A radically different idea for Indy Five.

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Rocket Surgeon said:
Indy as a cartoon before the feature lends itself to the format best.

You should <B>bold</B> that "before" there, otherwise some parties might feel encouraged into thinking you meant "during."
 

HovitosKing

Well-known member
gabbagabbahey said:
Well, yes & no. Yes, because it would be radically different because as far as I know nobody has tried this before with a major release, but no because it would be based on the classic pulp formula.

They shoot the whole thing at once, but break it down into four, one hour "mini movies", then, release them one week apart in chronological order. Of course, each "episode" leaves you hanging so you come back & watch the next one to see what happens. Because in the end you have a 4 hour long movie they could pretty much pull out all the stops for the final Indiana Jones release.

The movies would have special admission pricing, say, $4.99, so that you don't turn people off too much because they have to keep coming back to see what happens. In the end though, the producers/theaters are bringing in $20 for the release instead of the usual $8 (or whatever).

Is it a risk? Hell yeah. Could it work? Hell yeah. Sometimes you have to think outside the box & blaze some trails. If any series could pull it off it would be the Indy series, which was practically born to be released this way.

Remember, you heard it hear first. : )

Thoughts?


So you want people to invest 4 trips to the theater (in successive weeks) at $20 a pop for a single 4-hour film? Uh, no. First, it's insane to expect people to keep coming back each week. Most people have lives, and those lives don't involve hanging out at the local theater each week. If I miss week 2, why would I even care about weeks 3-4? Second, $20 tickets for a single film (assuming people see all 4) reeks of corporate greed rather than brilliance. Finally, I wouldn't invest 1 trip to the theater and $12 for a ticket to see anything from the Lucas/Spielberg camp after what they did with Indy IV. Lots of other people wouldn't either. This idea is a bomb.

Go back and research serials of the 40s and 50s. They weren't what you paid to see, they were marketing devices to keep people paying to see the features. Combining them into a single film would seem stilted and slightly schizophrenic.
 

gabbagabbahey

New member
HovitosKing said:
I wouldn't invest 1 trip to the theater and $12 for a ticket to see anything from the Lucas/Spielberg camp after what they did with Indy IV. Lots of other people wouldn't either. This idea is a bomb.

This pretty much says everything we need to know about where your head is at. Don't like it? Don't go.

A few people liked this enough to spend a couple of bucks on it.

"In February 2010 it was the 25th highest-grossing film of all time domestically, and 35th highest-grossing worldwide, as well as the most financially successful Indiana Jones film when not adjusted for inflation of ticket prices."

Hardly the bomb you are trying to make it ouot to be. I suspect the public would be interested in Indy 5 whether it was a serial or conventional release.
 
Last edited:

Stoo

Well-known member
Attila the Professor said:
Incidentally, while it's entirely apart from what gabbagabbahey initially suggested, I suspect that a more action-oriented approach might be one that sliced the films into segments closer to being 20 minutes in length rather than 30.
That's what I've been saying all along. 15 -20 minutes!:whip:
Attila the Professor said:
Now, I'm not a serials guy. I'm not versed in them, and I've barely seen any of them. This means that I don't have a great sense of where exactly the divisions are usually placed. Are they when danger begins? Are they at the tensest point in the action? Are they at the point right where the way out is revealed? Or just before that point?
Attila, it saddens me to discover that you're ignorant of this. (How can you NOT know???:confused:) In the classic cliffhangers, the break comes right at the point where the hero is about to DIE!!!:eek:
Attila the Professor said:
The other question: is the placement of segment divisions in the old serial manner one that would really shift properly into this new idea in this new age. While action based cliffhangers could be a little hard to make work in a more modern era, particularly with regards to the reveal of the precise solutions that would come into play, I fear that some of my moodier transitions feel more akin to where episode breaks come in the long-form television dramas of today.
Yes, your ideas are very in line with contemporary TV but that doesn't make it wrong...
Hovitos King said:
Go back and research serials of the 40s and 50s. They weren't what you paid to see, they were marketing devices to keep people paying to see the features.
Erm...Hovitos, you are the one who needs to "go back" and do YOUR OWN RESEARCH. Serials of the *'50s* being marketing devices? You obviously have no idea what you're talking about...:rolleyes:

Gabbagabbahey's suggestion is not STRICTLY BASED on previous output but, instead, INSPIRED by it. Yes? No?
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Stoo said:
That's what I've been saying all along. 15 -20 minutes!:whip:
Attila, it saddens me to discover that you're ignorant of this. (How can you NOT know???:confused:) In the classic cliffhangers, the break comes right at the point where the hero is about to DIE!!!:eek:

During my short and recent education into this fascinating subject, I've noticed a trend where the first episode of a serial can be between 25-30 minutes long, while all the following instalments are between 15-18 minutes. The first one is designed to impart more of the background and story. That may influence the way the Indy movies are broken up.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Stoo said:
Attila, it saddens me to discover that you're ignorant of this. (How can you NOT know???:confused:) In the classic cliffhangers, the break comes right at the point where the hero is about to DIE!!!:eek:

Well, that certainly is the received wisdom. But I wasn't sure if that was a hard-and-fast rule, or whether there were occasions when the cliffhanger was more along the lines of: "how is he going to deal with this new threat?" or "now that that's done with, what's next?"
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
So, I've been watching Republic's <I>King of the Rocket Men</I> today, and a new thought arises.

Is there any real way to make the recaps of the prior chapter(s) at the beginning of the segments after the first not feel:

A) like a "Previously on <I>Indiana Jones</I>" television opening?
OR
B) campy as all get out?
 

WillKill4Food

New member
Attila the Professor said:
Is there any real way to make the recaps of the prior chapter(s) at the beginning of the segments after the first not feel:

A) like a "Previously on <I>Indiana Jones</I>" television opening?
OR
B) campy as all get out?
One could have new footage replaying some of the more crucial events from a different character's perspective, reminding the audience of what happened in the last 'episode' while also revealing some new detail (which might be particularly effective for serial-style cliffhangers), or just not have a visual recap at all and write the dialogue so that it fills in the gaps between chapters. The second option would not work so well for most cliffhangers, but it could work for less dire cliffhangers or, conversely, those more extreme ones where the fate of a character is all but sealed (which is how Rossio and Elliot handled the segue from Pirates of the Caribbean II to III, if you're familiar with that).
 

Montana Smith

Active member
The recaps do sometimes change. They intercut new footage showing what had been held back on the first viewing. So while the original might show the hero bound in a burning building, and then the building exploding, the recap might show a colleague entering the building to perform the rescue.

In the original serials when you realize that not all the recaps are simply repeated footage, it makes you pay more attention and your finger off the fast forward button!
 

gabbagabbahey

New member
I've thought about this a bit more & have a couple wrinkles I'd like to run by the gang.

Instead of breaking it up into 4 seperate movies released 4 weeks apart how about a single 3 hour movie that is broken down into either 3 1 hour segments/episodes or 4 45 minute segments/episodes? Each ends and begins like the classic seriels complete w/a few faux trailers for other action type movies (similar to what they did in "Grindhouse") run in between each segment.

Instead of a ticket price of $8.50 they could go to $10 or $12 Make one of the segments in 3D (let's have some fun w/the new technology) & what the hell, try & figure out some way to add a few other "fun" features. Remember "Odorama" w/the scratch & sniff cards? "The Tingler"? Remember guys, we're not talking about high art here, we're talking about having fun & being entertained for a few hours. Thoughts?
 
Top