Seantn

Okay, now we've all seen movie previews that have scenes which don't end up in the final cut. I've especially noticed that Dimension films does this a lot. They use cut scenes in the previews.

But this is a new one for me...

There are reports that for the movie "Black Christmas", they actually went out last month and shot new 3-4 second "shock scenes" with actors who are not in the film, simply to insert them into the tv commercials.

One such scene has a girl walking across a bathroom floor and you see a hole in the tile, with an eye looking out. Another such scene has a girl scraping snow off some ice, and there is a frozen girl beneath the ice, then arms shoot out and grab her.

These aren't simply "teaser previews" in which the footage was shot to tease the audience but not meant to be in the film. This footage is inserted into the commercials with the actual footage from the movie.

I find this practice to be really weird. I can sort of understand using cut scenes, but if they wanted to advertise the movie with these scenes, why not actually film them and put them in the movie? These scenes don't even exist, from what early reports are saying.

Rypro 525

With the movie "Pulse" they used the shot of the person jumping off the roof committing suicide in previews even though the shot was cut for rating reasons.

Seantn

Dimension is quite pathetic, in many aspects.

Cygnet74

as a working trailer editor, i can tell you the reason for seeing footage not in the finished film is because many trailers are cut from dailies, not from a cut of the feature.

what you described is unusual though. the most i've been a part of is adding stock footage to a cut -- most recently, I sent someone out to shoot footage of airplanes at the burbank airport.

Groucho

I remember the "Arrow Cam" shot in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was shot explicitly for the trailer, but people liked it so much they edited it into the final film.

Seantn

That's what I thought, since sometimes you might see a different take of an actors line used in the trailer, or it may be worded slightly differently than in the final cut.

DRG

What I don't understand is the decision to release this exactly on Christmas Day. Seems to me it would make more sense to release this a week earlier and capitalize off a full week of Christmas (and anti-Christmas) sentiment.

RocShemp

What Seantn describes reminds me of the ads for Highlander Endgame. Those feature loads of footage that apparently was never meant to be in the finished cut of the film and make the movie seem completely different than what it ended up being.

The Bus

I'm still mad Samuel L. and Ben Affleck never wrestled in Changing Lanes.

Tuan Jim

Was "The Transporter" by dimension? I still remember that trailer shot of the rocket being deflected by a tray.

Seantn

No, but Highlander: Endgame was by Dimension.

al_bundy

and for a while i thought this movie was in the proud tradition of phat beach

Seantn

I saw the film, it sucks, no surprise there. Anyway, apparenlty people overseas got a different film than us in the US. The UK version is more violent, has a different ending, and different deaths for at least 2 of the characters...and not just slightly different deaths, I mean the way they die is entirely changed.

Apparently someone on IMDB (not the most reliable message boards, I know, but this sounds legit and definitely corresponds with stuff I have read elsewhere at reliable places) posted info about all the changes that Dimension made:

=================
A week ago I contacted a guy I personally know who works in Dimension about the latest re-shoots (well tehnically, the WHOLE re-shoots), and a couple of days ago he finally answered me.

So, about the re-shoots...

*SPOILER WARNING*

The first re-shoots were filmed from 30th August-2nd September. The reason was a negative reaction at the screening due to Kristen Cloke’s living in the movie.
In the very FIRST version of the movie, Kelli (Katie Cassidy) and Leigh (Kristen Cloke) survived in the movie, and the movie ended with Kelli and Leigh hugging and going from the hospital after Kelli electrocuted Agnes.
So, in September that ending was re-shoot, and this time Leigh died by having her neck snapped in hospital, and the movie ended by Kelli going out of the hospital with her parents (well, you know the UK ending…).

The SECOND re-shoots happened during October (sorry, couldn’t get the exact dates), and in that version Melissa (Michelle Trachtenberg) lived, and the movie ended by having Kelli electrocuted Agnes, hugging Melissa at the hospital, and then returning home. She would later get a Christmas card from Billy and then Billy would appear behind her and the credits would roll. But apparently Morgan and somebody in Dimension conflicted and that ending was “dismissed” (that ending will probably be on the DVD though).

The THIRD re-shoots happened after the "AWESOME" Dimension told Morgan that he must re-shoot several other scenes, aswell as shoot some new footage for trailer only. So in November, Morgan hired an actress called Heather something (sorry, forgot her name) to shoot some scenes for the trailer (girl covered in Christmas lights falling out of the window, girl finding blonde in the ice), and also invited Lacey Chabert, Michelle Trachtenberg and Katie Cassidy to re-shoot some scenes in the movie (Melissa's new ice skate’s death and Billy appearing behind her on the ceiling, Lacey’s “Christmas lights” death, Katie killing Billy at the end of US version).

Crystal Lowe (Lauren) also filmed a couple of different versions of her death, one of-screen, one in which she is stabbed with a unicorn in the eyes on-screen, and the one in which she just wakes and sees Agnes looking at her (they will be on the DVD).

Also, Michelle shot several other scenes for trailer, the "Merry Christmas mother *beep* scene, and her screaming after the attic door closed in the trailer, because apparently Dimension wanted to promote Michelle as the "star" of the film and fool everyone in believing she is the lead and will live (that explains why the last trailer is so misleading and why she has the most screen-time out of all girls in it), even though Katie Cassidy lived.

And to break all of your theories, NO, the re-shoots DID NOT happen because the spoilers leaked out on the Net, but becasue Dimension wanted so.

So, that's pretty much all about the re-shoots.

Black Christmas

clemente

I thought the topic would be that the ads mislead us to believe that the movie would be good.

It's sort of a movie where you wished they would all die, the only character I wanted to live was Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and she got killed for doing exactly what a normal person would do in that sitaution - getting the fuck out of there.

I went for a cheap $4 matinee - and it was still way too much money.

Cameron

spoiler tags please

Matthew Chmiel

Eh, as someone who saw the film, the death of that specific actress isn't that big of a deal.

IMO, everyone should've ended up dead by the final reel. The lead actress was the most annoying out of the bunch.

MartinBlank

art?

her34

why are trailers usually cut from dailies?

PopcornTreeCt

There's a ton of stuff in the Ricky Bobby trailers that never made it to the movies. Some of it looked like it was meant to be for commercials only.

Matthew Chmiel

That film had a lot of alternate footage (and it's a damn shame Sony couldn't make a special edition to save their lives -- unlike DreamWorks who gave us a fully loaded two-disc set of Anchorman) mostly due to the improvisational nature of the film. The Unrated DVD and BR only give us about 35-40 minutes of deleted footage once all is said and done.

McKay's previous film, Anchorman, had around three (!) hours of deleted footage once you count up: the deleted scenes added to the unrated version, all of the deleted footage as a bonus feature on disc one, the entire (!) second version of the film on the second disc which consists of nothing but deleted and alternate footage, all of the deleted footage as a bonus feature on disc two, and the additional half an hour of deleted scenes that was available on the Best Buy bonus disc when you bought the two pack.

There's probably a solid hour or so left of footage waiting to be uncovered on Talladega Nights as Sony sucks.

Hell, look at the Serenity DVDs. The region one disc has about 15 minutes of deleted footage, whereas the region four disc adds an additional 5 minutes of deleted footage to the mix as well (most of which was actually present during Universal's "Can't Stop the Signal" early screenings). On top of that, there's footage out there that's not available anywhere due to the fact it would've given the film an R-rating (such as the scene where we actually see the sword impale Mal during the final fight scene).

Considering Black Christmas was made by Wong and Morgan, I'm not shocked there were reshoots galore. You know why? Cause they're fucking hacks who couldn't make a decent film to save their lives and ALL of their films to this point had to go through reshoots cause they suck. Okay, maybe I'm being too harsh, but let's agree that Final Destination and Final Destination 3 would've honestly been better films in the hands of more contempt filmmakers (such as the group who did Final Destination 2).

I will admit I did like Final Destination 3, but it's not nearly in the same league as the dark comedic macabre that was the first sequel.

Seantn

Because it was made by Dimension. I actually really loved Willard, which was directed by Glen Morgan. I'm not saying his original version of Black Christmas would have been any good, but the majority of reshoots and false ads are because of Dimension. They love taking bad movies and making them worse with reshoots.

Matthew Chmiel

Um, last time I checked New Line and Sony made them do reshoots on Final Destination, Final Destination 3, Willard, and The One.

I can actually name a few Dimension films off the top of my head that have not gone through reshoots. I would say the studio edits the hell out of films or keeps them on the shelves for nobody to see rather than sends them off to reshoot footage.

Seantn

I know that they had to reshoot the endings on those films. So they have a problem with wrapping up their storylines, I don't think anyone will argue with you there. On Willard ,though, it was really just a matter of Willard lives/Willard dies, so it wasn't really a big overhaul.

I think Glen Morgan showed more promise with Willard than James Wong did with any of his movies. However, I don't think his version of Black Christmas would have been any good, i'm definitely not arguing that. I just think Dimension should learn that whenever they make them reshoot large portions of the film, it never turns out well (Black Christmas, Halloween 6, Cursed). The original versions weren't good, but they were far better than their version.

Seantn

But then again, the original scripts shouldn't have been greenlit in the first place.

LiquidSky

I saw this celluloid bowel movement last weekend. Grade: 0/****.