Real questions about making movies

[Dalty]

Because we did all start this on a movie website after all!

This is where we ask questions and hope that somebody else out there can answer!

[Dalty]

So I'll go first.

Why does a lot of CGI look 'weightless' ? We have the computing power and the technical know-how, surely, to be able to simulate movement and momentum. So why does it seem so hard?

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

A lot of it is the Uncanny Valley effect. You have to get so many things absolutely right for our eyes to believe what they're seeing. You have to get the shading right, you have to get the jiggle right, you have to get the range of motion right, you have to get the actors responding to what they're seeing right, you have to get the perspective right, you have to get the scale right, you have to get the sound design right, you have to get the color right, and you have to get the texture right. If all of these threads aren't in their proper place, the whole thing unravels.

It's a real uphill battle for animators--especially if what they're animating has to react to a real-world environment.

[Mal Shot First]

I'm not sure the weightlessness of computer-generated characters is a function of the CGI themselves. It can be, if these imaginary characters are badly integrated into the environment around them. In those cases, they just seem to stand out and just sort of float in front of the background. You see this in early attempts at CGI-heavy movies and in contemporary cheaply made CGI crap-fests (à la Avalanche Sharks).

I think the weightlessness is more closely related to the actions these CGI characters are supposed to perform, and it can also apply to actual actors performing action scenes with the help of wires and other special effects. That was always my pet peeve about the Matrix movies: nothing looked like it had any actual weight behind it, even when we were supposed to believe it did. Characters jumping over rooftops without putting any effort into it is supposed to make them look powerful and cool - I get it - but maybe they should at least look like they're jumping instead of just sort of taking off.

When CGI characters approximate mostly conventional human actions, they can actually seem fairly believable, I think.

[neglet]

AVALANCHE SHARKS?!?!?!?! Where can I see this exceptional piece of modern cinema?

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

There's a trailer for it in Dalty's special thread.

[Dalty]

It redefines terrible and goes so far past 'so bad, it's good' clear into 'just bad'.

It's a work of shitty art. There might be a coke bottle involved.