Discussion
A Winner Is You said:
Independence Day still looks good as well, probably one of the last blockbusters to rely on mainly practical effects. Conversely I recently watched Midway by the same director and it was just s
t being thrown at the screen, so much going on you can't keep track, and physics right out of a video game,.
Re Midwayt being thrown at the screen, so much going on you can't keep track, and physics right out of a video game,. I think it was more that the didn't have the budget to do Pearl Harbour so the CGI in those scenes were clearly lacking, whereas some of the later shots of attacks on the Japanese carriers were fairly decent.
An example of less being more. You didn't need Pear Harbour, just as you didn't need the Dolittle raid, the movie already has enough action with the Battle of the Coral sea and Midway. Instead of wasting time on scenes you cant depict properly anyway as you don't have the budget, spend the time making us care about the characters.
An example of where CGI makes for WORSE filmmaking at times. You can sort of depict something, with half arsed CGI, so bung it in there, don't worry about structure.
JagLover said:
A Winner Is You said:
Independence Day still looks good as well, probably one of the last blockbusters to rely on mainly practical effects. Conversely I recently watched Midway by the same director and it was just st being thrown at the screen, so much going on you can't keep track, and physics right out of a video game,.
Re Midwayt being thrown at the screen, so much going on you can't keep track, and physics right out of a video game,. I think it was more that the didn't have the budget to do Pearl Harbour so the CGI in those scenes were clearly lacking, whereas some of the later shots of attacks on the Japanese carriers were fairly decent.
An example of less being more. You didn't need Pear Harbour, just as you didn't need the Dolittle raid, the movie already has enough action with the Battle of the Coral sea and Midway. Instead of wasting time on scenes you cant depict properly anyway as you don't have the budget, spend the time making us care about the characters.
An example of where CGI makes for WORSE filmmaking at times. You can sort of depict something, with half arsed CGI, so bung it in there, don't worry about structure.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
i'm still amazed at how great T2 looks, the CGI is pretty much awesome throughout considering its age and the fact it was all new technology......most CGI these days is almost like the movie studio going "yes we know it looks like cgi, but its acceptable for the sort of movie your seeing" i.e. summer blockbuster.
i think the most notable CGI comparison is LOTR to Hobbit, they used as much practical as they could on LOTR and although some CGI looks dated now (the wild boar they ride, some of the gollum cgi, and the big fight scene at the end with the big bad guy), you always feel its a real location or real prop. the Hobbit seem to go totally the other way, and every location and scene seemed to be overloaded with cgi and some weird soft glow to it - i never seemed to get involved in the Hobbit , yet LOTR i can watch at any point of seeing it on TV and enjoy it.
A Winner Is You said:
Just seen this on Twitter, everything below the red line is full scale, everything above a forced perspective miniature. Amazing what they could come up with when you couldn't just rely on a computer
Istr reading that some of the set was created using bits of scrapped Vulcan bombers.rider73 said:
i never seemed to get involved in the Hobbit , yet LOTR i can watch at any point of seeing it on TV and enjoy it.
There is a fanedit of The Hobbit trilogy that cuts out all the extraneous guff that Jackson crammed in. It's excellently done, and crisps the film up as much as possible.https://tolkieneditor.wordpress.com/
I agree with others that CGI done well is good, same as other techniques, one more tool in the effects department's tool kit. Some shows and movies using miniatures were absolutely abysmal and I don't just mean little known shows like Space Precinct, some of the early Star Trek TNG effects were terrible. Goes to show just how much getting good effects people behind the scenes counts.
The problem with modern CGI is that to some directors, it's the only tool. The fact that it has gotten so cheap these days means that it's often overused.
The problem with modern CGI is that to some directors, it's the only tool. The fact that it has gotten so cheap these days means that it's often overused.
Kes Arevo said:
There is a fanedit of The Hobbit trilogy that cuts out all the extraneous guff that Jackson crammed in. It's excellently done, and crisps the film up as much as possible.
https://tolkieneditor.wordpress.com/
LOTR was nearly 1200 pages across 3 books, they had to cut a lot out to fit it in 3 x 3 hour films. The Hobbit was 1 book of 300 pages they made into 3 films. To quote Bilbo, it was like butter stretched over too much bread.https://tolkieneditor.wordpress.com/
captain_cynic said:
LOTR was nearly 1200 pages across 3 books, they had to cut a lot out to fit it in 3 x 3 hour films. The Hobbit was 1 book of 300 pages they made into 3 films. To quote Bilbo, it was like butter stretched over too much bread.
If they had wanted to make something as epic as LOTR they should have made a series of films based on parts of the Silmarillion. Edited by JagLover on Thursday 11th March 07:40
Tim330 said:
Classic headburst! It's weird how nothing really came of that species.I’m not sure when the technique was last used, but the first Star Wars film used ‘matte painting’ for some scenes, where part of the backdrop is meticulously painted onto a sheet of glass and placed in front of the camera (or added later on in post production) to save building huge sets. The scene were old Ben deactivates the tractor beam inside the Death Star used this method.
I recently watched 2001 A Space Odyssey again and the effects, model work and cinematography are still as stunning as they were when I first saw it decades ago.
I recently watched 2001 A Space Odyssey again and the effects, model work and cinematography are still as stunning as they were when I first saw it decades ago.
Titanic in 1997 was one of the last films to use matte paintings. I really like them, they look very convincing. One of my favourites is the leap of faith bit at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, that still amazes me even today it looks so convincing.
One of the great things about Alien and Aliens is that various technical and budgetary limitations ended up making it a better film. They couldn't show the entire Alien costume because it didn't look convincing, so you got snippets of it, using strategic lighting which was much more effective. I believe the term TV tropes use is Nothing is scarier.
One of the great things about Alien and Aliens is that various technical and budgetary limitations ended up making it a better film. They couldn't show the entire Alien costume because it didn't look convincing, so you got snippets of it, using strategic lighting which was much more effective. I believe the term TV tropes use is Nothing is scarier.
After reading this thread in the past week I just couldn't help myself....
Just had to do the Alien/Aliens double bill during the weekend
*hangs head in shame*
The Alien Queen always amazes and astounds me. The puppetry and everything else that went into it is absolutely amazing. 35 years old and still looks superior to what CGI can do today.
Also in Aliens Hicks mentions 'another bug-hunt' when Ripley attempts to brief the crew. Ripe for an Aliens prequel/Colonial Marines movie...
Just had to do the Alien/Aliens double bill during the weekend
*hangs head in shame*
The Alien Queen always amazes and astounds me. The puppetry and everything else that went into it is absolutely amazing. 35 years old and still looks superior to what CGI can do today.
Also in Aliens Hicks mentions 'another bug-hunt' when Ripley attempts to brief the crew. Ripe for an Aliens prequel/Colonial Marines movie...
entropy said:
Also in Aliens Hicks mentions 'another bug-hunt' when Ripley attempts to brief the crew. Ripe for an Aliens prequel/Colonial Marines movie...
That's another thing I really like about the films, they never explicitly state if there is other intelligent life in the universe. Bug hunt could be taken to mean they have experience in fighting other hostile creatures, or just a synonym for another seemingly pointless easy mission. Same with the line about the other colonists they encountered, maybe they weren't human, maybe it's a joke about them just being simple and backwards. A Winner Is You said:
entropy said:
Also in Aliens Hicks mentions 'another bug-hunt' when Ripley attempts to brief the crew. Ripe for an Aliens prequel/Colonial Marines movie...
That's another thing I really like about the films, they never explicitly state if there is other intelligent life in the universe. Bug hunt could be taken to mean they have experience in fighting other hostile creatures, or just a synonym for another seemingly pointless easy mission. Same with the line about the other colonists they encountered, maybe they weren't human, maybe it's a joke about them just being simple and backwards. Regarding the Queen, if the original Alien had been edited differently, we would never have had a Queen in the sequel. There was a scene where Ripley finds the missing crew members being converted into eggs. This would have explained the Xenomorph life cycle. This scene included a crew member saying “please kill me”, which was featured in Aliens (and another sequel, but I forget which).
SpudLink said:
A Winner Is You said:
entropy said:
Also in Aliens Hicks mentions 'another bug-hunt' when Ripley attempts to brief the crew. Ripe for an Aliens prequel/Colonial Marines movie...
That's another thing I really like about the films, they never explicitly state if there is other intelligent life in the universe. Bug hunt could be taken to mean they have experience in fighting other hostile creatures, or just a synonym for another seemingly pointless easy mission. Same with the line about the other colonists they encountered, maybe they weren't human, maybe it's a joke about them just being simple and backwards. Regarding the Queen, if the original Alien had been edited differently, we would never have had a Queen in the sequel. There was a scene where Ripley finds the missing crew members being converted into eggs. This would have explained the Xenomorph life cycle. This scene included a crew member saying “please kill me”, which was featured in Aliens (and another sequel, but I forget which).
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