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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 20, 2015 21:35:07 GMT
I'm curious as to what people are making of the 'new' format*?
Yes, I know we are only two episodes in as of writing. But I'm getting the impression that people are liking the new look, structure and tone of the show. Or at worst are not bothered by the changes.
There are always going to be elements that don't work in specific episodes, be that myths that don't catch the attention or interest or guest stars who are not as interesting as we might hope for.
But for the season as a whole what are you making of things thus far?
Note; This is not an 'official' request or anything, just curiosity.
(*As far as I'm able to tell the 'new' format is effectively the same as the format in the first season, but with better graphics and cameras.)
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 20, 2015 22:17:33 GMT
What I like:
More detail on the building.
More info on the science behind the testing.
Better cinematography.
What I don't like:
They are still testing "stupid" myths that really aren't myths at all, but I guess that's what happens when you run out of real myths to test. I don't consider what is shown in a cartoon or a fantasy action hero movie a myth.
Still, what they do decide to test is interesting even if not rally a myth.
Maybe they should rename the show "Is this possible" instead of Mythbusters
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Post by OziRiS on Jan 20, 2015 22:27:05 GMT
I have to admit, I'm pleasantly surprised.
As I've said earlier, I was worried about all the on-screen graphics taking up too much attention, but they're not. They're prominent enough that you notice them, but without being so in-your-face that you can't ignore them if you don't want to read the text and the fact that they've put it in as extra, rather than making it crucial for understanding what's going on is even better.
Then there's the point of the build team being out. I'm probably going to get lynched for this, but I actually don't miss them. I liked the original format better where they were involved and sometimes on screen, but weren't hosts in their own right, so it doesn't bother me that they're gone. Sure, it was fun when Tory got hurt, or Kari was grossed out by some meat, or Grant was wailing over fish touching him, but I've always liked what Adam and Jamie did more than what those three did. Seeing more of Adam and Jamie and less of a lot of other stuff just feels better to me somehow. Like the show isn't as cluttered as it was before.
And then there's the fact that we get to see more of the build process, which I've been saying for years that I'd like to get back to. Adam and Jamie have so much talent and creativity and I just think it's fascinating to see them come up with ideas and solutions. That's one of my favorite parts about the new format.
But my absolute favorite part about the new format? Jamie seems to be way more comfortable with it, so his pieces to camera aren't as strained and dry as they've been for the past few years. He seems much more at ease and his comments and input just come out so much more naturally now. We finally seem to have the Jamie from seasons 1-3 back and I couldn't be happier!
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 20, 2015 22:49:35 GMT
Now that OziRiS mentioned the build team, I didn't even notice they weren't there. I knew they wouldn't be but really didn't miss them either.
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Post by breesfan on Jan 21, 2015 4:04:10 GMT
I like the way the show is made and I have to admit, I wasn't sure how things would go if they only do two myths per show.
I actually don't miss the build team.
I just hope they don't do that twitter thing on the side like they did one time last year.
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Post by OziRiS on Jan 22, 2015 0:18:30 GMT
I don't think they'll do the Twitter thing again. Well... At least I don't think the producers of the show would want to. You never know if Discovery decides it's a good idea and ignore them, though...
As for the "missing" build team, Adam and Jamie were more than capable of carrying the show on their own when they started, so I never thought that 10 more years of experience would change that. From what I've seen so far, they're better than ever.
Don't get me wrong. I love Kari, Grant and Tory as much as the rest of you and they contributed a lot over the years, but I've always enjoyed the few tests they did with Adam and Jamie more than the ones they did on their own. And the ones they did on their own that I did like were many seasons ago, when things weren't so scripted. The last two seasons they did weren't very good, but I don't as much blame them for that as I blame the people who thought it would be a good idea to make the show more scripted and "streamlined".
Mythbusters has never been bad, but the past two seasons were getting close. I'm glad they changed direction before it went completely down the drain. I still think they could've done that and kept the trio, but hey... Better this than having the show die a slow and painful death.
I just hope Kari, Grant and Tory find something great to do with their skills and knowledge that makes them all happy. They deserve that.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 22, 2015 0:34:18 GMT
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 22, 2015 4:19:19 GMT
Not sure about the segments with Jamie and Adam, but no one can tell me that some of those build-team segments weren't scripted. |
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 22, 2015 13:20:47 GMT
Keeping in mind that they have already answered a lot of questions about the new look. If you could ask them about the new seasons what kind of questions about it what would you ask?
Not promising anything at all, but I'm considering hitting up the Bothan to see if they might be willing to do a short interview on the new look and season. I wouldn't do this until later on in this run, probably towards the end or just after it ends, to give everyone (or at least those of you in the US) a chance to see more than two or three episodes before commentating.
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Post by the light works on Jan 22, 2015 16:10:59 GMT
I'm going to go with "not bothered by"
I watch the show to see cool stuff. there is always stuff I would like to have gone a little differently, but overall mythbusters is far and away better than some of the things I don't watch.
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Post by OziRiS on Jan 22, 2015 21:02:38 GMT
Okay, if we're going into semantics, let's not call it scripted then. Let's call it rehearsed instead. Those awful setup bits with so-called "jokes" before they got into testing. Some of those were so toe-curling that I could have ripped the carpet from the floor with my feet, even when I was wearing thick socks. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 23, 2015 0:26:11 GMT
Okay, if we're going into semantics, let's not call it scripted then. Let's call it rehearsed instead. Those awful setup bits with so-called "jokes" before they got into testing. Some of those were so toe-curling that I could have ripped the carpet from the floor with my feet, even when I was wearing thick socks. he did admit the pastiches were scripted. |
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 23, 2015 9:02:02 GMT
"Scripted".
Sometimes it was obvious that the scripted piece to camera before they show the myth was done after the myth had been tested... or so it seamed.
Well, he would say that wouldnt he?... [/sarcasm...]
The planning of how to test, the script was worked out beforehand, you can tell.....
So I wont be missing obviously scripted parts....
Perhaps I wont also be missing the "Build the tension" parts of previous...
This is one show where the results can go either way, we dont need added tension built in, its all about the actual testing.
I have said before, an annual "Bloopers real" show would be fun....
There are bloopers on the internet, why cant they just string them together to make an end of series show?...
Its not that much work, and I am sure the fans would like an extra show "For free" ....
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Post by the light works on Jan 23, 2015 15:15:46 GMT
"Scripted". Sometimes it was obvious that the scripted piece to camera before they show the myth was done after the myth had been tested... or so it seamed. Well, he would say that wouldnt he?... [/sarcasm...] The planning of how to test, the script was worked out beforehand, you can tell..... So I wont be missing obviously scripted parts.... Perhaps I wont also be missing the "Build the tension" parts of previous... This is one show where the results can go either way, we dont need added tension built in, its all about the actual testing. I have said before, an annual "Bloopers real" show would be fun.... There are bloopers on the internet, why cant they just string them together to make an end of series show?... Its not that much work, and I am sure the fans would like an extra show "For free" .... I haven't paid attention to see if they have the ADD jump cut editing that was annoying me for a while. you know, the one where they film on 5 different cameras, cut all the films into 2 second bits, throw out all the even numbered bits, and then tape the rest together in no particular order. I guess the fact that I'm not actively annoyed by the editing implies they got rid of it again. |
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 23, 2015 15:28:51 GMT
They spend a week working out exactly what they will film, or as exactly as the nature of the show allows. They might, and probably do, discuss ideas for clips and similar cool things they could do - some of which are probably worked out in the research part of pre-production.
For example when they did Gorn cannon they probably decided to do the Bridge parody because Grant had just bought a Star Trek uniform the week before he went into the planning session (the one he is wearing in the episode is actually Grants own costume). I think the captains chair he was sitting in belongs to Adam (those of you who watch the podcasts Adam does on Tested might notice that the chair seems to be in the background along with his movie prop collection). Put the two together and its easy to see how they most likely decided to do that sketch before they started filming.
Other times it seems clear that they did sketches after building sets - the decapitating hat sketch they did was most likely a result of looking at the set they had built for that myth and deciding they could do something cool with it.
Of course other sketches and the blue-print room segments were most likely filmed after they'd done the rest of the filming, unless they had a guest star on in which case they would only be able to film those parts when they were available. So probably at some point during testing or the day after.
Don't mistake editing for scripting.
Again, this is editing NOT scripting (although part of the editing process is in effect to 'script' a show so it makes sense this is post-production).
Shows usually have three cuts.
The rough-cut that comes straight from filming, and which has to be cut down in the editing studio for length and to allow the story to flow.
The studio cut, which is the (mostly) finished version that in this case is for Beyond Productions and Discovery Channel.
The Network cut; Networks may ask for edits to be made for various reasons, such as length. This edited version is the one aired.
You have no idea how complex and time consuming editing is, do you?
MB produces, on average, something like 30 HOURS of footage PER MYTH. Assuming an average of three myths per episode that's 90 HOURS of footage per episode for, lets say 12 episodes per season. That works out as around 1080 hours or 45 days of footage per season. More realistically 90 days assuming a 12 hour working day and no weekends off. That is just the time needed to review the footage to find the bloopers, unless someone has thoughtfully jotted them down and not lost that list.
Newer shows, and films for that matter, seem to understand that blooper reels are fairly popular so most likely the editing staff bookmark anything they catch for future reference. But even so that assumes they have the time to do so, and frankly few shows go an entire season without the editing staff being pressed for time.
MB is not such a show, although they have done blooper reels before its not exactly something they consider a priority or have the time for. (The editing staff seems to be fairly small). So someone would have to sit there for several months just to get through a seasons worth of unaired footage in the hopes of finding something funny...during which time they are taking up valuable space in the studio, not working on the show and probably gradually loosing the will to live. That's just the time needed to FIND the bloopers...actually editing them into a full shows worth of material, assuming they get that much, will take more time. They might well be able to shorten the time needed, if they remember or happened to note down bloopers, but even so you are talking about several months of work to get enough to fill an episode.
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Post by the light works on Jan 23, 2015 15:57:19 GMT
They spend a week working out exactly what they will film, or as exactly as the nature of the show allows. They might, and probably do, discuss ideas for clips and similar cool things they could do - some of which are probably worked out in the research part of pre-production. For example when they did Gorn cannon they probably decided to do the Bridge parody because Grant had just bought a Star Trek uniform the week before he went into the planning session (the one he is wearing in the episode is actually Grants own costume). I think the captains chair he was sitting in belongs to Adam (those of you who watch the podcasts Adam does on Tested might notice that the chair seems to be in the background along with his movie prop collection). Put the two together and its easy to see how they most likely decided to do that sketch before they started filming. Other times it seems clear that they did sketches after building sets - the decapitating hat sketch they did was most likely a result of looking at the set they had built for that myth and deciding they could do something cool with it. Of course other sketches and the blue-print room segments were most likely filmed after they'd done the rest of the filming, unless they had a guest star on in which case they would only be able to film those parts when they were available. So probably at some point during testing or the day after. Don't mistake editing for scripting. Again, this is editing NOT scripting (although part of the editing process is in effect to 'script' a show so it makes sense this is post-production). Shows usually have three cuts. The rough-cut that comes straight from filming, and which has to be cut down in the editing studio for length and to allow the story to flow. The studio cut, which is the (mostly) finished version that in this case is for Beyond Productions and Discovery Channel. The Network cut; Networks may ask for edits to be made for various reasons, such as length. This edited version is the one aired. You have no idea how complex and time consuming editing is, do you? MB produces, on average, something like 30 HOURS of footage PER MYTH. Assuming an average of three myths per episode that's 90 HOURS of footage per episode for, lets say 12 episodes per season. That works out as around 1080 hours or 45 days of footage per season. More realistically 90 days assuming a 12 hour working day and no weekends off. That is just the time needed to review the footage to find the bloopers, unless someone has thoughtfully jotted them down and not lost that list. Newer shows, and films for that matter, seem to understand that blooper reels are fairly popular so most likely the editing staff bookmark anything they catch for future reference. But even so that assumes they have the time to do so, and frankly few shows go an entire season without the editing staff being pressed for time. MB is not such a show, although they have done blooper reels before its not exactly something they consider a priority or have the time for. (The editing staff seems to be fairly small). So someone would have to sit there for several months just to get through a seasons worth of unaired footage in the hopes of finding something funny...during which time they are taking up valuable space in the studio, not working on the show and probably gradually loosing the will to live. That's just the time needed to FIND the bloopers...actually editing them into a full shows worth of material, assuming they get that much, will take more time. They might well be able to shorten the time needed, if they remember or happened to note down bloopers, but even so you are talking about several months of work to get enough to fill an episode. and then there are those shows (usually animated) that MAKE the blooper reel, separately. but I'm guessing Silver was operating on the theory of having the camera crews and editing staff flagging the bloopers in the original edits, which would cut the "blooper reel" production time considerably. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Jan 23, 2015 15:58:24 GMT
You have no idea how complex and time consuming editing is, do you? You can't possibly believe that 2 people sitting at an editor putting together one episode of bloopers would take longer than 30+ people composing, filming and then editing an entire new show. As SD already pointed out, many of the bloopers are already showing up on the internet so someone is keeping track of them and posting them. If they knew in advance they were planning on using bloopers, it would be an easy task of logging them as each show is filmed. They probably do that anyway as they already keep a log of what was filmed in order to edit each individual episode. Video editing isn't like it was in the old days where you had to dig through crates of tape cartridges to get the raw footage you need. Now it's all on a video server. All you have to do is look at your log and type in the date and timecode you want in it's immediately in your raw footage bucket. |
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Post by Cybermortis on Jan 23, 2015 16:51:38 GMT
From what I can tell they have six people working in the editing department*, and usually work on two to three episodes at any given moment. So two or three people per episode. What you are talking about is taking a third of the team away to try and edit an episode. (*This doesn't include graphics and sound departments) The existing blooper reels were produced in earlier seasons, and for Com-Con, with (I think) one 'blooper' episode having been made. To the best of my knowledge they haven't shown a blooper reel at Com-Con for at least five years. Which would strongly imply that they have neither the time or inclination to keep track of them - and in any case it seems that a lot of the screwups end up being aired anyway. Keep in mind that even shows that DO make blooper reels rarely produce anything longer than five minutes, and more usually around three minutes, in length. And those are shows that produce twice as many episodes per year as MB does. *Shrugs* I'm actually curious enough about MB's view on bloopers that I might ask the Bothan about this when I get a chance. I suspect however that the answer would be something I said before; 'If it is that funny it will be in the episode*'. While presumably everything left over would be too rude for TV. (*Unless you think Adam face-planting on a treadmill, or smacking his thumb with a hammer was scripted..  ) |
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Post by the light works on Jan 23, 2015 17:14:28 GMT
From what I can tell they have six people working in the editing department*, and usually work on two to three episodes at any given moment. So two or three people per episode. What you are talking about is taking a third of the team away to try and edit an episode. (*This doesn't include graphics and sound departments) The existing blooper reels were produced in earlier seasons, and for Com-Con, with (I think) one 'blooper' episode having been made. To the best of my knowledge they haven't shown a blooper reel at Com-Con for at least five years. Which would strongly imply that they have neither the time or inclination to keep track of them - and in any case it seems that a lot of the screwups end up being aired anyway. Keep in mind that even shows that DO make blooper reels rarely produce anything longer than five minutes, and more usually around three minutes, in length. And those are shows that produce twice as many episodes per year as MB does. *Shrugs* I'm actually curious enough about MB's view on bloopers that I might ask the Bothan about this when I get a chance. I suspect however that the answer would be something I said before; 'If it is that funny it will be in the episode*'. While presumably everything left over would be too rude for TV. (*Unless you think Adam face-planting on a treadmill, or smacking his thumb with a hammer was scripted.. ) "and then I will miss the board entirely and fling the hammer at Grant, what do you think?" Tori |
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Post by blazerrose on Jan 24, 2015 4:57:44 GMT
I am liking the new format. The return to the science and to the build/thought process is something I have wanted for years. I'm just sad that all of that came at the expense of K/G/T. That said, as TLW said, the slower pace and elimination of the short editing is very pleasing and I think though they are doing fewer tests per episode, they are teaching more than they have in the past years. Thumbs up to the new style.
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