[Closed] Q: ‘How much CGI do you want?‘

The slo-mo of bullets/following bullets was cool the first time (The Matrix and Lord of War), but now it's just a lazy cliche. I find scenes like the beach assault in Saving Private Ryan much more watchable because it's just people running around in the middle of chaos which I imagine what it's really like. When I see the slo-mo stuff, all I can think about is that the director is just showing off his technical tricks.

I think in T-34 it works really well, shows what shells are actually doing + makes it easier to show the human side by cutting to inside shots.

Yup I agree with Fuzzy that’s kind if what it’s showing rather than just an explosion, however it’s a bit over the top.

"A bit" over the top? I'm trying to imagine sitting through a whole film like that, and failing.

Awful. Video game awful.

Would that massive shell whizzing past that guy's ear not cause some pretty serious turbulence/shockwave?

I realise that in the scheme of that clip it's a minor complaint, but still...

I liked the big explosion in Swordfish but I’m pretty much done with Bullettime.

Well at least the link led me to this gem

slight thread hijack, anyone know why i seem unable to view embedded youtube videos from this forum? either on PC or on phone....

well I found it quite entertaining, if not what I perceive to be 100% accurate.

It's well done and cool to see as an individual clip like this but in the context of a film I think it detracts from the story and emotion. It's too clean and clinical - this works for something like the Matrix but for a war film, there are better 'tricks' for my taste, like shaky cameras, 1st person view, and wide angle shots which enhance the chaos and horror.

Sorry alcolepone no idea. I just paste the youtube link and it appears in the space above my pillory 🤣. My method also seems to prevent other’s clips from appearing

#doublefail

slight thread hijack, anyone know why i seem unable to view embedded youtube videos from this forum? either on PC or on phone….

Same, I've had this for ages, doesn't matter if on phone, firefox or chrome, most of the videos I click on just makes the video disappear leaving a white space, sometimes I just get audio?

Pretty impressive. Wouldn't want more than a few minutes of it though.

Jason and the Octonaughts still on top though.

The slow mo running bit in one of the sherlock holmes films is pretty good.

I think alot of it was actual slow mo with one of the slow mo guys from the youtube channel being involved.

“A bit” over the top? I’m trying to imagine sitting through a whole film like that, and failing.

The whole film is like that? Ahm oot.

slight thread hijack, anyone know why i seem unable to view embedded youtube videos from this forum? either on PC or on phone….

Are you logged in? They won't show for me if I'm not logged in.

Ahh, good info Hols2 - they haven't been showing for me for weeks, clicking play just changes the preview image to a big grey space, phone, tablet and PC.

Logging in seems to work, thanks. Good job this website doesn't log me out all the time....

There's a shot in Fury when a Nazi Tank fires at one of the American ones, ricochets off one and flies of towards the horizon. It really showed me the ferocity of tank guns.

The Space batter in Rogue One was great too, it gave a great feeling of scale, and weaving in some of the characters from the older films was amazing.

Well at least the link led me to this gem

The youtube channel Tank Chats is great, if you like geeky looks at military hardware of course. David Fletcher is a proper boffin 🙂

I agree with eddiebaby with the walking claymore in Swordfish, It does look a bit dated now though.

I’m trying to imagine sitting through a whole film like that, and failing.

I’m not sure I could either.

The Space batter

Urgh!

That clip is technically great, but I honestly had no idea who was shooting at who. Very confusing and slo mo has been done to death.

space batter

That clip is technically great, but I honestly had no idea who was shooting at who. Very confusing and slo mo has been done to death.

That bottom five tanks link is good👍 the OP clip is a bit meh world of tanks

If you watch the film though you know the characters + the tanks so it's easier to follow. The whole film isn't lots of slo-mo shots though, just the tank battle scenes. The OP's clip is not one battle scene, it's a composite of several different battle scenes in the film which is why it starts to get a bit OTT

The OP’s clip is not one battle scene, it’s a composite of several different battle scenes in the film which is why it starts to get a bit OTT

makes it easier to show the human side by cutting to inside shots.

Though omitting the human side of being fried to a crisp.

Though omitting the human side of being fried to a crisp.

Yep. Most war films fail in that respect.

#4aminsomniacpostregrets
#thrashingselfroundly

! I withdraw my complaints 😃 (except the quality of the CGI 😂)

Complaint upheld. Still waiting for some better clips. Nation of complainers relentless mockers and all that 😉

I get by now that my OP was shite (and even agree) but let’s instead have some of the best! Or is all of CGI just a bit rubbish?

#postclips

Nobody picked up on Jason and the Octonaughts? I'd like to see that.

Or is all of CGI just a bit rubbish?

Depends what it adds to the experience. Too much for the sake of it looks naff and cartoony. But some films are only possible due to cgi. But I look at the original Star Wars and for all its faults the special effects work and the ultra high tech cgi in the prequels don’t. Sometimes less is more and the human mind can easily fill in gaps so I don’t think special effects have to be too over the top....if there is a story to back it all up. Also actors playing to imaginary characters that are added in later in front of a green screen cannot act at their best as they have nothing to work off. It’s a difficult balance to strike.

Nobody picked up on Jason and the Octonaughts? I’d like to see that.

Well, I did - but guessed that it may have been an in-joke so thought better of responding for fear of further self-pwnage 😗

If no more eyepopping clip than the OP is forthcoming then at the very least we’ll always have Octonaughts and Space Batter.

Hmm, well it's good to see a director trying something different. How many tedious battle scenes have we seen? Putting a different perspective on it is great... but when I started watching, the bullets speeding/slowing just looked a bit crap. But then I watched to the END! Cos I wanted to see what else he'd do with it... like I mean we all want to see what a bullet does to someones head in slow-mo, don't we!? But nah. So, if anyone else thought he missed a trick, tag this on
[img] [/img]

Some of the older stuff show above is less CGI but more special effects.

Got to say a lot of model special effects are better imo but I am guessing are more expensive? Slower? Some reason CGI is heavily preferred in case when it could be either or.

Got to say a lot of model special effects are better imo but I am guessing are more expensive?

This was a major technological triumph in its day.

This was a major technological triumph in its day.

2 x ancient animatronic/special-effects and 1 x 1980s hand-drawn animation clips later 🙄

Are we working up to actual CGI clips? Or consensus is that the only ‘eye-popping‘ CGI is ‘no CGI?‘

as you insisted (sorry it's not 1080P though 😂). And yes, all other CGI is shite 😃 (altho Jurassic Park was alright when it first came out)

I want to say Babylon 5 but that only works if you're watching on an SD TV :p I remember the space battles being amazing (back in my teenage years), with all the cool organic looking ships. Watching stretched clips now and it looks pretty dire 🙁 Interesting background on the issue though https://www.engadget.com/2018-06-22-babylon-5-digital-video-quality.html

I used to spend my life filming things between 500 and 20,000 fps being blown up. Of course we only ever had dummies in the way but even so seeing what goes on inside a vehicle is pretty sobering.

I like this video, it shows you that CGI can be used without going mad but using it to enhance a scene

How about a full film of CGI?

Kingsglave is absoulty bonkers good, it fools your brain. The story is good too, which helps.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5595168/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Nobody’s mentioned CGI using motion-capture, especially when Andy Serkis is involved with it. Filming an actual human actor then using CGI to create a highly realistic character with all of the subtlety that the human brings to it, nuance of expression, movement, etc., Planet Of The Apes being a prime example.
Alita: Battle Angel is one of the best examples of motion-capture + CGI I’ve seen, because the actress playing Alita not only had markers on her body to track her movements, she had a framework around her head with small cameras mounted on it to record all of her expressions and tiny facial movements and textures, even down to her freckles and tiny scars.
Saw it in the cinema, and watched it again recently, as I’ve upgraded my Sky box to Sky Q for free, and got a better deal which included Sky Movies, and it still impressed the heck out of me, a technical extravaganza but with a real heart to it.