ATTN JMS: Foundation Imaging Collapse - Sinking into the sand?
B5JMS Poster
b5jms-owner at shekel.mcl.cs.columbia.edu
Fri Sep 13 06:19:45 EDT 1996
Subject: ATTN JMS: Foundation Imaging Collapse - Sinking into the sand?
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No. | DATE | FROM
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s 1: Sep 11, 1996: Chris Warren <chrisw at ijbrooks.demon.co.uk>
+ 2: Sep 11, 1996: Chris Warren <chrisw at ijbrooks.demon.co.uk>
* 3: Sep 12, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: Chris Warren <chrisw at ijbrooks.demon.co.uk>
Lines: 96
What... I am shocked.... For those of you that don't know, Foundation
Imaging will not be doing the CGI for B5 anymore (Read JMS' comments
below)...
ATTN JMS: Before I say anything is this true, or is it yet another hoax?
If it is true (I have doubts) then...
[moderator note: as far as we can tell, this is not a hoax]
You say that you will not let the quaility of the CGI go down, I think
that you will find it difficult to keep that promise. You will need
either B5 fans who are 3D animators (I would do it :) or a very large
and expensive company like Ind. Light and Magic, to get anywhere near
the look and feel of the current CGI.
[moderator note: remember, it didn't take a "very large and expensive
company like ILM" to produce the current CGI in the first place. Don't Panic]
I feel that Foundation Imaging owe something to B5: Without the budget
from B5 they would have never got to the quality they are at today. How
can they just say 'Give us all your money, or we won't do your CGI'. You
should have put them on contract from the 1st episode of season 1 to the
last of season 5.
I take it that the new company will start at season 5, not half way
through season 4? The continuity is going to be appauling.
I am going away to sob now.
If it is not true, then...
I think i'll have another one of my homicidal rages.
Chris Warren
JMS' MESSAGE FOLLOWS......
> Subj: Your Foundation Note
> Date: 96-09-10 17:03:45 EDT
> From: Jms at B5
> To: LWTattler
> CC: PigDog13
>
> Before you start posting messages about how our show is run, you may want
> to try getting your facts straight first. Foundation put a deal on the
> table for our CGI this year that we could not meet financially; further,
> even at the impossible price, they indicated that we would only be getting
> their junior animators and TRAINEES. They put this in writing, and it
> can be easily verified by us or anyone who bothers to look into the
> facts.
>
> Accepting those terms would mean a serious drop in quality on the show,
> and we could not allow this to happen. NDE undertook the task only as a
> last resort, with the blessings of Warner Bros. (I should point out that
> I have NO financial interest whatsoever in the new company, it's not
> owned by me, and I get nothing from it. But I felt strongly that the
> decision was correct for the show, and did it for those reasons and ONLY
> those reasons.) Foundation refused to negotiate the deal, it was
> strictly take-it-or-leave it. To take it would've meant hurting the show,
> and this we do not allow. We've enjoyed a warm relationship with
> Foundation over the years, but we can't allow that as a justification for
> lowering our standards.
>
> We now have fully-qualified animators, many of whom have worked on B5 for
> Foundation in the past, and the quality of the show will be as good as
> ever, if not better, due to the improved lines of communication.
>
> Bottom line is...whatever some people at Foundation may say about this,
> who looked at B5 as a means of supporting their overhead while working on
> other projects, whatever I say about it...the proof as they say is in the
> pudding. When our shows air, either our EFX are as good as before,
> or they're not. It's that simple. Those who know this show, know
> that I will never allow AND decrease in quality, only increases. Nothing
> in that has changed.
>
> J. Michael Straczynski
> Executive Producer
> BABYLON 5
-----------------------------------
E-Mail me at
Chris Warren <chrisw at ijbrooks.demon.co.uk>
Or come and see our B5 site at
http://www.calligrafix.co.uk/khs/sigma956/
Have much fun.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: Chris Warren <chrisw at ijbrooks.demon.co.uk>
Lines: 96
What... I am shocked.... For those of you that don't know, Foundation
Imaging will not be doing the CGI for B5 anymore (Read JMS' comments
below)...
ATTN JMS: Before I say anything is this true, or is it yet another hoax?
If it is true (I have doubts) then...
[moderator note: as far as we can tell, this is not a hoax]
You say that you will not let the quaility of the CGI go down, I think
that you will find it difficult to keep that promise. You will need
either B5 fans who are 3D animators (I would do it :) or a very large
and expensive company like Ind. Light and Magic, to get anywhere near
the look and feel of the current CGI.
[moderator note: remember that it did not take a "very large and expensive
company like ILM" to produce the current CGI to begin with. Don't Panic]
I feel that Foundation Imaging owe something to B5: Without the budget
from B5 they would have never got to the quality they are at today. How
can they just say 'Give us all your money, or we won't do your CGI'. You
should have put them on contract from the 1st episode of season 1 to the
last of season 5.
I take it that the new company will start at season 5, not half way
through season 4? The continuity is going to be appauling.
I am going away to sob now.
If it is not true, then...
I think i'll have another one of my homicidal rages.
Chris Warren
JMS' MESSAGE FOLLOWS......
> Subj: Your Foundation Note
> Date: 96-09-10 17:03:45 EDT
> From: Jms at B5
> To: LWTattler
> CC: PigDog13
>
> Before you start posting messages about how our show is run, you may want
> to try getting your facts straight first. Foundation put a deal on the
> table for our CGI this year that we could not meet financially; further,
> even at the impossible price, they indicated that we would only be getting
> their junior animators and TRAINEES. They put this in writing, and it
> can be easily verified by us or anyone who bothers to look into the
> facts.
>
> Accepting those terms would mean a serious drop in quality on the show,
> and we could not allow this to happen. NDE undertook the task only as a
> last resort, with the blessings of Warner Bros. (I should point out that
> I have NO financial interest whatsoever in the new company, it's not
> owned by me, and I get nothing from it. But I felt strongly that the
> decision was correct for the show, and did it for those reasons and ONLY
> those reasons.) Foundation refused to negotiate the deal, it was
> strictly take-it-or-leave it. To take it would've meant hurting the show,
> and this we do not allow. We've enjoyed a warm relationship with
> Foundation over the years, but we can't allow that as a justification for
> lowering our standards.
>
> We now have fully-qualified animators, many of whom have worked on B5 for
> Foundation in the past, and the quality of the show will be as good as
> ever, if not better, due to the improved lines of communication.
>
> Bottom line is...whatever some people at Foundation may say about this,
> who looked at B5 as a means of supporting their overhead while working on
> other projects, whatever I say about it...the proof as they say is in the
> pudding. When our shows air, either our EFX are as good as before,
> or they're not. It's that simple. Those who know this show, know
> that I will never allow AND decrease in quality, only increases. Nothing
> in that has changed.
>
> J. Michael Straczynski
> Executive Producer
> BABYLON 5
-----------------------------------
Or simply E-Mail me at
Chris Warren <chrisw at ijbrooks.demon.co.uk>
Or come and see our B5 site at
http://www.calligrafix.co.uk/khs/sigma956/
Have much fun.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 35
The post put up in public forums was a private email, and since I didn't
keep a copy of it, I can't verify if every word is as I wrote it or not.
There's a lot I can't say on this publicly at this point, though I hope to
be able to do so soon. Business stuff that has to get ironed out first.
What I will say about the CGI for season 4 is just this...that the
equipment being used is equal to, or better than the equipment at
Foundation; the animators are largely those who have worked on B5 in the
past, who were let go some time ago when Foundation downsized, with a few
outside additions, just as Foundation would add to its ranks from outside;
and there should be *zero* difference onscreen to what has been the case
on B5, except that it will continue to improve over what we've done in the
past.
As usual every season, we start out with lighter CGI episodes, and build
to big stuff as we go. That will be the same this season as last. Our
first really big CGI episode last season was "Messages," which was around
episode #8, then "Severed," episode #10. This season we'll hit with big
stuff around episode #6, which will likely be as big as "Severed." Rather
than push stuff back, we've been able to move CGI stuff forward and expand
on scenes.
Basically, the bottom line is that whatever we've done on the show has
been with one and only one goal: we thought we could make it better by
doing X. Invariably, when people hear what's up, the inititial reaction
is to panic...until they actually SEE what we're doing...and then it
becomes clear. This is no different.
jms
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