io9 
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San Francisco, 4:47 PM
Tue Dec 8
27 posts in the last 24 hours
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04:45 PM
I can't tell you anything about most of the environments I've seen in many CGI heavy films I've seen recently, but I do remember them when they fit into instead of being the setting. I can't tell you what the Decepticons homeworld looked like but I remember the fight on the pyramid and the desert fight. (shutters at the thought of seeing the movie still though)
I remember everything about Where the Wild Things Are cause that movie was "real" to the point of keeping the fantastical elements memorable instead of just being apart of an onslaught of CGI elements all trying to command your attention and being forgettable.
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*more of a star trek joke
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"Grmfl brnz muh wrgh."
"He can go about his business."
"Hrfll stmph scribniv."
"Move along"
"Urgmfflarg."
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08:05 AM
From what she's saying, Cameron had things plotted out to the point he could show actors the lush jungles and animal life they were interacting with, at least in a rough form, so that the actors could respond realistically to what is happening.
Yes, the 10 years better CG is going to make things better than Phantom Menace... but if Lucas was given the exact same toolset, I seriously doubt better CG would have helped that stinker in the slightest.
09:39 AM
02:17 PM
that is exactly the kind of advancement in CG that has happened in the last 10 years...A.I. (2001) was one of the first (if not the first) film where this kind of interactivity was possible.
12/07/09
12/07/09
It's because George Lucas didn't write it.
12/07/09
11:50 AM
12/07/09
CG is great. But there is something lacking... and I hate to break it to Michelle Rodriguez, but in 10 years we'll look at Avatar and think "man, that's what, 2007? 2008? You can totally see the (xyz)... that's obviously fake. Now District 14's effects look better because...."
I think the prequels suffered from the mixture of traditional alien masks and full on CG creatures in the same scene. That sense of "realism" is important, and the prequels would have fit into the OT much better had there been less CG and more... um.. story. Some of the most memorable and iconic scenes from the OT are character based and are largely centered on the dialogue or metaphor.. Luke looking at the twin suns, finding out Vader was his dad, the interplay of Han and Leia, all that stuff was about story.
GL kind of bragged that there were never any actual costumes created for the Clone Troopers, that they were all CG. While it's cool you can actually do that, the thing that made the original Stormtroopers so cool was that the costumes were REAL. Not to mention that they served a story. These days, the story serves the FX.
Anway, back to Avatar... I don't care how good CG gets. People know the difference between a real object and a CG object that looks 95% real.
12/07/09
D9 is a good example of marrying physical effects and CGI. I think they used what the needed when they needed to - there was some decorum.
No actual costumes for the Clone Troopers is not good for visuals, I think. It's okay for the big massive battalion scenes, but up close and personal its hard to replicate the uniqueness of each individuals battle scars and dirt and things like that.
12/07/09
D9 obviously couldn't use real people because the aliens had a different anatomy. But Clone Troopers? Human beings wearing armor. Ridiculous to fake actual humans
I agree about D9 though--of course they were fortunate to have a real slum city ready to be filmed in. The aliens were convincing as well, so mixing CG with real actors can be done if the right people are doing it. D9 was a good story first and foremost. It wasn't about showing off the effects... it was about using them appropriately to create believable characters and to help tell the story.
12/07/09
12/07/09
You must have some exceedingly high standards... Are there any examples of better compositing that you can cite?
No rotoscoping technique is perfect but Blomkamp's approach was some of the best I have ever seen, aside from Cameron.
Even going back to all the viral vids and ads that he has done over the years, his attention to detail and skill are better than Lucas' effort in the SW prequels. ...and yet Blomkamp's team accomplished their results with a small fraction of ILM's money and resource.
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04:46 AM
10:47 AM
That's the fantastic thing about motion-capture that I think M-Rod was alluding to. It brings back a little of that organic feel that gets lost during the generic animation process.
I always wonder how the people who slaved over makeup and costumes and set design are feeling now that their jobs are being replaced by computers and high-tech camera gear. I should hope they would remain happy in the supreme satisfaction that what they did by hand looks and feels more organically realistic than what is being done now.
11:54 AM
It is sad that all the craft from the "old days" is dying out. I know it's still used, but it's sad to see it take a back seat.
Who knows. Maybe some movie that uses traditional effects will come along and be a huge success and audiences will demand a return to realism. We're the target audience and we're fed up with the CG already.... it was great in the beginning because it was new. It's not new anymore. Seems like it should go the other way now. Just like you pointed out, you can make a real Chewbacca but SLIGHTLY alter the facial expressions with CG. I guess Where the Wild Things Are used the same approach, I haven't seen it yet.
But I'm all for the return of old-school.
04:08 PM