Filming almost done...?

[Rust]

From MTV on the frontpage:

Watchmen director Zack Snyder (300) has posted a new column at MTV that includes the following bit:

At the moment, I'm in the final weeks of shooting "Watchmen," in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since "Watchmen" is a dissection of the superhero genre and forces it to take a long, hard look into the pop-culture mirror, it only makes sense that it's where my head is at these days...


Whoa, are they really this close to wrapping? Weird to think that something this exstensive and fan-hyped is coming to an end and we haven't really heard any crazy rumors from the set or seen any revealing pictures.
Isn't that a little bit odd?

I've forgotten, when did they start shooting?

 

[Figs]

Can't remember when they started shooting but I'm really eager to see some sort of a teaser trailer.

It's to bad we won't get one for quite some time still.

 

[Spidey-Sean]

It does seem a little early to be in the final phases for filming, but I suppose there is a heckuva' lot of post production CGI elements to bring in such as blimps, Rorschach mask, Dr. Manhattan to name a few. Maybe it makes sense.

 

[Rust]

Yeah, but I reckon there'd still have to be alotta raw footage for a movie over 2 1/2, possibly 3 hours long. And does this include the footage for The Black Freigther-sequence and the Under The Hood-documentary?

Apparently they started shooting September 17 last year, so that's about 5 months, including the coming weeks. I suppose that would be long enough for WATCHMEN, especially if Snyder is the supposed workoholic.

 

[Lord Doom]

Yeah, but I reckon there'd still have to be alotta raw footage for a movie over 2 1/2, possibly 3 hours long. And does this include the footage for The Black Freigther-sequence and the Under The Hood-documentary?

Apparently they started shooting September 17 last year, so that's about 5 months, including the coming weeks. I suppose that would be long enough for WATCHMEN, especially if Snyder is the supposed workoholic.

5 MONTHS??
That doesn't sound right...

 

[Rust]

5 MONTHS??
That doesn't sound right...

No?

Half of september, october, november, december, january and some weeks of february.

I suck at math, but that's about 5 months, right?

 

[WalterKovacs]

woah..done shooting more than a year before its theatrical release? jesus christ...

 

[Lobster Charlie]

5 months is plenty of time to be shooting. Some folks just work faster than others. Not to mention...wasn't this slated for a winter 2008 release, originally?

The post will take a good chunk of time as well.

 

[Shmoil]

5 months is plenty of time. Many movies shoot in just one, some in two or three. 5 is good. Plus, this gives them plenty of time for post, and reshoots if they need them. Maybe the earlier the shooting stops, the sooner we'll see some sort of teaser, too.

 

[matrix_ghost]

The lenght of your shooting schedule depends on the type of movie one is making.
Drama flicks for example take anywhere from 2-3 months to film. Big budget blockbusters have a shooting schedule of 4-6 months. Of course we're talking about movies that shoot with real sets and not flicks that are shot against blue screens. If it's the latter , the time is reduced significantly. 300 for example was shot in 65 days or about 1.5 month.

Directors also have an impact on how they want to shoot things. Certain directors , like Michael Bay or Steven SPielberg , shoot very fast whereas other directors like the late Stanley Kubrick take their time finding a take.

However "shooting stuff fast " becomes a bigger priority once you have to deal with (big) VFX sequences. Because it takes time to create them , you have to work fast in order to meet your deadlines.
And if WB is giving a whole year of post. to Zach Snyder , that would probably mean that there are quite some complex VFX shots in this movie

 

[echostation]

Bryan Singer is still shooting stuff on Valkyrie while Zack Snyder is all done... damn talk about speed

 

[Lord Doom]

No?

Half of september, october, november, december, january and some weeks of february.

I suck at math, but that's about 5 months, right?

No That's not what I meant.
I mean, shouldn't it take longer than five months to shot a movie? But I COULD be wrong.

 

[matrix_ghost]

Bryan Singer is still shooting stuff on Valkyrie while Zack Snyder is all done... damn talk about speed

Ahahahahaha

Oh man , that cracked me up t: t:

And because of your post i looked up Valkyrie's wiki page :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie_(film)

Valkyrie was originally slated to be released in August 8, 2008,[44] but the film was moved up earlier to be released in June 27, 2008.[45] The release date was again moved, to October 3, 2008, to avoid competition from WALL-E and the delayed Wanted.[46] Other reports have indicated that Singer requires the extra time to film a key battle sequence, after being unable to find a suitable location for the scenes at the beginning of the film in which von Stauffenberg loses his eye and hand. The sequence is expected to be shot towards the end of February 2008.[47]

Dunno if this is true or not , but i'm getting some SR vibes from this.

 

[matrix_ghost]

No That's not what I meant.
I mean, shouldn't it take longer than five months to shot a movie? But I COULD be wrong.

Again it depends on what kind of movie your making. I'd say that 5-6 months is a normal shooting period for these kind of flicks

 

[Catman]

Isn't this supposed to be a CGI movie like 300? If so...then OF COURSE he's almost done. Most of the work will be done during post-production.

 

[WalterKovacs]

Isn't this supposed to be a CGI movie like 300? If so...then OF COURSE he's almost done. Most of the work will be done during post-production.

no, only like one or two scenes have been shot with CGI backgrounds...havent you seen the pics of the backlot?

 

[matrix_ghost]

no, only like one or two scenes have been shot with CGI backgrounds...havent you seen the pics of the backlot?

Well not exactly. Yes we can see that those scenes have been shot because of the pics. However i'm sure there are many many other shots that have also been filmed against a blue/green screen. For example the antartica scenes will be done completely against CG backgrounds.

To answer Catman's question , no this movie isn't filmed like 300. Zach Snyder himself has said that this wasn't needed for this flick. He wanted to shoot the movie with real sets and/or real places. 300 was all about making a stylised movie. With Watchmen you want to have to see the filth in NY city , the sleazyness etc.
Obviously for the VFX shots theyre gonna use blue screens. And Billy Crudup will be wearing a blue/green suit for his scenes as Dr. Manhatten.Afterwards he will be replaced with a CG character a la Gollem

 

[matrix_ghost]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=8847

When the conversation turned to how "Watchmen" might be shot - would they primarily use green screens like were used in "300" and "Sin City?" - Snyder said it would be a combination of sets and green screens, saying the Mars, Antarctica and possible "Black Freighter" sequences would likely require green screens, but the rest would be filmed on sets.

 

[Killing Joke926]

Maybe they're through with the shoot withing that area; they maybe shooting at other places like the Dark Knight.

 

[Shifty]

Back in August they said they would shoot from September to February, this is nothing new. Good to know they're on schedule.

 

[Catman]

Billy Crudup will be wearing a blue/green suit for his scenes as Dr. Manhatten.Afterwards he will be replaced with a CG character a la Gollem

There ya go! That takes time to do. They obviously have a lot of post-production work ahead of them.

 

[sad lieutenant]

There ya go! That takes time to do. They obviously have a lot of post-production work ahead of them.

Yeah, since we're over a year away from the premiere date, there's no rush for trailer footage, etc.

 

[BeserkerHilf]

300 for example was shot in 65 days or about 1.5 month.

Where'd you learn to count?

 

[WalterKovacs]

Where'd you learn to count?

Dude, the ability to count is so 12845 months ago (or 23 days ago.)

Didn't you get the memo?

 

[BeserkerHilf]

wasn't quoting the prologue.


god, it's as if people didn't use those five words (six, really) in an inquiry before.


take your condescending attitude and shove it.