XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.tv.star-trek.tng, rec.arts.startrek.fandom   
   XPost: rec.arts.startrek.misc   
   From: weberm@polaris.net   
      
   In the 24th century, everyone still wants to go where everybody knows your   
   name.   
      
   This mashup reimagines Star Trek: The Next Generation’s crew in the style of   
   Cheers. "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", written by Gary Portnoy and Judy   
   Hart-Angelo and recorded by Portnoy in 1982, is in my humble opinion the   
   greatest TV show theme song of all time. I tried to stay as true to the   
   original as possible, for both the music and video, for some true 80s   
   crossover nostalgia. Engage and Cheers! ????   
      
   More technical details for those interested in how it was made:   
      
   For the music, the longest part was actually coming up with the lyrics - it   
   took me 3 weeks until I was satisfied enough with the rhymes to go ahead with   
   this project (“subspace frequency” was the big breakthrough!) I recorded the   
   song with me singing and playing piano on my phone. Then used Suno cover   
   feature to add drums/bass/improved singing. Then downloaded the stems and put   
   into Ableton Live where I removed some of the instruments (no need for the   
   violins and synths that Suno added, I wanted it simple like the original). I   
   didn't quite like the drums so added some drum samples in parts, and also   
   added harmonies which I recorded. Then EQ'd everything, added a bit of   
   saturation (FabFilter Saturn 2) and bit of glue compression (don't need much   
   with stuff coming out of Suno). Sped up the song and reduced pitch a little   
   to give it more of a 'filmed on VHS' sound. You might ask why use Suno at all   
   and not just lay down a few simple tracks in Ableton - well, it's purely a   
   time saver. Instead of a few hours its a few minutes to get a rough version   
   to start mixing/editing, plus I'm not a great singer and this saves me   
   bringing in a singer to record.   
      
   For the video, ChatGPT helped generate the images as close to the shots in   
   Cheers as possible, then I used Photoshop to add some old-style filters and   
   de-saturation (to look more like the original where oranges and reds pop). I   
   tried to mimic the panning and zooming of each shot in the original as much   
   as possible.  The 'StarTrek' logo took me forever because I didn't know how   
   to create the metallic shine effect that runs across the logo in the original   
   show so I used Photoshop to generate 50 images frame by frame (with varying   
   outer glow/emboss effects) and animated it manually. It's not as good as the   
   original but it's the best I could muster. The text credits also took a while   
   because I couldn't color the fonts (only the outline colored) so I rasterized   
   every thing, selected colors, added fill, etc. Yes it's not a perfect   
   orange-to-yellow gradient fill but this is the kind of detail that only an   
   obsessive person (like me) would notice. In Resolve, I added some adjustment   
   layers for blur and a bit of Analog Damage (love this effect) with 80s preset   
   and some settings tweaks. For the opening scene, used Wan to create a video   
   from the image of the shuttle on the street, to mimic the original show which   
   has cars and traffic outside the bar before transitioning to the still shot.   
      
   So yeah... this is how a simple looking 1 minute video can actually take   
   about a dozen hours to make. Hope you all enjoy it.   
      
   PS - Whilst making this I couldn't help but think DS9 is the real 'Cheers in   
   Space' but I know the show and its characters are far less recognisable to   
   the average viewer. Maybe I'll look into this for a future project.   
      
   #startrek, #cheers, #parody, #mashup   
      
   https://youtu.be/7GXjQqpKhdg?si=nTuP3XsjZjt2Dknf   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)