So the big premise of 24 over anything else is that it’s in real time. That’s the sellable hook of the whole premise, that’s how it works, that’s why we have an hour an episode, and we hang on every moment. As it gets to the end not only are you wondering how Bauer is going to get out of the current situation he’s in but also how in the hour or so left of the episodes. You see you know how long he has left, you know how long each of them has, and that heightens the tension and suspense. So what if you were to take that hook away from the series, wouldn’t it be like many of the others out there?
Looks like that’s what they have set for the movie version, although nothing is written yet they’ve acknowledged the problems they’re going to have putting a full movie in real time (see Nick of Time for how you can do it guys). From Coming Soon:
Canadian director/producer Jon Cassar said, “The last I heard, the first hour will not be in real-time, but then something big will happen and real time will kick in. It still has to be worked out — it’s at a stage where they need to write it.”…
…He says the script will likely depend on what’s happening on the series prior to the movie coming out.
Okay so it’ll change to real-time after the first hour…how long is this movie going to be? Nick of Time was cool, I always remember an elevator ride of a few floors and you were stuck in the lift for every single floor while they passed by. Personally I’d like to see it all done real time. We all know the characters by now, and as I read somewhere (apologies for not remembering and crediting) if they followed on from a cliffhanger at the end of a series then all the exposition and backfill would be in place.
What do you think? Possibilities? Have you got a better way to do it?
