Template:Realworld David Craig Fein, generally credited as David C. Fein, is a producer who was involved in the making of the director's edition DVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was Fein, together with partner Michael Matessino, who originally approached director Robert Wise to do a revised version of the film on video, when they were working for Wise's production company, Robert Wise Productions, on the 1994 commemorative documentary The Sound of Music: From Fact to Phenomenon. (The New York Times, 10 February, 2002, p. 26) It took an additional five years of lobbying at Paramount Pictures, before the project was green-lighted. It was Fein who brought in Daren Dochterman, with whom he was already acquainted, on the project to serve as visual effects supervisor, winning them both a Video Premiere Award.
Fein was featured in the "Redirecting The Future"-documentary on the DVD, in which he, and his co-workers discuss the work they have done for the project.
A decade later Fein was reacquainted with the movie when he served as executive producer at La-La Land Records on the 2012 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (expanded soundtrack) soundtrack project, earning him an IFMCA Award.
Career outside Star Trek
A New York City native, David Fein had from early childhood developed a passion for motion pictures, those in the fantasy and science fiction (including Star Trek: The Original Series) genres in particular, already producing his own animated films in high-school and college. His fascination early on focused on the visual effects aspects of those productions.
Aspiring a career in the motion picture industry, Fein moved to California after college, starting out as a marketing consultant for studios such as 20th Century Fox and LucasFilms, to help out with the campaigns for movies such as Aliens, Labyrinth (both 1986) and The Abyss (1989, and where he met and befriended Daren Dochterman). When productions like these were released on home video formats, first on VHS, and subsequently on LaserDisc (and at a later stage to be followed by DVD), Fein soon realized that the "special features" into the making-of aspects of the productions were very sparse indeed, and that the few that were, were limited to "commercial" extras (such as trailers and the like), lacking the quality and depth he as a film buff wanted to see. [1] Inspired by early, pioneering efforts of The Voyager Company on early special edition LaserDisc projects such as King Kong, Fein decided to produce these features himself. [2]
To this end David Fein founded in 1991, together with fellow New York City film buff Michael Matessino, an audio restoration expert, their own production company, Sharpline Arts, located in Glendale, California. Daren Dochterman served in the early years as executive director for the company. [3] Befittingly, the company's first project was the 1991 Aliens–Special Wide-Screen Collector's Edition on LaserDisc. The release was very well received at the time in movie collector circles, as it was a portent for things to come. Not only were several in-depth making-of documentaries included, but the footage was also cleaned up, deleted scenes were inserted and the soundtrack was remastered. Projects, especially those of director James Cameron, that followed in the same vein were, Alien–Special Wide-Screen Collector's Edition (1992), The Abyss: Special Edition (1993), Independence Day: Special Edition (1995), The Thing: Special Edition (1998) and others. Released at first on LaserDisc, all special features were later one-on-one transferred to their DVD and Bluray successors. The project the company received the most renown for, was the 1999 The "ALIEN" Legacy DVD collection. [4] The company has attained somewhat of a legendary status in movie collector circles, as it has set the standard for how "special editions" should be produced. [5] As sub-contractors the company, more specifically its two founders, worked for Robert Wise Productions on their productions of the special editions of The Sound of Music (1994), The Sand Pebbles and of course the director's edition of The Motion Picture. Fein himself stayed at Robert Wise Productions until Wise's death in 2005, learning as much as possible from the director. While not bankrupt, Sharpline Arts has become dormant since 2003, the retrospective documentary DVD Discoveries (in which the two founders look back on their productions while operating their company), its last recorded production.
Between May 1992 – September 1994, David Fein served as columnist and writer for the visual effects magazine Cinefex, which served him well as it gained him access to studios, aiding him on subsequent Sharpline Arts projects. As freelance producer, technical and creative consultant, graphic artist and designer, Fein worked between 2001 and 2006 on several projects and for several companies, designing DVD/Bluray packagings, designing and preparing trade adds and promotional materials for several industry magazines, and editing soundtracks for several music productions.
In 2006, he joined La-La Land Records as producer and motion/graphics designer, rejoining his former partner Michael Matessino, and which eventually resulted in his participation on the The Motion Picture expanded soundtrack project.
Star Trek awards
For his work on the Star Trek franchise, David Fein received the following awards,
DVD Exclusive Award
Fein won the following DVD Exclusive Award (at the time called Video Premiere Award) as producer in the category Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes,
- 2001 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Director's Edition, shared with Daren Dochterman and Michael Matessino
IFMCA Award
Fein won the following International Film Music Critics Association Award as producer in the category Best Archival Release of an Existing Score,
- 2012 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (expanded soundtrack), shared with Jerry Goldsmith, Didier C. Deutsch, Mike Matessino, Bruce Botnick, MV Gerhard, Matt Verboys, Jeff Bond and Jim Titus
External links
- Template:IMDb-link
- Template:IMDb-link
- David C. Fein profile
- David C. Fein at LinkedIn.com
- 1998 interview with David C. Fein at MinerWerks.com