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Nearly 2 years later and District 9's CGI STILL blows my mind

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legend166

Member
Jack Scofield said:
I felt way more empathy for the "ugly" prawns in District 9 than I did for any of the "human-like" Navi in Avatar. Making the Navi so human-like was such a lazy design decision. "But how will people feel sorry for them if they don't look like us?" Right...

EDIT: Goddamn, now we have that dude jerking off James Cameron again. For fucks sake.

That's a very good point.

My whole gripe with Avatar is that the Navi were annoying as all hell, and by the end I was hoping that the unnecessarily evil army dude would kill their damn tree.

I hadn't made the connection to District 9, which does a much, much better job at making the viewer have empathy for the prawns.
 

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
District 9 had awesome effects, a fine story for an action flick, great performances and one of the shittiest climaxes I've ever seen in a theater... but I still liked it a lot.

That said, I remember them looking pretty janky in motion. I think the OP was maybe tripping balls or something.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
Jack Scofield said:
I felt way more empathy for the "ugly" prawns in District 9 than I did for any of the "human-like" Navi in Avatar. Making the Navi so human-like was such a lazy design decision. "But how will people feel sorry for them if they don't look like us?" Right...

EDIT: Goddamn, now we have that dude jerking off James Cameron again. For fucks sake.
the romance would have been a pretty weird for mainstream audiences if they used prawns
 

Aaron

Member
Having only seen this movie recently, I thought the whole thing felt like a student film, including the CG. Maybe I've seen too many student films, but the cheapness made it hard to watch for me, actually. I think it gets more praise than it deserves.
 

Staccat0

Fail out bailed
legend166 said:
I hadn't made the connection to District 9, which does a much, much better job at making the viewer have empathy for the prawns.
I think I'm going to have t disagree. The Prawns in District 9 acted like damn fools and weren't really that sympathetic. I think we mostly just REJECTED the actions of the humans rather tha felt some sort of empathy to the prawns. I'm nothing like the prawns and saw very little of myself in them but I stilll rooted against the humans.
I think this is a more interesting accomplishment than just giving the main prawn a cute kid to protect who made sad puppy eyes at the camera a lot... oh... wait...

Manipulative filmmaking at its most transparent. "give him a cute kid! That'll win em' over!"
 
Scullibundo said:
Erm, he's saying that this thread is specifically about effects work so it doesn't get shitted up with people whinging about story.
I dont look at effects for the only enjoyment of a movie. the primary concerns are below quality. people looking at movies only for effects are part of the problem. I do not understand your perspective or your priorities.
 

jdogmoney

Member
The worst thing about Avatar fanboys (much worse than their poor choice of movie to get all excited about) is the giant pictures that come up to "prove" one thing or another.

Technically, the movie's a great achievement. Artistically, in both art design and as a movie, it's mediocre.


District 9's CG was impressive, though, since I didn't notice it until I thought about it later...which is rather the point...didn't care for the movie, though.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
-COOLIO- said:
where do you guys get these pics? they make for sick backgrounds
Blu-ray specific sites, james cameron and avatar wiki sites

Here's a few more:

nOMDT.jpg


hMbfv.jpg


NrMwJ.jpg


There should be an HD movie screenshot thread

jdogmoney said:
The worst thing about Avatar fanboys (much worse than their poor choice of movie to get all excited about) is the giant pictures that come up to "prove" one thing or another.

Technically, the movie's a great achievement. Artistically, in both art design and as a movie, it's mediocre.


District 9's CG was impressive, though, since I didn't notice it until I thought about it later...which is rather the point...didn't care for the movie, though.
A picture says more than a thousand words :p
 
bafflewaffle said:
I dont look at effects for the only enjoyment of a movie. the primary concerns are below quality. people looking at movies only for effects are part of the problem. I do not understand your perspective or your priorities.

What you don't seem to understand is that the point I was making is that you're shitting the thread up by going off-topic. Yes, story should be prioritized over effects in a film. But we are not making story a priority of discussion IN THIS THREAD ABOUT VISUAL EFFECTS work you stupid country folk singer you.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
jdogmoney said:
The worst thing about Avatar fanboys (much worse than their poor choice of movie to get all excited about) is the giant pictures that come up to "prove" one thing or another.

Technically, the movie's a great achievement. Artistically, in both art design and as a movie, it's mediocre.


District 9's CG was impressive, though, since I didn't notice it until I thought about it later...which is rather the point...didn't care for the movie, though.
the thread is about cg, where else are picture comparisons more viable?
 

Vyer

Member
D9's CGI is fantastic, even more so considering the budget.

As far as the whole Avatar comparison thing, I don't know.... Avatar looks great, but I'm much more impressed with taking a CGI element and blending it into a realistic environment than the 'whole CGI cartoon' approach of Avatar.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
Dead said:
Blu-ray specific sites, james cameron and avatar wiki sites

Here's a few more:

http://i.imgur.com/nOMDT.jpg[/MG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/hMbfv.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/NrMwJ.jpg[IMG]

There should be an HD movie screenshot thread


A picture says more than a thousand words :P[/QUOTE]
thanks! im backgrounding the first one
 
Vyer said:
D9's CGI is fantastic, even more so considering the budget.

As far as the whole Avatar comparison thing, I don't know.... Avatar looks great, but I'm much more impressed with taking a CGI element and blending it into a realistic environment than the 'whole CGI cartoon' approach of Avatar.

But the thing is that the latter is much harder to do - and even then Avatar still did that blend incredibly well.

Neytirisaves.jpg

neytiri_i_see_you_by_tymiann-d2z4dls.png
 

Instro

Member
I love D9, but Avatar is by far and away more impressive than any other movie out or coming out with regards to CG. There's no comparison, even if you hate the movie you cant deny that Avatar is a technical marvel.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
Sculli: Yeah, that was the scene that really drove the point home.

Even more amazing is how it was made, considering how convincing it is that the two characaters are really there touching each other and making it feel authentic (both effects and emotion wise)
 
Dead said:
Sculli: Yeah, that was the scene that really drove the point home.

Even more amazing is how it was made, considering how convincing it is that the two characaters are really there touching each other and making it feel authentic (both effects and emotion wise)

I actually also really like the scene where they first touch down in the jungle and Waynefleet pops out of the scorpion.
 
Scullibundo said:
What you don't seem to understand is that the point I was making is that you're shitting the thread up by going off-topic. Yes, story should be prioritized over effects in a film. But we are not making story a priority of discussion IN THIS THREAD ABOUT VISUAL EFFECTS work you stupid country folk singer you.
you give a passionate defense of the superficial elements of movies. I am a soulful person with a deeply emotive reservoir. My comments reflect more than one opinion of this movie, there is no need to stoop to name calling.
 
bafflewaffle said:
you give a passionate defense of the superficial elements of movies. I am a soulful person with a deeply emotive reservoir. My comments reflect more than one opinion of this movie, there is no need to stoop to name calling.

Excellent trolling my friend. I tip my hat to you.
 

JGS

Banned
Scullibundo said:
But the thing is that the latter is much harder to do - and even then Avatar still did that blend incredibly well.
Agreed.

The scene that impresses me to no end is the battleship falling out of the sky with Quaritch (The best sci-fi villian of that year) in a mech jumping out and it crashing behind him (No youtube or picture search at work).

There are so many elements in that scene alone that are so superior to District 9, it's pretty insulting to think D9 holds a candle to it except by budget constraints which is admittedly a pretty amazing job they did given the money limitations.
 
JGS said:
Agreed.

The scene that impresses me to no end is the battleship falling out of the sky with Quaritch (The best sci-fi villian of that year) in a mech jumping out and it crashing behind him (No youtube or picture search at work).

There are so many elements in that scene alone that are so superior to District 9, it's pretty insulting to think D9 holds a candle to it except by budget constraints which is admittedly a pretty amazing job they did given the money limitations.

To me its the shot of the shuttle going down a good kilometer in the background in a fiery plume, with the Dragon gunship in the middle-ground and Jake flying past a rocky peak in the foreground.
 
Takao said:
District 9's CG looks nice in stills, but really in motion. I remember being impressed at the theatre, and then paying closer attention to it on DVD and noticing how off, and pasted over everything felt.

Try watching the blu-ray.
 

otake

Doesn't know that "You" is used in both the singular and plural
I disagree with most everyone in this thread. I do think the effects in D9 were more believable. I don't think Avatar looks that great at all. I don't think characters have weight in avatar, I do think the faces and hair look good.

D9 looks better to me.
 

Grisby

Member
Yea, Avatar is pretty much the most impressive technically. Shit, sucks that all of that comes with a disappointing film.
 

Munin

Member
Those Avatar stills with both real actors and CG don't look any less fake to me than any other decently budgeted movie with CG. I will never understand those raving Cameron fanboys, movie is a decent technical accomplishment but nothing groundbreaking at all.
 
Munin said:
Those Avatar stills with both real actors and CG don't look any less fake to me than any other decently budgeted movie with CG. I will never understand those raving Cameron fanboys, movie is a decent technical accomplishment but nothing groundbreaking at all.
WAT!?
 

jett

D-Member
There are no words for the people diminishing Avatar's technical accomplishments. D9 is a fart in the wind compared to it.
 

kehs

Banned
jett said:
There are no words for the people diminishing Avatar's technical accomplishments. D9 is a fart in the wind compared to it.

Avatar is a technical marvel.


Too bad it presents that marvel in the most generic boring way possible.
 

jett

D-Member
Copernicus said:
Avatar is a technical marvel.


Too bad it presents that marvel in the most generic boring way possible.

Copernicus said:
He's right. I felt like I was watching the Final Fantasy movie.

Clearly, you don't know what you're talking about.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
Guardian Bob said:
Weren't they mostly created by the same people? Weta?
sorta

Weta did all the conceptual design work for District 9, as well as worked on all the props, but pretty much all the CG was done by another company as Weta were pretty much fully booked with Avatar

Weta did a ton of conceptual design work (in participation with the team brought together by Lightstorm) as well as worldbuilding elements, as well as worked on all the props and sets, and did the main CG work (with some stuff siphoned off to other studios to meet schedule) for Avatar
 

Dead

well not really...yet
Btw, If youre a fan of District 9, I highly recommend the Artbook by Weta, its a treasure trove of amazing artwork, most of it never even seen in the film.

Here is the original Mech design for D9, they even built a full scale replica before changing it:

miH3U.jpg
 

JGS

Banned
Weenerz said:
Imagine the FX team having the budget of a movie like Pirates, $250 million is insane.
It would have looked as realistic as a Red Lobster commercial except the Red Lobster commercial would have had a better story to tell.

Mmmm...Lobsterfest
 

kehs

Banned
jett said:
Clearly, you don't know what you're talking about.

Avatar felt like they took the stock CG character models from a generic alien movie, put them inside of various stock high quality environments from Bryce 3d, and sprinkled on a story that's been told ad nauseum.
 

JGS

Banned
Copernicus said:
Avatar felt like they took the stock CG character models from a generic alien movie, put them inside of various stock high quality environments from Bryce 3d, and sprinkled on a story that's been told ad nauseum.
Yep, one thing you can't accuse D9 of is a fish out of water tale and stock cgi characters.

It was wholly original.

Yep.
 
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