Blood and Chrome

Blood & Chrome
Created by	David Eick and Michael Taylor
Starring
Theme music by	Bear McCreary
Statistics
Production company	NBC Universal
Number of seasons	1
Number of episodes	1 episode consisting of 10 installments (list)
Debut channel	Machinima Prime
US first-run airdates	November 9 through December 7, 2012
UK first-run airdates
DVD release
Production staff
Executive producer(s)	David Eick Michael Taylor
Producer(s)
Supervising producer(s)
Associate producer(s)
Co-producer(s)
Story editor(s)
Series Chronology
Previous		Next
Caprica (series)	Blood & Chrome	TBA (Chronological: Razor Flashbacks)
Online Purchasing
Available at iTunes – [ Purchase]
Related Media
Photo Gallery			@ BW Media

Blood and Chrome (also known as Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome) is a webisode series that follows the exploits of a young William "Husker" Adama (Luke Pasqualino), Coker Fasjovik (Ben Cotton), and Dr. Becca Kelly (Lili Bordán) during the First Cylon War.

Blood and Chrome is a sequel to Caprica and a prequel to the Re-imagined Series. On the condition that it performed to expectations, it would act as a "backdoor pilot" (much like the Miniseries) for a future series, to be aired either online or through the traditional television route.

The produced story is split into ten parts, each between seven to twelve minutes in length, debuting on Machinima's YouTube channel, Machinima Prime, starting Friday, November 9, 2012. Additional parts were aired over the following four weeks.

Unlike previous installments in the Re-imagined Series universe, Ron D. Moore was not involved in this production due to his development contract with Sony Pictures. However, many of the creative personnel who worked on Blood and Chrome have worked on both the Re-imagined Series and its prequel Caprica, including Michael Taylor, Doug Drexler, Glenne Campbell, David Eick, Bradley Thompson, David Weddle, and Jonas Pate.

Production History

Development and Initial Announcement (July - October 2010)

Blood and Chrome was officially announced on 27 July 2010 by Syfy Channel executive vice president of programming Mark Stern as a 10-part webseries using "cutting-edge digital technology and special effects to depict the Cylon War" and following a young William Adama. The plan called for the production of a two-hour pilot written by Battlestar Galactica and Caprica vet Michael Taylor directed by then co-executive producer of Caprica Jonas Pate for release online as a 10-part webseries. It was also revealed that the series would be shot on green screen and utilize computer-generated virtual sets.

In October 2010 it was announced that Blood and Chrome would be upgraded from webseries to "full-blown pilot for a series" based on positive reception of Michael Taylor's script. The announcement prompted speculation that Blood and Chrome was intended to replace ratings troubled Caprica which was currently airing on SyFy. In an interview with Maureen Ryan at Huffpost TV Mark Stern denied this saying, "if anything, Blood & Chrome going to series would only be a great opportunity to pair it with Caprica." On 25 October 2010, LA Times Hero Complex published an interview with co-creator and producer David Eick discussing Blood and Chrome and its new characters, particularly Becca Kelly. In the interview, Eick also elaborated on the series' placement relative to Caprica and joked about Ronald D. Moore's lack of involvement in the show's creation.

Casting and Pre-Production (January - February 2011)

By 26 January 2011 the casting of Luke Pasqualino as Ensign William Adama and Ben Cotton as ECO Coker Fasjovik was announced. Cotton and Pasqualino were cast together after auditioning opposite each other in Los Angeles. Cotton recalled the chemistry was immediate, with each actor testing with multiple potential co-stars: "We were actually cast together. When we did our screen tests, we did it together. We got to go in the room and read opposite each other."

The following month on 10 February 2011, it was reported that Lili Bordán had been cast as Becca Kelly, revealed to be "a Ph.D. who worked for Graystone Industries." Bordán was cast just one week before filming began, describing the experience as "the biggest thing I've ever done as an actor" and noting it was "a little daunting."

Other casting additions included Caprica stars Brian Markinson, Zak Santiago, Carmen Moore, and John Pyper-Ferguson as characters unrelated to their previous roles.

Principal Photography and Production Techniques (February - November 2011)

Green screen stage with minimal set pieces representing Galactica CIC.

As of 10 February 2011, production had begun on the pilot on green screen stages in Vancouver, British Columbia. The production shot for 15 days with three weeks of rehearsal beforehand. The cast received training in weapons handling and SWAT tactics for scenes involving Cylon territory infiltration.

The cast underwent extensive military training before filming, including weapons handling, tactical maneuvers, and combat techniques. Cotton described the preparation: "We did have a lot of weapons training. There was this group of amazing gun lovers, who taught us how to look like we were in the military, how to deal with the guns, how to work the guns fast, how to shoot them, and how to look like Rambo."

Working extensively with green screen technology presented unique challenges for the cast. The entire production was filmed against green screen, with Cotton noting: "The entire thing was green screen. I don't think there was a single wall in that set. Anything that we touched was real. We actually got into the ship, but, otherwise, everything around us, was green screen." He compared the experience to black box theater: "I kind of think of it like a black box theater, because as an actor in a theater like that, every wall is a fourth wall. You just imagine everything, so it's a fun exercise, but you really have to do your homework and know what you're looking at."

Director Jonas Pate allowed the cast significant creative freedom to develop their characters' relationships. Cotton noted there was "real freedom on the set, to just sort of let it go and play with each other." Pasqualino described their working relationship: "I could have screamed in his face. It all really came from the confidence of working together, and Jonas gave us a lot of free range to take it wherever we wanted."

Character Preparation and Development

To prepare for his role as Coker Fasjovik, Cotton deliberately avoided extensive viewing of previous Battlestar Galactica episodes, explaining: "I started watching the series, and then I had to decide to sort of pull the plug on that. There's so much to watch, and it's so rich. In my case, I wasn't playing a character who had existed in that world. There wasn't much I needed to be familiar with." He did acknowledge drawing some parallels between Coker and Colonel Tigh from the original series, though noted he "wasn't playing Colonel Tigh."

Cotton expressed interest in exploring more of Coker's backstory, particularly his relationship with his wife and his drinking habits: "I probably would have liked to know more about him and his wife, because I thought a lot about that relationship that I made up in my mind. That relationship intrigued me... I was also curious about his vices. I wanted to hear Coker defend himself about his drinking."

Post-Production and Network Decisions (December 2011 - March 2012)

On 13 February 2011, several photos appeared on Carmen Moore's Twitter feed showing the actress with castmates Karen LeBlanc and Adrian Holmes in costume. The photos were subsequently removed.

On 12 November 2011, Doug Drexler reported that all VFX work on Blood and Chrome had been completed. A month later, Drexler indicated that a decision regarding the fate of the series would be made around February 2012.

Bear McCreary announced on 18 February 2012 that he had recently finished scoring the two-hour Blood and Chrome pilot.

On 21 March 2012, an unofficial teaser trailer for Blood and Chrome began appearing on YouTube, however NBCUniversal quickly ordered its removal. At that time, several sources revealed that the project would not be moving forward as a TV series on SyFy, but could still be viable as a webseries. It was also stated that the pilot episode could air on SyFy as a standalone television movie.

Online Release and Distribution (November 2012)

Early promotional image released 5 November 12 featuring Luke Pasqualino as Ensign William Adama.

On 5 November 2012, an Entertainment Weekly exclusive revealed SyFy's plans for Blood and Chrome, detailing the pilot episode's division into ten shorter episodes to be aired on Machinima's YouTube channel, Machinima Prime, beginning Friday, November 9, 2012. The additional seven to twelve minute episodes would be released in the following four weeks, with the complete pilot episode airing on SyFy in January of 2013.

Producer David Eick described the "unfortunate rap" Blood and Chrome had received from the long and confused post-production phase in an interview with the LA Times the day parts I & II premiered: "What became public perception was that we were doing a pilot for Syfy channel. Then when Syfy ultimately decided that it was so cool and so tailor-made for exactly the kind of experiment that we initially planned, that came off as 'Oh, Syfy made a Battlestar pilot but they're punting it and not gonna air it.' And that's just not how it came down at all — it just went right back to the original plan."

Cotton expressed enthusiasm about the online release format: "I think it's great! I had never heard of it being done this way before." Regarding the webisode format, Cotton noted: "Personally, I prefer to see it all as once. I prefer it with no breaks, but in TV, you kind of write to a commercial, your acts are sort of contained between commercials. The medium is sort of built to be broken up, so I thought it worked quite well, when they broke it up onto the web."

On 9 November 2012, CGSociety published an interview with VFX supervisor Gary Hutzel detailing the creation of Blood and Chrome and its 1,800 CGI shots. The article stated that Blood and Chrome carried a budget of $2 million.

An unrated, uncut Blu-ray and DVD version of the pilot episode was announced on 8 November 2012, with a 19 February 2013 release date. As announced, the Blu-ray and DVD will include deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes documentary, "Blood & Chrome: Visual Effects".

Plot

A dorsal view of Galactica as it appeared in the First Cylon War and Blood and Chrome. Note the large array of gun turrets, armour plating and decal on the ship compared to the re-imagined series.

According to co-creator and executive producer Michael Taylor, Blood and Chrome is "about a young man's [William Adama] initiation into war: both the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground (and in Battlestars and Vipers), and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media."

Further, Taylor pointed out that the scope of the series "isn't confined to Galactica. Far from it. It's a story that will take us to new corners of the Battlestar world (or worlds), and yet it aims to be a very contemporary war movie in a lot of ways. I would say I'm thinking as much of Afghanistan and Iraq--the reality of [The] Hurt Locker, Sebastian Junger's Restrepo, and similar movies--as I am about about the largely implied past of Battlestar."

Blood and Chrome was also meant to feature adult situations as, according to Taylor, the series will not "[shy] away from R-rated blood and guts and sex" due to it being initially meant for online consumption. As was the case with The Plan, an unrated, uncut version of Blood and Chrome will appear on Blu-ray and DVD while the webseries and television movie versions will be edited for time and content.

Music and Sound Design

Musical Approach

Composer Bear McCreary returned to score Blood and Chrome, marking a significant evolution in his approach to the Battlestar Galactica musical universe. Unlike his work on the Re-imagined Series and Caprica, which relied exclusively on acoustic instrumentation, McCreary introduced electronic synthesizers and heavy electric guitars to create what he described as "the angry, rebellious teenage son of my Battlestar Galactica music."

The decision to incorporate synthetic elements was made to match the more action-oriented and adventurous tone of Blood and Chrome, which "departs from the heavy political and religious subtext of the previous two series and emphasizes action, adventure, sex and aerial dogfights." McCreary worked with legendary guitarist and keyboardist Mike Keneally, known for his work with Frank Zappa and Steve Vai, to create the heavy synthesizer bass lines and distorted guitar parts that would define the score's new sound.

Instrumentation and Production

The score retained the core ensemble of musicians from previous BSG productions, including Chris Bleth on woodwinds, MB Gordy on taikos and percussion, Paul Cartwright on electric violin, Steve Bartek on electric guitars, Brendan McCreary on vocals, and Raya Yarbrough on vocals. The film's budget of $2 million included approximately 1,800 CGI shots, with extensive post-production work on both visual effects and music.

To blend the synthetic elements with the traditional acoustic instrumentation, McCreary employed innovative recording techniques. For one sequence involving the characters on an ice planet, he conducted the string orchestra in real-time, having players perform tremolo patterns on open strings while he shaped their dynamics through hand gestures, creating "a blurry, beautiful chord" that would have been nearly impossible to notate traditionally.

Thematic Development

McCreary developed several new musical themes specifically for Blood and Chrome. The Military Theme, originally composed for the BSG episode "33," was adapted to represent Adama's character development and his bonds with fellow soldiers, particularly his relationship with Coker Fasjovik. McCreary chose this theme over the Adama Family Theme because "Adama's relationships in Blood & Chrome are not familial. We are seeing a totally different side of his character."

The Becca Theme was created for Dr. Becca Kelly, featuring piano, gamelan, vibraphone and rhodes to produce "a shimmering, vibrating quality" with harmonies that evolve from mysterious and dissonant to increasingly emotional as her chemistry with Adama develops. The Coker Theme, a simple six-note melody played by bansuri and supported by duduks, was reserved exclusively for the character's emotional moments.

Notable Musical Sequences

One of the score's most significant moments occurs when Adama first sees Galactica, for which McCreary quoted Stu Phillips' classic "Theme from Battlestar Galactica" from the Original Series. McCreary described this as "the most rousing rendition yet" of the classic theme, augmented with "heavy synths and soaring electric guitars." As Adama peers out of his transport window, McCreary wanted to create "a nearly religious experience" for fans of both the 2004 series and the original 1970s series.

As the scene transitions into the hangar bay, McCreary wrote an elegant vocal line for singer Raya Yarbrough, sung in Latin: "Domini ducem dederunt agmen qui ducat caelorum," which translates to "And the Lords anointed a leader to guide the Caravan of the Heavens." McCreary felt this was "perfectly appropriate text to use as Bill Adama first sets foot inside the Battlestar Galactica."

The film concludes with "Apocalypse: Blood and Chrome," an adaptation of a piece originally written for The Plan. This marked the first time in the BSG universe that a song featured English lyrics, written by Raya Yarbrough and performed by Brendan McCreary, as McCreary wanted to ensure "that listeners immediately understood their meaning." The song combines Brendan McCreary's powerful vocals with Mike Keneally's distorted guitars, while Raya Yarbrough's ethereal vocal layers float above, creating what McCreary considers "one of my favorite cues I've ever composed for the 'BSG' universe."

Recording Techniques and Innovation

McCreary employed several innovative recording techniques throughout the score. In one notable sequence on the ice planet, he conducted the string orchestra in real-time without written notation, assigning each section (first and second violins, violas, and celli) specific tremolo patterns on open strings. Each player oscillated between their assigned pitches at their own unique speed, creating what McCreary described as "a blurry, beautiful chord." He then shaped the sound by pointing at different sections with his right hand while controlling their energy levels with his left hand, essentially composing the cue in real time while watching the scene.

For the destroyed battlestar Archeron sequence, McCreary created a mournful synthesizer melody doubled with a solo duduk played by Chris Bleth. The mix was carefully balanced so that "the duduk is tucked inside the synth and becomes nearly inaudible," with the synthesizer drawing attention while gaining "an unmistakable humanity" from the duduk's vibrato and the subtle sounds of the player's fingers and breath.

Soundtrack Release

La-La Land Records released a limited edition CD of the Blood & Chrome score in March 2013, followed by a comprehensive Caprica album in April. The soundtrack includes the complete version of "Coker's Interlude," a classical piano piece performed by Joohyun Park that represents a composition Coker learned as a child. McCreary composed this piece to feel natural and spontaneous, including deliberate mistakes and allowing the music to start and stop based on Coker's body language during the scene.

Cast

• Luke Pasqualino as pilot Ensign William "Husker" Adama
• Ben Cotton as Raptor ECO Lt. Coker Fasjovik
• Lili Bordán as computer scientist Dr. Becca Kelly Caprica was canceled by SyFy four days later on 27 October 2010.
• Jill Teed as Commander Ozar
• John Pyper-Ferguson as Xander Toth
• Brian Markinson as Commander Silas Nash
• Karen LeBlanc as Raptor pilot Jenna McGavin
• Sebastian Spence as Lt. Jim "Sunshine" Kirby
• Ty Olsson as Osiris helmsman
• Zak Santiago as Captain Armin "High Top" Diaz
• Mike Dopud as Captain Deke "Minute Man" Tornvald
• Adrian Holmes as pilot Zachary Elias
• Carmen Moore as Raptor pilot/ECO Nina Leothe
• Jordan Weller as Seamus Fahey
• Tom Stevens as Marine Baris
• Terry Chen as Crew Chief Tiu
• Sooraj Jaswal as BSG CIC Marine
• Leo Li Chiang as Osiris Marine Sergeant
• Colin Corrigan as Osiris Marine
• Zach Martin as Marine Strohmeyer
• Aaron Hughes as Army Medic
• Toby Levins as Pilot "Sandman"
• Tricia Helfer as Cylon Prototype (voice; uncredited)
• Uncredited as Sig

Crew

• Written by Michael Taylor
• Story by David Eick, Bradley Thompson and David Weddle
• Directed by Jonas Pate

References