TIL that we can address our thanks to Ady without even seeing his presence.
Ray, I definitely saw those criticisms coming, and I agree with them, to a certain extent. I think there's something to be said for the level of detail and complexity that CG allows, but perhaps sometimes it goes too far. It may just be a problem with what we're used to - We're so used to only certain kinds of shots being possible that anything too far beyond that seems terrible, in which case the children of the future (what a phrase!) will have no problem with it. I, however, suspect this is not the case.
I don't know if you're UK or USA or what, but here in Amurica, they introduced a camera rig to football (you know what kind I mean) that swings over the field on ropes, swooping, capturing some really great views of plays. At first, it was slightly disconcerting, because I had never seen such a thing before, but I quickly got used to it and now love when they use it, even though it does come close to mimicking the camera moves in video games. I suspect that there are two reasons
- It's real footage of the real game - Okay, that was obvious.
- Even though I hadn't ever seen a camera move quite like that before, it does move like a real physical object, albeit one suspended on ropes.
Perhaps the problem with the ROTS sequence isn't that the CG isn't realistic enough or that we're un-used to it, but that the camera isn't (which yes, is part of the CG process, but bear with me). I'm reminded of some part of a behind-the-scenes thing for Wall-E that I saw, where the good folks at Pixar talked about all the work they put into the camera system for that film, simulating different lenses, cameras, shutters, etc. If they didn't (I don't remember), I'd also lump in camera-movement into that. Even in films where the camera is apparently traveling through the vacuum of space, there should be some realism to its movements, some limits on what it can do.
On the other hand, I had no problem with rushing forward and plunging over the edge of the abyss with Gandalf and the Balrog and thought it was fantastic, which perhaps goes to show that even impossible shots have their place - in moderation. The ROTS battle just goes on and on and on.
Thus, I suggest that the ROTS battle needs less dynamic shots and maybe even some model-shot-replacements, while the ROTJ battle would benefit from more shots of gunners, a heck of a lot more capital-ship action, even some shots in the style of the ROTS battle... but not too many.
