Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
 |
| Image by Tumisu from Pixabay |
It's amazing what you can find in caves.
However, you can't find this in caves.
That's because it's the feature that refuses to be hidden away.
It's the feature in which you The Reader get to decide the topic of the day.
That topic could involve almost anything on this world, within it, without it, or even beyond it.
Therefore, have no hesitation in launching that topic, in the comments section below - and we shall see just what might might be.
Posts
19 comments:
Is CGI better than stop-motion and models?
Thanks for the topic, Colin.
CGI can clearly do things that stop-motion and models can't but there's something more compelling about models and stop-motion, caused by the fact that you know that what you're seeing physically exists.
Ditto what Steve said. Sometimes I see movies clearly employing CGI and I ask myself if I am just simply watching a cartoon.
Joe
If Charlie may throw out a cultural question? I just saw a YouTube short, which discusses the probabilities that 1/2 of England’s fish and chips 8000 “restaurants” will go out of business within a few years. If I may ask, for you UK fellows, when was the last time you went to a fish and chips place? I think they called them “Chippies” in the video?
Also, do you gents enjoy having mashed peas as a side with your fish and chips? I was rather surprised to see several folks eating mashed peas with them on the video.
Lastly, much of the rationale for the chippies going out of business is because a decent fish and chips will now cost 10 pounds or more and that is “no bueno.” Too expensive. But A real burger and fry here is going to cost at least 10 pounds but there is no slow down of burger sales.
I can't comment on England, but in Scotland fish and chips shops although not thriving, seem to be doing ok . I'm not a big fast food fan and rarely have burgers or fish n chips but I do occasionally enjoy a Chinese takeaway away . My partner likes fish and chips with peas along with her favourite side, a big pickled onion now and then. Up here fish and chips is called a fish supper
I like stop motion but enjoy CGI when it's not overly realistic . CGI certainly has it's place but can be overused.
Excellent question. I don’t have a straight “yes” or “no” answer. People complain about CGI effects, and how they’re rubbery, lack realistic weight , etc.
But to me, on the whole, they’re much more convincing than old school FX. Do they have as much “charm” as models and matte paintings, etc? Debatable. Hand puppet Yoda from Empire is still wonderful in 2025. Rod puppet Demon Dog in GHOSTBUSTERS looks like total crap. Sinbad vs stop-motion Kali is amazing — but I think a CGI Kali could be cool too.
b.t.
Colin - Steve said it cogently. CGI spoils films, unlike models. Rotoscoping's okay, though!
Charlie - My brother & I had fish & chips ( as a treat ) a couple of weeks ago, when he came over to visit. It was £9.20 for a 'large' fish & chips, and £7 something for a 'small'. Like you say, those prices are why fish & chips is now a rare treat, not a weekly pleasure! The last time I had f&c before then was on my birthday, last year! By the way, it's mushy peas, not mashed peas. Some people (like my bro) love them, whilst others (like me) hate them.
Phillip
I had fish & chips at The Captain's on Brighton seafront a couple of weeks ago. Last time before that was about three years ago at Bentley's in Blackpool. If I'm off to the seaside, I'll do my homework first and identify the best chippy near where I'll be. I'll also have had fish & chips in my local pub a couple of times recently but that's doesn't count in my book.
But, more importantly, what are the odds on Steve liking curry sauce and gravy with his fish & chips?
The other part of that 20 minute YouTube video said that Grimsby England is synonymous with fishing. Yet the vast majority of fish being aold for Chippys is cUght by Norwegian, Icelandic, and French trawlers anymore and that youngsters dont see fishing nor ownership of a Chippy as something to aspire too. It was all old men poring ovet crates
All old men studying and buying crates of Cod or Halibut. End of an era.
CH
Thanks for the comments. I mostly hate CGI as it looks so clearly fake and, as Steve said, you know it doesn't exist in any physical way and is really just a cartoon pretending to be real. I can't stand CGI animated films either so give me an old-fashioned hand-drawn cartoon anyday.
As for Charlie's question - I haven't been in a fish & chip shop for about 15 years but I bought a can of mushy peas only this week. I had a cheese & bacon quiche with mushy peas on top which was delicious :)
Charlie -
Yes, we still eat fish & chips. Probably only one every two or three months though. And we do have mashed (or ‘mushy’ as they’re called here) peas. They're a delicious complement to the meal, though I can’t imagine eating them with anything else.
I think this statistic of half of them going out of business might be a misleading in isolation. I have a feeling it’s more likely that half of all food businesses are going to go bust soon, as everything is so frickin’ expensive. And the global conflicts (real and economic) that are flaring up constantly aren’t going to help with that.
Colin -
Both are great when done well.
Whenever a post about an old fantasy movie appears on my Instagram feed you can guarantee there’s going to be a hundred luddites chiming in on the comments with ‘everything was better before CGI’.
No it wasn’t. For all the expense and time analogue effects took, a lot of it looked rubbish. It was only very very high end stuff that a) looked good at the time and b) looks decent now.
For every Forbidden Planet or 2001 or Star Wars or Blade Runner there was a hundred movies that looked cheap and completely unconvincing.
Superman the Movie got an Oscar for its FX and they looked pretty bad at the time - they only work at all because Stuart Baird was such a genius editor and made the shots flow perfectly.
Bad CGI can look cheap and rubbery but there are times when it can do invisible things and fixes that were utterly impossible otherwise.
And there are CGI fx that are stunningly good - flawlessly convincing. It’s just no-one notices because it’s pretty commonplace now.
Take the 2009 Star Trek movie - the effects on that are now 16 years old and they hold up brilliantly: they have a weight and a heft I don’t think you could create even with the best model work.
Despite my eyes frequently getting bored and tired with bad CGI (the shitty fight scenes in the new Superman movie, for example), I think I’m still going to come down slightly in favour of digital effects these days. Old-school effects had a certain charm but they also had drastic limitations.
Dangermash, I would say that pretty much anything goes well with curry sauce. However, fish and chips in gravy is definitely a non-starter.
Charlie, I must admit to having no knowledge as to how well or not fish and chip shops are doing. I know my nearest one is still open and always seems to have customers in it.
Fish and chips should always be eaten with mushy peas.
Just FWIW, Charlie and his cohort often indulge in fish and chips. However, many of us, being in our mid 60s, eschew the fries for something like coleslaw or jicama slaw that is green and not fried.
Matthew, I'll accept I was a little harsh on CGI in my earlier comment!
Charlie, those Grimsby fishermen all voted for Brexit because they were assured that leaving the European Union would prevent those foreign fleets from fishing in our waters but it wasn't true. The Brexit bullsh*t-peddlers were lying - who knew???
I always preferred chips on their own without the fish and the best thing to put on chips is salt & vinegar!
I agree with this 100%. Speaking of the ‘78 SUPERMAN reminds me that one thing CG is especially good for is creating convincingly large volumes of water. The dam collapse and subsequent flooding in SUPERMAN is just laughably bad. Even RAISE THE TITANIC, with its relatively large practical model of the Titanic filmed in an outdoor water tank — in super-slow motion — the scale of the water pouring off the ship when it emerges from the deep just ruins the illusion.
Also: CG ‘de-aging’ FX can be pretty hit-and-miss, but I think the young, skinny Steve Rogers in the first CAPTAIN AMERICA movie is still shockingly good.
b.t.
BT - did you know that Steve Rogers effect was shot without motion control camera?! They just shot as normal and ILM tracked his new body on after the fact.
If anyone wants to see some pretty clever contemporary effects, take a look at The Creator.
It is not a good film. Seriously repetitive script. But it’s fascinating to look at, especially when you find out it was shot for real on real locations and all the CGI added later. As opposed to shooting green screen and filling everything else in.
I will say in Superman 78’s defence that the miniatures of the Golden Gate bridge sequence are stunning. Completely convincing.
Post a Comment