'Star Trek Into Darkness' Title Sequence Making-Of Video

Kinda tech-geeky, but cool.

Star Trek Into Darkness Title Design from Andrew Kramer on Vimeo.

Interview with JJ Abrams, Simon Pegg, and Damon Lindelof

.

JJ Abrams' Bad Robot Set Up

 Great stuff. via Firstshowing

The Avid site

 



















.

JJ Abrams Shows The First Clip from 'Star Trek Into Darkness'

Visually stunning! Sumptuous! Wow!

By the By. Is JJ Abrams Marty Scorsese's clone? Really. He's doing Scorsese in this. I know he likes the guy, but...



















.

Quote of the Day...

Over at MTV JJ Abrams spoke about his upcoming 'Star Trek 2'. He said:

"We're working really hard and this is all to make sure that no one -- cast, crew, mostly the audience -- isn't disappointed by what we do."

I'm reassured. All that work to make sure there is no one who isn't disappointed. And, no one shouldn't be disappointed. Heaven forbid.

I can't not wait.

.

JJ Abrams on Charlie Rose

JJ Abrams on his Life in Movies

One More JJ Abrams 'Super 8' Interview

More Super 8 Videos

'Super 8' Featurette

'Super 8' Cast Interview

JJ Abrams Interview

JJ and the cast of 'Super 8'

JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg talk...Movies

JJ Abrams 'Are You Ready?'

A clip from Frank Bruni's 7-page story on JJ Abrams:

During his 20s Abrams churned out and sold script after script, with his credits including “Gone Fishin’,” a throwaway buddy comedy, and “Armageddon,” a formulaic disaster behemoth. He did some rewrites for “Casper,” impressing one of its producers, Spielberg, who remembered his name. There wasn’t a genre in which he didn’t show fluency. But there also wasn’t a project that he simultaneously felt a deep connection to and had real control over.

______________________________________

The Santa Monica building that houses Abrams’s production company, Bad Robot, is a literal, physical reflection of his sensibility. The big sign on the outside doesn’t say Bad Robot but instead National Typewriter Co., and that’s not because the building used to house such an enterprise. It’s because Abrams likes typewriters — and misdirection. Near the doorbell, which is a glowing green light, a smaller sign asks, “Are you ready?”

Abrams’s personal suite of offices is on the second floor, and the befuddlements persist there. A green phone with no dial face or digits to press connects him directly to his wife’s BlackBerry. To get to his bathroom, you have to walk up to a wall of bookshelves beside his desk and tug on a copy of “Louis Tannen’s Catalog of Magic” (named for the same Manhattan magic shop, still around today, where he got his childhood mystery box). Abracadabra: the wall opens. The toilet is revealed.

Pretty nice write up.

JJ Abrams on 'Super 8'

This is pretty good.

Super 8: Generic Interview - J.J. Abrams II

Super 8: Generic Interview - J.J. Abrams III

 

'Super 8' Trailer

Love the retro 70s film stock color.

Not So Sqeaky Clean Star Trek

The teaser for the new 'Star Trek' movie features the Enterprise being built by sweating construction workers using torches, a voice-over of Apollo countdowns, crackling voices over the radio saying 'God speed John Glenn', and 'the Eagle has landed', and JFK announcing "...the eyes of the world now look into space".

In below excerpt we see a ship that, apparently, is driven by some type of turbine, similar to the ones that power jets today -- look to the left for spinning blades.

(Sorry, I don't know how to insert the Quicktime media here. You can see the excerpt from the teaser at my dot com here).

JJ Abrams, and writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, seem to be striving to create a connection between the world of the new 'Star Trek' and the world we live in today. By doing so he sets the stage for characters we might accept as being our children's children and, as such, he enables us to care about them.

Abrams is going for an Enterprise born of a real technological evolution -- that is, a ship that could be built someday, by us, if we continued to advance technologically. Up to now I've gotten the sense the movie Enterprise(s) were of a future that is not meant to be plausible, totally separated from our reality -- a fake construct that had nothing to do with us and our world, which only served as a stage for fanciful stories that, while entertaining, had little foundation in real human experience and was informed by the thinnest of universal theme.

The teaser for the new 'Star Trek' suggests that the story takes place in a future that has grown out of our reality and is a direct result of our accomplishments (both those of the past and those yet to come), and is populated by characters who live in a real world and are familiar with day-to-day problems the average person grapples with.

I'm calling an audible based on the approach Abrams has selected with the teaser. In the new 'Star Trek' look for anti-Star Trek dialogue and a story that brings out a genuine humanity in the characters. I wouldn't be surprised if this movie has a gritty side -- sort of a 'sci-fi verite' -- that will thrill most of us, and even offend many Trekkies.

I used to love watching Star Trek on TV when I was a kid but the movies have left me cold. The only one I can get into is 'The Wrath of Kahn'. The rest are so superficial and glossy there's no way to feel that the crew is real or that they face any real peril. So far, new 'Star Trek' is looking like something more substantial, like something that won't leave you embarrassed for having paid money to see it.

When I first heard Abrams was cooking up a new 'Star Trek' I couldn't have cared less. But, after seeing this teaser I'm looking forward to it.

Cool Cloverfield Clip

JJ Abrams gets all the press but director Matt Reeves has chops.

Cloverfield: New Movie Technique

The only thing that's new in this clip is the reveal in the last few seconds. Still, it's an entertaining bit of movie making. What JJ Abrams and director Matt Reeves have that is new is the 'This Is Actually Happening' camera technique. This differs from the 'You Are There' technique, most recently seen in 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. Actors in Cloverfield routinely spike the camera or behave in some other 'non-actorly' manner because it's not supposed to be a Hollywood movie, rather captured video of an actual event (which is happening right now). I don't think this approach has ever been taken before.

'The Blair Witch Project' differs in that its footage represents what an editor would have culled from a casual account of a camping trip after the video was discovered. That is, only the best parts of the video would have been used for the movie. Regular stuff would have been edited out.

In 'Cloverfield' the conceit is more complex. In this movie footage from a camera (or multiple cameras) is stitched together to present a realtime version of events. The difference between Cloverfield and Blair Witch is the editor for the Cloverfield footage is non-existent, whereas the editor for the Blair Witch footage was a real person who did their best to assemble the footage in the most compelling way. Blair Witch is then presented as if it were an edited version of the (discovered) video of an event which actually happened (instead of a Hollywood movie).

For Cloverfield the idea is that there is no editor (or producer or writer, or studio, etc), and the imagery is magically transported to the movie screen in your theater (and only your theater) as it is shot (in NYC) so you have a realtime account of a real event which is happening now. It's worth noting the storyline in Cloverfield takes place at night. [This is when most people go to the movies]. Having the action take place at night supports the feeling that the movie is taking place 'now'.

I know -- sounds stupid when you read it -- but this is the (subconscious) impression the audience is meant to have, and I think the strategy will work. Part of what will make 'Cloverfield' a success will be the visceral impact the movie will have because of the 'this-is-actually-happening (right now)' image-producing/editing approach. Word of mouth will be more effective than usual because people will infuse their description of the movie with the urgency of someone who actually lived through the events in the movie -- as opposed to the usual 'then, there was the part where they did such and such' spiel. Without knowing it people will describe this movie in the first-person, or with a first-person tone. And, without knowing it, the person they describe the movie to will sense that the person that is describing the movie to them had a great time (at the movie [which is being described]). And, that person (who has had the movie described to them) will want to see/experience the (events of the) movie (in the first-person) all the more.

It'll be both subtle and effective. Once again, hats off to JJ Abrams. He had a great concept for a shooting technique, produced a cool looking movie that everyone is talking about, and came up with one of the best marketing campaigns to date (and dumped it at the first sign it was getting on people's nerves). 'Cloverfield' is primed for success.

Watch While Eating Popcor?

This strange image was just emailed to me anonymously. If you look carefully you can barely make out what appears to be the words 'Watch While Eating Popcor'. Is this the new title for JJ Abrams monster movie? Why did they leave the n off popcorn? Is that some kind of code? Is Popcor a new snack that will be released at the same time this movie is? I must say this is all very perplexing.