“In the visual-effects community, ILM’s Hulk was seen as a major achievement: the life in the creature’s eyes, the way light played naturally off its skin, its synthesis into its surroundings, all were deemed first-rate. Film critics, however, panned not only the movie but ILM’s work. The monster didn’t look real. Case closed.” Devin Gordon —The Problem with FX (M$NBC)
Hollywood’s waste of technology is following the same path worn by the computer gaming industry. Great FX excites geeks, but can’t substitute for a good story.
In The Langauge of New Media, Lev Manovitch notes that computer-generated objects can be too real. I’m always impressed by the very few occasions when I see special effects purposely degraded by shaky cameras (emulating a the POV of a hand-held camcorder), or when a futuristic spaceport shows swirls of heat on the tarmac (like you see on a real airport). Realism isn’t the only artistic style, after all.
Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve…
Nothing in this stack is pressing, but they do include rough drafts of final papers,…
Here’s the underlying problem. We have an operating image of thought, an understanding of what…
Representing the Humanities at Accepted Students Day.
The daughter opens another show. This weekend only.