Post by HTT on May 15, 2006 19:22:36 GMT
Ok, just watched it - 93 minutes long, and I think it is the best 'movie' adapation so far.
Bearing in mind that this is the "live, multimedia, celebration" of WOTW, on a small budget, you can't expect much in the way of FX or acting, as it wasn't a strictly professional film, but it is done well. Plotwise, it keeps very well to the book, and where Pendragon seemed to rush through the ending, this version is well balanced, and flows easily.
OPENING CREDITS: Same as Pendragon, Opening text of the book voiced over stock footage. At end of the standard speech, Ben Liebrands Eve of the War kicks in, and we get a short 'flight' over Mars, followed by satellite photos 'downloaded' in vertical stripes.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 1: All the gumph about Lovell and the incandescent gas over stills/footage of space/galaxies/stars, etc
PLOT SCENES: Sepia toned. Ogily & Wells witness the flares shooting towards Earth and discuss life on Mars. Later, the cylinder lands and Ogilvy tries to get people to the common. Then we get the opening of the Cylinder. We see the cylinder on the common, but don't get to see it open, or see the martians - we see the reactions of the crowd. The heat ray strikes - trees burn, but people hit are flung to the ground dead. The Journalist rushes home, and hears hammering. We see FMs in sillhoutte being constructed.
Unlike Pendragon, there is no green screening - Ogilvy & Wells are filmed in a room with a telescope. The crowd are filmed on a common. Even the crowd looks more effective than Pendragons! As for the lack of burning corpses - being a live celebration, I expect that it had to be restricted for younger viewers.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 2: A load of old paintings.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia toned. Journalist visits the soldiers camped by the common ("You oughta been born a rabbit!"). He returns home & in a deviation from the book, send his wife off to Leatherhead alone. The shelling begins & the Journo leaves his house to see a Tripod cross the fields. FX on a part with "The Tripods" - not too bad.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 3: Astrological/Mathematical animation to a panpipe/electro Eve of the War
PLOT SCENES: Sepia toned. Artillerman arrives at the house and relates his experience as Holsts "Mars" plays in the background - stock footage of buring towns & forests. They leave and see the army (Stock footage - looks like the British in India) at Weybridge. Stock footage of war, FM striding about in distance and firing, and pre-viz-esque footage of Tripod being blown up. they part ways. The Journo meets the Curate, and they discuss the invasion. Voice over re Black smoke and panic - stock footage of black smoke and running people used to show this.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 4: Aumunal scenes of leaves/water to an instrumental "Forever Autumn".
PLOT SCENES: Thunderchild. Better than I remembered! Stock footage of crowded ships, FMs striding about, 3 pre-viz tripods approaching, stock footage of ships blowing up, pre-viz tripods blowing up. Finally, stock footage of burning warships trailing black smoke, then a shot of the Flying machine slowly gliding over the city. The idea of using stock footage of ships blowing up as the heat ray hits makes it look more authentic.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 5: Journo finds wife gone, so lots of scenes of him looking out of window, at his watch, hugging wife to instrumental of "Just Another Winters Tale".
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tone. Journo & Curate in house - they rush into the cellar as cylinder hits. Curate goes a bit metal by candlelight. The see martians extracting blood out of the window (although we don't).
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 6: Instrumental Spirit of Man plays as stills of religion are shown: Stained glass windows, angel statues, the monstre from "Night of the Demon" and some wiccan chick in a graveyard looking melancoly.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tone. Another departure from the book at the Curate gets zapped by the heat ray through the window.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 7: Scenes of death: Dead landscapes, Charon, drowned women, etc
PLOT SCENES: Red tone. Journo emerges, and wanders through a twisty rootlike forest to the music of the Red Weed. Then back to sepia tone as the Journo meets the Artilleryman again ("Edible ants!"), as they discuss rebuilding again
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 8: Instrumental Brave New World to stock footage of massive underground cities (Metropolis?), and mankind rebuilding itself - building, training armies, reclaiming the earth.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tone. They begin to dig out the tunnel before champers and cards.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 9: David Essex's reprise of BNW. Stock footage of burnt out towns, houses & countryside.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tones. The Journo travels through Dead London. Empty streets & parks. He comes to a Tripod and offers himself up to it as it dies. More mournful music over shots of the still and dead London. Big Ben chimes desolately over the City.
The Journalist goes home, but no wifey.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 10: Upbeat music over various weather footage - storms, rolling cloud, etc
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tones: Wife rushes into house. They embrace, fade out, and another EOTW remix plays over the credits (Mankind Strikes Back?)
At the end of the day, it's not a brilliant movie - it's obviously cobbled together for a small show, and used as an introduction to the book.. Even so, I found it much more effective than Pendragons - possibly because the FX were nowhere near as bad, even though it doesn't show much.
The main problems were the musical interludes - some are too long (7 mins) with the same repeated images, and the CGI tripods should have been stop-motion (as per the dead London sequence). Apart from that, it's a nice little adaptation to introduce people to WOTW without having to be too graphic, or waste money on greenscreens or daft FX. The concept of mingling stock footage in is a good one, but it makes the acting scenes look out of place. Still, it isn't meant to be a proper movie.
Take it for what it is - a nice little showpiece to celebrate 100 years of WOTW knocked up for festival piece. It is well worth a look.
Bearing in mind that this is the "live, multimedia, celebration" of WOTW, on a small budget, you can't expect much in the way of FX or acting, as it wasn't a strictly professional film, but it is done well. Plotwise, it keeps very well to the book, and where Pendragon seemed to rush through the ending, this version is well balanced, and flows easily.
OPENING CREDITS: Same as Pendragon, Opening text of the book voiced over stock footage. At end of the standard speech, Ben Liebrands Eve of the War kicks in, and we get a short 'flight' over Mars, followed by satellite photos 'downloaded' in vertical stripes.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 1: All the gumph about Lovell and the incandescent gas over stills/footage of space/galaxies/stars, etc
PLOT SCENES: Sepia toned. Ogily & Wells witness the flares shooting towards Earth and discuss life on Mars. Later, the cylinder lands and Ogilvy tries to get people to the common. Then we get the opening of the Cylinder. We see the cylinder on the common, but don't get to see it open, or see the martians - we see the reactions of the crowd. The heat ray strikes - trees burn, but people hit are flung to the ground dead. The Journalist rushes home, and hears hammering. We see FMs in sillhoutte being constructed.
Unlike Pendragon, there is no green screening - Ogilvy & Wells are filmed in a room with a telescope. The crowd are filmed on a common. Even the crowd looks more effective than Pendragons! As for the lack of burning corpses - being a live celebration, I expect that it had to be restricted for younger viewers.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 2: A load of old paintings.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia toned. Journalist visits the soldiers camped by the common ("You oughta been born a rabbit!"). He returns home & in a deviation from the book, send his wife off to Leatherhead alone. The shelling begins & the Journo leaves his house to see a Tripod cross the fields. FX on a part with "The Tripods" - not too bad.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 3: Astrological/Mathematical animation to a panpipe/electro Eve of the War
PLOT SCENES: Sepia toned. Artillerman arrives at the house and relates his experience as Holsts "Mars" plays in the background - stock footage of buring towns & forests. They leave and see the army (Stock footage - looks like the British in India) at Weybridge. Stock footage of war, FM striding about in distance and firing, and pre-viz-esque footage of Tripod being blown up. they part ways. The Journo meets the Curate, and they discuss the invasion. Voice over re Black smoke and panic - stock footage of black smoke and running people used to show this.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 4: Aumunal scenes of leaves/water to an instrumental "Forever Autumn".
PLOT SCENES: Thunderchild. Better than I remembered! Stock footage of crowded ships, FMs striding about, 3 pre-viz tripods approaching, stock footage of ships blowing up, pre-viz tripods blowing up. Finally, stock footage of burning warships trailing black smoke, then a shot of the Flying machine slowly gliding over the city. The idea of using stock footage of ships blowing up as the heat ray hits makes it look more authentic.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 5: Journo finds wife gone, so lots of scenes of him looking out of window, at his watch, hugging wife to instrumental of "Just Another Winters Tale".
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tone. Journo & Curate in house - they rush into the cellar as cylinder hits. Curate goes a bit metal by candlelight. The see martians extracting blood out of the window (although we don't).
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 6: Instrumental Spirit of Man plays as stills of religion are shown: Stained glass windows, angel statues, the monstre from "Night of the Demon" and some wiccan chick in a graveyard looking melancoly.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tone. Another departure from the book at the Curate gets zapped by the heat ray through the window.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 7: Scenes of death: Dead landscapes, Charon, drowned women, etc
PLOT SCENES: Red tone. Journo emerges, and wanders through a twisty rootlike forest to the music of the Red Weed. Then back to sepia tone as the Journo meets the Artilleryman again ("Edible ants!"), as they discuss rebuilding again
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 8: Instrumental Brave New World to stock footage of massive underground cities (Metropolis?), and mankind rebuilding itself - building, training armies, reclaiming the earth.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tone. They begin to dig out the tunnel before champers and cards.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 9: David Essex's reprise of BNW. Stock footage of burnt out towns, houses & countryside.
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tones. The Journo travels through Dead London. Empty streets & parks. He comes to a Tripod and offers himself up to it as it dies. More mournful music over shots of the still and dead London. Big Ben chimes desolately over the City.
The Journalist goes home, but no wifey.
MUSICAL INTERLUDE 10: Upbeat music over various weather footage - storms, rolling cloud, etc
PLOT SCENES: Sepia tones: Wife rushes into house. They embrace, fade out, and another EOTW remix plays over the credits (Mankind Strikes Back?)
At the end of the day, it's not a brilliant movie - it's obviously cobbled together for a small show, and used as an introduction to the book.. Even so, I found it much more effective than Pendragons - possibly because the FX were nowhere near as bad, even though it doesn't show much.
The main problems were the musical interludes - some are too long (7 mins) with the same repeated images, and the CGI tripods should have been stop-motion (as per the dead London sequence). Apart from that, it's a nice little adaptation to introduce people to WOTW without having to be too graphic, or waste money on greenscreens or daft FX. The concept of mingling stock footage in is a good one, but it makes the acting scenes look out of place. Still, it isn't meant to be a proper movie.
Take it for what it is - a nice little showpiece to celebrate 100 years of WOTW knocked up for festival piece. It is well worth a look.