Merely "bad" CGI or "Wretched Gawdawful CGI!!"

DistantJ · December 02, 2007, 05:42:11 AM

Quote from: AndyC on November 09, 2007, 05:54:57 AM
Or check out the scene from the first Harry Potter film, in which Harry fights a troll. It just suddenly turns into a cartoon.

XD I remember that, it was like, Harry Potter vs Shrek. Also whenever any kind of stunts were required in that movie, the kids turned into awful CG, it was so confusing and it basically messed up the whole thing for me. There's this whole current "if it's computer generated, it's not dated, whether it looks real or not" misconception.

AndyC · December 02, 2007, 04:26:41 PM

As techniques improve, bad CGI is going to look as dated as any poorly-done bluescreen, stop-motion or puppet effect of the past. Our grandkids are going to be laughing their butts off at some of these films.

316zombie · December 02, 2007, 07:14:34 PM

the big difference,at least in my own case,is that my nieces vastly appreciate the older films,they range from 21 down to 8,with a greatnephew a month old,he will be a fan too,we hope!
sid viscious is my youngest niece,she gets into some nasty debates with her grownup cousins about classic movies,i am thankful...
we all like certain movies that are cgi,but not many....

KYGOTC · December 03, 2007, 12:58:03 AM

Quote from: 316zombie on December 02, 2007, 07:14:34 PM

sid viscious is my youngest niece,

......Oh, man......Lets hope she doesn't tunr out like that OTHER Sid Vicious!

asimpson2006 · December 03, 2007, 07:08:01 AM

Quote from: Ometiklan on November 25, 2007, 08:28:18 PM
And Why does the CGI in Jurassic Park 1993.
Look better than most CGI in the movies today?

I think that's a question that mankind has been asking them selves for a while now, and I don't think we will ever have an answer for it.

I though the CGI is the Star Wars prequels were actually not that bad, quite good in some ways.

KYGOTC · December 03, 2007, 09:29:09 AM

Quote from: asimpson2006 on December 03, 2007, 07:08:01 AM

I though the CGI is the Star Wars prequels were actually not that bad, quite good in some ways.

Yea, they were shiney, I guess, but nothing beats a real phisical model. and doesnt it seem a bit unnesessary to CGI the clone troopers, when they could have easily put guys in clone armor?

Jim H · December 12, 2007, 06:34:58 AM

Quote from: AndyC on December 02, 2007, 04:26:41 PM
As techniques improve, bad CGI is going to look as dated as any poorly-done bluescreen, stop-motion or puppet effect of the past. Our grandkids are going to be laughing their butts off at some of these films.

I think it will actually look more dated. It's comparable to 2D video games VS 3D videogames. That is, 2D videogames always were avatars, never intended to be realistic. They also essentially hit a ceiling early on. Whereas 3D video games get more and more photorealistic, and the animation on old games looks worse in comparison.

It's the same way with stop motion, which had relatively few major enhancements for a 50 year period.

It never was entirely believable, but its unreality was easy to accept. This, in some cases at least, will not be the case with dated CG.

AndyC · December 12, 2007, 12:13:24 PM

Actually, stop-motion always enhanced movies for me. There's just something about that unnatural movement that makes monsters seem more monstrous. Give me good stop motion over mediocre CGI any day.

Jim H · December 12, 2007, 04:42:38 PM

Quote from: AndyC on December 12, 2007, 12:13:24 PM
Actually, stop-motion always enhanced movies for me. There's just something about that unnatural movement that makes monsters seem more monstrous. Give me good stop motion over mediocre CGI any day.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to get at. I love the look of stop motion. One of the highlights of this year was getting to see Ray Harryhausen when he visited my school for a screening of Jason and the Argonauts - and brought one of the original skeleton puppets with him! He seemed to be in remarkably good health, physically and mentally, though his hearing wasn't great.

One other thing... It is interesting that the first truely convincing stop motion came right as the special effect was in its last days as a mainstream technique. Look at Dragonslayer's stop motion, for example, and imagine if the go-motion technology it employed had been perfect.

One of the coolest recent examples of stop motion was in the Life Aquatic With Steve Siszou. They did a great job with the Jaguar Shark, which you briefly see towards the end. It was a gigantic stop motion puppet.

eclipsed · December 12, 2007, 07:16:35 PM

total recall had some steller cg work in it (please excuse my dripping sarcasm)

DistantJ · January 03, 2008, 05:02:31 PM

I never questioned the CGI in Jurassic Park. Not once, and I still don't. The whole thing just looks... Real.