Sanctuary Discussion (Spoilers for the most recent episode)

[Gate gal]

A staggering 1.7 million people have checked out the sanctuary site.
(all different IP's)
AMAZING EH?

Wow! That is too cool! This is going to be HUGE!

Isn't she scared that she'll be typecasting herself? It sounds like she's going to be a scifi scientist again. There's even a guy who looks like a nerdy version of Michael Shanks.

I thought she wanted to do comedy. She's a lot more attractive than Meg Ryan & Helen Hunt. I'll watch it, but I can't see it lasting. I hope Amanda & Paul McGillion at least make a few bucks.

Well, if you haven't read anything about the character or seen any pictures of Amanda as Helen but are only going on the fact that it is a science fiction program then I can see where maybe you might get that idea. But, once you see Helen and learn even a little about the character and the storyline then it is impossible to see Sam at all. If anything, Amanda is breaking the Sam typecast with this character. (And honestly after 10 years in any character she needed to do something different like Helen.)

As for Will Zimmerman being a nerdy Daniel type character, this is scifi and that is a required character for the genre. Daniel wasn't the first character like that nor will he be the last. We don't really know how nerdy he's going to be just yet, but I actually hope he is a 'Daniel' because that would make him a great straight man for Amanda's comic timing. Damian promises that Amanda's sense of humor will not be wasted. She will do some comedy here.

This is completely different. As is the medium and the delivery mechanism. What we're looking at is rather a revolution in consumer driven media/entertainment, it's the crest of a kind of wave that I hope will surmount even the tallest network television buildings out there. Artists like Amanda, like Damian, creative professionals, the crew involved, everyone on the team is doing this not only for the money but for the reason that it's bold and brilliant and exciting. It seems fairly clear already that this is not "just another gig" for them; this is more than special, and I really believe that as a labour of such outstanding innovation, the outcome may very well astound skeptics everywhere. Eventually, I can imagine an explosion of revelation for the entertainment industry as a whole out of projects just like this. Viral distribution and viewer driven interactivity? Artist/Viewer collaboration? Holy Hannah, hey?

And that is why there are 1.7 million hits on the site! People want to see this revolution. They want to watch the explosion.

[tara3583]

Thanks for putting up the interview, it just keeps getting better and better and i'm really am looking foreward to meeting Helen and following her journey!

[JuliaR]

Thanks for posting the transcript. I'm looking forward to hearing it but it was cool to read it through first.

This bit was so cool:-

"Amanda Tapping said yes to the role. She was the only - there was like one choice and it was her and if she'd said no we would probably have stuck it back on my hard drive."

I especially *love* that Amanda was Damian's first choice for the role and that he actually would have considered not doing it without her.

How cool that she *is* Helen in the eyes of the creator. That speaks volumes for what Helen will be like as a character and the depth Amanda will be able to bring to her knowing that she was envisaged as playing the character. Way cool.

Julia

[ForeverSg1]

Sounds crappy but I'll give it a go for AT and MW

To each his own.

[LaCroix]

Thank you RoX for posting the transcript.

Is it may yet?

[ForeverSg1]

Thanks for posting the transcript. I'm looking forward to hearing it but it was cool to read it through first.

This bit was so cool:-

"Amanda Tapping said yes to the role. She was the only - there was like one choice and it was her and if she'd said no we would probably have stuck it back on my hard drive."

I especially *love* that Amanda was Damian's first choice for the role and that he actually would have considered not doing it without her.

How cool that she *is* Helen in the eyes of the creator. That speaks volumes for what Helen will be like as a character and the depth Amanda will be able to bring to her knowing that she was envisaged as playing the character. Way cool.

Julia

Yeah, I especially liked that part as well. As one of her fans, I've always admired and respected Amanda, but it's always nice to know that so many of her peers feel the same way about her and so it was really cool to hear that she was Damian's first and possibly only choice for the role of Helen.

[Coley]

Part 2 - Slice of SciFi interview.

Spoiler:

INT: I was just going to ask as you're filming this is there a large difference how you approach filming this new stuff for the web versus how you do with say Stargate or one of the other shows?

AT: Yeah we're shooting it entirely on green screen so all of our sets and all of our big pieces and our mattes and everything are all basically we're shooting with a table and chair would be on set or a door but other than that it's all left up to the imagination and interpretation of our computer graphics department. The physicality of filming it is completely different.

INT: Well I guess that's the thing you kind of have an idea on Stargate and Atlantis of what things look like ah working on this kind of green screen do you have any idea what the creatures are going to look like before hand or is that all done in post concept?

AT: No, we have renderings to look at before hand. We have a pretty clear idea where we're going and what the hallways going to look like and what the doorway is going to look like and what creatures we're looking at and what the lab is going to look like. But it's a lab and it's huge. Sanctuary itself is an abandoned church and then down in the gunnels of this church and it's huge, it's absolutely massive like stories high of laboratory and ...

DK: It's one of the things that is going to make Sanctuary very different. There's so many ... you can have a long list of the reasons why it's different conceptually but also technologically. I mean we were using ... and this is what happens when you mash up technological experts from different parts of media, we were using 3D computer imaging for our pre vis which was tied directly to the head of the cameras so that we could literally go behind a monitor and see the camera moving with actors on it with the partially rendered backgrounds already in place and moving in 3D real time which we had people coming from all over Vancouver checking out the way we were using this new technology. We shot on High Definition tape but the tape was only backup, we mainly shot tapelessly and direct to hard drive in High Definition.

There was a lot of technological firsts, a massive amount of pre vis is done you really know you're kind of doing your post before hand so in post you're actually executing the rest of the plan. So the whole the two hour shoot was such a huge treat for a lot of people involved because it was a very new way of working and a lot of people are believing it's the future of the way genre programmes are going to be shot. Either features, series or webcasts or what have you because we're going to create looks and places that you just couldn't go to on location. You know we're not going to the same British Columbia looking like treed forests and planets of Stargate. We're doing what 300 did like they shot their entire movie inside one big gigantic soundstage.

INT: Or it's reminding me of Sky Captain World of Tomorrow.

AT: Yes.

DK: It is in a way and Sin City

SB: So what are your ideas for expanding in the gaming and the social networking, like are people in Second Life going to be able to open the door and take a peek at the castle or is there going to be a full game where you try to be one of the new employees and not die.

Laughter

DK: You know that stuff is all going to have a natural evolution. We have a basic plan that's being based into the way it's going to be released. Where there'll be social networking and gaming and interactivity and 3D movement through elements of the programme and lots of assets that are going to be released for people to use, avatars of monsters and you'll be able to you know take stuff and do your own green screen mash ups all sorts of fun things and that's just the beginning. Where it goes from there is based on how much people using these and what ways they are using them and what are the limits of our technology and how fast can we build together you know online virtual interactive worlds for people to play in because that's the next level of suturing in you know dramatic entertainment that's so malleable that people can be a part of it as opposed to just passive viewers and then having to post forums and stuff. We want to take it to the next level there so ...

SB: Last question, the website is www.sanctuaryforall.com and when will people be able to view the first episode?

DK: The tentative schedule is to roll out ... now let's just clarify a few things, there's going to be eight webisodes.

SB: Oh.

DK: Yeah there's going to be a full two hours of stories, we shot a full two hour pilot so we're going to be releasing eight webisodes that are roughly, approximately 15 minutes per webisode and the first of those webisodes is set to go live sometime in May. But between now and then we're going to be releasing a lot of assets. We're going to be showing ah we're going to be releasing concept art, there's a blog you can be watching, and there's going to be a lot of information about the show that's going to be rolled out bit by bit.

There'll be a smaller trailer then there'll be a longer version more involved trailer that will give you a sense of the world that you're going to be seeing and you're going to get a real sense of what the show is bit by bit. But let me put it this way the fans are really going to have to want to ... we're not going to spoon feed it to people. People who want to know about the show are going to come and find it in all sorts of interesting places on the web and the site www.sanctuaryforall.com will be the base platform for all that information that is slowly being put out and it will all lead to the launch in May.

INT: Wow, that's excellent.

SB: That sounds amazing.

INT I want to hear more but we are completely out of time.

AT: We'll have a lot more to tell you in a couple of months maybe.

INT: Excellent.

SB: I think we'll be bringing them back for an update very soon.

AT: Great.

SB: Well thank you Amanda and Damian for your time this morning.

AT: Thank you.

DK: Thanks so much.

SB: We'll be back with more Slice of SciFi right after this.

Many thanks for posting this - sorry I'm out of green for you!!

I'm getting more positive about this the more I hear - I may just have to go broadband!!

[kir_fect]

Thanks ROXie for posting the transcripts. You rock obviously!

[jckfan55]

Love the excitement in their voices in that interview.

Silly technical question that someone probably knows the answer to. Right now when I view the teaser, it's within the browser window (is that the right term?) so I see my toolbars at the top and bottom of the screen. When we actually get the episodes is that the way we'll see them? Maybe there's a way to go full screen? This would be particularly of concern to me for the actual episodes, my monitor isn't that big to start with.

[dosed150]

i would assume we'll be able to download them but just have to wait and see

[rderoch]

i would assume we'll be able to download them but just have to wait and see

Dan Woodland said they would be downloadable.

[Gate gal]

Thanks for posting the transcript. I'm looking forward to hearing it but it was cool to read it through first.

This bit was so cool:-

"Amanda Tapping said yes to the role. She was the only - there was like one choice and it was her and if she'd said no we would probably have stuck it back on my hard drive."

I especially *love* that Amanda was Damian's first choice for the role and that he actually would have considered not doing it without her.

How cool that she *is* Helen in the eyes of the creator. That speaks volumes for what Helen will be like as a character and the depth Amanda will be able to bring to her knowing that she was envisaged as playing the character. Way cool.

Julia

That was my favorite part, too. It made me think of her story about how she became an EP on this project. She is so well respected in the business. I can't wait to see Helen (and all the other characters) come to life.

Thanks ROXie for posting the transcripts. You rock obviously!

Yea, ROX, you rock!

[me@sanctuary]

Just incase anyone missed it there is a very interesting article on the home page of gateworld, Damien talks a lot about stargate and sanctuary, you have to scroll down to get to the sanctuary stuff.

ENJOY

[tsaxlady]

WOOOHOOOO!!! YIPPEEE SKIPPPEEEE!! YAY!

1.7 miiillyun!

Now my pinky will have to be affixed to the corner of my mouth every time I mention Sanctuary.

[SIZE="1"]must... have... tshirt...(hint, hint)[/SIZE]

[/QUOTE]

T-shirts - okay I really would like to have a t-shirt for the summer cons - a cool black t with little logo on front and big logo on back for Comic Con.

[Gate gal]

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T-shirts - okay I really would like to have a t-shirt for the summer cons - a cool black t with little logo on front and big logo on back for Comic Con.

You mentioning ComicCon makes me me curious. I wonder if Sanctuary will have anyone at ComicCon or Shoreleave. That would be so cool.