We are Renegades!

As our name suggests, we’re Renegades!  This is a bold new concept in television – create a full new Star Trek pilot episode to present to CBS as a possible online or cable series, rather than just pitch an abstract idea to a studio exec and hope we catch him on a good day.

The Renegades production team completed a successful Kickstarter and IndieGogo funding drive, where they raised their minimum goal to produce and film this pilot.  But as the film moved into post-production, it was realized that in order to give CBS the absolute best, highest quality, professional product possible, the visual effects artists (independent of the producers) needed a bit more funding for the visual effects…specifically additional processing power, software licensing and overhead costs. As you can see by our trailers, the live-action pieces that were shot with the original funding look GREAT; we need to complement those with the best visual effects we can produce.

What we need…

For the visual effects teams we need to make sure we have the hardware, software and overhead we need to complete this production with the visual effects that match the live-action's professional quality. Visual effects hardware and software is very expensive to purchase and/or license, and the basics like electricity and internet get very expensive when running multiple computers to render a scene (a render farm). So while our core volunteers remain committed, but unpaid renegades of the film, they need this funding to bring the audience the sophisticated visuals expected from a film like this.

Examples of the costs include the following:

Lightwave 3D: $1200/license
Maya 3D: $5500/license
Adobe Creative Suite: $50/mo/License
Stock Footage (explosions): $300+/license

Workstation class: $3000+ per artist
Specialized 3D video card: $1500+ per artist
Render farm electricity and connectivity: $50-$500/per month per artist

What is Renegades?

Ten years after Voyager’s return from the Delta Quadrant, the Federation is in crisis. Someone has caused space and time to fold around several planets, all of which are the Federation’s main suppliers of dilithium, essentially cutting off the supply for several millennia.  Starfleet’s methods to stop those responsible have been ineffective. This necessitates more drastic measures, some of which are outside the Federation’s jurisdiction. It now falls to Admiral Pavel Chekov, head of Starfleet Intelligence, and Commander Tuvok, Voyager’s former security officer and new head of the clandestine Section 31, to put together a new covert, renegade crew – primarily comprised of outcasts, rogues and even criminals.  But can they refrain from killing each other to accomplish their task? That may be the bigger question…

Renegades is being directed by veteran Trek actor Tim Russ.  It will feature a combination of former Trek stars and other established and up and coming actors, including Walter Koenig, Tim Russ, Adrienne Wilkinson, Sean Young, Manu Intiraymi, Gary Graham, Corin Nemec, Edward Furlong, Larissa Gomes, Tarah Paige, Grant Imahara, Courtney Peldon, Robert Picardo, Richard Herd, Vic Mignona, Chasty Ballesteros and Kevin Fry.

VFX Teams

Renegades has assembled a great team of artists and professionals from around the world to produce the visual effects for the team. These include, but are not limited to:

Team: Renegades VFX
Location: Hollywood, CA
Visual Effects Supervisor: Chris Dawson

Christopher Dawson has been working in the motion picture and television visual effects since 1985.  While attending the University of Southern California, School of Fine arts, he began work as a production assistant at Praxis Filmworks.  After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1988, Chris was already working as a visual effects camera operator doing motion control, animation and various other visual effects photographic techniques.  He continued to gain broad experience in visual effects building and detailing miniatures, working in visual effects editorial, and photography of traditional matte paintings and various process projection work. 

In 2000 he made the transition over to primarily digital visual effects including digital compositing and 3d modeling, lighting and animation.

He has worked at various Visual Effects facilities (as staff and freelance) including Praxis Filmworks,  Title House, Introvision, Digital Domain, Warner Brothers Feature Animation Visual Effects, Flash Filmworks, ICO VFX, Prime Focus, and his own VFX company, Gemini Star Gardens, which has provided VFX for several lowbudget independent feature and short films. Chris currently freelances as a Visual Effects Supervisor, Digital Compositor, Digital effects artist and 3d animator. 

Chris  has worked on numerous features and television commercials over the years, including The Green Lantern, The Green Hornet, Alice In Wonderland, The Pacific, Surrogates, Fast and Furious, The Guardian, Star Trek Nemesis, Armageddon, Titanic, Apollo 13, and The Fugitive to name a few.  Big named projects or small, Chris is a working professional and enjoys the challenges in Visual Effects. He is currently wrapping up The Storyteller, an independent film project. 

Hobbies include Shotokan Karate, Aido, learning and speaking French and Japanese, and cooking Japanese dishes, and all things related to Star Trek.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0206089/

Roland Baron, part of the Renegades VFX team, cut his teeth in CG VFX working under Chris Dawson working on the film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.  Since then he has gone to work on several indie films, television productions and was the lead 3D artist on a game development team. 

Roland graduated with a diploma in 3D art in 2010 and has recently returned to his Alma Mater as an instructor passing the lessons he has learned both in academia and studio life to another generation of young artists.  He lives in Summerland, BC, where he teaches and works as a freelance artist.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2405272/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Team: 3^rd Division
Location: Hollywood, CA
Visual Effects Supervisor: Yoshi Vu

The 3^rd Division team consists of Yoshi Vu, Steven Donnet, Hong Zhu, Keith Beltramini, and Jose Marin. Working in variety of 3D/2D programs, The 3^rd Division team has contributed to numerous high-profile film such as Green Lantern, Pirates of the Carribean:On Stranger Tides, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Avengers, Oblivion, and Star Trek: Into the Darkness.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4668929/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4550472/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5846610/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5274527/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5314308/

Team: NEO f/x
Location: Portland, OR and Seattle, WA
Visual Effects Supervisor: Michael Struck

NEO f/x is a fast-paced company dedicated to providing high-quality digital visual effects and animations for corporate training/presentations, film, television, and the Internet. Based in the Pacific Northwest, NEO f/x has consistently impressed their client base with their integrity, professional service, quick turn-around, and dedication to product quality.

The company’s services include CGI/3D Animation and Visualizations, Editing, Compositing and Transcoding, 2D Animations, Total Media Packages and Other Visual EFX services.

NEO f/x produced many of the visual effects in Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, and has created CGI design, modeling, animatics/pre-visualization, CGI set replacement/addition/modification and rendering effects for a variety of internet-based Star Trek/Sci-Fi productions, including Browncoats: Redemption and the Starship Farragut and Starship Exeter series.

Founder Michael Struck has worked on various projects ranging from simple logos to full-length movies, in addition to directing/producing two animated episodes of the award winning Starship Farragut series.

http://www.imdb.com/company/co0194766/?ref_=fn_al_co_1
http://www.neo-fx.com/

Team: The Light Works
Location: Cologne, Germany
Visual Effects Supervisor: Tobias Richter

The Light Works develops all kinds of graphics for computer games, industrial visualizations and visual effects.Founded by Tobias Richter, the Light Works contributions include games like the Star Wars: Rogue Leader series, the Sacred, Patrician and X series, Lair, several music videos, visualizations for Opel and ESA, and visual effects for Virus Undead, Star Trek: Phase 2, Real Buddy, The Dark Eye, Ray Bradbury’s Kaleidoscope“and work on the BluRay edition of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Tobias and The Light Works also regularly contribute to the Ships of the Line calendar. Currently in preproduction are the VFX for The 5^th Passenger, Nobility, Star Trek: Axanar“as well as new Star Trek: Phase 2 episodes.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725370/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
www.thelightworks.com

How we'll spend the money

First and foremost, this fundraising effort is for the VFX only; none of the money will go to the actors, producers, or any other area of the film except the teams working on the visual effects. Why make the distinction? Well, most people assume the original fundraising efforts done for Renegades would fund the visual effects as well….they did not. All of that donated money went to secure sets, SAG actors, rent costumes, etc. Making a film is VERY expensive!

It addition, the VFX teams requesting you donations will still not get paid from these donations; we are simply asking for the tools to allow us to see this vision through to the end. This is the same noble goal of other fan-productions such as Starship Farragut, Star Trek Continues, Phase II, and Axanar to name a few. Ironically, many of visual effects artist working on Renegades work on other productions as well. So it is important to realize that if you enjoy these other versions of Trek, contributing to this fundraiser may indirectly benefit your favorite production as well. The hardware and software we purchase from this fundraising effort can be utilized on those films.

We are setting our minimum goal at $25,000. Even if we were to get this amount, about 30% of this goes straight to overhead (Indiegogo fees, some of the perks if mailing is involved, and, unfortunately, folks who fund and then withdraw their funding at the last moment).

With our primary goal amount, amount we can get our artists up-to-date with regard to their primary 3D, compositing and editing software. In addition, we can purchase some of the 'need to have items' such as CGI models, texture packs, stock footage (like explosions). However, that is just the beginning....

As we hit our goals and stretch to the next levels, we can ensure that our primary 3D artists have the proper video hardware to utilize the features of their software, such as OpenGL real-time hardware previews, and even have the option to purchase new workstations for our artists. 

Donations received above the goal will go towards offsetting the overhead costs of supplying the online storage being used by the VFX team to transfer files across the world, along with funding specific visual effects that might otherwise be dropped from the production. This includes recruiting outside artists for specialized shots the core team could not complete. Overall, more funding would allow us to finish the film quicker, with a better visual quality.

If we don't raise our minimum goal, we will prioritize the hardware and software purchases accordingly. However, the downside of this is that the film could be delayed as we use lower powered hardware or out-of-date software to complete the effects.

Legal stuff

All funds raised will go directly to the costs of making this high quality broadcast pilot.

STAR TREK and all related marks, logos and characters are owned by CBS Studios Inc. This Indiegogo fundraiser website, the promotion thereof and/or any exhibition of material created by the operators of this website are not endorsed or sponsored by or affiliated with CBS/Paramount Pictures or the STAR TREK franchise.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF OUR RENEGADES PROJECT!