To Fly... I Guess

[filkertom]

I would like to think the new Superman movie is gonna be good, but, man, I just don't know. At the Blue Tights Adventure Network you can see a video journal (#10) on how they're putting together the most sophisticated flying effects ever blah blah blah.

Two things leapt out at me (no pun intended).

First, they have a 3D model mockup of Superman, who looks way more muscular than Brandon Routh -- damn near Frank Miller.

Second, one of the SFX guys says they want everyone to see a given maneuver and think, "How'd they do that?" Which is certainly a lot of people are likely to say at any given visual. But, speaking for myself, I'd have thought that, rather than drag the audience out of the movie with the gosh-wow of their wonderful effects, the goal would be to use the visuals to keep everyone so into the story that they see a given maneuver and think, "Go, Superman, go!"

Is all I'm sayin'.

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

goal would be to use the visuals to keep everyone so into the story that they see a given maneuver and think, "Go, Superman, go!"


I'm right there with you. Couldn't tell you how many horror movies I wasn't horrified by, because I was sitting there going "Nice special effect!"

Special effects never substitute for a plot.

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

Did no one learn anything from the Lord of the Rings trilogy? They spent somethign like six months on the two Mumakil crashing into each other. I watched the film and believed that I was watching two Mumakil crashing; I didn't go, "Wow! That's a pretty darned impressive effect!"

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Heck, did they learn nothing from the Reeve Superman movies? The tag was "You'll believe a man can fly" not "You won't believe the special effects!"

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Those effects, nowadays, look incredibly cheesy -- but, at the time, even seeing the flaws, I bought into 'em... and they had a few shots, such as where he took off from the street, that did look so good you couldn't help but think, "Damn! That's -- that's Superman!"

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Actually, I treated myself to the Superman DVD recently, and the effects STILL look pretty damned good. As in, that looks like a REAL PERSON flying around up there, not some Scorpion King-esque CGI spooge-fest.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ah-yup. And, even though in these days of wrestling beefcake Reeve might seem kinda small to some, he was 6'4" and 225, and man did he look the part.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Actually, Reeve had to bulk up a little bit for the part -- he was seriously underweight when cast. And even on-screen, he wasn't exactly the Curt Swan Man o' Steel.

But for at least two generations, Reeve was Superman. Anyone playing the roll now will be compared to him, in the same way that Liam is held up against Alec Guinness.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

More than that, Jackson used special effects in service to the story, unlike some *cough*Lucas*cough* who use the story as an excuse to waive their CGI dicks around.

Most of the really nifty stuff in LotR was done with old-fashioned techniques -- models, forced perspective, and the like. Yes, I could tell when the CGI kicked in, and at those moments I remembered I was watching a movie. But the rest of the time...dammit, I believed Frodo was Hobbit-sized.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice the SFX in LotR as SFX at all (mind you, axylides did, and she's partially sighted now, so what that says about my eyesight I leave as an exercise for the reader). And I agree with you completely. If I ever meet Elijah Wood it's going to be a shock for both of us (as this six-foot-four person says "Wow...you're so tall!")

[gimmeahand.livejournal.com]

It doesn't say bad things about your eyesight, it says WONDERFUL things about your sense of wonder and ability to suspend your disbelief. :-)

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

ONE TIME SUPERMAN SAVED MY PUPPY AND THEN HE ACCIDENTALLY MELTED IT WITH HIS HEAT VISION SO HE GOT ME AN ICE CREAM CONE INSTEAD

-=ShoEboX=-

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

I'm hopefull for what I see in this short. They look like they are treating the flying effects seriously. The secret, like in "THE" Superman movie, will be to make them look seemless and effortless. I like in their little CG flight test footage that they take into account that when you're a human shaped object hurtling through the air, you effect the air around you.. kick up eddies and con trails.

I haven't been following "Smallville", just too many show to watch and not enough time. But I did seek out the episode where Clarke, possessed by his Kal El persona, flew. While it REAKED of "LOOK SPECIAL EFX" it was DAMN cool.

[cktraveler.livejournal.com]

Second, one of the SFX guys says they want everyone to see a given maneuver and think, "How'd they do that?"

I think what a lot of SFX designers don't realize is that, thanks to CGI, the very concept of "how'd they do that" is dead. I mourn it. One of the most magical moments of my life was seeing The Great Muppet Caper for the first time as an adult and suddenly realizing hey ... that's a crowd of marionettes riding bicycles around each other in circles outdoors.