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Modern CG that looks off/bad for some reason

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Red UFO said:
What bothers me is the face.

LOOK AT IT.
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Being a huge fan of the Golden Compass (and it's sequels to a lesser extent, up until the point where Pullman completely went off the rails 2/3's of the way though the third book), I hated this movie. Completely ruined the mystique and worldbuilding and changed a lot of the characters and plot points in a completely negative way.

Apparently there is a director's cut that is more faithful to the book, but there are no plans of releasing it
 
XiaNaphryz said:
It should be noted that Fox is one of the biggest examples of a studio looking to cut costs wherever possible, taking advantage of tax breaks wherever they can. It's why they haven't really worked with any domestic vfx houses for significant amounts of work in a long time.
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I'm not surprised. I've heard tonnes of horror stories about FOX.

To stay on topic, it's rumored the movie I mentioned (Dragon Ball Evolution) was only made as a commitment to theatres due to the writer's strike, which is why they pushed out a rushed product as quickly, and cheaply as possible. Originally Stephen Chow was going to direct it, but they couldn't wait a few months until his commitments for CJ-7 wrapped up. The sleaziest part is that apparently they told all the actors in this film it was going to be a summer tent pole, and FOX had them signed up for 2 sequels. It was released in April, with the only marketing coming from ads on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and had a final budget of $30 million. What a blockbuster.
 
oh and how could i forget:

902cya.gif
 
Vulcano's assistant said:
Also, The footage from inside the huge ship in district 9.



yeah, specially furry animals. Worst offender i can think of right now is that golden monkey from the golden compass.
07.jpg
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If I recall correctly, he won an Oscar for that.
 
SalsaShark said:
oh and how could i forget:

902cya.gif
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It might just be the compression, but I like how you can actually see it shifting slightly on his face, especially at the temples, like they tried to make it move with his expressions but didn't quite get it right,

QUALITY!
 
For some reason I love how Jeff Bridges looks in Tron. I like how he doesn't look completely real---that this computer program still looks like a computer...if that makes any sense. I dunno---call me crazy.


^Terrible typos fixed now
 
Scullibundo said:
Oh man, it looked really off. Like they had just added a bad warp effect to scale his face to that body.
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a rewatch is due


Vincent Alexander said:
For some reason I loved how Jeff Bridges looked in Tron. I like how he doesn't look completely real---that this computer program still looks like a compur...if that makes any sense. I dunno---call me crazy.
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i didnt have THAT much of a problem with it until he opened his mouth during that speech
 
Vincent Alexander said:
For some reason I loved how Jeff Bridges looked in Tron. I like how he doesn't look completely real---that this computer program still looks like a compur...if that makes any sense. I dunno---call me crazy.
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I didn't mind Clu looking off and having that weird swagger since he's a copy of a person, not the real thing.
 
I think the biggest problem with the Green Lantern mask is the fact that it's on the bridge of his nose. It looks stupid. That said, the movie is plagued with BAD CG. Especially when it comes to the suit.
 
Two-face bugged the shit out of me. They should have made the burns less severe (i.e. his eyelid was still there, the innards of his mouth weren't exposed), but still a very bad, realistic burn. The severity of the burn is irrelevant to his character, since it's his psyche being scarred, not his face, that turns him into what he becomes.
 
Vulcano's assistant said:
The bear looks very good in that movie, but other animals are all over the spectrum.
http://www.darkrealmfox.com/film_reviews/wp-content/images/golden_compass_pics/compass_trailer_comparison_09.jpg?9d7bd4
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um, ok...
 
Alien Bob said:
The only way the claws in Wolverine can rationally be explained is if they just gave up after the leak, and only added whatever CG was actually done by that point.
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that's what i believed
 
Vincent Alexander said:
For some reason I love how Jeff Bridges looks in Tron. I like how he doesn't look completely real---that this computer program still looks like a computer...if that makes any sense. I dunno---call me crazy.


^Terrible typos fixed now
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It is fine until he talks. And the "it's a computer copy" thing was fine with me until scenes where it was supposed to be Flynn and not CLU
 
SalsaShark said:
oh and how could i forget:

902cya.gif
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How does this even happen? It's like they didn't even try to match up the CGI to the actor. Also why would that even be CGI in the first place? This would be embarrassing even for 90s CGI.
 
Branduil said:
How does this even happen? It's like they didn't even try to match up the CGI to the actor. Also why would that even be CGI in the first place? This would be embarrassing even for 90s CGI.
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what's amazing is that they delayed the film and put like 20 mil more into production to make the CG better before release

That's a final shot

rofl

I cant imagine how it must have looked before.
 
I think what bothers be about threads like this is people come into them acting like rough matte paintings, crappy composites, animation, rear projection, models, and stop motion all look absolutely real but CGI is the thing that sticks out.

I'll take any modern cgi over the opticals in Krull. Even a movie as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark has some brutal compositing such as the background when Marian and Indy are tied to the post at the end.
 
Warm Machine said:
I think what bothers be about threads like this is people come into them acting like rough matte paintings, crappy composites, animation, rear projection, models, and stop motion all look absolutely real but CGI is the thing that sticks out.
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nobody mentioned anything like that at all unless im missing something :O
 
Spoilers (I guess in some people's eyes. Better safe than sorry) from the season three opening of The Wire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK5HIfdyWc
The demolition of the high risers looked so off. It doesn't really show in the YouTube version, but I remember being really put off by it when I watched it in decent quality. As far as I know, it was the first (and only) use of CGI in the show, and I felt it just didn't fit. It made me aware that The Wire was a sort of low budget show, compared to Lost and the likes, at least. Still, best show of the forever.

In general, I'm really allergic to bad CGI. Very few movies manages to implement it well. Watching an early 2000's movie with a lot of CGI can be laughable. Like Godzilla.
 
jackrubyn said:
Spoilers (I guess in some people's eyes. Better safe than sorry) from the season three opening of The Wire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK5HIfdyWc
The demolition of the high risers looked so off. It doesn't really show in the YouTube version, but I remember being really put off by it when I watched it in decent quality. As far as I know, it was the first (and only) use of CGI in the show, and I felt it just didn't fit. It made me aware that The Wire was a sort of low budget show, compared to Lost and the likes, at least. Still, best show of the forever.

In general, I'm really allergic to bad CGI. Very few movies manages to implement it well. Watching an early 2000's movie with a lot of CGI can be laughable. Like Godzilla.
Click to expand...
That shit looked like Godzilla lol
 
jackrubyn said:
Spoilers (I guess in some people's eyes. Better safe than sorry) from the season three opening of The Wire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK5HIfdyWc
The demolition of the high risers looked so off. It doesn't really show in the YouTube version, but I remember being really put off by it when I watched it in decent quality. As far as I know, it was the first (and only) use of CGI in the show, and I felt it just didn't fit. It made me aware that The Wire was a sort of low budget show, compared to Lost and the likes, at least. Still, best show of the forever.

In general, I'm really allergic to bad CGI. Very few movies manages to implement it well. Watching an early 2000's movie with a lot of CGI can be laughable. Like Godzilla.
Click to expand...
Speaking of Lost...

2liacll.gif
 
I don't want to make a shitty post, but the correct answer is "almost all of it."

CG can be used well, but it doesn't seem to be easy. Almost all CG looks phony to me.
 
Night_Trekker said:
I don't want to make a shitty post, but the correct answer is "almost all of it."

CG can be used well, but it doesn't seem to be easy. Almost all CG looks phony to me.
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Of course it does. Our eyes and brain key into anything that isn't real very easily. It might not even be the effect itself, it might be the way the camera moves portraying that effect. There are great pieces of work out there though.
 
Warm Machine said:
Of course it does. Our eyes and brain key into anything that isn't real very easily. It might not even be the effect itself, it might be the way the camera moves portraying that effect. There are great pieces of work out there though.
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Agreed. Obviously if it's good enough, I don't even suspect it's CG. I've been surprised to find out later that some movies I've seen used any computer animation at all.

I'm okay with CG work as long as it's quality. But, like you said, it's hard to fool the human eye. Practical effects usually hold up better if the audience gets a good look at them. Some of the most convincing special effects I've seen are some combination of CG and practical.
 
Night_Trekker said:
I don't want to make a shitty post, but the correct answer is "almost all of it."

CG can be used well, but it doesn't seem to be easy. Almost all CG looks phony to me.
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I suspect there's a lot of CG you've seen that you never realized was CG either. Things like digital mattes, or set extensions, or environment alterations. There's more to CG than creatures and spaceships.
 
XiaNaphryz said:
I suspect there's a lot of CG you've seen that you never realized was CG either. Things like digital mattes, or set extensions, or environment alterations. There's more to CG than creatures and spaceships.
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This is also true. I recently watched a special on CGI in Game of Thrones. Appearantly they added shitloads of CG without me even realising it. Putting extra towers on castles for instance/
 
XiaNaphryz said:
I suspect there's a lot of CG you've seen that you never realized was CG either. Things like digital mattes, or set extensions, or environment alterations. There's more to CG than creatures and spaceships.
Click to expand...
I assume that removing modern constructs from period pieces is one of the most important uses of CG.
 
Vulcano's assistant said:
I assume that removing modern constructs from period pieces is one of the most important uses of CG.
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Indeed. That shot in the recent POTC film where the crew hit land with the mermaid in that container thing, the original shot actually had a public highway in the background with traffic and no trees in the foreground. The final shot had that extra background stuff removed and covered up with more foliage, as well as added forest in the foreground to help cover up the rocks.
 
Watching Phantom Menace on BluRay revealed a load of digital compositing work I never noticed before. Simple stuff too like Tatooine set extensions that looked real or unremarkable on the DVD version. The better the viewing medium the more noticeable things are. This goes for practical effects too where the rubber latex and the fishing line stand out really badly. We forgive old movies because most of us simply remember what they look like on vhs, DVD, or a blurry film projection, as oppose to the reality of a crisp print. You don't want to see most 80s films that had amazing effects because those effects are actually awful.
 
It's amazing how quickly some of these films have aged, I mean star wars episode 1 was considered cutting edge at the time yet today a film like empire strikes back holds up far better visually. Episode 1 looks like a cartoon at certain points, and episode 2 fares worse in some ways. It probably doesn't help that Lucas' direction is unwaveringly flat.

Talking of bad effects though I was watching die another day, and bloody hell the tsunami surfing is one of the worst cgi effects I have ever seen, and that's not even mentioning how ridiculous the idea is.

The thing about cgi is that it is very jarring if done incorrectly, we seem to be fairly adept at spotting things which look out of place which is why CGI should be something that is used sparingly and only done if you're willing to do a good job of it. My view is that if you're not capable of realistically portraying something, you simply shouldn't do it.


On a similar point, has anyone noticed how many films use terribly unnatural lighting and superimposed colour correction? I swear some films look as though they've deliberately added some weird orange filter to it. Anyone in the industry know anything about this phenomenon?
 
smokeymicpot said:
Lost mostly every CG shot was bad.
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I can't believe no one else commented on this. This show could have the worst looking shit ever. The submarine and statues are prime example. Not to mention certain planes and stuff, just looked so fake it was amazing.
 
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