[IceyJones]

okay folks...

...as the first one is completed i would like to start slowly with the preperations of the next cutscene. i have some questions and i need also your all support on this one, as here every difficulty you can have as animator is met (voice acting, characters, etc)....so this scene will take MUCH longer than the first one.....lets take the bible, added with my questions first:

------------------------------------
Act 2 Intro A
This scene shows the capture and eventual destruction of the Taranis cruiser.  It also shows the SuperDestroyer in its entirety for the first time.
[cut to anchor doing live news coverage]
"who is anchor?!"

Anchor:   We’re now going to the science station Tombaugh in the Ribos system where a team of Terran and Vasudan scientists await the arrival of a recently captured Shivan D-class Cruiser.  It’s being escorted by the Terran Destroyer XXXX, which conducted the attacks and capture operations over the course of three days.
"whats the name of the destroyer? which ship-class? what station type is tombaugh?"

[cut to Cruiser & Destroyer arriving through subspace holes, viewed from a large window on the science station.  The newscast can be dimly heard in the background.]
"what ship is towing the taranis-cruiser?"

Terran-1:   [approaching window and pointing]  Whoa!  There she is!
Terran-2:   [joining first Terran at the window]  Look at that!
[two others join them at the window]
[cut to close shot of the two big ships leaving subspace, with many fighters flying escort.  Some battle damage is seen on the Taranis]
[cut to reverse shot of ships approaching station]
[cut to shot over the shoulders of the Terrans clustered around the window.  They’re cheering and acting very excited]
[cut to shot of nearby comm officer]
Comm Officer:   Roger, this is Tombaugh station, (Fill Trasport Name), we have you.  You’re now cleared for approach at pylon S1…. stand by for ADT transmission.
"name of transport?"

The comm officer’s station begins to flicker.  Power is failing, and the instruments are struggling to retain their displays.
[cut to window shot again.  Terrans are looking around at the failing lighting systems, making puzzled noises.  Comm officer can be heard
nearby, trying in vain to regain contact with the approaching ships]
"why is power failing before arrival of lucy?! i never heard about this effect in the whole game"

[cut to exterior shot showing both Destroyer XXXX and the science station.  Lights can be seen failing across both, leaving them black.]
[cut to another view showing some escort fighters losing power and starting to list aimlessly]
"what type of fighters are flying around?"

[cut to comm officer shot again.  She’s working in darkness, trying to raise the XXXX on her comm]
Over her shoulder we see a huge warp tunnel begin to appear.  It’s blood red and much larger than any subspace hole’s seen so far.  The crew gasps in shock, wondering what it is.
"blood red vortex?! why red?! because of the red sun? red nebula? or what?!"

[cut to closeup of emerging SuperDestroyer.  Show tons of fighters spew from it’s bays before it’s even emerged totally.  The SD mows over a couple Terran fighters floating in its way.]
"in conflict with the cb-animation. there the fighters emerge AFTER leaving the vortex"

[cut to shots of Shivan fighters blasting the helpless Terran fighters, pilots yelling]
[cut to shot of SD passing by the captured Cruiser.  Watch as the shadow passes over the side of the station]
[cut to forward shot of the crowd at the window, as the shadow passes over them, they stand there in awe]
[cut to shot over their shoulders, as the SD passes very close to the Cruiser and station.  Members of the assault team on the Cruiser point at different parts of it, muttering.  The SD gradually slows to a stop.]
[cut to under shot of the SD’s big gun array.  It starts to reconfigure and “draw light” to itself.]
"where is the teran destroyer in this scene?! drawn lights: is meant those small light-particles attracted by the beam before it fires in the media-VP´s?"

[cut to shot of one crewmember]
Crew-1:      Oh, no!  [like he/she is the first to realize what’s happening]
[cut back to gun]
A huge energy beam blasts out from the gun!
[cut to shot of beam tearing into the Cruiser as it gets thrown back from the blast]
"lucy shots its own cruiser?"

[cut to shot of assault troops at window, being thrown against the window from the impact]
"where have been the assault troops coming from?!"

[cut to shot of beam making its way across the Cruiser, slicing it up]
maybe: [cut to angle showing Shivans leaping from openings in the SD (without suits!)]
"i saw someone has made a picture somewhere here with a shivan, using its plasma-beam.....i need this mesh! find him, ask him"

[cut to interior of cruiser where the crew was]
"which crew?! which cruiser?! wtf? do not understand this cut"

Through the window we can see the beam approach this room.  The crew is running around madly, but the wall erupts and they’re all incinerated in a split second.  Come up with some cool incineration effect here.
[cut to medium shot of the two ships]
The beam is cutting through the far side of the Cruiser, and it’s hull is buckling and breaking up.
[cut to interior shot of Shivans boarding and tearing up some Terran crew]
"phew.....really needed?! all this character-shots are a problem for me"

[cut to shot of a floating Terran fighter]
The battle is reflected in his canopy.  He’s watching helplessly in wide-eyed fear]
"i need a cocpit-mesh with a pilot in it....lt. ash again? hmm.....if yes, please make his view frightened in the texture"

[cut to reverse shot, showing his POV]
A couple seconds of battle can be seen before a Shivan fighter spots him, aims, and blasts him to hell.  The screen goes black.
--------------------------------------------

okay guys....

please decide, what scenes can be canned, what you really want to see, maybe improove the script.

if this is ready (your job!), we need voice-acting for the spoken text! my english is not free from accent!!! im german, you know....

if this proceeds well here, i will start with this messy scene. i´m not willing to waste my time for it, if noone is really interested in supporting it.....hope you understand that...

greets
icey

[Jeff Vader]

"whats the name of the destroyer? which ship-class? what station type is tombaugh?"

The destroyer is most likely an Orion, since it is the only type of Terran destroyer seen in the game.

"what ship is towing the taranis-cruiser?"

The Halkins, a Chronos class freighter.

"name of transport?"

I bet it's the Halkins.

"blood red vortex?! why red?! because of the red sun? red nebula? or what?!"

For the dramatic effect. The Lucifer is the invincible superdestroyer, after all.

"in conflict with the cb-animation. there the fighters emerge AFTER leaving the vortex"

Probably a change of plans at some point. Maybe we should believe the ani.

"lucy shots its own cruiser?"

Dunno. Maybe a retribution against the incompetent crew of the Taranis for getting captured. Or a stray shot.

[Vasudan Admiral]

As absolutely pure awesome as the power failing thing would be in this cutscene, should it be included? The only explaination for it I can think of would be that the shivans aboard the Taranis managed to get into the docked Chronos freighters systems with a virus or Shivan AI or whatever and shut it down - after transmitting the same virus to every ship in the sector too.

Sounds a lot like the new BSG pilot episode to me, but I dunno if that's a good or bad thing in this particular context. :\

[IceyJones]

would be the only explanation.....

maybe we should include a radio-voice act then, sounding like that:

freighter-bridge:
"what the hell is that?! abandon boarding procedure and undock from the teranis immediateley. they hacked into our freighters main computer-bay and are about to transmit a virus through our IFF-signal.....oh no.....its too late....."
[during transmitting the lights of the freighter are going down.....after the end of the text, the others also start with random fluttering lights]

something like that....?!

[Admiral Nelson]

The power failing thing was probably an early conception of how to make the Lucifer invulnerable in normal space, replaced in the released FS by shields.  I wouldn't include it, especially as there is no other evidence of this ability.

[Admiral Nelson]

okay folks...

...as the first one is completed i would like to start slowly with the preperations of the next cutscene. i have some questions and i need also your all support on this one, as here every difficulty you can have as animator is met (voice acting, characters, etc)....so this scene will take MUCH longer than the first one.....lets take the bible, added with my questions first:

------------------------------------
Act 2 Intro A
This scene shows the capture and eventual destruction of the Taranis cruiser.  It also shows the SuperDestroyer in its entirety for the first time.
[cut to anchor doing live news coverage]
"who is anchor?!"

An unknown TV news reader.  Blaise Russel provided the news reader's voice in Destiny of Peace, it would be interesting if he could do so again here.

Anchor:   We’re now going to the science station Tombaugh in the Ribos system where a team of Terran and Vasudan scientists await the arrival of a recently captured Shivan D-class Cruiser.  It’s being escorted by the Terran Destroyer XXXX, which conducted the attacks and capture operations over the course of three days.
"whats the name of the destroyer? which ship-class? what station type is tombaugh?"

The station is an Arcadia.

[cut to comm officer shot again.  She’s working in darkness, trying to raise the XXXX on her comm]
Over her shoulder we see a huge warp tunnel begin to appear.  It’s blood red and much larger than any subspace hole’s seen so far.  The crew gasps in shock, wondering what it is.
"blood red vortex?! why red?! because of the red sun? red nebula? or what?!"

Again, probably an early concept later discarded.  We see a normal colored vortex in the FS 1 intro movie.

[cut to shots of Shivan fighters blasting the helpless Terran fighters, pilots yelling]
[cut to shot of SD passing by the captured Cruiser.  Watch as the shadow passes over the side of the station]
[cut to forward shot of the crowd at the window, as the shadow passes over them, they stand there in awe]
[cut to shot over their shoulders, as the SD passes very close to the Cruiser and station.  Members of the assault team on the Cruiser point at different parts of it, muttering.  The SD gradually slows to a stop.]
[cut to under shot of the SD’s big gun array.  It starts to reconfigure and “draw light” to itself.]
"where is the teran destroyer in this scene?! drawn lights: is meant those small light-particles attracted by the beam before it fires in the media-VP´s?"

Yup.

[cut to shot of one crewmember]
Crew-1:      Oh, no!  [like he/she is the first to realize what’s happening]
[cut back to gun]
A huge energy beam blasts out from the gun!
[cut to shot of beam tearing into the Cruiser as it gets thrown back from the blast]
"lucy shots its own cruiser?"

To deny its use to the Terrans.

[cut to shot of assault troops at window, being thrown against the window from the impact]
"where have been the assault troops coming from?!"

The boarding party that was already there on the Taranis, presumably.

[cut to shot of beam making its way across the Cruiser, slicing it up]
maybe: [cut to angle showing Shivans leaping from openings in the SD (without suits!)]
"i saw someone has made a picture somewhere here with a shivan, using its plasma-beam.....i need this mesh! find him, ask him"

Bobbau, I think?

[cut to interior of cruiser where the crew was]
"which crew?! which cruiser?! wtf? do not understand this cut"

The Taranis, I think, and its boarding party.

Through the window we can see the beam approach this room.  The crew is running around madly, but the wall erupts and they’re all incinerated in a split second.  Come up with some cool incineration effect here.
[cut to medium shot of the two ships]
The beam is cutting through the far side of the Cruiser, and it’s hull is buckling and breaking up.
[cut to interior shot of Shivans boarding and tearing up some Terran crew]
"phew.....really needed?! all this character-shots are a problem for me"

Do what you can.

if this is ready (your job!), we need voice-acting for the spoken text! my english is not free from accent!!! im german, you know....

There aren't too many lines, voice acting should not present a problem.

[Steel Prophet]

"whats the name of the destroyer?

IIRC it must be the Galatea. Orion Class of course.

[Vidmaster]

"why is power failing before arrival of lucy?! i never heard about this effect in the whole game"
dramatic effect. Add some God of War or Advent Rising style music and let the Lucy approach

"blood red vortex?! why red?! because of the red sun? red nebula? or what?!"
Make it blue. Blue. Not red. Forget about red. Nevermind red.

"in conflict with the cb-animation. there the fighters emerge AFTER leaving the vortex"
I like the ani more.

"where is the terran destroyer in this scene?! drawn lights: is meant those small light-particles attracted by the beam before it fires in the media-VP´s?"
I guess so. Just watched FS2 Intro. There, the Lucy shots the mediaVp's beam, BUT NOT FROM HER ARMS!!! Strange. Nevertheless, why not stick to that sequence?

"lucy shots its own cruiser?"
Important. Terrans don't get the thing AND the explosion kills the towing transport and damages the terran destroyer & station.
Has to be in there.

[cut to shot of assault troops at window, being thrown against the window from the impact]
"where have been the assault troops coming from?!"
Question is, what window is it? Or are this Shivan Vacuum Assault troopers (in space)?  Or scratch that scene.

"which crew?! which cruiser?! wtf? do not understand this cut"
Remember the command briefing: Terran fighters and cruisers engaged...    ...so let's add some Leviathans guarding the Installation.
Also remember the chat between the pilots in the mission: That place was a fortress , so there have to be a lot of allied ships.

"phew.....really needed?! all this character-shots are a problem for me"
Would be nice. BUT it could also be done like the famous B5 epsiode where the Shadows slice through the whole Narn fleet, I am speaking of total carnage with awesome music here.


EDIT: And it cannot be the Galatea, since the destroyer here gets trashed! Just name it as you like. I propose "Victory" or "Vesuvius"      (yeah, I love WC)

[Steel Prophet]

It’s being escorted by the Terran Destroyer XXXX, which conducted the attacks and capture operations over the course of three days.

It was the Galatea which captured the Taranis... but of course your right it wasn't destroyed at Tombough Station.

[Mad Bomber]

EDIT: And it cannot be the Galatea, since the destroyer here gets trashed! Just name it as you like. I propose "Victory" or "Vesuvius"      (yeah, I love WC)

Maybe it's the original GTD Orion (the namesake for the class)?

[Vidmaster]

OR THE GTD VIDMASTER !!! 

And Icey, why not forget about that news thing too? I think it's silly, just do a "Ribos System    Tombough Station     xx:xx hours"   at the beginning and then let the Taranis and escorts pass.

[IceyJones]

hahaha......great.....i call the destroyer "GTD Icey" and you cannot do anything to prevent it 
but i will find a name.....i just look into my astronomie-books

it would be great to get the talkings of the pilots after the attack postet here....i´m busy with the orion conversion.....

and someone interested in doing the script and discussing it here?! then i can concentrate on the ships to get them done.....

Conclusion would be:
- YOU deliver me the preperations
- i do the animation then

and regarding all the character-shots i would prefer a scene like in the intro, where we see everything from the comm-officers view. then we need only one detailed character. a news screen nevertheless would be cool.....not much of an efford, as i can record a scene from my television and paste the "live-pictures" into it.....i only need the speech then

[Jeff Vader]

K, since it appears there are a few typos here in this thread, I'll list a few of the names, just so that they're not typoed in the eventual cutscene.

Halkins
Tombaugh
Taranis

[Goober5000]

I recommend getting rid of the news reader too.  That was an early concept that was discarded in all of the other cutscenes; it should probably be discarded here too.

The power loss is probably an EMP effect that, as Admiral Nelson said, was meant to communicate the invulnerability of the superdestroyer.

The subspace vortex should be blue.  The red vortex was another idea that got dropped.

The Terran destroyer should be the GTD Reliant, an Orion-class destroyer.  There's absolutely no canon evidence on this one way or another, but Eishtmo wrote a pretty cool fanfic awhile back that tied into this.

[colecampbell666]

"i saw someone has made a picture somewhere here with a shivan, using its plasma-beam.....i need this mesh! find him, ask him"

This? Ask Styxx.

EDIT: But don't, whatever you do, read the topic!

[nubbles526]

As absolutely pure awesome as the power failing thing would be in this cutscene, should it be included? The only explaination for it I can think of would be that the shivans aboard the Taranis managed to get into the docked Chronos freighters systems with a virus or Shivan AI or whatever and shut it down - after transmitting the same virus to every ship in the sector too.

Sounds a lot like the new BSG pilot episode to me, but I dunno if that's a good or bad thing in this particular context. :\

Well it can be easy if you can just turn off the glow maps...(Thinking back of JAD2)

[Hades]

Why not make the destruction of the station in there 2?

[Vasudan Admiral]

Well it can be easy if you can just turn off the glow maps...(Thinking back of JAD2)

I'm not referring to how it can be achieved, I mean should it be included at all, because there is never any other mention of the shivans having this ability.

Problem is, despite it having no shred of supporting evidence, it would work beautifully in a cutscene such as this.

I agree with Goob overall though - it can be explained as an EMP effect. Something the Shivans have the ability to do, but rarely feel the need. Or something.

[Vidmaster]

Okay, here you go.

SCRIPT FOR TOMBOUGH STATION ATTACK (version 1):

Start
You only see a sensor screen (should be like the one in the FS1 Intro). On the left side, you see the symbol for the Arcadia, flanked by two cruiser symbols and three wing symbols. The Arcadia is in the middle, the rest forms a circle around her.
(Addition: You also see a transport symbol heading to the edge of the screen but that's just there because it would look good.)
In the upper right corner, you can spot a red shivan cruiser symbol, accompanied by a Terran Destroyer Symbol, a fighter wing and a symbol for the towing transport. The transport and cruiser symbols are highlighted (and maybe even linked by a line or something).

Camera zooms back a little and goes upward then, above the console is a window
Through the window, you see the blackness of space. But it's not empty. The Taranis, showing some signs of battle, is being towed towards the station (not directly into the window of course, lets say its course differs about 50 degrees from a collision course into the player's face). In a distance (and behind the taranis), you see a majestic GTD Orion. Text appears: "Ribos System    Tombough Station          0340 hours".
You hear communication: Commencing docking procedure (or something like that). The transport undocks from the Taranis, which continues to move towards the station (-> momentum).

CUT to the comm officer, the one you is supposed to sit in front of the above mentioned console and window
He or she says "Acknowledged Halkins...  ...she's right on course."

CUT to space, camera is behind and a little bit under the Taranis. You it heading towards the Arcadia, behind the installation, you can spot a Fenris and a Leviathan cruiser.
"Roger, Tombough. We are glad to get rid of that thing."

CUT, camera still in space. Upper, forward view of the Taranis (not directly in its "face"). In the background, you can see the Halkins turning away from the cruiser and towards the GTD Orion.
Comm Officer: "Can you spot any activity?" (only comm chatter)
Two Valks (could also be Apollos, but I would love to see the Valk) approach from behind the camera right through it and fly past the Taranis.
Pilot: "Negative. Still, I wouldn't volunteer going in..." (only comm chatter).

CUT to the Comm Officer's face again.
Comm Officer: "Well, in contrast, our scientists are---"     (EPIC MUSIC STARTS!!!)

CUT to space, a huge subspace portal opens, camera angle is the same as in the FS1 Intro. You know that's the big bugger. The Lucy's nose appears.
Pilot: "What the---"

CUT, Camera is above and close to the hull of the GTD Orion now. Wide angle shot. Your view contains the two Terran cruisers, the Arcadia, the Taranis drifting towards it, the transport which is still near the Taranis and of course big bad Lucy fully emerging from Subspace. The Superdestroyer is between the Orion and the Arcadia.

CUT to the Sensor screen from the beginning, a very big red symbol pops up.

CUT to the Comm Officer's face again.
Comm Officer's face shows his or her fear.

CUT, close shot of the Lucy.

CUT to Lucy's fighterbay.
Fighter's emerge. Lots of fighters.

CUT to sensor screen.
Red wing symbols everywhere around the Lucy.
Comm Officer: "All ships engage, engage! Protect the station!"

CUT, very close shot of the GTD Orion's turrets, they start to turn directly into the player's face.
Orion opens fire, a big green shot fills the screen.

CUT, wide angle and camera above the Orion again
The two terran cruisers are close to Lucy and are firing all turrets, the Orion's turrets hammer Lucy's hull from the other side.
There is absolutely no effect.

CUT, dogfight.
A shivan fighter blasts one of the Valks. Shivan Laser fire is everywhere.  (just a short cut).

CUT, behind one of the Terran Cruisers.
A wing of shivan fighters races directly past it, firing all the while. The starboard side of the ship is burning at multiple spots.
(just a short cut)

CUT, wide angle and camera above the Orion again

CUT to Taranis. Arcadia and Cruisers in the background. The Fenris spins out of control. Laser shots everywhere.
For two seconds, you see nothing special (but the firefight in the background). Then, Shivans (THE SHIVANS, not a fighter) float towards the camera at high speed, leaping at the viewer.

CUT, you see the Halkins from a distance.

camera zooms in at high speed, directly onto the hull of the Halkins.
(Supposed to be the view of a Shivan boarding the Halkins, maybe some weird camera effect would fit here).

CUT, Hull of the Halkins
A shivan has attached himself to the hull and slices it with the plasma beam. (Just like Matrix, I want that in there. We see the Shivans only one time in all of FS, time to change that, don't you think?)

CUT to GTD Orion's, full view of the ship
All turrets are still firing, the ship is damaged and burns (or glows) at some spots.

CUT to Lucy, side view.
The shots of the Orion don't do anything. The Lucy charges the mediaVP beam and fires.

CUT to Taranis, full view
The beam just sweeps over the hull of the cruiser, leaving nothing but some debris.

CUT to the burning Fenris, it is still spinning out of control

CUT to a Shivan bomber, front view
It launches a torpedo.

CUT back to the Fenris, side view.
The Torpedo hits the already damaged side of the ship. The Fenris breaks up and explodes, a piece of debris is propelled directly into the camera and...

CUT,
Black Screen.

END


 

[IceyJones]

  well....erm......phew....

thanks for this....sounds good...unfortunately....means a lot of character-stuff and overwhelming fighter-szenes.....i think i have to write scripts for that......and the specially the shivans....phew again

and we need a musik for it.....a special written one in order to fit to the scenes.......if not, we need to make the cuts according to the music again....as i tried to to in the vasuda-scene....

furthermore we have to include the same look of the cb-anim. the system must be red glowing with gas or something like that.....