Wondercon 2014 – tv, movies and comics
April 2014 – The Wondercon conference, part of the Comic-Con franchise, was held in Anaheim again this year. The traditional San Francisco based event, is continuing it travels to SoCal for a few more years. The enthusiastic crowd once again showed the strength of comics and graphics novels as the basis for TV and Movie projects. The heavily “decorated” crowd proudly displayed their favorite characters and themes with the cosplay outfits (see M&E Galleries pages – https://mandetech.com/gallery/index.php/Wondercon-2014, https://mandetech.com/gallery/index.php/MET-Hippo-at-Wondercon-2014 ).
While the base of the convention was comic-books and comic related collectibles there was also other things to see. In the “autographs” area, there were many of the stars from the classic Sci-Fi and adventure shows of both the past – such as the original version of BattleStar Galactica and the actor who played the Gorn in Star Trek Season 1, and members of modern shows such as Bones and Ghost Hunter’s International.
The show also a meca for meetup groups and clubs that celebrate, share, discuss and relive sci-fi, TV and adventure stories. There is a section on the show floor just for these fan groups located near the small press section of the exhibit hall. Some of these fan groups include robotics clubs that have full building flows and plans, including 3D printed parts, for robots as complex as R2D2 replicas.
On the movie side Fox had press and panel events to discuss Xmen Days of Future Past, How to Train your Dragon 2 and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Both Xmen and Planet of the Apes had key actors from the film present to discuss the projects, and for Dragon, they had the voice actors for the main characters. On Planet of the Apes, Andy Serkis, who played Caesar discussed the acting experience in a Motion Capture (MoCap) suit and facial recognition rig, and the translation of the performance to the CGI ape.
He expressed amazement at how most of the expressions were translated directly, but there are people do that apes don’t and apes do that people don’t that the SFX teams had to introduce into the action. The result is a very believable performance by the actor as if he were an ape. Being in the MoCap suit also allowed him to interact with the other actors in the scenes which made the dialog, reactions and sight lines more realistic for everyone involved.
The panel included Gary Oldman who was excited to part of yet another iconic franchise. Already known for the Harry Potter and Dark Knight film franchises, as well as the Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, and Legend of Spyro video games, he said it was an honor to be part of the iconic film series the Planet of the Apes.
A number of TVs had representation at the event. Star Crossed had a full cast panel discussion and press briefing (see photos at https://mandetech.com/gallery/index.php/StarCrossed-Press-Conf-at-Wondercon-2014 ) The cast in attendance included: Matt Lanter, Aimee Teegarden, Greg Finley, Natalie Hall, Titus Makin Jr, Malese Jow, Jesse Luken, Chelsea Gilligan, Victoria Platt and Brina Paencia. Joining the cast was Executive producers Meredith Averill and Adele Lim. The main topic of discussion, besides the story lines and action in the show, was the active effort to include a social media following for the show. All of the cast participates each week to live tweet with the viewers as the show is airing. This interaction gives the cast members a real connection with the viewers which is normally lost in series television. Because of the shooting schedule and logistics of the show, feedback from the episodes from the viewers cannot be immediately integrated into the story lines and action. However, the writers and producers are reviewing all the chatter and discussing the impact on viewers for direction in the show.
The two female executive producers talked about the series and the strength of the ensemble cast. With a large cast there is the option of lots of intertwined story lines, but that has to be balanced with connection of the audience with individual cast members. The story lines of the show are from historical incidents in the social structure, and they are incorporating current happenings, in the way of social commentary and actions, through the characters of the show to bring awareness to these topics. This has long been a tradition in science fiction, and the show is following that trend while trying not to step over the line and exploit the real situation behind the topics with the story.
The last big area at the show was gaming. Major groups were there such as Nintendo and Bandai Namco as well as smaller groups such as Pinball Arcade. These games were joined by traditional board games and classic book based games.
