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Chris Jacob
CGI is the auto-tune of Hollywood. When done right, it can be pretty sweet, or even amazing (one word: Avatar). But sometimes it just gets annoying. Really, really annoying.
I'm kind of inbetween on this one. Do I think CGI is over used in film making today? Yeah totally. Does it deserve the bad rap it commonly gets? Maybe not so much. A lot of people I know complain that CG looks fake and you can always tell, but in reality you don't actually notice a lot of the CG used in productions now. It's only when it's done poorly that you really notice, and that in turn leads to the belief that it's always bad. Although at the end of the day, I do find his statement disappointing.
I continue to be amazed at the number of quasi-luddites that are found on tech blogs.
Music was only good when it was performed with sharpened rocks, women were only good when bras were pointy, and movies were only good when directors could focus on the story and not on all the technical stuff they weren't capable of.
Riiiiggghhhhttt.
Why don't we let the music/movie/book industry keep running things the way they are because they agree with you!
@The5thElephant: when people start messing with art forms (which filmmaking used to be more of...) people get mad. Just like the switch from film to digital. of course it's a little upsetting to see something "authentic" replaced by something "fake" but i don't think anyone on here is really going to throw a fit over it.... they're just sharing their opinions.
@shorty6049: I just find it annoying that every generation thinks that what happened before it is somehow "authentic" while anything that provides a new way of doing things is "fake".
The majority of content on YouTube is crap, but that new ability has provided a number of gems that we all appreciate having. This is true of any development in any media or art form: a lot of people will use it poorly, but then some people will figure it out and make something amazing.
If you went back in time and saw all the movies from the "good old days" you would also think a lot of them sucked, because it's only the good ones that we keep around to remember.
@The5thElephant: yeah, i mean, i agree, everyone longs for the past, even if it wasn't really as great as we all remember it (who really wants to go back and live in the late 80's for example?) i think the main problem people have with CGI is that when it was first created, it kind of sucked, and sort of took away from the realism of films. now it's pretty much unnoticable unless being used to make space ships and things like that where you KNOW it's not real...
The move to digital sets for hard shots is inevitable. It's the same thing as digitizing casts of thousands like in Lord of the Rings. I don't think they will ever have a movie with a cast like Laurence of Arabia. As time goes on and the tech advances eventually I think even actors will be digitized for the most part. Using motion capture for everything, directors will be able to create the very look of every character.
Sorry but I don't think theft, vandalism, or assault are justified just because someone is being rude or annoying even as much as I'd like to take one of my customers' cellphones and throw it across the parking lot the next time they aren't being mindful of their situation and ignoring me during a business transaction.
I read an online article (can't find it now) that mentions the 5th Indiana Jones installment will go back to the old movie tricks that made the original trilogy so good (was there a 4th movie, must have missed that, oh, that's right, it sucked).
I know this is an old debate. There are some things about Raiders that couldn't be duplicated with CGI, wouldn't have the same richness or realism: snakes in the tomb, truck chase, desert and market scenes, the monkey, etc.
Despair all you want. Synthetic actors (synthespians) are next. All the great actors from the past will be revived and star in cat food commercials. Mark my words...
@Marco: I'll be all about the synthespians if when the movie isn't on they're remanded to some director's hard drive, rather than being let loose to shoot their idiotic mouths off about whatever political cause their pea brains think is important.
Jaws would not be the movie it is if all of Spielberg's fancy toys had worked properly. Instead of getting exactly what he wanted in his head, he had to rely on his filmmaking talent to make a movie that was possible.
That ingenuity is what is lost today, and is why today's blockbusters have such sterility and lack the soul of action films made prior to, say, 1994. Today's filmmakers don't need to be creative, they merely need to be imaginative.
You know what's even sadder?
He'd probably achieve better results by doing that.
It's a whole other discussion, but with our movie and TV (and games) oriented culture nowadays moviemakers are finding ways to make CG scenes look even better than real life.
Called ultra-realism by some.
It's like, the romantic urge for realistic scenarios and stuff, for some people, are defined not by real life settings, but by what is shown in movies these days.
There are situations where people after new experiences and places and ends up disappointed because the idea he/she had about it was enhanced by movies, photography, game or other media.
Sorry if I couldn't be clearer... it's a hard to explain idea.
@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: "better than real life"? What the hell are you talking about? You sound insane, you know that.
Look, it either looks real, or it doesn't. You can't make something better than real. If it looks any different than the real thing, IT ISN'T REAL! That's like saying something looks more white than white.
@silverdee:
That's part of it, but the concept can go even further.
@scottamain001:
That's why I was afraid some people wouldn't understand. No need to get angry though, chill.
I think it can better be explained though photography, though it can be applied to more abstract notions.
HD demo videos, for instance, are good graphical examples of what silverdee is talking about.
You see pictures of touristic scenarios with plenty of photoshopping, filters, bloom effects, fog, etc...
Those effects are applied in a way, not to make them look abstract, artistic, fictional/unreal, too perfect, or whatever. They are used to "enhance" the visual experience, giving more details to things we might not notice in real life.
Thus, ultra-realism.
I understand it's an abstract concept... it's not exactly "better than real life", but it's the best way people found to describe it.
And this isn't applied only to make things more beautiful... could be used to make a scenario darker, dirtier, more oppressive... to make a desert look more "dry", etc etc.
It's not related to the reality that surrounds us, but rather the reality imagined BY us, if that makes any sense.
I would like Cameron to direct the next Terminator movie. Seriously, McG sucked balls. It's time for him to bring the excitement back to the franchise.
I bet a 3D Terminator would would be Pants worthy.
@Noobs-R-Us: Any citation on that? IMDb is user-submitted material. Anyone could have gone in an inserted that. IMDb is less reliable than Wikipedia is for future events.
@Noobs-R-Us: The only "source" I could find on it via Google was an April Fool's joke claiming that because Cameron loved Salvation so much it sparked his interest in making a fifth film.
I watched the DVD extras of Hellboy 2 the other day. Affirming for me the genius of Guillermo del Toro.
So many of the effects that could have been done with CGI are done instead with painstakingly detailed sets and models. The "Troll Marketplace" behind the scenes blew my mind. Watch it.
The CGI Titanic scenes looked horrible. We've just gotten so used to squishy motion & bland textures & the cost of a ticket has risen so much in 13 years, CGI is the only economical choice.
Didn't Kate Winslett almost drown filming Titanic the original way? If you can use CGI and achieve the same visual results while spending less money and taking fewer risks with the cast, it seems like a natural decision. The only question is whether you can get your actors in role while they are standing in front of a green screen instead of a real ocean.
12:34 PM
12/21/09
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Granted, the story was not that original, but all in all a very enjoyable movie with great special effects. I payed to watch it.
I am not going to pay to watch the 15th remake of a film that was lame to begin with.
12/21/09
Music was only good when it was performed with sharpened rocks, women were only good when bras were pointy, and movies were only good when directors could focus on the story and not on all the technical stuff they weren't capable of.
Riiiiggghhhhttt.
Why don't we let the music/movie/book industry keep running things the way they are because they agree with you!
12/21/09
12:52 AM
The majority of content on YouTube is crap, but that new ability has provided a number of gems that we all appreciate having. This is true of any development in any media or art form: a lot of people will use it poorly, but then some people will figure it out and make something amazing.
If you went back in time and saw all the movies from the "good old days" you would also think a lot of them sucked, because it's only the good ones that we keep around to remember.
12:00 PM
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
[www.youtube.com]
12/21/09
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12/21/09
I know this is an old debate. There are some things about Raiders that couldn't be duplicated with CGI, wouldn't have the same richness or realism: snakes in the tomb, truck chase, desert and market scenes, the monkey, etc.
12/21/09
[io9.com]
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
That ingenuity is what is lost today, and is why today's blockbusters have such sterility and lack the soul of action films made prior to, say, 1994. Today's filmmakers don't need to be creative, they merely need to be imaginative.
12/21/09
He'd probably achieve better results by doing that.
It's a whole other discussion, but with our movie and TV (and games) oriented culture nowadays moviemakers are finding ways to make CG scenes look even better than real life.
Called ultra-realism by some.
It's like, the romantic urge for realistic scenarios and stuff, for some people, are defined not by real life settings, but by what is shown in movies these days.
There are situations where people after new experiences and places and ends up disappointed because the idea he/she had about it was enhanced by movies, photography, game or other media.
Sorry if I couldn't be clearer... it's a hard to explain idea.
12/21/09
12/21/09
Look, it either looks real, or it doesn't. You can't make something better than real. If it looks any different than the real thing, IT ISN'T REAL! That's like saying something looks more white than white.
12/21/09
That's part of it, but the concept can go even further.
@scottamain001:
That's why I was afraid some people wouldn't understand. No need to get angry though, chill.
I think it can better be explained though photography, though it can be applied to more abstract notions.
HD demo videos, for instance, are good graphical examples of what silverdee is talking about.
You see pictures of touristic scenarios with plenty of photoshopping, filters, bloom effects, fog, etc...
Those effects are applied in a way, not to make them look abstract, artistic, fictional/unreal, too perfect, or whatever. They are used to "enhance" the visual experience, giving more details to things we might not notice in real life.
Thus, ultra-realism.
I understand it's an abstract concept... it's not exactly "better than real life", but it's the best way people found to describe it.
And this isn't applied only to make things more beautiful... could be used to make a scenario darker, dirtier, more oppressive... to make a desert look more "dry", etc etc.
It's not related to the reality that surrounds us, but rather the reality imagined BY us, if that makes any sense.
12/21/09
I bet a 3D Terminator would would be Pants worthy.
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
[www.imdb.com]
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
So many of the effects that could have been done with CGI are done instead with painstakingly detailed sets and models. The "Troll Marketplace" behind the scenes blew my mind. Watch it.
12/21/09
CGI is a tool, that above all, needs to be used responsibly!
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09
12/21/09