Alyson: that's a very good analysis of the situation.

>Compounded on this dynamic seems to be an additional one of lack of
>knowledge on some (both?) of the TNT parties about when and where they
>can affect the product.

This is also very much true. In one scene we shot, there's a slight reflection
on the monitor wherein we can see Gideon's face reflected. (Intentional on the
director's part.) They asked if we could give them the scene without the
reflection. No, we can't...unless we reshoot it.

One other area where we ran up against a problem with understanding was on the
EFX and delivery. They simply couldn't visualize what was going into a CGI
shot before we actually *did* it. They'd look at a scene where we'd slugged
time for action, and think it was slow, because no, there isn't anything there
NOW, but there will be when the CGI is done.

They also kept saying (after the first 5) that the show was too dark, that they
couldn't see anything, that the colors were muted. That's one reason they
wanted the sets repainted, to make them more colorful. We kept saying, no,
it's NOT too dark, we don't know where you're getting that.

I finally found out when I went to visit someone at TNT and looked at what THEY
were looking at...not the digibeta footage, or a good clean copy of the
edit...they were looking at a fourth- or fifth-generation dub of the *avid
output*, which is a digitized version of the film, somewhat low-res.

So finally, we brought in their tech guy, and showed him the digital beta
version, the actual footage. He looked at it, and said, "Oh, okay, you're
right, it's not dark at all." But by then the mandate had come down from on
high, LIGHTEN THE SCENES. Which is why the first five have a moodier, more
stylistic look to them than the rest.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com