#learn cgi and vfx

[frameboxxbarrackpore]

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[official-lucifers-child]

please correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe that the belief "cgi is bad" is a bit more nuanced than a repackaged "digital art isn't real art"?

vfx workers only JUST unionised, meaning that before then, studios were able to heavily exploit and overwork them, which more often than not created shoddy cgi jobs that were obvious, uncanny, or just not up to the same standards of practical effects. because of that, cgi has gotten an overall bad reputation of being comparably worse quality than practical effects.

if you compared a lord of the rings movie with a more modern marvel movie, there are a HUGE bunch of differences that affect how you perceive the movie. the cgi can feel flat, obviously fake, and awkward, whereas in say the fellowship of the ring, you perceive the shire as real because it literally was.

from an acting standpoint, it's also a lot more rewarding to talk to a real thing rather than a greenscreen block or rubber ball. i mean, we've all heard about sir ian mckellen's breakdown on the set of the hobbit because he was talking to nothing and nobody, and it would all be edited in afterwards. i'm not going to say that cgi and greenscreen effects should be completely trashed, but there should be a better balance between "real" effects and edited effects, if only for the benefit of the actors.

the way to change people's minds is to support the unions and support movies that utilise cgi in a cohesive, safe manner (safe meaning that the actors and workers are able to fulfil their jobs without ridiculous hours or undue stress) and integrate practical effects where cgi is unnecessary (like using puppets and the like)

i'm really sorry if this is preachy, i just feel strongly about this as both an actor and a watcher of movies. yes, the "cgi is bad" crowd can be overwhelming, yes it's frustrating if/when they dismiss cgi as bad simply because it's "not real", but yes, it's more nuanced than just that.

kinda sucks that 'cgi bad' is the prevalent opinion about special effects in films these days

[centrally-unplanned]

Got linked to these very good videos recently on all the fake branding around "No CGI" and "Practical effects" in big budget movies today - as is no shock to anyone virtually every single claim of "no CGI" in a movie today is just a complete lie (Oppenheimer is the only debatable exception). Jonas is a very good presenter, he respects your intelligence and has a breadth of cinema knowledge that makes this series more than its headline.

Something that I thought was interesting that he alluded to was a cool industry shift that has occurred around the ease of special effects meaning that people involved don't even know they are happening. If you were an actor in a movie in ~2010, and a shot was a "VFX" shot, you would see greenscreens/bluescreens, you would see rigging equipment, you would maybe wear a mocap suit or tracers or something. You yourself had VFX skills, you were part of the project. And audiences learned that too, they learned to expect to see bluescreens or behind-the-scenes footage of those things.

But that is increasingly outdated now - still used for ease or specific shots, sure, but its not necessary. You can completely redo the backgrounds, build rig models for actors, clone objects from the frame, and so on just from the native footage, the tech is that good. So you will sometimes shoot a scene and it will look normal to you, and then be changed in post, you don't even know. At one point he tangents to discuss how marketers will lie about the actors "doing their own stunts", which seems credible to audiences because they know that for stunts you do things like hiding the actor's face or having specific cuts to mask the actor switch. But they don't have to do that anymore! You can just composite the actor's face onto the body of the stunt double, and you don't notice. That old "trick" you had to tell isn't functional, and being used *against* you.

It really reminds me of Dan Olsen's idea of "Bakshi's Vision", where the distinction between an animated film and a live action film becomes too blurry even bother with. Obviously that won't become literally true, but you can see the shape of it more and more.

[xplore-the-unknwn]

I am so infuriated at the missed potential and opportunity for the AVP franchise!!!

We already had Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey to show us how successful this concept can be if delivered perfectly. And now they had an animated show in production that was cancelled. AN ANIMATED SERIES COME ON!!

It would have fit so well for the AvP aesthetic and action scenes. It would also give the opportunity to expand more of their lore. Shouldn’t that be the goal? Its what the animated Clone Wars and Star Wars:Visions is doing for the Star Wars Franchise!! Do they even want to make films anymore at this point??

I am just disappointed on and on at the current decisions that Disney is doing- Shelving and cancelling shows before they even see the light of day, not giving proper environment for their writers and CGI/VFX artists to be able to create and craft a well-written story.

They’re not making films for the audience or making films for Art’s sake anymore. Its all CAPITALISM now.

I just hope with every fire in my heart that the AVPverse gets out of Disney’s greedy hands and in the hands of a Studio that would LOVE and care for its universe, respect its characters-

Give us a unique Yautja that loves art! And is amused when he sees some paintings in Paris or hears an opera house on his first hunt on Earth!

Give us an animated episode of a Yautja on a hunt for Bad Bloods during Edo Period Japan!

Show us Yautja brothers in the beginning of their training and how they learn the values of an honorable hunter!

Take us to their homeworld, give us an aspiring Yautja matriarch who is eager to learn about their culture and their history with the Xenomorphs!

I just wish someone with the power and money would give so much love to this franchise because there is so much to tell and expand!

[delopsia]

Update: I was slightly wrong on the specifics; Wabang's hard-to-see map places it about an hour East of Grand Teton! Click here to find that explanation.

A question I commonly hear floating around is this.

Where the hell is Wabang located?

My obnoxious answer? Grand Teton, Wyoming.

Let me convince you.

It's not outright stated in the show, but the mountains we occasionally see in the background are the Grand Tetons. We learn this via a CGW article stating that CGI was used to add them in post-production. This article also details a lot of the subtle changes the team made to the show; it's a fun read.

Sidebar: if you're interested, Outpost VFX has this incredible post detailing some of their CGI work for the show!

An iconic feature of the Grand Teton mountains is the T.A. Moulton Barn, with the Tetons perfectly backdropped behind it.

Now look at the Abbott barn.

Look familiar? It's not identical, but one could argue that it's heavily inspired by the T.A. Moulton Barn.

Is the background a bit different? Yes. But those are almost certainly the Tetons behind the Abbott house.

Which leads me to believe that Wabang is located close to, if not within, the Teton mountain ranges.

They have the backdrop, they have the barn, and the otherworldly, alternate universe aspect makes it possible that in this world, an early generation of the Abbotts built this iconic barn, and it is still in use.

Meaning that Wabang, Wyoming, is likely set to be right here, in the Northwestern region of the state.

This also implies that for Rhett to have gotten this jacket (assuming he attended the event himself and didn't buy it secondhand), he drove roughly 430 miles (or 860, round trip) to participate in a Rough Stock labor day rodeo in White Sulphur Springs, Montana.

I can't figure out if the jacket is dated 2016 or 2018, but regardless, that's a hell of a fucking drive for a rodeo. Talk about some dedication.

Anyways, thank you for joining another tin hat episode from yours truly, I'll be here all week 💃

[jimpluff]

some collected thoughts on generational/technological fandom divides regarding the Godzilla series

These points are in response to a discussion noting that there is an influx of fans who love Godzilla but basically just the Monsterverse version and have no interest in the Toho films.

I'd argue that Minus One falls on the Monsterverse side of the divide for many. Yes, there are a lot of morons who won't sit through it, but I think "Oscar-winning VFX" and the simple, emotional story make it palatable to the general Hollywood-consumer. It's a very Hollywood film at the end of the day, even if the Hollywood it learned from is a better one of decades past.

Shin Godzilla, although realized through CGI, was much more consciously imitating the suitmation era. You can see this through-line in all of the Shin films--even "Shin Evangelion," the last of of the Rebuild of Eva films (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (Japanese: シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版𝄇, Hepburn: Shin[a] Evangerion Gekijōban𝄇, lit. 'Shin Evangelion Theatrical Edition: 𝄇') which featured faux tokusatsu scenes as part of the metafictional climactic battle.

Anno and Higuchi ultimately went with CGI, but as fans know well, they did build an animatronic. Anno is a life-long lover of Japanese special effects, and his Shin series pays tribute to that. Yamazaki is a digital native and arguably the first Japanese Godzilla director of the true CGI era.

re: Yamazaki and the question of Japanese influence

[Godzilla Minus One is] almost totally removed from the Legendary series and contemporary Hollywood, yes, but I'd say it's as inspired by '70s-'80s Hollywood, especially Spielberg, as it is by Japanese sensibilities.

The main thing I'm getting at is the aesthetic sensibility of the effects is much more in line with contemporary Hollywood, whereas the Shin films, though they used CGI, attempted to recreate the feeling of the older shows and films. I don't sense Yamazaki looking back aesthetically, even if he is looking back historically.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

Phase 4, the first post-Endgame phase of the MCU, has been a bit of a mixed bag for a lot of people, but I don’t honestly think that’s totally on the quality of the films and shows themselves. While there are some real mid films there are some genuinely great entries, ones like Shang Chi, Werewolf by Night, Wakanda Forever, and No Way Home. And even the more lackluster entries still have some genuinely good things to offer; I’m no fan of Eternals or Black Widow, but they definitely have some great aspects that justify them existing. The real issue, I feel, is how quickly Phase 4 was churned out; in nearly two years the amount of MCU entries has almost doubled, and with that much flooding us all at once cracks begin to show and people who were once more charitable towards flaws will become exhausted and stop overlooking them.

That left She-Hulk: Attorney at Law in an incredibly unenviable position, and one that only worsened as it continued to air. I mean, releasing a trailer that has effects that look unfinished at best is bad enough. But to then have to release while reports of VFX artist abuse start pouring out? This show soon became the butt of various jokes, the subject of obnoxious clickbait videos about how the MCU is woke trash, and gave people fuel to contribute to the fire that is the myth of “superhero fatigue.”

The discourse surrounding the show definitely killed my interest for a long while, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have let it do that; as we’ll get into later, the backlash to this has undertones as scummy as the ones that helped tank a certain Joel Schumacher superhero movie. With all that in mind, it’s easy to assume it’s not really that bad… so this time the question is more, “Is this show any good?”

THE GOOD

Unsurprisingly, Tatiana Maslany carries this show on her back. Jen is such a charming, awkward, likable character in her hands, and she sells her every single moment of the show. It would have been really easy to fuck this up considering the distracting CGI sometimes muffles her performance a bit, but Maslany manages to shine through even in the weaker moments.

The expansion of the Hulk mythos is welcome, especially after the characters spent the past three phases on the backburner. The big winner here thanks to this spotlight isn't even Bruce, though; no, it's Emil Blonsky, AKA Abomination, who makes a glorious return as a major character asking Jen to help him get parole. He's just a really hilarious and cheerful guy, long past his villain days, and when he gets out he seems to genuinely be a changed man. Dude even becomes a self-help guru leading a class of other villains in redeeming themselves. It also helps that when he turns into his monster form, the effect is one of the better ones in the show.

The guest star characters are all a lot of fun. Bruce's appearance is a bit of a mess (which I'll get into below), but I don't think seeing Mark Ruffalo is a bad thing even at his worst. Wong is, of course, absolutely fantastic, and even Jen lampshades how much everyone loves the guy. But best of all is when Matt Murdock shows up in the penultimate episode, and gets to crack a few jokes, kick a few asses, and bang Jen like the true Chad that he is. How they managed to make such a cute, believable romance that you can't help but root for in a single episode is absolutely astounding, and considering the shit Jen and Matt go through on a regular basis it’s just so refreshing to see.

While she sadly ends up a bit underutilized, Jameela Jamil's take on She-Hulk archnemesis Titania is a lot of fun. Here, she's imagined as an over-the-top evil influencer (redundant, I know) who just goes out of her way to be a petty bitch to Jen for no good reason. The fact we never learn any backstory about her and the fact she remains as an unrepentant asshole throughout all her appearances makes her a hell of a lot of fun as a bad guy. I wouldn't call her one of the greats like Killmonger or High Evolutionary, but she's still a very enjoyable foe for the type of show this is.

I love how this show isn’t afraid to dig deep into the well of Marvel characters to throw in some obscure faces to spice things up. I think that’s one thing the shows have done consistently well, elevating lesser-known characters into the limelight, so it’s nice to see an entire episode revolve around Leap-Frog of all characters and for the Wrecking Crew to show up and get their shit wrecked. Blonsky’s little villain therapy session is a wealth of D-listers; how many people were aware Man-Bull and Porcupine were a thing before this, let alone that Saracen is a combination of two villains with the same name (one of whom is actually a vampire)? The average person isn’t like me, trolling through wiki articles looking for obscure supervillains to obsess over, so it’s nice to see them get utilized even in a minor way. The only one I can see people bristling at a bit is Mr. Immortal, who is quite the opposite of his comic counterpart, but in my opinion he’s the Great Lake Avenger I’m least bothered that they changed; if it was Flatman, Big Bertha, or (God forbid) Squirrel Girl I’d probably be angrier. At any rate, this show is clearly not afraid to give wacky minor villains a role, so I’m half expecting season 2 to include Jen’s enemy Dr. Bob Doom, the more famous Doom’s distant relative who’s an envious evil dentist who wants to conquer the tri-state area.

The very best thing about this show, beyond cameos and weird characters and whatever else, is just the fact that it’s a very down-to-earth story about a woman who just wants a little bit of control and happiness in her life. Jen’s goals are relatable—she wants to do the job she loves, hang with her friends, and maybe find a nice guy who likes her for who she is—and a lot of the issues she faces as she tries to accomplish these are the sort of things women have to deal with on a regular basis. Obviously these things end up being filtered through a Hulk-green lens, but I’m sure a lot of women can relate to some of Jen’s struggles. Hell, the big bads of the show are incels who make revenge porn of Jen because they don’t think she’s worthy of her skills, and goad her into losing her cool so that she’ll be the one vilified and have her life ruined… It’s pretty obvious but effective, and it makes the moment where she forces the narrative to right itself to give her control in her own story a really great bit of wish-fulfillment.

THE BAD

The first episode is ROUGH. It’s a showcase of the poor special effects that made this show infamous, particularly the “She-Hulk clap” scene, though honestly her entire fight with Bruce is pretty bad. The way she gets her powers is ridiculously contrived and goofy, especially compared to her more lowkey origin in the comics (they really couldn’t have just done a blood transfusion here?). The worst moment of it all, though, is when Jen mansplains controlling your anger to Bruce. You know, the fucking Hulk?

This does end up highlighting a big issue with the Hulk, though it’s not really the show’s fault: Hulk is the major hero the MCU has dropped the ball on the most. A lot of this has to do with the issue with the film rights, as Marvel can’t use him in solo films, but the fact that after Joss Whedon’s movies all of Bruce’s character development happened offscreen between films and all his tragedy and complexity was dropped in favor of making him “big green wacky science guy” is unbelievably lame. It leads to a lot of the moments in this first episode falling flat, especially the ones where Bruce reminisces about Tony. And then there’s Bruce being surprised Jen doesn’t have a different personality as a Hulk, implying to me that Bruce’s tragic backstory and DID are written out (if he had DID he’d know Jen probably wouldn’t get it from a car accident). It’s a shame because Ruffalo is great as the character when he gets the chance to be, but it’s to the point now where I wasn’t sad that he was barely in the show. At least there’s hope for the future given the ending and upcoming movies set to feature Hulk and his supporting cast, so maybe we’ll finally be able to say someone who isn’t a massive creep really gets the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant.

Anyway... I really don't want to harp on the effects too much, but they are pretty subpar. Still, it was around the time these episodes were dropping that the stories of employee abuse and crunch time and all that were coming out, so it's not easy for me to be overly harsh considering the working conditions the VFX artists had to endure. I will say this: The jokes about how expensive the effects were in the final episode feel a little more tasteless in light of that.

Speaking of the final episode, while it's a funny use of a deus ex machina to resolve a ludicrous plotline and while I find it hilarious they lampoon how formulaic Marvel can get, She-Hulk smashing the fourth wall comes a bit out of left field because of how little they really build up her fourth wall-breaking abilities. Like yeah, she addresses the audience at the start and end of her episodes, but because of how episodes are paced it doesn't feel quite as fleshed-out as when Deadpool makes those same sorts of jokes in his movies. I wish they'd spent more time building up to that finale throughout the series, maybe have her do little things here and there beyond just talking to the viewers. It's not the biggest complaint in the world, and it wasn't a dealbreaker, but I didn't find the ending quite as satisfying as it could've been.

Ultimately though, the biggest flaw I think this show has is just that by its very nature it's not going to appeal to everyone. It's a goofy slice of life comedy, and in a franchise known for over-the-top action and adventures the story is very grounded and most of the action that shows up here sucks. It's not something that appeals to the average MCU fan, is what I'm saying, and while that doesn't make it inherently bad (we could use more variety in these films, after all) it does make this a bit of a hard sell.

THE UGLY

It is embarrassing I even have to address this, but unfortunately this was the biggest controversy the show had. You see, there is a post-credit scene where She-Hulk twerks with Megan Thee Stallion. This scene, which is maybe thirty seconds long (with only maybe ten of those being twerking) became the thing people would point at to call the show stupid and awful.

Let me be clear here: This joke is meant to be dumb and cringey. There is literally a shot of Jen’s boss walking away in embarrassment upon seeing this. And beyond that, Jen is a cringey person. That’s why she’s so likable in the first place! So it’s not even like this is out of character.

But ignoring all that, this is literally a post-credit scene, and getting mad at those is lamer than a twerking joke could ever hope to be. And if nothing else it’s still better than that shitty mid-credit scene in Multiverse of Madness.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

I have no fucking clue what everyone’s problem with this show is.

Like, okay, I can’t deny this show isn’t for everyone. It has a rocky start, its special effects aren’t the best, and it is different from the rest of the MCU in that it’s just low-stakes slice of life comedy (at the insistence of the main character). The villains are mostly down-to-earth threats that happen to have powers, and the main focus is on comedy arising from the weird situations Jen gets into by being a lawyer who is also a Hulk. But with the amount of sheer vitriol this show’s existence managed to generate, you’d think this show killed someone’s grandma.

I genuinely think this has to be motivated by misogyny. Like this show is perfectly harmless, completely fine, average at worst, and yet it has the single worst score of anything in the MCU. You cannot look me in the eye and tell me this is worse than Thor 2 and 4, Iron Man 2,  or even Age of Ultron—and that’s just if we’re looking at the weaker MCU films and not the superhero genre as a whole. The fact that most (but not all) of the criticisms for this show are just really unfounded and show a lack of even the most cursory knowledge about the source material it draws from combined with the fact the final challenge of the show is overcoming a cabal of incel nerds furious at the mere existence of a female superhero (the sort of parody of real life toxicity in comic fandoms these so-called fans constantly bristle at) really just highlights how nerds won’t be beating the misogyny accusations any time soon. I guess women are only okay in Marvel properties when they’re supporting male leads or are viciously murdering scores of innocents so she can sacrifice a teenager to bring her Sims to life.

I’m not usually one to shout “Bigotry!” when something has a low score (the only time I can think of where I linked bigotry to poor reception was with Batman & Robin), but I just really can’t see any other way to comprehend this score being what it is. There is nothing this show does so poorly that it warrants a score anywhere in the 5s, and I’ve gotta believe the score is simply the result of review bombing. Then again, this superhero media dared to show things that women go through in real life via a superhero lens instead of shoehorning in Jesus imagery and having the conflict be resolved by Jen and Titania’s mommies having the same name, so I guess it can’t be that good.

But again, let me stress that disliking this show doesn’t inherently make someone misogynistic. This show has its issues, and even I feel like a lot of the story elements and effects could have been handled a lot better, so it’s not like I’m trying to convince you all this is some unsung masterpiece. If you don’t like this show for a reason that isn’t “I hate women superheroes,” that’s fine! What I’m trying to point out here is that this initial score reeks of malicious intent, and I honestly don’t feel people really gave this show a chance because of the initial low audience scores.

Realistically this show deserves something around 6.6 - 6.9. It’s a solid enough show, but there’s no denying that even in its genre it is an extremely niche entry that’s not going to have the same widespread appeal as some of the other shows. If you can get on board with the concept and can stomach a rough pilot and some weak visual effects, there’s a sweet, amusing story about a woman just trying to live her life here that’s honestly refreshing in a sea of “save the world” plots.

Of course, it could definitely improve with a second season. And the best way to do that? Make Spragg the Living Hill the big bad.

[jennilah]

I think you're in the right to have a rant! It's shitty how undervalued CGI is as an art form. You do amazing work. I'm absolutely blown away by what was shown on your 2023 reel.

oh thanks! like, its not about what should be used, you can go argue with the director and producers about that. its not about whats better, either- the entire video series details all of that already, Im not going to repeat it. i implore you, they are very good and worth watching.

but people really do learn something was CGI and its on-sight. the only department on a movie that i can think of where the hip cool thing is to tear it apart simply because it exists

even if the effects are done well- they see Godzilla and know its CG and therefore its just bad and will never be as good as the movies with the rubber suits. those ones had heart, you know (you know, the ones that people called corny and stupid and juvenile for decades but now have rose tinted glasses for? You see what Im getting at..?)

i forgot to link it, but this is an oldie but a goodie. This video ran so Jonas' video essay series can SPRINT.

(However I think they both make different points. This one is about how the public tends to turn a blind eye to iffy and aged VFX when its a truly excellent film with a great story, just as you do with movies with bad practical effects. Jonas' series is more about the current trend of completely erasing and minimizing VFX workers' work because its now being treated like a dirty shameful secret and how its creating a very, very bad feedback loop for everyone- both the audience and artists)

[agentem]

State of the MCU

There's a lot of thinkpieces and YouTube videos about how the MCU is "over" or "damaged goods" after Secret Invasion.

Obviously they are trying to distract us from this talk by dropping the Loki (one of the good MCU shows) trailer today.

I think there are several different lessons to be learned by some of the failures or missteps of this period of "too much Marvel."

They went from doing three movies a year, to doing, well, a lot more content. I don't actually think that Marvel is "running out" of content. There are so many characters and storylines that have not even been touched on.

But I think Marvel got a bit excited about what it could do, without thinking about the hows of actually making the content. For example, during She-Hulk we heard from VFX artists that were overworked and underpaid that there just weren't enough hours in the day for them to make all these shows and movies. Clearly, someone at the top did not take that into consideration when greenlighting all the shows.

I think the disconnect between WandaVison and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed limitations in the production schedules of the various properties. The time making a show is different from making a movie. And it led to some disconnect between where the audience was and where the narrative was going.

I also think a lot of things were greenlit as a good idea without them being fully fleshed out. Secret Invasion is probably one of them. I hear Echo is another. (Feige called it "unreleaseable" which makes me wonder how bad it was, since he clearly thought Secret Invasion WAS releasable.)

Hopefully in the future they will settle into some kind of release schedule (for example it was a big deal when Marvel went from two movies a year to three and then they really seemed to have three a year down in the 2018 period). I don't know exactly how many shows they can add to that.

In 2021, we got four live action shows and 1 animated show. In 2022 we had three live action shows. And we are supposed to get three in 2023.

For the shows, I think maybe two a year is a good amount, to give the writers (Pay your writers, Disney!) and the entire team enough time to work (pay for VFX artists too!). And if you can produce two quality TV series that work as TV series, then maybe they could try for three.

I'm a bit nervous about next year because three are scheduled but one is Daredevil which is supposed to be a lot more episodes than the shows the MCU has done. Though he needs less CGI than other heroes, maybe it could work?

Though these things will all probably get pushed back due to the strikes going on now.

I also think there should be a reason that something is a TV show and not a movie. I don't like this talk of "six hour movies." That's not a thing. The format changes the experience. WandaVision and She-Hulk utilized the TV format as part of the narrative. And that's a great reason for it to be a show. But it's not the only one. (Moon Knight had a unique structure, where it was divided into two episodes in London, two episodes in Cairo, and two episodes in the Underworld. That was cool, but I would argue then it should've been released two at a time instead of week-to-week. And on Friday. I hate this Wednesday nonsense.)

I think about this shit too much.

[ordinaryschmuck]

I feel like all these critiques about the MCU are stuff based off of over-simplified interpretations or seeing stuff that isn’t there.

Like, I can get behind not liking it because the humor’s not your thing or you hate how the over-usage of CGI put VFX workers through hell or even if you don’t like how some actors became controversial in recent memory.

But for stuff like how it’s military propaganda, copaganda, or even how it makes the rich look good are all things I just can’t get behind. Again, I feel like it oversimplifies stuff or people are reading too far into things.

It’s SUPERHEROES. They’re doing stuff that other superheroes have been doing for years, following closely to what the comics did.

Captain America and Captain Marvel aren’t good heroes because of the military. They’re good heroes who JOINED the military.

Spider-Man doesn’t make cops look good. He proves why cops can’t do what a superhero can.

Iron Man doesn’t make rich people look like heroes. Hell, almost every villain he fought was another rich dude who was evil. Tony just happened to learn to STOP being evil with them.

Sometimes,  you need to stop treating interpretations as truth and, instead, as interpretations.

[bikenesmith]

its insane how even with photorealistic ai images that don''t feature human figures, ai art that's just environments or sky/space, my "is this ai art?" alarm still goes off. it's not like i've fine-tuned a skill, beyond my knowledge of how art is made and how art looks - i only learned about ai art in the last 1-2 years.

i don't even know what my eyes + mind are actually picking up on. its different from seeing the errors in say, hyperrealistic cgi environments. its the limitations of the program/medium and human error are peeking out from behind the veil. when i see these errors i see reality. immersion breaks, and im not thinking about the movie or game, but the vfx artist who unfortunately didn't catch some wonky physics before the deadline.

with ai art there is just a very subtle Wrongness. there is no one behind the veil. no person - no medium. (tbf the Wrongness is undoubtedly increased by how many people try to pass ai images off as real photography or human-created art)

i think it's the absence of the golden ratio. sacred geometry? my mind can look and quickly see: "this is not right." these patterns make up the natural world and all the natural world creates, and my eye rarely dwells on them, but when they are absent, i can't look away from the incongruence. "this is not of my world. this does not exist in my world."

(at the same time it's specifically lack of incongruence, imperfection, that can also tip us off to ai. no visible brushstrokes. mistakes look like computer errors and not an unknowledgeable artist making a valiant attempt at drawing hands. etc. but i think this "its not right" thought is specific to images pretending to be photos.)

and this is so interesting, because what it is it about ai art that makes it so unnatural, and what is it about digital art and vfx that circumvents that reaction? is the act of intentional, individual and collective human creation really that powerful? does it show that much in the end product? or is it that the complete absence of that intentional creation that is so powerful? it makes sense that a homunculus of thousands, millions, billions of creations of thousands, millions, billions of people will create something that looks entirely like and entirely unlike anything we have ever created with our own hands. i wonder where this ingrained sense of uncanny valley comes from and why its there. it's like "big eyes = cute" except the purpose of it isn't immediately obvious.

no idea why this post is so long or why im posting it btw

[asm5129]

Flash Thoughts 9x09--It's My Party and I'll Die if I Want To

Full spoilers ahead!

Tonight was the Return of The CW's Flash, and thus the return of Flash Thoughts! I of course wasn't in town to do Flash Thoughts for the last two episodes so I'm excited to get into this again

So, to get it out of the way

OLIVER QUEEN IS BACK

But how is it handled? Does it do the Godfather of the Arrowverse justice (no pun intended)?

I'd say...Yes. But. the episode is still a bit of a mixed bag. Let's back up a bit.

I think the way they set this story in motion was actually really interesting. Using the weird superaging Barry had to deal with and then got reversed to give Barry a superhero-enforced version of a crisis many people deal with when they hit 30---

Am i using my time on earth wisely?

And to dive into Barry's survival guilt is definitely always an interesting angle to explore. It's fundamental to his entire journey as the Flash.

I genuinely love the kind of meta angle of him being the star, and thus everyone who dies dies for him because he's the most important part of the show

Taking a look at Wally's trauma about being left behind and feeling undervalued and taken advantage of was really interesting too. What we saw tonight was a very similar pain to what we saw all the way back in season 2 when he was first introduced. And honestly, it makes a lot of sense. plus it was interesting to revisit his whole "finding myself" thing that he's been doing for absolutely ages and kinda give a solid reason why it's necessary for kinda the first time haha

it was really cool to get bloodwork back. the CGI monster he turned into was iffy (CW budgets, what can you do), and actually overall I just don't think the VFX for his powers was handled as well as in his original appearance, but I still think he was great.

And Oliver was literally the healthiest he's ever been. It only took him until he died apparently.

Regardless, I actually think this episode handled his return quite well. He's still The Specter (or is it Spectre?) so he can't just pop down to earth any time he likes, but it was established in COIE that even after his death at the hands of the Anti-Monitor and his sacrifice he still existed in some capacity. I think his story from Arrow was used very well to push Barry forward, and their relationship is always really strong and continues to be so.

Oh and of course Ollie's time with dig was beautiful too.

I'll give Eric Wallace this--execution aside, this show has never believed in any benefits of toxic masculinity. It is...genuinely awesome to see men casually and sincerely telling one another "i love you" without an ounce of shame. Oliver and dig saying that to each other in particular was very powerful, because it does show how different Oliver is from where he began.

i know some folks will be pissed about the Green lantern ring thing, and I'll be honest, while i respect what they went for I understand the frustration. It seemed like they were heading in the direction of an exciting payoff to a long held fan theory that slowly became canon, and that would let Dig really transcend Oliver's story. But...I do also get that Dig does not like the cosmic shit. He never has. It would be a little weird for him to go off into space and be a Green Lantern when he's never even stopped puking when Barry uses his super speed.

Anyways, moving on...It's kinda annoying it took three years, but team Flash finally learns about the existence of the new multiverse! Shame we'll never get to see anything done with that though.

Khione gets some confirmation of some of why she is the way she is--specifically, that she is "tuned into the natural order of things". Kinda intriguing, looking forward to seeing where that goes.

Glad we got to dig into the fact that Barry is still mourning Caitlin and Frost too.

In fact, all of this is so interesting, it really ought to have been given more time.

Yeah i think that's my biggest criticism of this episode. It's not so much the content of it, it's that it genuinely feels like this should have been the meat of about half the season and they put it all in one episode.

Especially because this episode played to the strengths that made season 8 so fantastic!

Eric Wallace's Flash has showed multiple times that it's strengths come

A) when it plays with the rest of the Arrowverse in a way that furthers the story of this show

and

B) when it goes really dark and even leans into horror a bit

and the problem is, he's spent most of his run actively leaning away from both. This episode shows just how much of a mistake that is.

Not letting Red Death be Ryan from the Armageddon timeline? Not doing a proper Batwoman/Flash team-up? Not letting Red Death lean into the horror aesthetic her costume easily could have connected her to and instead having those somewhat campy screaming breakdowns and the vibrating camouflage voice? Not letting Red Death lean into the absolutely twisted nature of the comics Red Death?

Eric Wallace's highest points as showrunner were the original Bloodwork story and season 8, especially the Armageddon and Deathstorm arcs (slightly iffy Armageddon finale notwithstanding)

All of these are decisions that lean away from those strengths, and while I'm still enjoying the final season, that's a significant error in judgement on his part.

Anyways. See you next week for more Flash Thoughts on...apparently the return of Matt Letscher's Thawne in a villainous role!

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

The CGI and special effects in The Little Mermaid trailer look so much better than in Avatar : The Way Of Water and I guess not being a movie profiting off Indigenous peoples’ struggles has something to do with it. 😌

Well yeah I genuinely hope that disney has spent good money on their cgi and vfx learning from the craziness of she hulk ofc. But honestly I don't care if it looks like a syfy movie I'm in it for halle bailey's angelic voice she's like the perfect ariel.

mod ali

[chaosandthe-deadblog]

in case anybody wants to know.. this is the youtube series that got me into vfx!

it is. long they REALLy kept it going. i havent watched it in a while so i dont remember just how well their explanations were, but i did learn a lot from these guys! its a really fun series to watch if you wanna know why movies that abuse cgi almost always look worse

[mbrainspaz]

finally watched Way Of The Water and thought it was the goofiest thing ever. The whole idea of Jake having to ditch his tribe to go on a family beach vacation and discover the meaning of family... eugh. Making the whole plot about protecting the nuclear family while Jake's kids run around calling him 'sir'. Cringe to the max. It was like they tried to cram an 80's family road trip to disneyland in there. I really felt the whole time like I was watching a Disney ad. The american-ness just oozes from this thing. And the spectacle was about on par with the last one, just 10 years too late for that to be impressive. I know that on a technical level a lot of the VFX were stunning, but effectively it's just more CGI soup. If they'd used it to tell a compelling story about Jake actually experiencing an alien culture— learning to understand that his family was his whole tribe, not just his wife and kids, maybe it could've meant something.

[hellsbellschime]

Production on season 2 is significantly shorter than season 1, partly due to fewer covid restrictions and of course because they've already done it before so things should go smoother. They've also talked about that new WB studio with the blue screens, how they've learned what does and doesn't work. I don't know too much about how production works but it would make most sense if they did the cgi heavy stuff at the beginning as much as possible so they can get that to the vfx team asap.

Yeah you're not wrong, and even the VFX should be easier because now a ton of the major dragons like Vhagar and Caraxes have already been "built" so they should be considerably easier to work on the next time around.