British Raider
Well-known member
It feels like a criticism that stems from a certain viewer who is stubbornly unwilling to ever ‘go with it’ when it comes to deaging.
CG Effects
- Thread starter emtiem
- Start date
Face_Melt
Well-known member
Let’s be real here, outside of stuff like Toht’s melting face… the special effects in the Indiana Jones movies have never really been great.
Indy and Jones Sr flying in the planes during the aerial shootout in Last Crusade always looked bad even for its time. But the sequence itself was great. Well directed and well shot and staged regardless of the effects.
I don’t watch these films for the effects. I care more about the directing and what’s going on. Special effects never stand the test of time anyway.
Indy and Jones Sr flying in the planes during the aerial shootout in Last Crusade always looked bad even for its time. But the sequence itself was great. Well directed and well shot and staged regardless of the effects.
I don’t watch these films for the effects. I care more about the directing and what’s going on. Special effects never stand the test of time anyway.
British Raider
Well-known member
That’s kind of my view as well. They utilise the effects of their time but they’re also homages to types of B-movies where effects were shoddy, so why do they need to be perfect? It’s all part of the charm.
Dr.Jonesy
Well-known member
emtiem
Well-known member
Yeah, there’s been sort of ground breaking effects (like the leap of faith), but I’m not sure there’s many which are properly seamless and you can’t spot them. I guess a few shots of the mine cart ride look like a full scale, full speed thing. The matte shot of the flying boat in Raiders perhaps.
The deageing never bothered me either. I think it's also worth noting this wasn't just a de-aged character sitting down talking to another character, this was a de-aged character doing stunts, fighting people on the top of a train, jumping on motorbikes etc.
I'd also say the lava pit in Doom was really good too.
I'd also say the lava pit in Doom was really good too.
DialOfDoom
Well-known member
Completely agree that the effects in an indy movie not being 100% seamless and perfect is part of the charm. These movies always feel a little rough around the edges but they have so much warmth and heart and character that far surpasses any of those shortcomings. That’s why the deaging/cgi in dial of destiny doesn’t bother me at all. For the most part it looks amazing anyway, but i actually don’t mind the few shots where it looks off - it makes it feel more like an indy movie to me 
FordFan
Well-known member
The special effects in the original trilogy are great. They thought outside the box and didn't have a huge budget necessarily to put everything they wanted on screen. They made compromises.
I know they wanted to film stuff while Harrison was out with his injury, but that shot of Mike Massa with Ford's face CG'd on looks unnatural and never should've been in the film.
I know they wanted to film stuff while Harrison was out with his injury, but that shot of Mike Massa with Ford's face CG'd on looks unnatural and never should've been in the film.
NickTurner
Active member
Cool! Hard to see what's going on at times - I need to watch on slo-mo - but I do see that many vehicles in the castle courtyard were digital. Was not expecting that! (Was the courtyard even real??)
Dr.Jonesy
Well-known member
I think this film looks awesome.
That said, holy crap - so much of it is fake. I'd no idea and part of it is impressive - the other part is disappointing.
I really feel like with how modern blockbusters are made - they're essentially just animated film with live action people.
Like the modern version of this =
That said, holy crap - so much of it is fake. I'd no idea and part of it is impressive - the other part is disappointing.
I really feel like with how modern blockbusters are made - they're essentially just animated film with live action people.
Like the modern version of this =
British Raider
Well-known member
There was one for MI: Dead Reckoning and there was just as much CGI and embellishing as in DoD. But sold itself as much more ‘real.’ Kind of fascinating. But as Lucas would say movies are all one big special effect 
Dr.Jonesy
Well-known member
The 'motorcycle off the cliff' stunt that Tom Cruise actually did in real life looked amazing in the BTS footage - and then in the actual film, they CGI'd everything to the point where none of the stunt itself looked or felt real, anyway.
What a waste.
Lord_glavin
Active member
Was chatting with a friend yesterday about ToD (he hadn't seen it in 20+ years and was not a fan haha). I know a ton of the effects don't hold up, but man it FELT real. All that grime and sweat on everyone! Maybe it's just the quality of cameras these days but I really miss that in modern blockbusters. I always get a little disappointed when I see things that absolutely could be done practically (like adding more background cars) be done with CGI. I understand the nature of the business has changed and you can't get away with just creatively shooting around something as much these days.
British Raider
Well-known member
I felt like that with the CGI storm in Fallout as well. But to see how much CGI trees and background was added to the train fight in DR I know now why it didn’t feel much more real than in DoD. And yet they did so much more practical. Sadly just the era we are in now.
emtiem
Well-known member
That ILM vid is a little disappointing as so much of it is just clips of the film!
Still, the de-ageing bit was interesting; I don't think we've seen the 3D model of Ford's head before. And they seemed to be showing that the combining of the deepfake on top of the 3D head was what made the final image (the 3D alone didn't look great).
Still, the de-ageing bit was interesting; I don't think we've seen the 3D model of Ford's head before. And they seemed to be showing that the combining of the deepfake on top of the 3D head was what made the final image (the 3D alone didn't look great).
Damon
Member
Kinda funny when you think "They can't fool me, this one thing looks totally fake" and then you realize they did indeed fool you, because it's all fake. My favorite example of that is from Jurassic Park; the scene, where the T-Rex flips over the car. Even as a kid I knew that if you saw a dinosaur in it's entirety, it was propably CGI. They talked about it all the time, after all. And as a kid I watched that scene and was like, yeah, that T-Rex is indeed CGI. You could easily tell the difference... or so I thought. It just looked fake to me. Not in a bad way, mind you, just, you know, that dinosaur isn't really there and my keen CGI-detector eye has no problem seeing the trick. Can't fool me here, Mr. Spielberg!
Only about a decade later would I learn, that the car in the same scene was CGI as well. Honestly, that blew my mind. Still kinda does. It never even crossed my mind that the car might be fake as well. They always just highlighted the dinosaur effects, so I simply assumed, that they flipped over a real car with hydraulics or whatever and faked the Rex in later. But no, it was all an illusion and I fell for half of it, because that half wasn't advertised to me.
And I think it's the same thing with the De-aging for many people nowadays. They know it's fake, because they know the actors don't look like that anymore and that knowledge get's people to think that the CGI is bad, or at least easy to identify as fake, because it isn't "well done" or something is missing. At the same time, you don't see all the other illusions, because, well, you didn't expect them to be there.
Only about a decade later would I learn, that the car in the same scene was CGI as well. Honestly, that blew my mind. Still kinda does. It never even crossed my mind that the car might be fake as well. They always just highlighted the dinosaur effects, so I simply assumed, that they flipped over a real car with hydraulics or whatever and faked the Rex in later. But no, it was all an illusion and I fell for half of it, because that half wasn't advertised to me.
And I think it's the same thing with the De-aging for many people nowadays. They know it's fake, because they know the actors don't look like that anymore and that knowledge get's people to think that the CGI is bad, or at least easy to identify as fake, because it isn't "well done" or something is missing. At the same time, you don't see all the other illusions, because, well, you didn't expect them to be there.