Angel: I Will Remember You...what WAS the budget on that??

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 23:39
VIEWED: 5371
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CHRISISALL

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 4:54 PM

Nicely written, nicely acted, but what was up with the Clash-Of-The-Titans-looking PTB's????
It was a pitch-perfect ep except for the cheesey, fan/convention calibur costumes and Lost In Space gold and silver skin colour!!!
WTF???

Hadn't seen it in a while Chrisisall

REGINAROADIE

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 6:56 PM

I don't have the budget breakdown sheet in front of me, or even remember the cheesiness of that ep, but I do agree that at times both BUFFY and ANGEL did stretch the budget at times. Like I remember a few eps where when they staked some vampires, instead of seeing them fully dissolve into dust, they just showed the character holding the stake and a little cloud of dust was thrown at them.

That to me was the only time where the cheap budget of an episode was the most apparent.

I remember Jane (I think, or maybe it was Marti) on one of the commentary tracks on season 2 of Buffy talking about how the writer imagines something to be massive and epic, but in reality can only get so big due to the budget. Like how she imagines a burning church to look like Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, but in the end they just get two fire bars.

I think one of the true marks of a really great show is if you don't notice the budget. Like that ep of ANGEL you mentioned I didn't notice it too much because of the fantastic story that drove the ep. And after hearing that the first season of BUFFY had practically no budget, while at times it was apparent, for the most part I didn't notice. It's only with the "off screen dustings" that it becomes apparent that they're pinching pennies.

**************************************************
"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

CHRISISALL

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 7:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by reginaroadie:

I think one of the true marks of a really great show is if you don't notice the budget.

The first time (and second, actually) I didn't even think about it, I was so immersed in the story.
It's like Star Trek TOS, the characters and story are so good, the window dressing goes by mostly un-noticed...for the most part...

Costume designer Chrisisall

REGINAROADIE

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 7:13 PM

Yeah, and it's jarring to see the differences between the original series and its various spin-offs. Like in the spin-offs, the high ranking officers (captains and seconds) wore red and the color scheme of the ships were more subdue (I'm guessing this was done to continue the submarine motif that Nick Meyer did with his two TREK movies). But in the original the ship is full of color (done because at the time NBC was I think the first major network to have color shows, so they wanted to show off the new color scheme they had for ratings) and red shirts=death.

So it's weird how in the TREK verse, even though red went from being marked as a sacrifice to being the commanding officer, there's still that red shirt connotation.

And as per the joke about FIREFLY how all the planets look like Malibu, you can say the same thing for any sci-fi show shot in B.C., how every planet looks like the outskirts of Vancouver.

**************************************************
"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

CHRISISALL

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 7:21 PM

And Sunnydale looked like suburban LA, lol...

Location co-ordinator Chrisisall

EMBERS

Friday, July 13, 2007 12:17 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Nicely written, nicely acted, but what was up with the Clash-Of-The-Titans-looking PTB's????
It was a pitch-perfect ep except for the cheesey, fan/convention calibur costumes and Lost In Space gold and silver skin colour!!!
WTF???

don't knock the Powers That Be!
A friend dressed up like that for a Buffy convention once..it took hours getting the skin and hair just right! LOL

and THAT is what seemed cheesy to you?
Not when they had to go and ask the statue at Hamburger Heaven to get the 'truth'?

Actually you remind me, I really need to rewatch all of these again!

CHRISISALL

Friday, July 13, 2007 2:19 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by embers:

and THAT is what seemed cheesy to you?
Not when they had to go and ask the statue at Hamburger Heaven to get the 'truth'?

No, 'cause that's what it REALLY looks like!

Judging Chrisisall

THESOMNAMBULIST

Friday, July 13, 2007 6:56 PM

I think on one of the commentaries for season four one of the writers/directors mentioned how Angel, up to that point, was the most expensive show to be broadcast. If I remember correctly each show had a budget of $8 million dollars an episode.

What season two, had I have no idea. But I always overlooked any cheesy costumed monsters for the most part because they did enough to conjure 'the other world' effect. That's all you need really. It's similar to the Kung Fu, it isn't Jackie Chan stlye or Shoalin Monk style but its convincing enough to perpetuate the fantasy.

www.cirqus.com

RUGBUG

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 9:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
And Sunnydale looked like suburban LA, lol...

Location co-ordinator Chrisisall

Or perhaps Santa Barbara...which I never knew it was until listening to a Jane Espenson commentary recently. ;) The aerial shots, that is. I always knew it looked like home, though.

***************
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

REGINAROADIE

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 11:13 PM

8 million per? I don't remember that ever being mentioned in any of the ANGEL S4 commentaries. I may be wrong and maybe it did indeed cost that much and maybe more, but ANGEL never really struck me as an expensive show. Neither did BUFFY, for that matter. FIREFLY definitely had a huge budget to it, which probably lead to it's demise since FOX was paying for revolutionary SFX that only a handful of people were seeing. I think FIREFLY for the time being held the record for being the most expensive pilot filmed.

That record was beaten two years later with LOST. I heard the pilot ep for that was like $14 million. Lloyd Braun ("Why can't you be more like him!!!"), the then head of ABC actually lost his job because of how expensive that pilot was. This was all before LOST became the ratings giant it was out of the gate, so at the time this was a pretty big deal for something that could have easily flopped and been swiftly cancelled.

I think money has always been a big issue for Joss with his shows. Yes they're pop culture icons and have legions of fans, but I don't remember them ever having ER or CSI sized ratings.

**************************************************
"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

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