Beowulf. Digging the uncanny valley deeper
polycounter lvl 18
I believe, boys and girls, that this might be the very apitome of stupid Hollywood executive decisions. Behold the new champion for most incredibly pointless use of CG ever
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/beowulf/large.html
What the hell were they thinking? If you're going to use a digital scan and a mo-cap of the actor just use the fucking actor live action for christ sake.
With that all that said, I guess the movie itself might be ok.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/beowulf/large.html
What the hell were they thinking? If you're going to use a digital scan and a mo-cap of the actor just use the fucking actor live action for christ sake.
With that all that said, I guess the movie itself might be ok.
Replies
is the entire thing cg? the quality seems to vary wildly from scene to scene, and sometimes from actor to actor within the same scene.
grendel looks like a mummified gollum.
It looks acceptablely creepy to me. Reminds me of Final Fantasy spirits within.
the few frames of Anthony Hopkin character looked very similar to Dr Cid to me.
Why does Beowulf have a Frodo's sword when he's in the cave of Grendel's mother? It even glows blue!
is the entire thing cg
[/ QUOTE ]Yep. Zemeckis doesn't seem to have learned from the harsh criticisms he got for his previous CG movies.
granted i think it looks pretty stiff too, but there are some decent reasons to try this out, even when the results are still pretty mixed. the biggest critique would be for striving for near-photorealism, of course... why not put some stank on it?
animation aside, at least Neil Gaiman has a co-screenwriter credit. from the trailer, he seems to have reconfigured the Beowulf myth into something involving a sort of faustian deal... Beowulf as Grendel's mother-fucker? Grendel as some twisted spawn of Beowulf? probably worth a look for the writing (unlike Spirits Within).
I'll see it though...looks bad ass.
Don: "Fuck off, you're revolting. Look at your suntan, it's leather, it's like leather man, your skin. We could make a fucking suitcase out of you. Like a crocodile, fat crocodile, fat bastard. You look like fucking Idi Amin, you know what I mean?"
Well, these are concept movies. Zemekis has an idea, and he wants to do it. It's not a matter of what's maximally-effective or artistic or efficient or what makes sense, it's just a thing he likes to do, and he has the power to do it. There is more than enough room for this kinda thing.
(though I agree, it's a bit goofy-lookin')
It does look intriguing story wise. Uncanny Valley majorly though.
So incredibly stupid and excessive. We're in the 80's of CG here folks.
...and then this trailer. Ugh. My teeth were grinding through the entire thing. Instantly went from one of my more anticipated films to one that I'm terrified to watch.
Interested in how much the story has changed though.
I still think something like this is quite stupid to do in CG but the right facial animation would make it look a whole lot better. I just don't understand how they got it so wrong, did they film any actors or actresses, or just wing it?
I don't know if the movie was filmed live-action and then animated, it doesn't look it, but I hope it was... its pretty sad when someone with as fake a voice as Angelina is getting paid for voiceovers and likeness only, these are actors and if they can't actually act they aren't very effective except as star-appeal (and at a point star appeal can only go so far). What a waste... for the price of one mediocre movie you can make two good ones!
Use CG for action and live-action for emotional scenes... I cannot comprehend this decision or how this guy still gets money to make movies.
its the animation that gets me. motion capturing--it never looks as realistic as it 'should'...it ends up looking like a bad animation college's thesis reel.
well we're not getting out of the valley by not trying, are we?
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Exactly, thanks for saying this Gauss. Seriously, it may not be perfect, but if not for movies like this and people who make this kind of thing technology would not advance at the same rate. Maybe it doesn't look perfect, but atleast they are trying. I find that far more respectable than the attitudes of most of you who have commented thus far.
Though given that it is all cg some more stylization would be nice.
Interesting about Neil Gaiman writing though. I'll definitely be checking it out.
I also thought up an example involving the Challenger, but too many analogies in a post is like a billy goat with two peckers.
I have to agree just as pointless as Final Fantasy the movie which I think looked better btw
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Talking of which, looks like Dr. Sid gets a cameo role here!
It irks me greatly that the main character model has a certain style (or more likely naiivety) about him yet theyr're clearly going for photoZreal with other characters.
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I thought it looked pretty good except for the dead facial animation. Take a lesson from LotR, Pirates, etc., that film live actors and use that mocap for the CG models. Their faces are just so dead, like the only thing animating are some aim constraints.
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Actually Davy Jones' facial animations weren't motion captured, but handanimated using Bill Nighy's footage only as reference. The body motion was motion captured though.
There is a shot near the end of the trailer where the main character is screaming and THERE IS ALMOST NO CREASING IN HIS FACE. Bad art plain and simple.
Beowulf as Grendel's mother-fucker? Grendel as some twisted spawn of Beowulf?
[/ QUOTE ]I suppose this qualifies as a spoiler for those not up on their quasi-Nordic mythologies.
I don't know the story all that well, but from what I remember the titular character fights Grendel, tears of his arm and then chases him to his undersea cave. Grendel dies and Beowulf meats his mother who he then has sex with. I'm not sure where it goes from there. I think Maybe Beowulf has to protect the monster mummy from other warriors or some such.
the inconsistency is just really wierd, perhaps the team just couldnt keep such a high level of quality going for the whole project?
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Looking at it again more closely, my guess is that they had scan data as reference for some of the major characters (Jolie in particular) but in not using Ray Winstons likeness for Beowulf, ended up with something that felt a lot less realistic than the other characters.
That's an incredibly accurate Jolie model, and it doesn't sit well in the scene next to Beowulf to me.
I don't like Zemeckis, hated Polar Express, and this whole thing doesn't gel for me, but I think it's doing it a disservice to deny that there is some impressive computer graphics happening in places here, particularly if watching in HD.
The only problems with the presentation are animations and consistency (shaders and lighting look great in one scene, shit in another). I hope they cleaned it up a bit since they made this trailer. Regardless, I'll watch it in theaters.
And i personally belive that there is huge future for relistic looking 3d movies.
Looking at the prices of actors i can see why anyone would prefer to use CG alternatives... specially when it comes down to showing skin, it's like you pay from every square centimeter of skin.
And hey, you don't have to worry about CG not blending properly with the real world elements.
I like the *idea* of this movie - a full CG Beowulf. It's the execution I have a problem with.
Watching the trailer, seeing what I later learned to be ray winstone and initially thought looked like a mangled sean bean ( had been drinking, it was 1am), seeing his name come up in the credits, rewinding while 'wtf' runs through my mind before realization sets in... pretty funny in hindsight.
So yeah , peace of shit, walk away.
Mal:Shite, now I need to watch Sexy Beast again
r.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/beowulf-gameplay-screens-unveiled-282593.php
Kinda cross between God of War and Overlord by the look of things.
Why doesn't he just fucking shit all over it?
And you know;
Tell them that it's SPECIAL EFFECTS.