New Convention Tape Script – Provisional.

First Draft: March 5th, 2001

Written by Gareth Parker,

Utilising some “Daft Old French Techniques” or 17^h Century Neo-Classical education, as it’s know Cliff! :0)

Tape Structure: Five Acts, and each Act has it’s own content, but various features will result in overlap or growth. I hope.

Projected Running Time: Currently,15 minutes approximately is the aim, the Maximum limit: 20 minutes (give or take).

What do all these colours mean?

Blue text means that the footage already exists from previous tape or has since been created!

Green text means footage needs commissioning or adding. The clips listed are provisional and WILL change, so don’t be offended if something’s not there. Just let me know! :0)

Red text represents voice over (or if possible, avatar) dialogue. This is provisional (as it’s probably inaccurate, rubbish or plain wrong in places!).

Gareth notes: Exactly as it says on the tin – my thoughts on to how a section should work, and why I’m thinking like this. Basically, I’m justifying my approach(es)! Additional black text notes are my additional thoughts for a particular section.

Act One - Introduction of WHO3D concept:

Gareth notes: Intro in "What is Who3D" and so forth. The bulk of the lost section is the same, using the TVM theme, until after the logo. Instead of before, we can have a rapid firing of animated images, like a feature film’s first teaser trailer, or as Cliff calls it “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer season-clips intro – has he got Buffy on the brain?“; a varied montage of images and footage. I’m thinking of bombarding the viewers with sensory overload – Hartnell, Baker, Daleks, Aliens and so on. But it does have to be carefully cut so that the shorter sequences aren’t spoilt. Maybe It would be an idea to use some footage that won’t be placed into the New Footage Act (Three) here, to there’s not too much a repeat of material? I know I’ve dropped a few shorts from Act Three, so they could go here instead?

BLACK SCREEN:

Begins with: The "Lost" sequence, Hartnell animation, TARDIS on street. But after the spinning WHO3D logo (at 0.56), instead of the stills collection:

A rapid-fire, quick montage of CGI moving footage, using a few clips of various pieces – reconstruction, new, live action - like a teaser trailer for a Michael Bay movie, but no sound other than the dramatic music over them. I roughly estimate this to a 33-34 second collection from the start of the WHO3D logo to the end of the piece of the TVM Soundtrack. So about 34 seconds of varied AVI samples, dubbed with the remainder of the TVM theme, if possible. Cliff is still keen on the idea of the burning film canisters, so how about a 29 second selection of animations that climaxes with the image of old film cans getting destroyed by fire?

Act Two - In the Beginning…

Background music: Maybe Steve would like to flex his music muscles here? Something to excite the images a little?

Gareth notes: Starting with some New and Original Artwork stills. There are plenty of images available to start with and a nice variety of various different images; TARDIS, Daleks, Props, Scenes, and so forth. This will be the trickiest section, to not make either too long or short, and to make sure that we don’t dwell too long on each image.

VO: (Begins as the images start) WHO3D is a collection of artists, both 2D and 3D Computer Generated Images, Audio and Film Technicians, and Actors who are fans of the BBC TV Series:

“Doctor Who”.

Back in the dim and distant past, WHO3D initially began as a one-man project under Cliff Bowman, in the hope that fans could work together and produce something special and worthwhile. As time went on, interest grew, and fellow artists approached him with equal enthusiasm.

It primarily became a fan-based group for fan enjoyment, sharing ideas, art, and advice to improve the quality of their skills. New and original artwork was produced, inspired by the series they enjoyed.

List Of Images - Running Order:

WAIT FOR CATALOGUE CLIFF’S MAKING OF AVAILABLE STILLS TO USE AND CHOOSE FROM, BUT DO NOT MAKE THIS TOO LONG AS THEY SEEM TO BORE THE AUDIENCE!

Images disappear (can we use that fantastic Beeb-esque spiral/wobble/warp effect Andrew used on the first tape?), as the next set of dialogue below begins…

Act Three – Move on to Original Live-Action Footage…

VO: (Starts on final image and continues through on to the first animations) As the number of artists grew, so did the levels of the quality of work produced. Members began using 3D packages, like Bryce, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave and Poser to create new sequences and characters - some for applying to live action, other CGI shorts:

Gareth notes: Live Action Test footage begins – the footage that isn’t 60’s reconstruction… Which, as the narration develops, explains it’s a means to an end; i.e.: member practice on original sequences to improve their skills for the recon side. (A point Battlefield seemed to have missed!) However, I suspect that the overall desire from Convention-goers is for the 60’s stuff, so with this, here’s a rough plan which I will be aiming to distil to as tight and exciting as possible! However, I will allow anything dropped from here to be moved into the post-Logo Trailer in Act One, to pad that put with spoiling what waits for the audience in this act. Some of the best sequences are a few second long, and will be difficult to generate a shorter snippet for the trailer, so if something is too short for the teaser section of Act One, it should not be included. Or at least, there should not be too much of a repeat of short sequences from Act One into Act Three. I’ll allow 3 or 4 at most I think.

BG music: Something Radiophonic Workshop-like, traditional DW incidental music? Steve again – think you can do that?

Running Order of Footage:

Ice Warrior spaceship sequence.

VO: (Starts at the end of the Ice Warrior sequence) From starting with the idea of a simple effects sequence, the work began to grow into pieces of footage in their own right, often pushing the boundaries of the technology, inspired by every level of the series and it’s varied history.

The stranded alien sequence.

Live action CGI-Dalek by Van scene.

Cobalt’s Area 51 Big Nasty Alien sequence.

Scarecrow’s Spider Dalek Walk sequence.

“I Doubt You’ve The Mental Agility To Dream” sequence.

Tom Baker model stalked by Alien Nasty.

Dalek Shuttle fly-by sequence.

Atomic Clock sequence.

Brian’s Dalek and Fighter Street scene.

Sontaran and Rutan space battle?

“Dalek Death Match”? (Unwritten)

“Doctor Who Takes The Lift” Skit, by Cobalt?

“Lost Property” Skit, by Robert Taylor?

Sontaran ships sequence.

VO: (Starts over the Sontaran fly-by shot) But as time went on, a spark of inspiration appeared – the animators began applying new footage to existing radio or audio soundtracks…and little did they realise that a new opportunity had presented itself to them.

Dead Ringers sequences (as an example of applying a soundtrack to new animations… like…)

As the last sequence fades to black, and VO begins…

Act Four - Reconstruction Stills & Footage...

Gareth notes: And the END is: The big finish! Reconstructed 1960’s footage of lost episodes… In light of the various comments, I’d like to get as much new reconstruction material on the tape as possible. The green (Latest) refer to the most recent models at the time of tape’s commissioning, so while shots and graphics may exist at the moment, they could be improved by the time this tape is made. On the stills side, it’s been noted they’re a bit boring, so I think that I’m going to distil them over time, and say no more than two to three seconds per image, which is long enough! This section is likely to change in light of the proper Recon Tape script.

VO: There was once a time, when monsters haunted your television. When danger lurked in your living room, and when you could only feel safe, behind the sofa...
But time waited for no one, those days seemed to be lost forever... UNTIL NOW!

As the VO speaks, a montage begins of actual 8mm/16mm clips from Hartnell/Troughton Missing Episodes, like Tenth Planet 4, The Dalek production line and so forth. The proposed CGI boy watches these, from - where else? - “Behind the sofa”. He watches the TV screen in horror; the images on it begin to burn away, looking like they are lost – forever… fade to black. If the boy is “undo-able” for whatever reason, then a simple collection of clips should do – maybe framed by a CGI TV screen; that easier?

Start off with the TARDIS materialising on the 1960’s London Street, with “Vworp” sound effects, but no music. Flash white cut effects, fades and we start off the images!

BG music: The original Doctor Who 1963 theme tune…

Reconstructed Stills begin:

VO: As the skills of the group began to develop and expand, and the quality of the animations improved with each passing day, it became clear that an exciting new chapter in the history of Doctor Who was dawning. The tools of the future were presenting an opportunity that could not have existed a decade ago. The tools of the future, could rescue the past…

Colour Console Room goes B&W-Gunged.

Hartnell over Console, in Colour, goes B&W-Gunged.

VO: (Begins over the Evil picture) Many episodes of Doctor Who have been lost, probably forever. Some do, from time to time, reappear in surprising places, but many may never be recovered. But WHO3D saw the boundless possibilities of digital 3D animation and lost BBC archive footage.

Evil of the Daleks shot already IN B&W-Gunged.

B&W-Gunged TARDIS on the street capture.

(Latest) First Doctor and Polly screen capture still, B&W-Gunged.

Chase Daleks, B&W-Gunged.

VO: While the original footage no longer exists, fans have been left with examples of the adventures that were lost; photographic images, known as Telesnaps, as well as audio soundtrack recordings and publicity photos.

(Latest) Polly image, in B&W-Gunged.

(Latest) CyberMondasian, in B&W-Gunged.

(Latest) Radiation Room, in B&W-Gunged. Or at least those models Brian as built already.

(Latest) Tracking Station set in B&W-Gunged.

(Latest) Hartnell graphic still, in B&W-Gunged.

VO: (Starts over the Hartnell picture and continues through until the next sets of stills is underway – the mesh to image selection) From there, with an eye to make them as accurate as possible, WHO3D has started to digitally reconstruct sets, testing the theory that CGI could be use to physically rebuild lost footage…

The set of stills Danny did that show the scene being built up – from wire format to complete Console Room.

The built up still image then comes alive – we start to move around the Hartnell Console Room in 3D!

Reconstructed Footage begins:

VO: And the test results to date have been nothing short of amazing…

TARDIS Console Panel pan shot and medium close up of Console Room fading from B&W to colour.

Danny’s Evil of the Daleks clip(s).

Additional lost Dalek footage that Danny offered:

Additional “Evil of the Daleks”.

“The Dalek’s Master Plan”?

VO: (Talks over the silent 3D walkabout shots?) However, there is still much work to go – sets and models require months of effort and digitally reconstructing the various actors is in its infancy. The advantage is, of course, with a surviving soundtrack, the CGI characters will speak the original actor’s dialogue, without need for recasting or recording new data. The possibility was now there to be taken, and WHO3D agreed to pool their efforts, time and skills, and began work at generating a “pilot” of a digitally rebuilt a complete missing episode – The Tenth Planet, Episode Four.

A 3D Hartnell walking around the Console Room?

A 3D camera walk-thru the Tracking Station set from Tenth Planet?

VO: (Begins as the final 3D walkabout starts to end, to link into the next section) They began with recreating an existing piece of footage, to improve the accuracy character models in comparison to their real-life counter-parts, one of the most difficult factors to achieve given the software available.

A 3D walk-thru the Radiation Room set from Tenth Planet, like the TARDIS one?

“Your Planet Is Finished” – using several excerpts at about 2 or 3 seconds in silent sequence, from basic to the most advanced sequence, shown in full, at the time of the tape’s commissioning, like the Video Diary but edited. I’m hoping to show the way the models have improved over time, brief clip of first model, then the same thing again but an improved model, and so forth. The idea is to show that the models are constantly being worked on to improve likenesses, et al. You see this on various documentaries about the way a particular shot is made, like Danny’s idea of the Wire-Mesh to Complete set images, but this is about building the character models instead!

VO: Despite the realisation that there’s still a long way to go with digitally rebuilding the actors, they’ve set about creating new, CGI footage to replace what was once lost decades ago, and the technology increases to improve by the day.

Any additional Tenth Planet footage:

(Latest) CyberMondasian; Noel’s Cyril the Cyberman.

VO: However, it is intended that surviving clips from this episode can be integrated into the new digitally built visuals. Old and new, side-by-side, restoring the missing pieces that were once thought lost forever.

(Latest) Cobalt’s TARDIS in the Snow shot.

Project Snowball: ABOVE TOP SECRET. Sorry.

At the end of this sequence… and cut to Act Five!

Act Five – It’s the End but…

Gareth notes: Ideally, the whole “Can you help us”, “this is our Web Address”, and so forth. However, Con organisers from Battlefield and Shaun seemed a little uneasy or confused by promotional aspects of our first tape, so this will be adjusted after further discussions with Shaun for his opinion on this (I trust his judgement as honest). But hopefully, this new structure will feel more like a journey from start to the aim of reconstructing material, rather than what has happened with the previous tape (people seem to be mistaking the tone as “Are we great!?!?!?!” as opposed to being “Look at our achievements – can you see the potential?”), or as Cliff said to me, finding the fine line between “Humble” and “Pretentious”. I’m aiming that this one shows how the ideas and skills come about, in a linear story-telling style.

Slow montage of the footage recapping reconstructed clips once more, as the VO begins; it’s the end!

VO: As you watch this now, work is continuing, and will continue until the first new episode of lost footage is completed. And WHO3D will present any finished product to the BBC – after all, once the first episode is complete, there’s going to be another 108 episodes to go…

3D TARDIS Doors-to-Monitor sequence – cuts to WHO3D logo. Jon Pertwee’s “Doctor Who” theme.

VO: This is not the end of the past – just the beginning of the future…

Black fade-out from the WHO3D logo:

The “Can you help us/Tip of the Iceberg?” slide here; fade in.

Web Address sequence here.

Credits, over the Seal of Rasillion background. (As before but incorporating any new artists)

FADE TO BLACK.

Take applause. Feel good. Go to bar.