We'll put in on the tin in post
March 3, 2013 4:05 PM   Subscribe

Before VFX (via)
posted by gwint (28 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would love to see a film with green screen aesthetics that the audience actually gets to see, sorta like the chalk lines in von Trier's DogVille.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:15 PM on March 3, 2013 [3 favorites]


It is odd to watch filming done in green screen. I was on set while they were filming a couple of the battle scenes in 300. The set was, basically, a basketball court size oval green screen room with the floor sculptured on an uphill slant with molded rocks, basically pretty barren. There was also a distinct lack of weapons and blood during the filming, a bit disappointing... About the only thing that wasn't CGI in that movie were the abs on the actors...those guys had worked out for 3 months prior to filming, they were BUILT!
posted by HuronBob at 4:18 PM on March 3, 2013


This shot from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 looks more frightening before CGI than it did afterwards.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:19 PM on March 3, 2013 [3 favorites]


I also kind of want to see this movie.
posted by RobotHero at 4:43 PM on March 3, 2013


Bob and Silent Jay Strike Back? Really? Would not have expected that.
posted by boo_radley at 4:50 PM on March 3, 2013


I am a complete nerd when it comes to this sort of stuff. I would also say that Suckerpunch might have been way better if they left it like Foci for Analysis suggested.

Seriously.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 4:56 PM on March 3, 2013


I would love to see a film with green screen aesthetics that the audience actually gets to see, sorta like the chalk lines in von Trier's DogVille.

Not exactly the same thing, but the awesome Holy Motors does include a motion-capture sequence where you see both the actors on-stage in their mocap suits and the crazy CG sex scene they're acting out.
posted by Mothlight at 5:05 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


A extended video version of the same glimpse behind the scenes: Building A Digital New York for The Avengers
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 5:07 PM on March 3, 2013


Ian McKellen ended crying in frustration trying to act against a dozen green-screen dwarves on the set of The Hobbit.
posted by octothorpe at 5:11 PM on March 3, 2013 [10 favorites]


Foci for Analysis, the "climactic showdown" in Star Trek:Insurrection appears to be an example of leaving the green screen (in this case a blue screen) visible in the final film. In this case I don't think it was an aesthetic choice so much as running out of budget during filming.
posted by AndrewStephens at 5:21 PM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


Aww there's something so poignant about the Ted image. I imagine the little robot, sitting in the sudsy bath, realizing that his stint as a stunt double means he'll never actually get screen time, and his close brush with fame only amounts to slowly rusting away in a tub, while Marky Mark and the bear get all the chicks. You can probably surmise that I didn't see the film...
posted by tractorfeed at 5:24 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


I would love to see a film with green screen aesthetics that the audience actually gets to see, sorta like the chalk lines in von Trier's DogVille.

It's not exactly a straight-faced take on the idea, but season one, episode ten of the (fantastically funny and awkward-on-purpose) Comedy Bang! Bang! television show is premised around green screen and CGI and the raw vs. VFX disparity and is hilarious. It's on Netflix instant, fwiw.
posted by cortex at 5:41 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


AndrewStephens: "Foci for Analysis, the "climactic showdown" in Star Trek:Insurrection appears to be an example of leaving the green screen (in this case a blue screen) visible in the final film. In this case I don't think it was an aesthetic choice so much as running out of budget during filming."

I re-watched that recently, and yeah it's pretty glaring. If it was intentional it was an appropriately bland climax to that film.
posted by brundlefly at 6:14 PM on March 3, 2013


While I was watching one of the Plinket reviews of the Star Wars movies, where he's going over how boring every shot is since they're all essentially actors standing stock still against green backdrops reciting dialog, I was thinking how much modern movie making is like avante-garde theater from the early 60s, where it's just actors and geometric primitives in single colors.

I agree that it'd be awesome to set a movie set in green-screen.

One idea would be some sort of found footage thing where actors are on a haunted soundstage (stay with me here) and they all die in inventive ways. Of course, this is all pre-VFX film, so we see them doing various bits of the movie, getting scared by ghosts, and then dying. You can have a great reveal partway through the movie where you think they've added effects to the film... but it's a ghost!

I also think it'd be cool to do a sci-fi murder mystery in a technologically advanced studio with green-screens that can project holographic sets for the actors. Something goes terribly wrong, the studio seals hermetically (to uh... protect the sensitive material that the set is made out of from outside air, why not) and people start dying as the set flickers and glitches through various settings.

Anyway, that's a great link. Thanks for posting it.
posted by codacorolla at 6:31 PM on March 3, 2013 [4 favorites]


I'm imagining a scene where a VFXed scene is revealed to be a green screen set with backing screens and green primitives. And then that scene is revealed to be VFX against a different green screen set. And again. And again. Eventually the set's perimeter regresses into the distance to the point where it becomes clear the the whole world, out to the horizon, is a giant chroma topography.
posted by cortex at 6:47 PM on March 3, 2013 [4 favorites]


The thing that gets me about VFX is that most audiences have no idea how much stuff is an effect.

This x1000. People lately have been focusing a lot on the heavy CGI action type movies (and for good reason because there is a lot of vfx work in them, and people would not seen those movies without it), but the reality is that there is a lot of vfx happening that isn't getting pointed out because it's "too small."
posted by dogwalker at 7:01 PM on March 3, 2013


One day a new talent will walk into the studio, get a voice sample taken, then a 3D scan, and the rest will be VFX. All of it will be CGI, and the stars will merely show up to premieres and awards for things they didn't do.

Meanwhile, an army of VFX "workers" in India/China are cranking out frame after frame of Avengers 3 on crappy Dell workstations for $5 an hour. Directors lend their name, but the shots and filming are all based on heuristics of past flims and carefully measured audience reaction data.

Eventually the system feeds in upon itself, until we're watching the same movie over and over again.
posted by hellojed at 7:37 PM on March 3, 2013 [2 favorites]


Eventually the system feeds in upon itself, until we're watching the same movie over and over again.
don't fret, for all you art types there's this thing that takes snippets of random 'cool people' twitters and twitter video clips and splices them into a surreal fuck it i can't do this anymore
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 8:07 PM on March 3, 2013 [7 favorites]


About the only thing that wasn't CGI in that movie were the abs on the actors...those guys had worked out for 3 months prior to filming, they were BUILT!

Those abs were pretty clearly accentuated with, you know, makeup. A lot of those actors were already in pretty fine visual shape, that three months before filming was more of a tune-up. Body Builders do similar things, as they go through a strenuous diet to bring out... whatever aesthetic that's called.

No dig into Gym Jones, or whatever, but if you'd like to look similar to that in "real" life, you're committed to years. And what's the point to look like that, without those muscles doing something?
posted by alex_skazat at 8:13 PM on March 3, 2013


hellojed: "...Eventually the system feeds in upon itself, until we're watching the same movie over and over again."

I saw a movie about that, once.
posted by symbioid at 8:29 PM on March 3, 2013


Here's more on animating Davy Jones' crew from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
posted by gottabefunky at 8:32 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


There's a green screen version of Sin City on youtube.
posted by jade east at 8:51 PM on March 3, 2013


I also kind of want to see this movie.

Here you go.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 10:01 PM on March 3, 2013


That's has far too much "after" not enough "before"

This is what I wanted, though.
posted by RobotHero at 11:29 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


hellojed: "One day a new talent will walk into the studio, get a voice sample taken, then a 3D scan, and the rest will be VFX. All of it will be CGI, and the stars will merely show up to premieres and awards for things they didn't do.

Meanwhile, an army of VFX "workers" in India/China are cranking out frame after frame of Avengers 3 on crappy Dell workstations for $5 an hour. Directors lend their name, but the shots and filming are all based on heuristics of past flims and carefully measured audience reaction data.

Eventually the system feeds in upon itself, until we're watching the same movie over and over again.
"

Nah, dey'll be all virtuul, wot? So they do a Pepper's Ghost at the award ceremony, and some clever jiggerypokery allows them to "receive" the awards from the presenters, who are old/unpopular/too moral to whore out likeness rights. And no one notices the trickery of the red carpet, as almost no one non-press is there (who are all piloting stuff like MantaroBots anyway) and everyone else is watching it on television/livestreams.) The audience is composited livestreams of the virtual glitterati. The "screaming crowds" outside are all generated by Massive - Fanboy Edition. The filth love it because there's no crowds to kettle or make a mess.

Later that same year, I am looking forward to seeing the biggest Occupy event ever - #OccupyTelepresence.
posted by Samizdata at 11:41 PM on March 3, 2013 [1 favorite]


octothorpe: "Ian McKellen ended crying in frustration trying to act against a dozen green-screen dwarves on the set of The Hobbit."

"Pretending you're with 13 other people when you're on your own, it stretches your technical ability to the absolute limits."

This was rightly quoted by Private Eye in the "Luvvies" section. Bless!
posted by chavenet at 2:54 AM on March 4, 2013


HuronBob: About the only thing that wasn't CGI in that movie were the abs on the actors...those guys had worked out for 3 months prior to filming, they were BUILT!
And wearing makeup to artificially define their muscles, as well.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:24 AM on March 4, 2013


I also think it'd be cool to do a sci-fi murder mystery in a technologically advanced studio with green-screens that can project holographic sets for the actors. Something goes terribly wrong, the studio seals hermetically (to uh... protect the sensitive material that the set is made out of from outside air, why not) and people start dying as the set flickers and glitches through various settings.

So, The Veldt?
posted by echo target at 12:47 PM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


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