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Title: Interesting article in Wired...... Post by: trekgeezer on December 22, 2004, 10:05:12 AM about those SciFi original pictures and the deals they make for them.
Wired Article (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/scifi.html?pg=1&topic=(none)&topic_set=(none)) Be on the look out for Corin Nemec in Mansquito sometime in 2005. Mansquito pics (http://www.moviesonline.ca/film1201.htm) Title: Re: Interesting article in Wired...... Post by: JohnL on December 22, 2004, 08:57:53 PM Interesting. Now I know the thought process that turns out so much crap. I like how the article says their job is to schedule stuff 24/7. Gee, those infomercials at 3AM are really horrifying!
The comment about Boa vs. Python being better because the creature's name is in the title was really stupid. Personally, I'd rather watch Terminal Invasion. Title: Re: Interesting article in Wired...... Post by: Yaddo 42 on December 27, 2004, 12:56:58 AM I think they meant "better" from an advertising and promotion standpoint. Not the quality of the actual films. "Boa Vs. Python" tells you what the movie is about right there, you know there's a fight coming, even if you haven't seen any of the current cheapo giant snake films. "Terminal Invasion" is too generic a title to them I think. It could be an alien invasion flick, any generic techno-thriller, the title of a Robin Cook medical thriller, etc. As long as they get eyes watching the movie (and hopefully the ads) they aren't concerned with the quality as long as a film isn't so bad it makes people change the channel.
I agree the Sci-Fi Originals are mostly crap, but their approach kind of reminds me of how AIP made films in the 50s and early 60s. A set budget amount per film, plot ideas derived vaguely from stories in the news, a rigid structure (the seven acts they mentioned) with certain elements (the monster appears by a certain time, a set time length between deaths) being required. Notice that Roger Corman priased their approach, the King of assembly line low budget film factory production himself. Paul Bartel once said in a interview that Corman had set rules about how long a film should be, not because of pacing or audience turnover in theaters, but because if your film went past a certain length (which Bartel didn't mention) the prints required an extra film canister which put you into a higher weight category (and cost) when you shipped the prints to theaters. So of course Corman liked their approach. As far as their clever subtexts they mentioned in the articles, I've yet to see anything that clever or meaningful lurking in any SFO films. I've enjoyed some of them as fun popcorn time wasters, but they should call the Saturday 8pm (Central) movie slot "Low Expectations Theater". Title: Re: Interesting article in Wired...... Post by: daveblackeye15 on December 27, 2004, 02:06:50 AM Yaddo42:
True true, except AIP is actualy more entertaining in my opinion. Title: Re: Interesting article in Wired...... Post by: Yaddo 42 on December 27, 2004, 02:48:10 AM I'll give you that, many of the AIP films are quite fun, especially in the "bad good" way we like or because they are such products of their time.
The Sci-Fi Originals are rarely fun and very cookie cutter, and now that they've spelled out their formula in that article I'll probably dislike the worst ones even more, since the pacing is done with the same stopwatch every time. Title: Re: Interesting article in Wired...... Post by: JohnL on December 27, 2004, 02:01:29 PM >I think they meant "better" from an advertising and promotion standpoint. Not the
>quality of the actual films. "Boa Vs. Python" tells you what the movie is about right >there, you know there's a fight coming, even if you haven't seen any of the >current cheapo giant snake films. "Terminal Invasion" is too generic a title to >them I think. It could be an alien invasion flick, any generic techno-thriller, the title >of a Robin Cook medical thriller, etc. Gee, by their reasoning, maybe they should have called it "Aliens Killing People in an Airport". |