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11-05-2004, 07:39 PM | #1 |
Wight
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The reality of special effects
I've seen a lot of movie making in my short-lived life, and I pretty much base a movie on how good of effects it has. I mean, just face the fact...a movie can have a great storyline, the best in the world, but the effects of the movie can just really mess it up completely. The Lord of the Rings, though, had both storyline and effects. It was the most remarkable movie I have seen! Just to explain further what I mean, here are different instances in the movie that show just how great PJ's team was at making this movie:
1. This was from a picture I had in a planner of mine from ROTK. The picture was a picture of Frodo as he and Sam are approaching Mt Doom. This picture is taken some time before Sam's line "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!". Anyway, it's an upclose picture of Frodo, looking very horrid with blood-shot eyes and grusome scaps and dirt everywhere. For one, the blood-shot eyes look extravagant! Great movie makeup there. But the part that really got to me was this scab of his on his neck. It's huge, wrapping around a whole half section of the right side of his lower neck. The chain on which the One Ring hangs is hanging there as well. The scab, for one, looks fresh, for the color is still an apple-red color. But part of the chain that carries the One Ring is actually sticking to the scab! It looks like blood has dried and stuck the chain to the wound as it dried. Part of the chain is red as if blood-stained as well! It's brilliant!! Usually I don't notice things like this, but it's an up-close, profile shot, and it's so realistic! 2. Might I add as well about that picture, the realistic effects to the fake ears! I'm not sure about Elves, but I know this is true about the Hobbits. In this picture, you can see tiny hairs on the ear tips. It's as if it was real human skin! That was great right there. 3. Then there's this up-close picture of Gollum. It's almost creepy how real it is! The different grooves in his chapped lips, and the wrinkles underneath his bulging eyes! They are so human-like that I just have to give special props to all of the CGI guys at WETA for that. This may sound stranged, but I feel sometimes like I'm looking into a soul when I look in Gollum's eyes! It's great. Well, those are just the few things I could pick out from the pictures in my planner, but every movie is filled with these amazing little effects, whether make-up or computer, that make the movies so much better! I never really realized it before just how great it was. This is just my brief viewpoint on it though. Has anyone else realized things like this that just struck you in awe?
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11-06-2004, 06:12 PM | #2 | |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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I would like to add to your list. The horses- In RotK, when we see Faramir and his men retreating from Osgiliath and the Nazgúl are "swooping in and knocking them down" the horses look extremely realistic! As Peter Jackson said, I can`t tell the difference between them and the real horses! This brings up something else. The Fell beasts (winged creatures that the Nazgúl ride upon). I thought looked great! When reading the books I could never get a clear picture of them. PJ and crew did an awesome job in designing the look of them. Nimrodel
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11-11-2004, 12:42 PM | #3 |
Shade of Carn Dûm
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: the Shadow Gallery
Posts: 276
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As one of the jaded members of the modern-day moviegoing public, I am sometimes not very impressed with anything less than Day After Tomorrow. But the one part in ROTK that just blew me to the ground was when they CG'd and used the miniature in partnership to portray Minas Tirith. I had been waiting to see Minas Tirith since FOTR, having adored the description of the seven walled parts, and when they panned up the city as Gandalf rode in, I almost died of happiness. It was just so magnificent.
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11-11-2004, 07:03 PM | #4 | |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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And yes, Minas Tirith was almost breath taking. I also loved how they did The Flooding of Isengard. Marvelous.
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11-12-2004, 07:16 PM | #5 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: The bottom of the ocean, discussing philosophy with a giant squid
Posts: 2,254
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I was pretty amazed at the quality of the visual effects in LOTR. Usually when I watch a movie, I can tell when something is digitally animated and when it's actual actors on stage. (Like in The Matrix Reloaded when Neo beats up the Smith clones with the metal pole)
However, in LOTR, the digitally animated sequences are so much like reality that it's almost impossible for me to distinguish them. Although I already knew Gollum was digitally animated, he looked just as real as Frodo and Sam and it was kind of hard to imagine him not really being there. And although I knew much of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was digital, I honestly could not tell where the actual actors and extras ended and the digital characters began. In conclusion, the reason that LOTR is so successful, at least to me, is that it combines one of the best storylines ever written with the most realistic graphics technology yet, a musical score that is one of the finest ever and fits the settings and events extremely well, and truly excellent acting and commitment from those involved. I think JRR Tolkien would have loved it.
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11-14-2004, 09:35 AM | #6 | |
Denethor's True Love
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Mirkwood. With Thranduil... *swoon*
Posts: 2,049
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As much as I tire of hearing how miraculous Gollum is, I do agree that at some moments he cannot be distinguished between CGI and a real character.
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'The Hobbit' 1st impressions: 1. Thorin is hot... Oh god, I fancy a dwarf. 2. Thranduil is hotter. 3. Is that... Figwit! 4. Does Elijah Wood never age? 2nd: It's all about Fili & Kili, really. 3rd: BARD! OMG, Bard. |
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