Robinson wrote:Nemesis Cyberplex wrote:Robinson wrote:Sky Glory of Iacon wrote:If he lisened to me I would have said simplify the design of the transformers. Not so much detail. Keep the humans to no more than you need to. First watch the cartoons read the comics and I would have hired a consulting firm to go out and see what fans and average Joe wants to see. Then I would tell him avoid the charector deaths watch the message boards and attend conventions and do reserch into robotics, outer space and Auto mechanics as well as millatary mechanics. I would understand this franchise by reserching the history of the toys creation and playing around with the toys. Read about the contraversy that happened in 1987. Why was it contraversial Study the storylines from the comics to cartoons. Ask what charectors don't work and what does and what hasn't been explored? Spend sometime in Portland Oregon at Mount St. Helen. Walk around the mountians and the woods and try to imangine what life would be like for robotic organisms to wake up in a world so differnt than the one they knew. Take pictures of locations at the autobots eye level and make notes on them,
Get a feel for the locals in portland get a car simlmuler to a autobots and drive around the access roads and ask around about the woods what animals can be seen and add that to your notes also look for little things that makes some one from portland such as speech patterns and diologe.
Give these things to your writers before they write. With the writers give them space check in on thier work take them to lunch as you do it. Be honest and open.
Get advice from other directors and producers. talk to peter cullen and frank walker, meet with the old writers directors and producers. Both japanese and American. Look into the history of a millatary dictatorships.
Talk to people about transformers. what do they remember about them?
Does that sound like bad advice?
Film Student and Slaggin' proud of it!
Sky
Not bad advice, but completely unnecessary. The movie has nothing to do with Mount st. Helens or oregon for that matter. Just because the cartoon did does not mean the movie has to. The whole point of the movie is to build something that will be diferent than what was done before. Not to keep rehashing the same tired storylines that have been done to death for nearly 25 years.
You may be a film student but with this particular film you may be a little out of touch when it comes to whats needed of it or what was done to make it. No one but the writers know what exptent of research they did. They also claim to be fans in their own right so they have an inclination of what the franchise is about, what can work, what absolutely won't work and what they can get away with.
If you feel you can make the "perfect" Transformers movie feel free to do so, let the "fans" view it and see what opinions go from there whether or not your movie is better than the one we have.
Question: What storylines in Transformers have actually been done to death? People keep saying this, but I have yet to see any storyline that has indeed been "done to death" that the new movie didn't cover, such as Autobots & Decepticons appearing on Earth...Megs vs. Prime deathmatch, Starscream gunning for leader of decepticons, Megs telling him how incompetent he is...etc.
The storylines that follow the introduction. Of course the movie will begin with the same template but now is its chance to move into something else completely.
Some examples of things done to death.( Now I dont know every story in transformers lore but these are the ones that jump out instantly)
Unicron
Meg's becoming Galvatron
Rodimus/ Ultra Magnus leadership
Now I know those are primarily things from the 86 movie, but thats what I am constantly reading in different threads that people want to see, the same thing done over again. They writers really have a chance to create something unique now and I hope they follow through with it
Unicron has been done twice in the past 25 years...once for G1, once for the Unicron trillogy.
The Megs/Galvy thing I'll give you.....though in all but one instance, it was a simple repainting....only G1 gave him an actual body upgrade.
Rodimus was only leader in G1, & only temporary then...though in energon he was the leader of a splinter group of autobots, but was not their supreme commander.
Ultra Magnus since G1 has never had a leader status, though he was Prime's brother in RID.
But all of this given, who outside the more hardcore fans even know of these storylines? Certainly casual moviegoers that were more fascinated with Mojo than catching the split second you can see Starscream shooting Megatron wouldn't even have a clue who Unicron, Galvatron, Magnus, or Rodimus even are....let alone wether they've been done to death or not. But don't get me wrong...I'm not saying redo G1 scripts word for word, or any other series for that matter...but honestly, if you want to see giant robots doing something completely new...go watch Gundam, or Evangelion, or some other non-transformer anime show with giant robots in it. There's no need to give the past 25 years the middle finger & do something completely unrelated in order to come up with something everybody will love to watch.