at what it sounds like when Paul Jenkins directs…
And next up from Alec…LUNCH! Why should you bother watching 80 people eat lunch? Actually, this is probably the most informative video of the bunch because it shows how much fun and camaraderie is there on this set. This is truly a labor of love for these fans (and EVERYONE is a fan…even the caterers!), and they are all having the time of their lives! Axanar has always been about the LOVE, folks, from the very first crowd-funder to the day it finally premieres. And this video shows it…
And now we switch from the short updates to the longer live-streams. Up first is JP POOL from Egotastic Funtime who did the rounds just as breakfast was wrapping up and the actors were walking onto the bridge set to meet their director for the first time. Along the way, there’s interviews and lots of smiles and a great look behind-the-scenes at what goes on on a film set…
Super Axanfan TREY McELWAIN is next with a much closer look at the details on the bridge set, as well as a slew of interviews with the many, many folks doing the grunt work—from the woman sewing rank braids on the “Cage”-era tunics to the poor guy whose job it is to make sure everyone is where they’re supposed to be and not where they’re not supposed to be. It’s a really fun and well-done look at the seldom-seen inner workings of the shoot by roving reporter Trey, worth watching in its entirety… source: https://www.iikgames.com/real money casino app
And finally, JP did a second podcast later in the day that included a fascinating look at the pace of filming—which is surprisingly slow…except when it isn’t. I’ve been on Hollywood sets before, including Voyager (when they shot “The Swarm”), and this is pretty much what it was like on the Paramount lot back in 1996. Take a look (starting at about 22:30) because it’s very enlightening. Also, check out the end of the video to look at how they handled the filming of one of the interviews for the Blu-Ray extras (this one with editor Mark Edward Lewis)…
Can’t wait to see the finished films
Totally!!!
The picture of the Ares Bridge as seen through the video monitor… Man the lighting, the set design, color palette, even with the contemporary computer graphics on the bridge monitors, bears such a strong resemblance to the Enterprise Bridge in “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before”… It’s beautiful and brilliantly designed… The large monitors on the Ares set really sell that Cage look! A reverse “engineering” of TOS at it’s best and most logical. Kudos to the Axanar crew. May the debut be Glorious, Qapla!