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Premake

What if "Die Hard" Had Been Done Before?
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The word premake is something like the word prequel. Start by imagining that a move generally regarded as not being based on an earlier movie WAS based on an earlier movie. Then do the movie over again set in an earlier time and using the stylistic and production values of that time.

I use "Die Hard" as an example but lots of things could be treated this way. Pretend that the 1980s Bruce Willis vehicle is a remake of a movie called Die Hard made in, say, 1965. The basic plot is the same. Bad guys take hostages in tall building (tall in this case meaning 25 stories). The hero is in the building without the bad guys knowing it, and by coincidence the hero's wife is one of the hostages. The bad guys say tell the cops they'll kill hostages if their Communist comrades aren't released from their unjust imprisonments, although it turns out their motives aren't political, they just want to steal the huge sum of money (3/4 of a million dollars) that's in the building. In the end, the hero pushes the bad guy out a window to his death.

All this is done in hokey 60's style cinematograpy, sort of the way they made "Far From Heaven" look like it was from the 50s. Also corny music. And the villain's fall is intentionally made unconvicing, perhaps like Jimmy Stewart's fall near the end of "Rear Window."

There's no really purpose to this, it's just for fun, just to amuse people who pay attention to the stylistic considerations of movies. This would be a niche market, so movies like this would have to be done on the cheap, but that would fit in nicely with re- creating the crummy look of old films.

cranford, May 27 2005

make new film appear old http://www.toolfarm...orials/oldfilm.html
can also be done with Photoshop [dentworth, May 29 2005]

Premake Posters! https://www.behance...-another-time-place
(Warning: obnoxious 'older browser' warning, use No Style to bypass) [gisho, Jun 27 2014]

Fan flim call of cthulu https://www.youtube...watch?v=5OzVrI75fFU
[not_morrison_rm, Jun 27 2014]

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       I like the idea, though you'd only really be able to do it if the likes of Charlie Bronson or Steve Mcween were still around and good looking.   

       There have been a few retro glances back at old TV series, Charlie's Angles, Starskey + Hutch, Scooby Doo etc - but these made the films using new techniques and put a new millenial gloss over everything.   

       I do like the idea of going back to older production methods, unfortunately, I bet they are a damn sight more expensive not to mention requireing far more technical expertise (that alas is probably lacking in today's talent pool, things having moved on) to make this a practical suggestion.   

       Akin to asking a team of programmers to create their next 1st person shooter in COBOL - I like it [+], it's just not going to happen.
zen_tom, May 27 2005
  

       Steve McWeen?   

       forgive me but are you saying make a pretend movie as though it was an earlier version of something more up-to-date? if so, I quite like it.
po, May 27 2005
  

       Oh, it's been a while. I erm meant of course Mr McQueen. Is this too embarrasing? Yes. Yes it is.   

       Can we pretend I was being witty and ironic or something?
zen_tom, May 27 2005
  

       of course, I thought perhaps you were alluding to the size of his equipment (motorbike!)
po, May 27 2005
  

       Oh yes, that's what I was doing! Ho ho ho. Crack even myself up sometimes. Freudian slip. He had a big old car in Bullit.   

       But I digress, yes, I read it the same way (new film, pretending to be the 'original' version of an existing one)
zen_tom, May 27 2005
  

       Brilliant!
I can imagine Star Wars done in the style of Flash Gordon from the 'thirties, for example, 'Blue' done in black and white, or 'Monsters Inc' as ASCII art. Incidentally, did anyone hear about the screenplay for Philip K Dick's 'Ubik' that gradually turned into a black and white silent film?
nineteenthly, May 27 2005
  

       I like it... but more likely a Tribeca sort of thing than a big Hollywood deal. Hollywood always screws up the best ideas, anyway.
justaguy, May 27 2005
  

       This would be even more fun if you took one of the worst films and premade it somehow in a total camp-fest. It would become an instant classic, and even help to sell the original. 'Battlefield Earth' done in 1940's spaceman film styles comes to mind.
RayfordSteele, May 27 2005
  

       Death Race 1954.
waugsqueke, May 28 2005
  

       1948. The critics panned it - "That'll never happen!"
gnomethang, May 29 2005
  

       I think that several movies have been, in essence, remakes of "High Noon."
bristolz, May 29 2005
  

       ... but, this happens on TV continuously, i.e., Titanic "Titanic", The Omega Code "The DaVinci Code", and I'm surprised 28 Days Later "Dawn of the Dead" made it into theaters instead of straight to TV. Oh, nod to Mr. Gibson for his film noir masterpiece The Passion.
reensure, May 29 2005
  

       Something in between. As horse and rider gallop alongside box-car; both are hoisted up with delicate futuristic pneumatics.   

       What you can do with pro-sumer toys in camcorder land. It's tempting to green screen the whole production. I have a Cinemascope lens adapter to use on a mini-dv camcorder this summer. I can duplicate the shot of bodies hanging from the branches of the trees along the river, 100 yards from my house, as in Apocalypse now. it's a 'film' on healthcare so the shot should fit. It is tempting, as the river is clean, with sandy bottom and only two feet deep. I like lots going on in the master shot. Just my style.   

       I'm supposed to be testing out gear for a public forum shoot all day tomorrow. I may just record sound on four tracks on a mini-disc and build them up to a cacaphoney of information overload. Only connect.
mensmaximus, May 29 2005
  

       Buck Rodgers in the fifteenth century.   

       The Lensman series done in Art Deco, with a 1930s- ish setting.   

       Or pick any movie or TV series and redo in Steampunk style...
whlanteigne, Apr 15 2013
  

       That fan film "The Call of Cthulu" (obligatory finger wiggling below chin)made is b&w silent stylee, which I thought was pretty good. Link, if I can be bothered.
not_morrison_rm, Jun 27 2014
  

       Yes, it's pretty good. The slightly creaky Flash Gordon style B/W stop motion is actually particularly good.
8th of 7, Jun 28 2014
  

       Riffing on this a little bit and having watched the Lovecraft fan film, what about a remake of Die Hard in that style, using only footage from the original movie Die Hard. Not hard to turn it all B&W and silent. Period appropriate score. Recut - lots of dramatic chipmunk type zooms. That would be fun.
bungston, Jun 28 2014
  


 

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