I recently subscribed to Cinefx because i cannot read enough and I had enjoyed it in the past when a friend who worked in the visual fx industry gave me a stack of old ones... ANYWAY I was reading the latest one and looking at fx/animation stills from Transformers 2, GI JOE, the new Harry Potter movies and more furry animal bullshit..... AND THE VISUAL FX/COMPOSITING SUCKED! I couldn't believe it?!?! I don't watch these kids of films but the work was not only derivative and cliche...it was HORRIBLE! Technically it wasn't even well done... I mean as much as I hate Hollywood films they always had a technical edge but after looking at these stills I think they technical edge is gone now because I see much higher quality stuff online done by regular peoples... done by "amateurs"... maybe my eye just has gotten that much better but I was shocked at the crappy quality of the work...
The work I was looking at in Cinefex was so derivative the stills from Transformers 2 were literally taken out of other visual fx films like they were exact copies from shots that were in Minority Report and that awful terminator sequel with the female terminator... So originality GONE and then the comps were BAD... they were missing all the little nuances that good artists would add to the shots IF THEY CARED... now what I'm saying is that the professionals working on these films have mad skills BUT since they work for douchebags on derivative, vapid, trite VOMIT that they call "movies" they dont care...so they put no effort... no love into they work...
The stuff from the new harry potter films was gaWD awful... it looked like they using After Effects filters from 2001... bland and generic CG clouds... uninspired, fake looking magic beam fx... really fake, flat looking comp of live actor into cg scene... I mean do people just accept this crap these days? What the fawK are they doing with those bajillion dollar budgets? Because its not going into the look...
Like for example... NOT everything in the real world is perfectly clean... it takes work to take props and sets both digital and cg look dirty... yeh effort is required BUT it really adds to a film worlds reality... watch films from the 60's 70's and 80's... the filmmakers probably put the work in to make things like dirty and real but these days everything is spotless... pay attention next time you watch a film... these days I dont think the filmmakers care... they are in too much of a hurry doing whatever they do to add these touches...
NOW we "amateurs" love our work and we believe in it because it is OURS so we will add the extra detail and love... and thats what is making for higher and higher quality "amateur" work... So over time as we get better and they get worse... there will a point when we "amateurs" as a whole will pwn the world in most all aspects of life... AND I believe a lot of "professionals" will get fed up and join the ranks of UN-professionals as well...
So if your a nobody like me and are feeling sorry for yourself because you think you cannot make "professional" looking films etc because you don't have the money or the big fancy uninspired crew to back you up... stop kidding yourself and get to work!
The work I was looking at in Cinefex was so derivative the stills from Transformers 2 were literally taken out of other visual fx films like they were exact copies from shots that were in Minority Report and that awful terminator sequel with the female terminator... So originality GONE and then the comps were BAD... they were missing all the little nuances that good artists would add to the shots IF THEY CARED... now what I'm saying is that the professionals working on these films have mad skills BUT since they work for douchebags on derivative, vapid, trite VOMIT that they call "movies" they dont care...so they put no effort... no love into they work...
The stuff from the new harry potter films was gaWD awful... it looked like they using After Effects filters from 2001... bland and generic CG clouds... uninspired, fake looking magic beam fx... really fake, flat looking comp of live actor into cg scene... I mean do people just accept this crap these days? What the fawK are they doing with those bajillion dollar budgets? Because its not going into the look...
Like for example... NOT everything in the real world is perfectly clean... it takes work to take props and sets both digital and cg look dirty... yeh effort is required BUT it really adds to a film worlds reality... watch films from the 60's 70's and 80's... the filmmakers probably put the work in to make things like dirty and real but these days everything is spotless... pay attention next time you watch a film... these days I dont think the filmmakers care... they are in too much of a hurry doing whatever they do to add these touches...
NOW we "amateurs" love our work and we believe in it because it is OURS so we will add the extra detail and love... and thats what is making for higher and higher quality "amateur" work... So over time as we get better and they get worse... there will a point when we "amateurs" as a whole will pwn the world in most all aspects of life... AND I believe a lot of "professionals" will get fed up and join the ranks of UN-professionals as well...
So if your a nobody like me and are feeling sorry for yourself because you think you cannot make "professional" looking films etc because you don't have the money or the big fancy uninspired crew to back you up... stop kidding yourself and get to work!
I always secretly laugh to myself when I see the default preset of 'trapcode shine' in a comp... and it turns up more often than you'd think...
ReplyDeleteThe best fx I've seen in a movie lately were in the film 'The Fountain' (one of my top 10 favs too...) And that's because the fx were done with practical fx: chemical reactions filmed through a microscope...
I still think that the real models they built for the original star wars movies look infinitely better than any CG model I've ever seen, for the same reason. Now I'm obviously a fan of 3D animation, but only when it's stylized.. non photoreal technique FTW.
Whatever... indie filmmakers and animators are going to destroy the film 'industry' the same way the music industry is no longer necessary.
Back issues of cinefex from the 80's & 90's are tremendously inspiring - particularly those featuring Rick Baker or 'The Deadly Spawn' -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7MnrcDpDpA
Ya current animation standards don't impress me much..Pixar is pretty much the only mainstream animation ppl I still like..
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to notice it's not just movies that are starting to become more independent. gaming is too with things like xbox market place and wiiware and stuff indie games are getting more notice and of course they have the internet too..
And there already seems to be alot of indie music stuff.
I tell ya the main prob that I see is that all these high marketed ppl are stealing the spotlight from the true talent..They need to get off the stage already.
If you wanna see truly bad cgi, look through every film from Roland Emmerich.
ReplyDeleteIt's not an artist's fault. Cause in the movie they work with douchebag Video Engineers that basiclly ruin your whole life with "You can't do that! Standarts and rules don't allow that!". The indie film makers,i believe,will make them feel the wrath of true art!
ReplyDelete