View Full Version : HBO Unscripted


Joe Carney
January 14th, 2005, 10:50 PM
I've been watching HBO's 'Unscripted' miniseries. It has a similar look to last years K-Street (shot on Pana DV). It's a lot of fun to watch with all the cast esentially playing themselves.

Charles Papert or anyone out in LA, could you shed some light on what they are shooting with.

BTW, its a fun, satirical look at actors trying to make it in the Biz. Krista Allen along with others are excellent.

Wayne Orr
January 15th, 2005, 05:17 PM
I gotta believe they are using the DVX's. Same exec producers in Soderburg and Clooney. And they learned a lot on "K Street." A few months back, George Clooney came by our set and he had a cameraman with him shooting with a DVX, so he is obviously still a fan. Should be an excellent camera for this type of project. Can't imagine what would be better.

Wayne Orr, SOC

Mike Moncrief
January 20th, 2005, 08:07 AM
Hello,

Finally caught an episode of this show.. A lot of the shots looked like they were very much to the yellow/red color range, like they had tweaked the footage that way .. Any confirmation if the Panasonic camera is used for the show??
I thought some of the footage looked good, but some looked not so good..Sometimes it looked very film like and sometimes it looked like video trying to pose as film(badly).

Mike m.

Imran Zaidi
January 20th, 2005, 09:36 AM
I remember when they shot K-Street they did a universal 3200k setting for whitebalance for everything, indoor and outdoor. Which of course was the reason all of the outdoor scenes in K-Street were so blue.

It's possible in this they picked a temperature and are sticking to it. Since it appears to be really warm indoors, and the day stuff looks very balanced, I'd say they've probably stuck it at 5600k.

Also, I feel that this might be an appropriate time to say that I might be in love with Krista Allen.

Joe Carney
January 20th, 2005, 09:44 AM
<<Also, I feel that this might be an appropriate time to say that I might be in love with Krista Allen.<<

HEY!!! I saw her first!!!!Don't talk about my woman like that!!! hehehe

Steve Franco
January 25th, 2005, 10:22 AM
I'm really enjoying this show. Thought it was a little slow at first but after watching episode 4, I think it's really picked up momentum.

Yi Fong Yu
January 25th, 2005, 01:10 PM
even though it's staged i still thought that it was another woman playing "krista allen the actress" then i looked up unscripted and realized it wasn't anyone else but herself!

we all knew her from emmanuelle 1-6 (does first contact count as 7?). it's 2bad netflix doesn't carry any of those titles. =). i wonder if that boy jake is her real son?

anyway it has its funny moments and shows the under currents of hollywood actors.

Christopher Go
January 25th, 2005, 04:23 PM
Just saw episode 5, that was great! It took an independent production to give Krista the respect she's been looking for, and from a 16 year old no less. Her "rap" at the end was hilarious too. Too bad about Bryan's turn of events in North Carolina...

As an aside, I think HBO is the best network out there for writers and artists. I would love to have something I wrote on HBO.

Imran Zaidi
January 26th, 2005, 10:02 AM
I have a role for her - a great indie film role where she plays a dinner date for the main character, played by me of course. It's very cutting edge so there won't even be any fancy budgets or production or sound gear or cameras, or even a crew for that matter. And the characters go by their real names.

...Ahem...

Imran Zaidi
January 31st, 2005, 10:33 AM
So I watched a little more closely in reference to the whitebalance thing, and I was wrong. They definitely don't have it stuck on any particular temperature.

I've been trying to figure out exactly how they're deciding to whitebalance. Sometimes the daylight seems balanced, other times it's very yellow. The casual nighttime stuff is always warm, but I think that's just because of the dark environments they're in. The acting class, though, seems fairly balanced.

It could just be that they're just being very random about it and I'm wasting time trying to figure out something that doesn't need to be figured out.

Either way, I'm really enjoying this series. The editing choices in particular - I'm impressed by Mr. Clooney.

Yi Fong Yu
January 31st, 2005, 02:00 PM
re the young filmmaker. he mentions Truffaut, Godard so blase. i wonder if he's even seen any of their works... just curious =^). i wonder if kirsta even knows what the kid's talking about,lol! =).

how much do you think is real and how much of it is fake? i mean krista sleeping with the instructor... obviously that's a bit staged (or is it>?).

anyway, clooney has confessions of a dangerous mind.

Imran Zaidi
January 31st, 2005, 02:14 PM
Well it's pretty well staged - you can see that more and more as the shows progress. For example - they're not using the instructor's real name. Also, a lot more smaller character-actors are starting to appear here and there, and not as themselves. Plus some of the stuff that happens is just too convenient, from a storytelling perspective.

Not sure how much is real and how much is fake, but it's definitely staged.

Yi Fong Yu
February 1st, 2005, 07:33 PM
well, scenes of krista allen wanting to break away from the "sexy girl in bikinis" image is pretty real i think. if you look at her imdb NOW she's got tons of work after unscripted debuted =^)... though i'm not sure if she'll wear more bikinis... =).

Imran Zaidi
February 2nd, 2005, 12:15 AM
Hmmm... I just realized she had a part in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, also by Clooney.

Joe Carney
February 4th, 2005, 11:42 AM
I think Ms Allens' are a little to close together. But hey, who's really looking at her eyes, hehehe.

Now Jolene Blalock, there is a world class babe. Wonder what will happen to her now that Enterprise is cancelled at the end of this season.

Imran Zaidi
February 4th, 2005, 01:03 PM
Enterprise is cancelled? Man I was just starting to get into it.

Yi Fong Yu
February 4th, 2005, 01:17 PM
yesh ent is canceled sadly,

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/9469.html

meanwhile, the latest episode of unscripted is pretty funny. it gave you voiceovers for everyone's mind. krista's worried about the audition while everyone else is worried about how sexy she is. very funny....

Joe Carney
February 4th, 2005, 02:43 PM
Imran, there is an effort to keep it on the air. You can go to
trekweb.com and find out how. It happened with Angel and others. But still, they really need a break for awhile.
I think they really killed the franchise with Voyager and Enterprise couldn't pull it back.

They've already said there will be another series. Too much money to be made not to have one.

Yi Fong Yu
February 4th, 2005, 08:10 PM
where'd you hear there's another series? i think everything is on hold for now.

Joe Carney
February 5th, 2005, 04:22 PM
the producer said that there will be another series, but he didn't say when, just that Star Trek needs to step back and think about things. Too bad too, since this season is the best written yet for the Enterprise series. Plus the 'true believers' who try to hold the series hostage with their version of Star Trek should be (Mainly hippie type 60s stuff) had a hand in it's demise. Two really bad theatrical releases did't help either.

But there will be another seires within 5 years.

Imran Zaidi
February 5th, 2005, 06:39 PM
Joe, I couldn't find any info on an attempt to keep it on the air. I read some stuff about what the producers said, and it really sounds like they're going to stop it regardless. Either way, it would be good to know of a way to keep it on the air - I agree that Voyager (and the recent theatrical releases) really did ruin things. I always considered Voyager like "Star Trek for Dummies". It made no sense half the time and the writing and acting was just terrible.

Joe Carney
February 8th, 2005, 12:49 PM
Imran, the web site to check out is
www.saveenterprise.com to get further info. There is a movment by the fans to pay for season 5. If they pull it off, it will be the first time in TV history that has been done.

Yi Fong Yu
February 8th, 2005, 06:01 PM
we should make another thread about enterprise/star trek if need be. fans paying for a show will never happen. they can't even pay for ONE episode!

re: Unscripted, the sex scenes are pretty obvious and staged. imho, it's getting a bit out of hand by this time. it's still good, the struggles between teacher/student/fame+fortune vs art. anyway i watch it for krista allen!!! woo hoo! she's so damn hot.

Joe Carney
February 8th, 2005, 06:27 PM
I sent 15.00 towards the ad in usatoday. They've raised 9K so far. Besides, very little to lose. They are asking for 12.00 from each fan, more if you are a celebrity. Stranger things have happened. Would be cool if they pulled it off.

Yi Fong Yu
March 3rd, 2005, 03:56 PM
back to topic @hand, anyone see season finale? that was interesting, when you become a bigger star you start distancing yourself. i really wonder how much is real and how mcuh is fake inthe show. i mean frank langhella's character is obviously fake... after all, who agrees to have their illicit (and illegal) student-teacher relationships be on display.

Imran Zaidi
March 3rd, 2005, 04:59 PM
From a transcript I read of Krista Allen's chat on HBO, some of the situations are the real deal, but for the most part, it's unscripted randomness.

Sorry for the bounce back to Enterprise - looks like someone donated $3million! This would be crazy if it works.

http://www.saveenterprise.com/3m_contribution.htm

Yi Fong Yu
March 3rd, 2005, 08:21 PM
yesh, why don't we start a thread about enterprise, please post all trek-related stuff here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40483

re: unscripted, i hope they continue for 2nd season. i enjoyed all the celebrity run-arounds =^). very funny.