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New York, 12:27 AM
Sun Dec 6
25 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of TonyWonder TonyWonder
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    I'm usually game to shit all over the CGI in a movie but from the trailers and little youtube clips I've seen thus far, its the dumbass lines I've heard that makes me cringe not so much the JarJar stuff. Has this film been rated yet? Do we know the target audience? Because from what I've seen it looks like a tween-kiddie movie.
     Reply
    TonyWonder was starred TonyWonder was unstarred
    Image of firehunter5 firehunter5
    12/04/09

    @TonyWonder: probably gonna be pg-13 because any big movie nowadays is. Considering they want to make as much money as possible the target audience is 4-80 yr olds with a focus on anyone who has money to spend to see it in 3-d
     Reply
    TonyWonder promoted this comment firehunter5 was starred firehunter5 was unstarred
    Image of TonyWonder TonyWonder
    12/05/09

    @firehunter5: thats true eh 3-D is always a younger target audience...
     Reply
    TonyWonder was starred TonyWonder was unstarred
    Image of DustyButt™ DustyButt™
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    I don't know. I still have yet to see anything CG that made me not realize that it's CG. I still get the feeling that I'm watching a "cartoon" (Wall-e, etc.) when I see things like Avatar.

    I'm waiting for the day when I watch a movie and I can't spot where real objects/places begin/end.
     Reply
    DustyButt™ was starred DustyButt™ was unstarred
    Image of sneakypoo sneakypoo
    12/04/09

    @DustyButt™: I'm willing to bet good money that you have already seen such a movie and don't even realise it.
     Reply
    DustyButt™ promoted this comment sneakypoo was starred sneakypoo was unstarred
    Image of oanda oanda
    12/04/09

    @DustyButt™: that time has already come. Its creating creatures thats difficult. objects are obviously easier. I'm sure theres tons of movies you've seen and haven't noticed CG aspects of it. Because when its done right. Mixed with non CG it looks great.

    With that said avatar is not revolutionary at all. it looks like a damn cartoon.
     Reply
    DustyButt™ promoted this comment oanda was starred oanda was unstarred
    Image of DustyButt™ DustyButt™
    12/04/09

    @sneakypoo: Nope, hasn't happened yet. There's always a scene or four that open the flood gates for my nit-picky eye. No one has done a movie from front to back where a CG illusion never triggers my visual alarm. I work in graphic design, so my visual sense tends to be way more sensitive than most. It's not that I mind CG, I WANT to be fooled, but it just hasn't happened yet.
     Reply
    DustyButt™ was starred DustyButt™ was unstarred
    Image of sneakypoo sneakypoo
    12/04/09

    @DustyButt™: Ah, but you changed the conditions now didn't you :) The way you said it first made it sound like you hadn't missed even one CG created piece in any movie.

    I'm usually good at spotting CG as well but I'm not confident enough to say that I've never missed anything.

    Don't get me wrong, I know what you mean and I usually feel the same way. But CG is catching up and when done right it can be nigh impossible to tell. And now I'm not talking about CG people, animals or really anything organic as it's usually easy to tell. What I'm getting at is the subtle things that are done in scenery and such.
     Reply
    sneakypoo was starred sneakypoo was unstarred
    Image of SkirMernet SkirMernet
    12/04/09

    @DustyButt™: you see cartoons, because you see it AS cartoons. just set aside our assumptions of what life is and should look like. they'll look real then. that avatar looks really amazing, realistic and lifelike. and they're from another planet. stuff from another planet/reality/universe will always look odd
     Reply
    DustyButt™ promoted this comment SkirMernet was starred SkirMernet was unstarred
    Image of DustyButt™ DustyButt™
    12/04/09

    @sneakypoo: I'm actually widening the scope. Movies like Benjamin Buttons included. I have to say alot of the effects were great in TCCoBB but there were scenes that made me say, "uh! So close!" Then I start searching for CGI and I find it.

    I really look forward to the day when I can leave a movie and say, "I know they used CG, but I can't tell you any particular scene where I can say they definitely did!" That will be an awesome day. The day they can do that with a movie like Avatar... Wow... I'm psyched just thinking about it.
     Reply
    DustyButt™ was starred DustyButt™ was unstarred
    Image of joelydanger joelydanger
    12/04/09

    @DustyButt™: Well, for an entire movie that would be pretty difficult. Films usually have several different effects houses that will be tasked with different scenes, so it's hard sometimes to get things seamless. With characters anyway. Most of the time the one thing that people aren't very focused on is the one thing that's completely manipulated in the scene. Usually it's the environment, meaning matte paintings or completely generated backgrounds.

    I'm sure you've seen plenty of effects that totally fooled you, maybe from even earlier that you think. If you've seen Indiana Jones and the temple of Doom, at the very beginning of the movie when the mine cart goes flying out the canyon, the entire canyon is a matte painting on glass. I've seen it and its a beautiful and quite large painting. And this is commonly done in films you wouldn't even have thought had a need for special effects.

    Sometimes characters who only appear in passing glances are entirely CG, even when it looks like the job could have easily been done with placing an extra there, or just a little make up. There's a good example I think in Wolverine, of all movies, and say what you will about how well the film was, there's one shot of toad for a few seconds, and the character was entirely fabricated, and in my opinion well done. Its not perfect, but we're getting there.
     Reply
    Edited by joelydanger at 12/04/09 7:28 PM joelydanger was starred joelydanger was unstarred
    Image of joelydanger joelydanger
    12/04/09

    @DustyButt™:
     Reply
    joelydanger was starred joelydanger was unstarred
    Image of joelydanger joelydanger
    12/04/09

    @DustyButt™: I can never get these images to upload. Here's the link if you can't see it.

    [www.pixolator.com]
     Reply
    joelydanger was starred joelydanger was unstarred
    Image of Lester Dean Lester Dean
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    They look like big blue humans what do you mean *starting* to look normal? They must set a record for least imaginative alien to date...
     Reply
    PN - gooapplesoft promoted this comment Lester Dean was starred Lester Dean was unstarred
    Image of lpranal lpranal
    12/04/09

    @Lester Dean: I think there's lots of reasons to have very humanoid-looking aliens, both from a scientific and a plot perspective. Now, if the movie actually takes advantage of this character design, or suffers from it remains to be seen, but given that it's james cameron, I think we should at least see it first before we assess that. The fact of the matter is, for all of science fiction and our space exploration, we haven't got a damn clue what aliens would look like beyond wild guesses based off our world. What would a "realistic" or "creative" alien even look like? I think the two most intriguing possibilities are either something very human-like, or some higher dimensional deity-like being beyond our comprehension. And if you want cthulu, just go read H.P. Lovecraft.
     Reply
    lpranal was starred lpranal was unstarred
    Image of OCEntertainment OCEntertainment
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    Still looks like an Andalite with a mouth to me.
     Reply
    OCEntertainment was starred OCEntertainment was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    Well, didn't James Cameron say that the aliens had to be "sexy"? I guess it's working. Because I would totally bang the girl Na'vi.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of slater slater
    12/04/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: Some people want to bang chicks, some people want to bang cartoons. To each his own I guess.

    Weirdos.
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus promoted this comment slater was starred slater was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    12/04/09

    @slater: "Normal" people 1, Alien fuckers 4. Take that!
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of DustyButt™ DustyButt™
    12/04/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: Reminds me of this old commercial... The question is TIMELESS.
     Reply
    DustyButt™ was starred DustyButt™ was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    I have a bad feeling about Starship Gully, but I'm a huge sucker for special effects extravaganzas. The Na'vi actually do look pretty realistic compared to a lot of GGI characters out there too.

    I just wish that the Thanator did not have the same exact roar effect as the T-Rex from Jurassic Park.
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of Medmondsr Medmondsr
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    I really can't wait for this movie. I'm so surprised everytime I mention it to my peers and they give me a blank stare back. I'm sure once it hits the box office like an atom bomb it will be as big as the Dark Knight.
     Reply
    Mark Wilson promoted this comment Medmondsr was starred Medmondsr was unstarred
    Image of BergenCountyJC can't beat MW2 BergenCountyJC can't beat MW2
    12/04/09

    In reply to Avatars Are Starting to Look Normal to Me
    Mark, I think you would make the special effects team blush by your comments. I agree that they seem to be somewhat ordinary now but isn't that what they set out to do? The character is very believable although the set pieces may not be.
     Reply
    BergenCountyJC can't beat MW2 was starred BergenCountyJC can't beat MW2 was unstarred
    Image of ytkliu ytkliu
    12/04/09

    In reply to Ridiculous User Interfaces In Film, and the Man Who Designs Them
    Holy mother of god this is an incredible article. I've always wanted to know who made these ridiculous interfaces - never imagined that it would be mostly one guy.
     Reply
    ytkliu was starred ytkliu was unstarred
    Image of madog madog
    12/03/09

    In reply to Ridiculous User Interfaces In Film, and the Man Who Designs Them
    Enhance... Enhance... Enhance... En... hance...

    Best fake (Mac) UI = The Net. I was so jealous of it when I first saw that movie. God, I'm old.
     Reply
    madog was starred madog was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    12/03/09

    In reply to See The World Through The Eyes of MST3K
    I wish I had these when I saw The Happening.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of Maori_Yelir Maori_Yelir
    12/03/09

    @Nathan Obbards: I kid you not, when the trailer from that first came out I was at a movie and the entire audience burst out laughing towards the end of it. I seriously can't not believe that stupid film was made. I don't even have to see it to know that killer pollen = the nail in the coffin for M. Night.
     Reply
    Nathan Obbards promoted this comment Maori_Yelir was starred Maori_Yelir was unstarred
    Image of Nathan Obbards Nathan Obbards
    12/03/09

    @Maori_Yelir: It was the best comedy I've seen in years.
     Reply
    Edited by Nathan Obbards at 12/03/09 7:26 PM Nathan Obbards was starred Nathan Obbards was unstarred
    Image of Kaiser-Machead Kaiser-Machead
    12/03/09

    In reply to See The World Through The Eyes of MST3K
    At first glance, if you tried to say that abbreviation phonetically, it would probably read as "mistake".
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead was starred Kaiser-Machead was unstarred
    Image of Malthian Malthian
    12/03/09

    @Kaiser-Machead: Which, concerning the quality of the films featured during the shows tenure, would fit perfectly.
     Reply
    Kaiser-Machead promoted this comment Malthian was starred Malthian was unstarred
    Image of Nick Nick
    12/03/09

    In reply to Ridiculous User Interfaces In Film, and the Man Who Designs Them
    It's the kind of stuff you take for granted in action and sci-fi films

    whoa, there. i have never taken that stuff for granted. i always catch myself wondering who was in charge of creating all those UIs and where they get their ideas from. definitely a talented fellow.
     Reply
    Nick was starred Nick was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    12/03/09

    In reply to Ridiculous User Interfaces In Film, and the Man Who Designs Them
    Jurassic Park, however, had the best GUI implementation ever for a UNIX system:
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of irfan irfan
    12/03/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: i dug thru the gallery hoping to the some JP action. was disappointed until now.
     Reply
    fuchikoma promoted this comment irfan was starred irfan was unstarred
    Image of telepheedian telepheedian
    12/03/09

    @Hello Mister Walrus: And it was real, too. [www.siliconbunny.com]
     Reply
    jepzilla promoted this comment telepheedian was starred telepheedian was unstarred
    Image of SkipErnst SkipErnst
    12/03/09

    In reply to Ridiculous User Interfaces In Film, and the Man Who Designs Them
    I've always hated the fact that movie characters never use a mouse. Ever. Especially not if you can see the computer's screen. The TV show "24" drove me crazy with this trope. But of course it's far easier to fake working on a computer with a simulated display if you only use the keyboard, so there you have it.
     Reply
    SkipErnst was starred SkipErnst was unstarred
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