So last night as I was crawling into bed, I had this thought about the movie... I was picturing myself in my PIG gunner gear, getting out of the APC, and running up to the South Lock (basically the "Hudson run a bypass" scene).

So I started wondering about what it would take to actually be in the movie. I mean be placed in that scene without actually refilming it.

There was an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine in which the crew traveled back in time to the era of the original Enterprise. The epsiode place the DS9 actors in the scenes with Kirk and company using the same technology that allowed Forest Gump to shake hands with President Kennedy.

So I thought if they could do all that- how hard could it be to place one person over top of one actor (say Crowe or Wierzbowski) in various scenes such as the mess hall, briefing, and entering the colony?

This made me think of an attraction like Alien War- except you gear up, are then placed in a big green screen room, and told to "run here", "look there", etc. Then your image gets put into the movie! You could be a part of the crew (and I guess be killed off in the initial attack on the hive).

How cool would that be?!

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Like Alien War? You have no idea!!!!

This has been done on a small scale, particularly for Star Wars at events. Am I right in thinking someone in the UKG has a green-screen rig?

But yeah, that would be cool, provided Xenos were accommodated!

Well that`s a hell of a memento to keep too. "You" being apart of the Group.

Just thinking,have Al Matthews say "YOUR" name too (give the costumers an ID that`s NOT from the film,just so they know the Sarge was shouting at them

Though for AL costumed Marine members, possibly have Al say Each Marines name,so we all have a personal one

ie "Axeman Front & centre" etc.

Jason

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What ya gonna do when I TECKNO HUG Youuuuu!!



Pvt.
STEAD,J "TECKNO VIKING"
A06/TQ1.0.22140E1

Skype: ulthur1

Gimmie a break Pug- I know what Alien War was about.

It's the only Alien series based attraction I could think of. Where else would you promoted something like what I was talking about?

I've never heard of this being done with Star Wars (not saying your wrong of course)- you actually get to recreate a scene in the film?

I've seen this done with still pictures: you go in a green screen room, they put you in a scene, and you get a nice 8x10 pic afterwards. Just never heard of it being done with an actual motion picture.

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Yup, still pictures is all I have seen. It would be a load more work to do video, but practical surely? I suppose anything is possible if the price is high enough

At Star Wars Celebration Europe they had built a perfect recreation of a spaceship set, and were filming people in it - they then spliced the footage in with the film so it appeared they were part of it. I never saw the results unfortunately as there was, predictably, a lot of waiting around. It would have been fun to stay to the end, but it was a big convention.

I know that's not what you're describing Sarge, and I have wondered about this in the past. IMHO the tricky part would be getting the lighting and tone to match - we've all seen bad composites where the actor stands out a mile.

Sorry to be dubious but I think you might get better results shooting someone on a minimal set and cutting that in with the colony sweep.

Good idea though! If life was like TV there would already be a program which could do this for you. Probably by pressing two keys.

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Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

What you are talking about is essentially on-the-fly digital compositiong. You see simple versions of this on nightly weather forecasts when the weatherman stands in front of a projected satellite map behind him. That is accomplished by blending together two separate source images: one of the map, the other from a camera shooting the weatherman in front of a green (sometimes blue) screen.

In simple terms, the electronics involved replaces the green background with the map. When people go to fairs and amusement parks and they have those attractions that place them in front of the green screen, that is the same technology.

While relatively inexpensive, one downside to this method is that whatever is greenscreened will always be superimposed on the foreground. You could not use this method to insert yourself into the movie scene unless you were happy walking in front of every piece of scenery.

Another downside is that it would be huge chore getting the lighting to match you and the scene you would be in. You would end up standing out like you were glowing or something.

Methods used in flims like Forrest Gump and the DS9 episode you mentioned require a little more work. The basic premises are the same: take two separate sources and combine them into one final scene. Except now the complication of digital editing comes into play. A digital artist would have to literally drop you into the background. If you were to walk behind an object, the artist would have to render or draw that object right over you, frame by frame. The artist would then also be able to alter the lighting and coloration of you to match the rest of the actors to make it look seamless.

I guess what I am trying to say is, yes, you could do it but the quality of the end result is dependant on what you would be willing to spend. The low-tech method could be achieved on the cheap by enlisting high school media kids or even simply a buddy with a digital video camera and the right software. It would look amateurish, but it can be done.

The high-tech, wow-look-at-that method would involve professional grade equipment in a studio lit and set up to track your movement to match the scene, then hiring digital video artists to work on compositing you into said scene...

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~Jay

Yeah I was just day-dreaming really. The budget would be a little on the nigh-impossible side for the likes of a 9 to 5 guy like me.

What I could do is take a million screen captures and photoshop myself in one at a time. Then somehow put the captures back together (like those fun little GIF animations) and dub the sound back in.

Viola!

I should have it done around oh I dunno... 2027. Depending of course on how much I procrastinate.


Would be ultra cool to be in the film though.

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I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Or do an uber-cool fan film.

I'd love to see what could be done with modern CGI and a tale of USCM's fighting conventional enemies, like Beebops or whatnots.

Imagine an Apocalypse Now kind of aerial insertion using dropships en masse.

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~Jay

One idea would be to do a Bug Hunt in a suitable location, with more than one camera and a bit of extra moody lighting.

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Steve
Corporal in 69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes.

"I'd like to die at the age of 80 in my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a girl's mouth around my c**k."

Wait until you see Dropzone Copernicus...

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USCM- The Colonial Marines- A Brotherhood of Bad Asses!