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Feb
21
VFX talk reactions
What I thought was really interesting was how much work Knoll and Legato do to actually avoid CG, not because they don't like it as a medium but merely because there are still better ways to do some things. The tactics they end up using are amazingly imaginative, from small scale (ha!) models to re-enacting scenes with cheaper materials/tools, like Legato using a fire extinguishers to simulate the Apollo 13 launch, or renting a helicopter and filming someone throwing a capsule out of it repeatedly for the Apollo 13 re-entry. It's an art all in itself, how to visually trick the camera/audience into thinking it's seeing something that never actually happened and it's gratifying to know that older forms of special effects have not been made totally obsolete by our progress with CG.
(this goes along with how I noted that theatre special effects for the Wicked musical were so much more appealing to watch than the same old explosions on screen. plus, it makes shows like Mythbusters viable and we all love Mythbusters. >_> )
I'm also impressed by how much freedom artists in these positions still appear to have, despite being pinned by the Hollywood glare. The bit that Legato showed us about emulating other artists was especially entertaining, seeing how he had researched Scorsese's The Color of Money and tried to imagine how he would cut together a sequence of the Apollo 13's launch. I also really enjoyed the Hitchcock ad, which really felt in the style of an old Hitchcock film (not that I've seen very many)... in mood and even visual quality of the picture itself.
