Is there any new frontier in film special effects?

[Nole Lou]

Was talking to my kids the other day...in my life, there's been a few "wow" moments where special effects in the movies blew my mind. Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and to some extent Toy Story were game changers about what could be done.

Earlier generations had 2001 and Star Wars.

Some might throw Avatar in there...not so sure. The 3D was a pretty impressive technical achievement, but I'm not sure it blew open the world of storytelling quite the same way, but maybe for others it did.

I just remember sitting in Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 and thinking that it was hard to believe what I was seeing and what it would mean for film. Is that even possible any more? What on earth would it be?

It seems like for today's generation, it would be impossible to show them something that surprised and amazed them...the assumption no matter what is "Sure, they can do that."

That's a bit sad...but maybe I just don't have wide enough horizons. Maybe I'm the guys claiming "everything that can be invented has been invented." I know there is virtual reality on the horizon, but I'm not sure if that is film in the traditional sense, if you remove the cinema from the occasion completely.

 

[Rhino_nole]

I think the big things Avatar brought to the table was real time rendering of CGI on set just like a real film. Bad take, re shoot it. I remember reading an article about reusing the CGI world that he's created as well instead of redoing CGI worlds or cities or ships etc. and anyone could have access to it. He made a big deal about a studio using his technology to make a period piece film and come back to the database and make another separate film based in the same era and either keep it or change some things here and there. Cameron's big thing was cost effective analysis. One day it will be cheaper to have stored data base of period films or sci-fi flicks from a studio and just reuse them instead of doing it for real (set pieces, finding and cleaning up 1950's era vehicles, pre colonial films etc.).

I think the LotR was a big time WOW factor for me. I had never seen a grand scale battle like that via CGI where each individual moved differently from the person/thing next to them.

 

[CC0492]

I remember seeing Star Wars in the theater as a kid. That movie technology was jaw dropping back then.

 

[kc78]

I think it would almost have to be some type of virtual reality process where you feel like you're actually in the room watching everything happen around you, not just sitting in a theater.

 

[Dr. Nole]

I remember seeing Star Wars in the theater as a kid. That movie technology was jaw dropping back then.

Agree.
So many parts of that movie blew me away with the special effects, none more than the jump to light speed view of the stars from inside the Millennium Falcon.

 

[DanC78]

Jurassic Park was the biggest jaw dropper for me as a kid. I remember being blown away when I saw the Dinosaurs for the first time. I remember also being impressed with Titanic.

But to answer your question, I don't know man...I'm more than sure it will happen, but no idea what or how that will be.

If I had to take a guess, I think it would be some kind of first person experience where you are the main character. I know it's possible to do, but not sure if it's something that can can mass produced and brought to the masses. But what do I know...maybe it's right around the corner...would be cool if so.

 

[Naught-Nole-Buc]

I'll add The Matrix to the list of "wow" moments that changed cinematography. Even seeing that as a 20 something year old I was like "whoa, that's pretty awesome"

I agree on the virtual reality experience being possibly the only thing to really give this current generation those "wow" feelings. That would be pretty cool to be "in" the movie.

 

[CC0492]

I think it would almost have to be some type of virtual reality process where you feel like you're actually in the room watching everything happen around you, not just sitting in a theater.

I agree with this. You'd have to experience the motion, smells, etc instead of just sitting still and watching a screen in front of you.

 

[FSUTribe76]

The best use of 3D I can remember was not Avatar imo but Tron Legacy. The filmakers used washed out sepia tone filters and a very "flat" 3D for when you were in the real world and then when they jumped into the virtual world it was suddenly full on 3D and bright flourescent colors. It really helped the filmmaking and it seems that most of the people (like me) who loved that movie saw it in 3D and the people who didn't care for it saw it in 2D.

I can't think of another movie I've seen in 3D that had as big of an impact on my viewing pleasure as Tron Legacy.

 

[Bartdog]

Was talking to my kids the other day...in my life, there's been a few "wow" moments where special effects in the movies blew my mind. Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and to some extent Toy Story were game changers about what could be done.

Earlier generations had 2001 and Star Wars.

Some might throw Avatar in there...not so sure. The 3D was a pretty impressive technical achievement, but I'm not sure it blew open the world of storytelling quite the same way, but maybe for others it did.

I just remember sitting in Jurassic Park and Terminator 2 and thinking that it was hard to believe what I was seeing and what it would mean for film. Is that even possible any more? What on earth would it be?

It seems like for today's generation, it would be impossible to show them something that surprised and amazed them...the assumption no matter what is "Sure, they can do that."

That's a bit sad...but maybe I just don't have wide enough horizons. Maybe I'm the guys claiming "everything that can be invented has been invented." I know there is virtual reality on the horizon, but I'm not sure if that is film in the traditional sense, if you remove the cinema from the occasion completely.

I think the big things Avatar brought to the table was real time rendering of CGI on set just like a real film. Bad take, re shoot it. I remember reading an article about reusing the CGI world that he's created as well instead of redoing CGI worlds or cities or ships etc. and anyone could have access to it. He made a big deal about a studio using his technology to make a period piece film and come back to the database and make another separate film based in the same era and either keep it or change some things here and there. Cameron's big thing was cost effective analysis. One day it will be cheaper to have stored data base of period films or sci-fi flicks from a studio and just reuse them instead of doing it for real (set pieces, finding and cleaning up 1950's era vehicles, pre colonial films etc.).

I think the LotR was a big time WOW factor for me. I had never seen a grand scale battle like that via CGI where each individual moved differently from the person/thing next to them.

Mulan had a scene with 1,000s of Huns running down a mountain/getting covered by an avalanche. Granted, this was a cartoon, but it was still pretty cool. I need to go watch the extras to go with LOTR, but I do know they had a BUTTLOAD of extras as well as CGI. Having said that, you're exactly right about the scale of the world they created being just mind blowing.

For the ones that brought up T2, wasn't it T3 that had the liquid metal terminator? What in T2 was as cool as that?

I think there will be a stage before fullon VR where the movie becomes a more immersive experience, I just don't know what that will be like.

 

[Naught-Nole-Buc]

Mulan had a scene with 1,000s of Huns running down a mountain/getting covered by an avalanche. Granted, this was a cartoon, but it was still pretty cool. I need to go watch the extras to go with LOTR, but I do know they had a BUTTLOAD of extras as well as CGI. Having said that, you're exactly right about the scale of the world they created being just mind blowing.

For the ones that brought up T2, wasn't it T3 that had the liquid metal terminator? What in T2 was as cool as that?

I think there will be a stage before fullon VR where the movie becomes a more immersive experience, I just don't know what that will be like.

T2 had the liquid metal terminator.

 

[Bartdog]

T2 had the liquid metal terminator.

OK, for some reason I thought it showed up in #3 for the first time. duh doi

 

[nynole1]

How about the solar system scene in the Engineers room during Prometheus? Maybe not revolutionary, but I remember watching that and being awe struck just like JP, T2 and Avatar.

 

[tarheelinfl]

How about a film with a plot, good dialouge, and character development?

 

[SoddyNole]

As a kid I don't recall anything being close to Star Wars at that time. It was like you were watching something 10-20 years more advanced than any other movie.

 

[Random_John]

This will be the next technology. I call it the Holo Deck

 

[kc78]

I'd love a holo-deck type experience. I think the closest we'll get any time in our lifetime is a virtual reality experience. But can you imagine watching a movie where you're able to walk around the entire scene, watch it from any angle you choose as if you're an unseen bystander.

 

[SoddyNole]

I'd love a holo-deck type experience. I think the closest we'll get any time in our lifetime is a virtual reality experience. But can you imagine watching a movie where you're able to walk around the entire scene, watch it from any angle you choose as if you're an unseen bystander.

The porn industry would increase overnight 10 fold.

 

[PoopandBoogers]

I hope that special effects trend more to what the new Mad Max film did in using real life action and human built sets.

Also, does anyone remember the movie F/X from the 80's? Doubt it still holds up, but thought it was cool at the time.

 

[jeffy]

Monsters Inc was groundbreaking in its cgi. The movement of the hairs on Sully was highly detailed. Before then, a creature like that would have hair that moved in coordination with the character. In MI, each hair took on a life of its own.

From Wiki

Adding to Sulley's lifelike appearance was an intense effort by the technical team to refine the rendering of fur. Other production houses had tackled realistic fur, most notably Rhythm & Hues in its 1993 polar bear commercials for Coca-Cola and in its talking animals' faces in Babe (1995).[23] Monsters, Inc., however, required fur on a far larger scale. From the standpoint of Pixar's engineers, the quest for fur posed several significant challenges. One was figuring out how to animate the huge numbers of hairs – 2,320,413 on Sulley – in a reasonably efficient way.[23] Another was making sure the hairs cast shadows on other hairs. Without self-shadowing, fur or hair takes on an unrealistic flat-colored look. (The hair on Andy's toddler sister, as seen in the opening sequence of Toy Story, is an example of hair without self-shadowing.)[23]

The first fur test had Sullivan run an obstacle course. Results were not satisfactory, as objects would catch the fur and stretch it out because of the extreme amount of motion. Another similar test was also unsuccessful, with the fur going through the objects.[16]

Eventually Pixar set up a Simulation department and created a new fur simulation program called Fizt (short for "physics tool").[24] After a shot with Sulley had been animated, the Simulation department took the data for the shot and added his fur. Fizt allowed the fur to react in a natural way. When Sulley moved, the fur would automatically react to his movements, taking into account the effects of wind and gravity as well. The Fizt program also controlled movement on Boo's clothing, which provided another breakthrough.[24] The deceptively simple-sounding task of animating cloth was also a challenge to animate because of the hundreds of creases and wrinkles that automatically occurred in the clothing when the wearer moved.[25] It also meant solving the complex problem of how to keep cloth untangled – that is, how to keep it from passing through itself when parts of it intersect.[26] Fizt applied the same system to Boo's clothes as to Sulley's fur. Boo would first be animated shirtless; the Simulation department then used Fizt to apply the shirt over Boo's body, and when she moved, her clothes would react to her movements in a natural manner.

To solve the problem of cloth-to-cloth collisions, Michael Kass, Pixar's senior scientist, was joined on Monsters, Inc. by David Baraff and Andrew Witkin and developed an algorithm they called "global intersection analysis" to handle the problem. The complexity of the shots in Monsters, Inc. – including elaborate sets such as the door vault – required more computing power to render than any of Pixar's earlier efforts combined. The render farm in place for Monsters, Inc. was made up of 3500 Sun Microsystems processors, compared with 1400 for Toy Story 2 and only 200 for Toy Story.[26]

 

[jy2581]

It'd be pretty sweet to have wrap around screens in a theater. Or maybe even 360 degree views, like some of those new YouTube videos. Granted, that might be sort of crazy trying to keep up with everything going on around you.

 

[kc78]

There have been wrap around screens for years. Disney had tons of them at one point in their parks. While they're interesting from an attraction standpoint, they're fairly annoying for anything else.