Editing Podcast:Occupation
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{{ | {{podcast|author=Steelviper|emailAuthor2=|suffix=|additionalCopyright=and Terry Dresbach}} | ||
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== Act 1 == | == Act 1 == | ||
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RDM: Oh, and now the kittens are being removed from the room. | RDM: Oh, and now the kittens are being removed from the room. | ||
It was- the idea was to shoot this- to do this propaganda film that D'anna was making and at the end of the propaganda film she was going to doing an exterior standup next to [[Laura Roslin|Laura]]'s school tent and as she's talking suddenly, in the background of thes shot, is this flash and this puff of smoke and then you hear the boom a couple seconds later and the [[New Caprica Resistance|insurgency]] has hit another Cylon target and it like was "Cut. God damnit." And she starts bitching at Laura and Laura's defending what's going on and that was the way into this world that the occupation was well under way. There was an insurgency. The Cylons were trying to win the hearts and minds of the populace and some people were fighting back and some people were collaborating and the whole thing about the human security | It was- the idea was to shoot this- to do this propaganda film that D'anna was making and at the end of the propaganda film she was going to doing an exterior standup next to [[Laura Roslin|Laura]]'s school tent and as she's talking suddenly, in the background of thes shot, is this flash and this puff of smoke and then you hear the boom a couple seconds later and the [[New Caprica Resistance|insurgency]] has hit another Cylon target and it like was "Cut. God damnit." And she starts bitching at Laura and Laura's defending what's going on and that was the way into this world that the occupation was well under way. There was an insurgency. The Cylons were trying to win the hearts and minds of the populace and some people were fighting back and some people were collaborating and the whole thing about the human security, or the [[New Caprica Police]], was mentioned in that context. And I wrote a couple drafts of that and I think people- there was a reaction from other writers and studio/network that- the propaganda film just felt like the wrong tone and it seemed odd that D'anna was still making movies, although I kinda followed that and kinda liked that. But anyway, it was like, it was- once they had set all those pieces in motion that I knew that I wanted to cover all this territory, it was sort of easy for me to sit down and write this particular tease, which had to do with a lot of- setting up different stories. Catching them all mid-story. All these things are well under way, and playing the mystery of what's going on in each one of these scenes. By the end of the tease to bring them to some sort of crescendo. | ||
There's a device at the top of the next act where Laura will be doing a voiceover and recording things in her journal, and that was a much later thought and there was debate for a while over whether we would do that here in the first act, or the tease, whichever way you wanna look at it. We, in editing, we had a version where- there was another version cut of this that [[David Eick]] liked quite a bit. And it was David's cut and David's a fine editor and- contributes quite a bit in post-production and David cut a different version of this where we put the Laura Roslin voiceover up here in act one. And we started- you started the voiceover much, much earlier. You were filling in backstory and you- a lot of this intercutting and R. D. Moore poetic stuff went by the wayside and I didn't like it. We had an intense discussion about it. (Chuckles.) Let's put it that way. And we still speak, and we're still happy, and we're still good friends. But I- there was something about this particular tease fit together- or, I keep calling it a tease. Technically, it's act one. There was something about the way this particular set of scenes intercut and interrelated in the first act that I really like and really fought for. I thought [[Sergio Mimica-Gezzan|Sergio]] just delivered some amazing footage and some amazing film and elicited some really strong performances, and I really wanted to showcase the more cinematic aspects of the show and I like that this is the beginning of a season. That this sets a tone and a feeling and a mood about what kind of film we're gonna do this year and what- where the show can potentially go. | There's a device at the top of the next act where Laura will be doing a voiceover and recording things in her journal, and that was a much later thought and there was debate for a while over whether we would do that here in the first act, or the tease, whichever way you wanna look at it. We, in editing, we had a version where- there was another version cut of this that [[David Eick]] liked quite a bit. And it was David's cut and David's a fine editor and- contributes quite a bit in post-production and David cut a different version of this where we put the Laura Roslin voiceover up here in act one. And we started- you started the voiceover much, much earlier. You were filling in backstory and you- a lot of this intercutting and R. D. Moore poetic stuff went by the wayside and I didn't like it. We had an intense discussion about it. (Chuckles.) Let's put it that way. And we still speak, and we're still happy, and we're still good friends. But I- there was something about this particular tease fit together- or, I keep calling it a tease. Technically, it's act one. There was something about the way this particular set of scenes intercut and interrelated in the first act that I really like and really fought for. I thought [[Sergio Mimica-Gezzan|Sergio]] just delivered some amazing footage and some amazing film and elicited some really strong performances, and I really wanted to showcase the more cinematic aspects of the show and I like that this is the beginning of a season. That this sets a tone and a feeling and a mood about what kind of film we're gonna do this year and what- where the show can potentially go. | ||
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Terry: Just like there are in what happened with- in [[Wikipedia:World War II|World War II]] and every other- | Terry: Just like there are in what happened with- in [[Wikipedia:World War II|World War II]] and every other- | ||
RDM: Yeah. This show is- it's just taking this situation, now is more interest- I wasn't really interested as I was doing this episode, these epsiodes, oddly enough, making a political statement about Iraq. I was really interested in taking a lot of those parameters and a lot of that setting and applying it to our characters and saying, "Ok, what would [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] do in that situation? What would happen to [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]]? What would Laura do in that situation." That's where we spent I'd say we spent 80%, 90%, of our time, was talking in terms of what the characters would do. And the rest was usually spent about, "Ok, and the plot's gonna get us over to here. So how do we move Laura to this position by this point in the narrative and still get to the same place?" But there wer- there weren't really many, if any, political discussions about the situation in Iraq in the writers room that I can really recall. We talk about the news and we talk about what's going on in the world, and react to whatever that day's story was, but when we were going through the structuring of the episode it was- Iraq was referred to but, a lot of places were referred to as well. There were a lot of- the writers are- most of them are pretty well versed in history and they'll pull out examples of all kinds of | RDM: Yeah. This show is- it's just taking this situation, now is more interest- I wasn't really interested as I was doing this episode, these epsiodes, oddly enough, making a political statement about Iraq. I was really interested in taking a lot of those parameters and a lot of that setting and applying it to our characters and saying, "Ok, what would [[Galen Tyrol|Tyrol]] do in that situation? What would happen to [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]]? What would Laura do in that situation." That's where we spent I'd say we spent 80%, 90%, of our time, was talking in terms of what the characters would do. And the rest was usually spent about, "Ok, and the plot's gonna get us over to here. So how do we move Laura to this position by this point in the narrative and still get to the same place?" But there wer- there weren't really many, if any, political discussions about the situation in Iraq in the writers room that I can really recall. We talk about the news and we talk about what's going on in the world, and react to whatever that day's story was, but when we were going through the structuring of the episode it was- Iraq was referred to but, a lot of places were referred to as well. There were a lot of- the writers are- most of them are pretty well versed in history and they'll pull out examples of all kinds of thins. There was even, I think, [[David Weddle]] was talking about something that happened during the [[Wikipedia:Gallic Wars|Romans were occupied Gaul]]. | ||
This was shot much later. This is the- this is the establishing the door. There was some question- we shot these tunnel scenes, and there was some question as you looked at the footage where people were saying, "Where are they? Are they in a building? Are they in-". And I said, "No. They're in tunnels." "Well, it doesn't feel like a tunnel. Is it a building somewhere? Where are they? How'd they- if it's a tunnel where's the tunnel? How'd they get into it?" And so, eventually, it was like, "Ok, fine. Let's shoot a door. Shoot the trap door, where they actually go down into the tunnel." | This was shot much later. This is the- this is the establishing the door. There was some question- we shot these tunnel scenes, and there was some question as you looked at the footage where people were saying, "Where are they? Are they in a building? Are they in-". And I said, "No. They're in tunnels." "Well, it doesn't feel like a tunnel. Is it a building somewhere? Where are they? How'd they- if it's a tunnel where's the tunnel? How'd they get into it?" And so, eventually, it was like, "Ok, fine. Let's shoot a door. Shoot the trap door, where they actually go down into the tunnel." | ||
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Terry: The whole thing. The whole s- the whole thing. | Terry: The whole thing. The whole s- the whole thing. | ||
RDM: Yeah it is dark [[Wikipedia:Groundhog Day (film)|''Groundhog Day'']]. I never thought about it that way. (Laughs.) Dark ''Groundhog Day''. I may have to write that movie. ''Groundhog Day II'', this time, it ain't funny. | RDM: Yeah it is dark [[Wikipedia:Groundhog Day (film)|''Groundhog Day'']]. I never thought about it that way. (Laughs.) Dark ''Groundhog Day''. I may have to write that movie. ''Groundhog Day II'', this time, it ain't funny. | ||
Terry: (Laughs.) | Terry: (Laughs.) | ||
== Act 3 == | |||
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Then back to [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. There was some debate, as well, about how long do you hold off ''Galactica'' and I really wanted to- my reasoning to hold it off until the third act was I wanted the first two acts of this to be set up this big story. Ok, establish where everybody is on [[New Caprica]], what are they about, who's on what side, what's the political situation, what's going on down there. And then I wanted to give you like two acts of just absorbing all this- absorbing all this information. Sussing out so you know the political situation as well as reminding yourself who the characters were and what their relationships were about. And then go to ''Galactica''. 'Cause ''Galactica'', I think by the time you get to ''Galactica'' now in this structure, I think you're happy to see her and you're excited and you're like, "Oh, yeah. There's the ''Galactica''." And the first thing you see is they're in the [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]]s and they're doing the thing and practicing their moves and they're thinking about trying to get back there. And that's I think where- exactly where you wanna pick 'em up. | Then back to [[Galactica (RDM)|''Galactica'']]. There was some debate, as well, about how long do you hold off ''Galactica'' and I really wanted to- my reasoning to hold it off until the third act was I wanted the first two acts of this to be set up this big story. Ok, establish where everybody is on [[New Caprica]], what are they about, who's on what side, what's the political situation, what's going on down there. And then I wanted to give you like two acts of just absorbing all this- absorbing all this information. Sussing out so you know the political situation as well as reminding yourself who the characters were and what their relationships were about. And then go to ''Galactica''. 'Cause ''Galactica'', I think by the time you get to ''Galactica'' now in this structure, I think you're happy to see her and you're excited and you're like, "Oh, yeah. There's the ''Galactica''." And the first thing you see is they're in the [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]]s and they're doing the thing and practicing their moves and they're thinking about trying to get back there. And that's I think where- exactly where you wanna pick 'em up. | ||
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This thing with getting the message from the [[Raptor]]. This also was something discussed in the initial break. How this was gonna work. What the rules of it would be. As always, [[David Weddle|David]] and [[Bradley Thompson|Bradley]], two of the writers on the show, were instrumental in figuring out a lot of these kinds of things. They're really knowledgable in terms of military procedure and protocol and I know Brad has several friends and acquaintances that are in the military and he talks to pilots and he is a pilot and he knows a lot of the stuff, so a lot of these things were run by them first. | This thing with getting the message from the [[Raptor]]. This also was something discussed in the initial break. How this was gonna work. What the rules of it would be. As always, [[David Weddle|David]] and [[Bradley Thompson|Bradley]], two of the writers on the show, were instrumental in figuring out a lot of these kinds of things. They're really knowledgable in terms of military procedure and protocol and I know Brad has several friends and acquaintances that are in the military and he talks to pilots and he is a pilot and he knows a lot of the stuff, so a lot of these things were run by them first. | ||
I like that. (Laughs.) I don't know why. I just like the way that that's phrased. "Have hope. We're coming for you." That seemed like a very simple message that you'd leave these guys. And this, this is like a really odd way to end this scene, I have to tell ya, but I love it. That Adama stands there and just says, "It's gonna be ok. It's really gonna be ok." And it say- on some level it's a weak moment, 'cause it's not like- it's essentially saying that he didn't always know that it was gonna be ok, and he's not the all-confident guy and that there's a part of him that's really relieved and really, whew, almost emotional about the fact that it's all gonna be ok. But that's why I like it. 'Cause it's an unexpected move to make with your lead, with your hero. So much tv is just, and film, is just predicated on the idea that the hero must always be strong. Hero cannot show weakness. That the hero- and when he does show weakness it's just such a noble thing that he's weak. | I like that. (Laughs.) I don't know why. I just like the way that that's phrased. "Have hope. We're coming for you." That seemed like a very simple message that you'd leave these guys. And this, this is like a really odd way to end this scene, I have to tell ya, but I love it. That Adama stands there and just says, "It's gonna be ok. It's really gonna be ok." And it say- on some level it's a weak moment, 'cause it's not like- it's essentially saying that he didn't always know that it was gonna be ok, and he's not the all-confident guy and that there's a part of him that's really relieved and really, whew, almost emotional about the fact that it's all gonna be ok. But that's why I like it. 'Cause it's an unexpected move to make with your lead, with your hero. So much tv is just, and film, is just predicated on the idea that the hero must always be strong. Hero cannot show weakness. That the hero- and when he does show weakness it's just such a noble thing that he's weak. But I don't know. There's like, there's frailties and there's things that real heroes do that make them human. I think you can show that. | ||
== Act 4 == | == Act 4 == | ||
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The prayer scene, I believe- oh yeah. We had to do a different version of this. Interestingly enough, the photograph there of [[Tucker Clellan|Duck]] and [[Nora]] had to be digitally redone much later after we shot this scene, because of the [[Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance|webisodes]]. The webisodes, which I'm sure all of you listening to this have watched several times and showed your friends, the online webisodes featured a storyline about Duck and [[James Lyman|Jammer]] and Nora, Duck's woman. None of that had been done or written when this was all being developed, or shot. It was all still in the works. And so that scene, that tracking shot across Duck's quarters featured a different actress, just, I believe, and extra, one of our extras, in the photograph. And then much later, when, after we had cast Nora, and we shot the webisodes we had to go back and digitally insert her face into that photograph. If not the entire photograph. Actually, I'm not sure. This is like a trivia question someday for [[Gary Hutzel]]. I'm not sure if we actually just swapped out her head or if we swapped out the entire photo. 'Cause I know that- I think they might have redone the entire photo, because I think he did pose with Nora in the flight suit. | |||
The bi- the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Number Six|Six]] storyline that starts there is actually had started earlier in the original draf t and the scene that is now in the second part, in "[[Precipice]]", where they're in bed and they wake up and they're having problems. That was actually, embarassingly enough, also in act one (Laughs.) of "[[Occupation]]". So you can see that "Occupation" began life as a very bloated act one where I was doing so many different things. And act two got kicked all the way down the line into the next episode. | |||
The bi- the [[Gaius Baltar|Baltar]]-[[Number Six|Six]] storyline that starts there is actually had started earlier in the original | |||
A lot of discussion about how this whole signal with the dog bowl works. There was- we played around with it, not just on the page, and shooting it, but in editorial inserts and stealing shots. That's a shot from "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay-]]". I mean, we were doing all kinds of stuff to make this clear. 'Cause I had written it to be sparse. I wanted it to be, you followed the signal by watching it, as opposed to somebody saying, nobody ever says, "Well, I've got this guy and he turns over a dog bowl when he- when he turns over the dog bowl I know that there's a message over in this other place. So I go to the other place and I get it." And I didn't want to play it that I way. I wanted it to just be something that, hey, the audience actually had to pay attention to and had to actually watch to understand. 'Cause it's all visual. It's all about putting things in boxes and kicking over dog bowls and if you watch it you can figure out. | A lot of discussion about how this whole signal with the dog bowl works. There was- we played around with it, not just on the page, and shooting it, but in editorial inserts and stealing shots. That's a shot from "[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II|Lay-]]". I mean, we were doing all kinds of stuff to make this clear. 'Cause I had written it to be sparse. I wanted it to be, you followed the signal by watching it, as opposed to somebody saying, nobody ever says, "Well, I've got this guy and he turns over a dog bowl when he- when he turns over the dog bowl I know that there's a message over in this other place. So I go to the other place and I get it." And I didn't want to play it that I way. I wanted it to just be something that, hey, the audience actually had to pay attention to and had to actually watch to understand. 'Cause it's all visual. It's all about putting things in boxes and kicking over dog bowls and if you watch it you can figure out. | ||
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RDM: No animals were harmed during the making of this film, except for the actors. | RDM: No animals were harmed during the making of this film, except for the actors. | ||
Terry: Now you gotta get them all riled | Terry: Now you gotta get them all riled. | ||
RDM: Remember what [[Wikipedia:Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock]] used to call actors? | RDM: Remember what [[Wikipedia:Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock]] used to call actors? | ||
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RDM: I'm sorry. I don't like to complain about, "Oh, we didn't get this award." The visual effects guys was robbed. Robbed! In broad daylight. | RDM: I'm sorry. I don't like to complain about, "Oh, we didn't get this award." The visual effects guys was robbed. Robbed! In broad daylight. | ||
This is as dark as the show gets. I mean, this is really putting it out there. When I was writing this stuff, I was writing this stuff with the suicide bombing, and there's Duck, and I was like emotionally caught up in it, really. It was tripping me out a bit as I was writing these scenes of him standing in the police ranks, | This is as dark as the show gets. I mean, this is really putting it out there. When I was writing this stuff, I was writing this stuff with the suicide bombing, and there's Duck, and I was like emotionally caught up in it, really. It was tripping me out a bit as I was writing these scenes of him standing in the police ranks, he know he's got the belt on. What's he gonna do? And then, oh my god, he actually does it. I mean, it's really- it's really horrifying stuff. But it's true. That's why I want to do it. It really happens. People do this. Look at this. | ||
Terry: And they believe in what they're doing. | Terry: And they believe in what they're doing. | ||
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RDM: We're not making it easy for them. We're definitely pushing what you're gonna see in television and it's to their credit that they support us as strongly as they do. | RDM: We're not making it easy for them. We're definitely pushing what you're gonna see in television and it's to their credit that they support us as strongly as they do. | ||