Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: WTC: Does It Have To Just Disappear From Everything?

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Topic: WTC: Does It Have To Just Disappear From Everything?

Bruce McGee
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1776
From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular.
Registered: Aug 1999

posted 10-01-2001 11:20 PM

Please dont get me wrong here. I've been reading all of the changes that are being made to unreleased films that might have the World Trade Center featured in shots of Manhattan.

Are the studios going to erase it forever? I know that it is gone, but I personally would not be upset or offended if I see the buildings on the screen. They were considered ugly in the early 70's when they were built, but over time, and seeing some really ugly buildings go up in other cities, they grew less ugly.

Two years ago, I was in Manhattan visiting friends, and we rode by the WTC complex. I will never forget looking up at them and seeing them disappear into the low-clouds. Beautiful.

Are the studios afraid that the public will stay away from their films if the buildings are shown?

This might be totally out of line in my thinking, but I just finished an 11 hour work shift and am a bit punchy.

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Aaron Sisemore
Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day!

Posts: 3061
From: Rockwall TX USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 10-01-2001 11:26 PM

I am sure that any film story in NYC set prior to 9/11/01 [should] will feature the towers, even if computer generated...

-Aaron

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-01-2001 11:27 PM

I agree 100% with Roger Ebert's view on it. Any movie or TV show released before the 9-11 attack should leave the World Trade Center in camera shots. Ebert made a particularly good point that any movie set in New York before the disaster should have the World Trade Center digitally INCLUDED in the Manhattan skyline.

Do we throw out pictures of loved ones who died? Are we supposed to burn them? Obviously not. So how can it make any sense at all for any previously released show to have the WTC digitally removed. Attempts at such sanitization are wrong.

The only areas where I see it being okay for WTC shots to be removed are in movies and TV shows that are yet to be released (particularly for the sake of continuity with films still in production). But then, if any of those shows are set before 9-11-2001, the WTC really has to be included even if it means the expense of CGI. The fact that the World Trade Center existed very prominently on the Manhattan skyline cannot be denied.

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Sean McKinnon
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1712
From: Peabody Massachusetts
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 10-02-2001 02:41 AM

I was going to post the same thing mysels. Its terrible these buildings should live on in film as a legacy of the people who lost thier lives. Trying to erase it SUCKS. (IMHO)

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-02-2001 08:00 AM

May their memory, and the thousands who died there, live in our hearts, minds, and FILMS forever!

I agree that any film featuring NYC while the World Trade Center stood should show the towers in all their glory.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-02-2001 09:43 AM

My guess is that the studios don't want to appear to be capitalizing on the massacre. And to some extent I agree. Personally I've seen those structures collapse enough times to last me forever and it has desensitized me to a certain extent. I still get really PO'd when I see or think about it but the shock is not there anymore. Maybe that's a good thing and people should confront the situation more? I'm sure in the future there will be those companies or individuals (Irwin Allen ?) that will try to make a buck on this regrettable affair. Maybe in 60 years or so they'll make a megabuck floperoo like Pearl Harbor, only it will be about the WTC.

------------------
Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-02-2001 01:27 PM

Actually I think a film about this event would be fascinating. It could show the events/attitudes/plots/plans that led up to the attacks, and the eventual eradication of those responsible. Of course it should not be made until (and unless!) there's a happy ending! And please, don't let Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer get within 1,000 miles of it.

I agree with the above views that the WTC should be left in any existing films or new films set before that awful day.

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Tao Yue
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 209
From: Princeton, NJ
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-02-2001 03:57 PM

This weekend we ran A.I., which refers to Manhattan as "the end of the world." When the scene came up with the skyline of flooded Manhattan, with Towers intact but numerous other buildings in various state of disrepair, there were collective murmurs among the audience.

(sigh) I still find it hard to believe that I was on the observation deck of the south tower just a year ago, and will never get to stand there again. Word is that the towers, when rebuilt, won't be as high as the original ones.

Still, I agree with the prevailing sentiment that the Towers should be left in movies. There is such a thing as going too far in quest of political correctness, and removing the Towers/recutting scenes that show the Towers would be going too far.

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Tao Yue
MIT '04: Course VI-2, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Projectionist, MIT Lecture Series Committee

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Bob Healey
Film Handler

Posts: 93
From: Milford, CT
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 10-03-2001 12:00 AM

On a semi-related note, I got chewed out by a pair of customers last Friday night for the content of our preview reel. Tommorow night we are playing Indpendence Day, and the trailer we have contains a scene of NYC/Empire State Building (i think) getting taken out. They thought it was tasteless and disrepsectful to run that preview. Will be interesting tomorrow night. And for further coincidence, the week of the tragedy, the friday night film was Pearl Harbor. Both these titles were booked in August long before 9/11

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 10-04-2001 04:13 AM

Greg - assuming today's Hollywood stars are still alive in 60 years' time, who would you cast?

I'd have Alan Rickman as Osama and Bruce Willis would make quite a striking George Bush, though he'd have to work on the Texan drawl a bit...

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Craig Hanham
Film Handler

Posts: 79
From: Wellington, New Zealand
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 10-09-2001 05:20 PM

The obvious thing that hasn't been said re WTC appearing in film (and all other print media for that matter) is that if it is removed from images it will be doing the terrorists job even more horribly.
Like was previosly mention the memory of the event and of those who died must be kept alive as a memorial.
The upset reacton by people seeing the image of the WTC in its prime is exactly what the whole terror thing is about. Only by facing the pain can terrorist acts be rendered less effective.
I know its easy for me to say at the other end of the world, but this tradegy has affected us all and has to have a positive outcome to defeat those responsible.

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 04-29-2002 05:59 PM

Spider-Man will show the World Trade Center AFAIK.

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-29-2002 07:11 PM

Ben Kingsley as Osama
Mel Gibson as Bush

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Greg Mueller
Amateur Astronomer, Machinist, Filmnut
http://www.muellersatomics.com/

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John Lasher
Master Film Handler

Posts: 493
From: Newark, DE
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 05-03-2002 11:05 AM

All I have to say is that the first movie I saw after 9/11 was "Daylight" the movie wasn't that great, (my favorite part, and that's not saying much: "Wherever there is LO-o-o-o-o-ove...") but it had the twin towers prominent in a few shots (namely the opening and closing ones) and it fealt kind of healing seeing it there.

That is all. (for now, at least)

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Adam Wilbert
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 590
From: Bellingham, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 05-03-2002 09:42 PM

I believe I caught a couple glimpses of the towers in Spiderman. But then in the scene where the newspaper was interviewing "the-man-on-the-street", two construction workers appeared to be at ground zero. Anyone else notice this, or am i just seeing things?

-adam

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