All Things Superman: An Open Discussion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 52

[Rogzilla]

It might be that Snyder's estimate of the 2:10 was the film itself, while 2:30 is with credits (thus being an official running time). Snyder might not have included the credits in the time as I doubt he has much to do with them. Just paste them in at the end of the movie. :-P

Obviously, its not going to be 20 minutes of credits, but Snyder's seemed to be an estimate.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Yeah but I remember the books when I was that age and they at least had a lesson to be learnt in them. There was at least a proper 1 2 3 plot.

That's not even the story, it's the 8 pages of bonus color pics. It's just captions for the photos.

 

[Bren]

It's so cool that the Kent dog is a mutt instead of a Labrador or something. It seems like such a Jonathan Kent-ish thing to do.

Nah but that is one ugly mutt

 

[Tacit Ronin]

It might be that Snyder's estimate of the 2:10 was the film itself, while 2:30 is with credits (thus being an official running time). Snyder might not have included the credits in the time as I doubt he has much to do with them. Just paste them in at the end of the movie. :-P

Why wouldn't he include the credits? And why are the credits not important to someone who has worked with most of the people that would be named there intimately?

 

[georgec]

My anticipation for this movie continues to rise.

 

[Liam_H]

Aren't directors obligated to include credits whenever they mention runtime?

 

[Kevin Smith]

I was really hoping that kid with a cape was a kid inspired by Superman, not Clark himself. I mean..... what chances you wear a cape as a kid, that basically matches exactly what your Kryptonian Dad left you in a space ship in the Arctic circle.

That's exactly my thoughts on this. lol

 

[Rogzilla]

Why wouldn't he include the credits? And why are the credits not important to someone who has worked with most of the people that would be named there intimately?

A typical TV show runs for 30-60 minutes, right? But ask the cast/crew how long they are and they might say 22-44 minutes, because that's how long the story is (credits length is negligible, lasting maybe 30 seconds).

So, when asked how long his movie is, the director might respond with the time from when the story starts to when the story ends.

And I never said it wasn't important to him. But the director doesn't sit down and write down each credit. End credits are, undoubtedly, the very last thing produced though and, unless there is sort sort of gimmick running through them, aren't part of the story. I suspect all the director does is receive the credits, make sure they look the way they should, and attach them to the end of the film.

Aren't directors obligated to include credits whenever they mention runtime?

By whom?

Now, if there is a scene after the credits, obviously Snyder would, of course, include them in his running time. But otherwise, why would he have to consider it part of the time in answer to the question? They asked him how long the movie was and he answered.

Look, I'm just giving possibilities. This is speculation. Maybe he did give the time with credits, but maybe he didn't if the official running time is closer to 2:30.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Yeah I don't see how that could be enforceable in any way. What are they going to do, fine him because he gave an estimate?

 

[Liam_H]

Could've sworn I read somewhere that whenever directors talk about runtime they usually mention it with end credits included cause that's officially how long the movie is.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Hasn't the film been done for a long while now? The post production window for this film has been heavenly long, a SFX supervisor's dream. Maybe the credits and runtime have already been locked and loaded?

 

[Smallville13]

Without credits then this movie is like 2 hours. That's pretty nuts considering how much it will go through. If we're going to get over an hour of Superman, the first hour is going to be crammed. I mean all of the Krypton scenes, young Clark scenes, Alaska, fortress, etc, all in less than an hour...

 

[Smallville13]

Seriously try and work this out.

Krypton - 20 mins
Alaska+Smallville flashbacks (oil rig, tornado, bus crash) - 35 mins
Fortress - 10 mins
------
We're over the hour here so unless there's less than an hour of Cavill in costume that first half will be even more condensed (if that's even possible).
------
Battle of Smallville - 15 mins
Interrogation - 10 mins
Black Zero - 13 mins
Metropolis battle - 15 mins
Ending montage (Clark puts on glasses, Lois voiceover) - 2 mins
-----
That's 2 hours. Then ~10 mins for credits. That's a wrap. That's an extremely tight movie folks.

 

[KalMart]

Without credits then this movie is like 2 hours. That's pretty nuts considering how much it will go through. If we're going to get over an hour of Superman, the first hour is going to be crammed. I mean all of the Krypton scenes, young Clark scenes, Alaska, fortress, etc, all in less than an hour...

If anything it's less bloated than a lot of stuff coming out....and so much the better.

 

[Kevin Smith]

Seriously try and work this out.

Krypton - 20 mins
Alaska+Smallville flashbacks (oil rig, tornado, bus crash) - 35 mins
Fortress - 10 mins
------
We're over the hour here so unless there's less than an hour of Cavill in costume that first half will be even more condensed (if that's even possible).
------
Battle of Smallville - 15 mins
Interrogation - 10 mins
Black Zero - 13 mins
Metropolis battle - 15 mins
Ending montage (Clark puts on glasses, Lois voiceover) - 2 mins
-----
That's 2 hours. Then ~10 mins for credits. That's a wrap. That's an extremely tight movie folks.

I can dig it, but even I think it will be just a wee bit longer than that. I like though.

 

[KalMart]

Could've sworn I read somewhere that whenever directors talk about runtime they usually mention it with end credits included cause that's officially how long the movie is.

You pretty much always do and always list it that way.

 

[Smallville13]

It's a bit concerning how little room there is in that though. I want this movie to breathe a bit. I mean I know it's become popular here in the last few days to say that short movies are better, but of all the stories, I think it's fair for Superman's origin, plus Krypton backstory, plus Zod fights to take a bit of extra time.

 

[Kevin Smith]

It's a bit concerning how little room there is in that though. I want this movie to breathe a bit. I mean I know it's become popular here in the last few days to say that short movies are better, but of all the stories, I think it's fair for Superman's origin, plus Krypton backstory, plus Zod fights to take a bit of extra time.

This.

 

[Transcended]

Yeah but I remember the books when I was that age and they at least had a lesson to be learnt in them. There was at least a proper 1 2 3 plot.

You're missing the point (already posted by someone else) that this is a junior novelization, NOT a picture book. The picture-pages are bonuses interspersed throughout regular walls of text. Seriously, didn't you ever read junior movie novels as a kid? They all follow the exact same format. I still have my D2: The Mighty Ducks one from the 90s.

 

[KalMart]

Hasn't the film been done for a long while now? The post production window for this film has been heavenly long, a SFX supervisor's dream. Maybe the credits and runtime have already been locked and loaded?

Yeah, and you really have to lock the edit and the runtime by the time you're going into sound and coloring, which also need time before master/distribution. You can't be changing the edit just a few months before release without causing a pretty expensive cluster**** right at the end.

 

[KalMart]

It's a bit concerning how little room there is in that though. I want this movie to breathe a bit. I mean I know it's become popular here in the last few days to say that short movies are better, but of all the stories, I think it's fair for Superman's origin, plus Krypton backstory, plus Zod fights to take a bit of extra time.

It's not about popularity, it's about thankfully not following an overall detrimental recent trend of movies getting too bloated by trying to stuff too much in. The logistics of what they're going to tell does not scream for a 2:45 to 3hr movie. If you give 15 minutes to Krypton and growing up in Smallville each.....which is plenty,...that still leaves you with 90+ more minutes...more than enough. This isn't short-changgin anything, it's the kind of efficiency feature films are made for. Think of it as less excessive (not small) dining portions that taste and satisfy better. More taste and less waste.

 

[Smallville13]

It's not about popularity, it's about thankfully not following an overall detrimental recent trend of movies getting too bloated by trying to stuff too much in. The logistics of what they're going to tell does not scream for a 2:45 to 3hr movie. If you give 15 minutes to Krypton and growing up in Smallville each.....which is plenty,...that still leaves you with 90+ more minutes...more than enough. This isn't short-changgin anything, it's the kind of efficiency feature films are made for. Think of it as less excessive (not small) dining portions that taste and satisfy better.

There's absolutlely no way they're going to cram the Clarks pod landing, his super hearing freakout, the bus crash, Jonathan Kent showing him the ship, the tornado, Jonathan Kents death, him playing around with a cape, etc. into 15 mins though. It's impossible. Something's gotta give.

 

[Smallville13]

No matter which way you slice it. You're looking at over 30 mins on Smallville flashbacks alone. Then you've got Alaska and Krypton to piece in as well... We're looking at ~1 hour of Superman folks. The positive will be he won't be out've costume for the entire last half of the film. So plenty of Supes footage.

 

[Transcended]

It's not about popularity, it's about thankfully not following an overall detrimental recent trend of movies getting too bloated by trying to stuff too much in. The logistics of what they're going to tell does not scream for a 2:45 to 3hr movie. If you give 15 minutes to Krypton and growing up in Smallville each.....which is plenty,...that still leaves you with 90+ more minutes...more than enough. This isn't short-changgin anything, it's the kind of efficiency feature films are made for. Think of it as less excessive (not small) dining portions that taste and satisfy better.

So agree.

Films are designed for maximum impact in a very limited amount of time. If a filmmaker is incapable of making you feel the depth and scope of a particular backstory segment in 15 minutes (a lot of time indeed), they should work in a different medium.

 

[KalMart]

There's absolutlely no way they're going to cram the Clarks pod landing, his super hearing freakout, the bus crash, Jonathan Kent showing him the ship, the tornado, him playing around with a cape, etc. into 15 mins though. It's impossible. Something's gotta give.

Wha.....? Playing with the cape as a kid....all 30-60 seconds of that? What do you think that's going to be?

But even adding another 10 to that, still leaves you with 80 minutes. Absolutely plenty. There's a lot that can be done extremely well in shorter times if you have the skill, and efficiency is very much a skill (and a relatively rare one these days) in storytelling for screen.

Don't worry about it...they probably wouldn't have settled on this time if it felt too short, or purposely cut something down that should comfortably be 15 minutes longer. Very rarely does that happen unless a studio or what have you forces them to edit out a big chunk...and even then it's because of it nearing 3 hr, not 2:30.