Movies Star Wars gets new films.

[cider_and_toast]

Anyone who suggests using CGI to accomplish the space scenes in this film should be kicked in the balls until they have three adams apples. One of the many, many, many things wrong with the pre-quals was the fact that they just looked absolute rubbish due to the CGI. One of the few good things about the originial films was that the CGI technology didn't exist at the time so it was down to outstanding model work and the creation of full size replica's which actually look realistic.

Two quick questions though.

1) How do X-wings fly in space given that their wings would be as much use as tits on a fish due to the lack of air?

2) How do they manage to get the laser beams to actually slow down so that you can see them? They are going at the speed of light you'd be hit before you even knew the other guy had fired and yet here you can see the beam and if you're really quick, dodge it.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

On the CGI question it was Industrial Light and Magic who were the front runners of bringing CGI to the big screen. One of the reasons for Disney buying lucasfilm was their roots in computer generated imagery.

Special effects have been a part of Star Wars since the beginning. It's natural that they will be a huge part of this next series of films but it's incredibly refreshing seeing an image like the one above knowing that they have the budget to spend on massive sets and hopefully they will just keep the CGI to be used on things that aren't possible in this galaxy and the space scenes.

 

[Greenlantern101]

I have tagged most of the cast can anyone help with the two on the couch with their backs to us.

 

[The Pits]

You missed off R2D2.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Kenny Baker is in the new film as well but I was rather hoping he hadn't been locked in R2D2 and was simply out of shot.

 

[gethinceri]

I think you've tagged Hamill as Serkis and Serkis as Lucas Greenlantern101.

 

[cider_and_toast]

The problem with CGI is that it just becomes the lazy way of achieving something. You only have to look at the difference between American Werewolf in London where John Landis managed to create the whole transformation sequence using realisitic special effects, and any subsequent werewolf film where it's zap flash ta'da werewolf.

 

[Road of Bones]

I don't think anyone who has worked in CGI would describe it as "lazy" cider_and_toast - it takes far more people far more time to produce a single sequence than by more "traditional" methods.

The problem with CGI in the past was that the artists were constrained by the tools they had at their disposal, and could never quite match up to the vision of the filmmakers. The prequel Star Wars movies were really just starting to push the boundaries of digital cinematography, but you only have to watch the LOTR trilogy to see how much better CGI became in a short space of time.

 

[Greenlantern101]

gethinceri you might be right. Its the nose.

 

[jez101]

Whichever, Luke is definitely going to be a baddie. He just looks like a tortured, lost soul.

Poor chap, especially when you see how Harrison Ford turned out.

 

[Titch]

Time has not treated him well.

 

[cider_and_toast]

You have a point Road of Bones. It's just me, I hate CGI. I don't think it looks realistic even if it is portraying something that is supposed to be a fantasy.

When writers had to temper their scripts by thinking ok, how would this actually look on screen, they had to think about it, then the designers were challenged to come up with it and make it look good.

Nowadays George Lucas can forget key aspects of story telling and just write a script that says, "I want a billion robots fighting a huge fight". In that respect it's lazy story telling.

I appreciate it takes a great deal of work to actually bring these visions to life but it's all wasted effort on me.

Bah humbug and all that.

 

[The Pits]

im with you. the story should be the focus, get the effects to support the story, not the other way round.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Yeah that is why that crap film The Day After Tomorrow, was a crap film it didn't have a bloody story to it, but it did have a bloody great ship going down a street in New York and telephones that worked underwater, so that's alright then..

 

[Greenlantern101]

I too have issues with said film.
http://cliptheapex.com/threads/the-worst-film-you-ever-saw.2036/page-28#post-243591

 

[Greenlantern101]

Filming is complete and episode VII has a title.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Happy Star Wars trailer day!

Teaser

This is not the trailer you're looking for......

Here's another one......

 

[Greenlantern101]

Ermahgerd

 

[Greenlantern101]

Another one.

 

[Dash Racing]

1) How do X-wings fly in space given that their wings would be as much use as tits on a fish due to the lack of air?

2) How do they manage to get the laser beams to actually slow down so that you can see them? They are going at the speed of light you'd be hit before you even knew the other guy had fired and yet here you can see the beam and if you're really quick, dodge it.

1) The wings are atmospheric stabilizers, supposedly, which, considering X-wings in the books can fly in atmosphere, at least provides some explanation. Now if they'd put the engines on the wingtips, you'd have a maneuverable little ship that could turn around its own axis very snappy, if you actually made a spacecraft that way. Also, how liberally do you want me to interpret 'tits on a fish'? Granted, manatees, whales and dolphins are aquatic mammals, not fish, but they do breastfeed underwater.

2) The reason - drama. It's like bullet-time - it's there to add tension and 'wow factor'.