Simian Flu: Stage One, The

Updated
Simian Flu: Stage One, The
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2011
Original Running Time:
106
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
42
Time Cut:
64
Brief Synopsis:
'Contagion' edited to be a short film set between 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' and 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'.
Intention:
What if Fox hired big-name directors to make short films set between the two newest Apes movies? This one is presented as Steven Soderbergh's attempt.
Other Sources:
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Deleted scene)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
- Contagion has been cropped to 2:35:1 (Mostly tilting and scanning, but some shots have been extended outwards with new mattes so as to retain crucial info.)
- Desaturated entire film slightly.
- Removed all on-screen text detailing what day it is.
- Thickened all remaining on-screen text so that it doesn't disappear into the background quite so much.
- Starts with footage from the coda to Rise, then segues into the Contagion footage for the main run-time before concluding with Dawn footage. (And then an after credits scene using a deleted scene from Rise.)
- Rearranged opening infection montage.
- Removed Dr. Cheever arriving for work, conversation with Roger.
- Removed every scene with, or reference to, Alan Krumwiede.
- Removed Mitch picking up Clark at school.
- Post-montage starts with Beth staring at her mug. I've altered the video and audio to show how much trouble she's having focusing or hearing clearly.
- Removed all scenes with Dr. Ian Sussman.
- Altered establishing shot of CDC to remove DAY 7 text and to make it more 2:35:1 friendly.
- Removed scene with Dr. Mears interviewing Mitch.
- Removed scene where Dr. Hextall explains the origin of the virus and any subsequent scenes where she either refers to testing on monkeys or any progress in manufacturing a vaccine.
- During Hong Kong montage, removed a shot of Dr. Orantes interviewing a woman who was infected in the first montage. I decided she had survived too long, it lessens the extreme severity of the virus.
- Removed the Dr. Orantes kidnap subplot. Once she starts investigating the source of the virus (in this edit, she is unsuccessful. Patient Zero is only identified very late in the game, and off-screen.) we don't come back to her any more.
- When Dr. Cheever talks to Dr. Mears on the phone (while driving), removed all reference to her having interviewed Mitch.
- Removed Mitch at the funeral home.
- Removed character of Aubrey Cheever, Dr. Cheever's wife.
- When we see Dr. Mears appears with her head wrapped in plastic, have fixed it so that she no longer visibly breathes.
- From that point on, more and more is removed so it's probably not worth mentioning. Anything to do with the cure, or things getting better is gone. We now leave it with the virus spreading more and more, no cure in sight, no hope. The last scene is Mitch alone with his grief.
- After-credits scene hints at what is to come in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

User reviews

4 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.1
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.5(4)
Audio Editing
 
9.8(4)
Visual Editing
 
9.8(4)
Narrative
 
8.3(4)
Enjoyment
 
8.3(4)
Overall rating
 
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
This is a great short edit. Technically flawless. My only gripe is that the link to the Apes films isn't that strong. If you hadn't read the editor's intent, you'd think you were watching a stand-alone short edit edit of Contagion, right up to point when the end credits start rolling. That said, this is a lot of fun and definitely recommended.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
8.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
This was a cool short that was really well done on from a technical standpoint. However, even at only 42 minutes, it felt a little long. The edit doesn't do much more than show the progression of the virus. It would have been nice to feel more of an emotional connection with one of the characters. I think either a longer or shorter version would have aided the edit, but perhaps just a shift to one of the characters. Some more linking to Apes may have helped as well.

But, not to put too much focus on the negative here, this was pretty well done. Antman continues to show his technical mastery of editing. Give this one a watch :)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Great short. I am a big fan of Rise and Dawn but I was pretty disappointed by Contagion. I think here it has been used wonderfully to connect the dots. The narrative is much better at this length, and some of the subtle visual work is outstanding. Very well done.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
T
Top 50 Reviewer 114 reviews
Report this review Comments (1) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
This was superb! I'm blown away by the reframing job UA did, especially with the shots where he had to extend the image and create new mattes. Wowza, if you hadn't told me I would have never known.

This is a simple and powerful short feature. The idea that it helps bridge the gap between Rise and Dawn is brilliant, and I especially liked how footage from Dawn was utilized at the end.

Great job! And I've put in my pre-order for Stage Two.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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