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ADigitalMan

User Group
Members
Join date
26-Sep-2004
Last activity
1-Dec-2025
Posts
2,951
Web Site
https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalMan-jc3xy

Post History

Post
#173660
Topic
Lucas and CGI in the Prequels
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/173660/action/topic#173660
Time
People all hailed Jurassic Park for all of its incredible CG, but the very first shot was so fake looking to me, that my questioning of CG began then and there.

I've said before that I think ships and landscapes do quite well in CG, but organic "living" things never get pulled off believably. Be they Brachiosauruses, Gungans, Gollums, Wargs, or 25-foot Gorillas. They look real only up to a point, and then they just look fake after that. The human brain is amazingly adept at picking out what has crossed that barrier.

I'm amazed at how good the T-1000 looks 15 years later, but he was liquid metal .... adhering to very specific physical properties that a computer could handle. We constantly push CG beyond its limits and it breaks the fourth wall every time.
Post
#173571
Topic
DVD Brands
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/173571/action/topic#173571
Time
Ritek G05 has been the most reliable medium for me. You can get it for darn cheap at Meritline.com.

Beyond that, I picked up an OEM license of Nero for about $15 bundled with my burner. Nero has proven to be quite good, and the recompression down to DVD-5 looks stunning. The proof is in all those SL titles I've released.
Post
#172993
Topic
Evan Mather's Short Films
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/172993/action/topic#172993
Time
This thread is for the discussion of Evan Mather's SW-based short films, if you've seen them. You know, the ones starring the original Kenner action figures ...

Anyway, I was marveling the very first time I saw ROTS on opening day how much the "Birth of Vader" sequence smacked of Kung Fu Kenobi's Big Adventure? Is anybody else familiar enough to see the striking similarities?
Post
#172371
Topic
1978 or 1981 ?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/172371/action/topic#172371
Time
I've often considered concocting an alternate title card sequence with each of the films in the OT, having NO episode in front of any of them, and setting them to the "theme" song of the episode, just to see how it would work. e.g. Having the Empire Strikes Back logo recede instead of the Star Wars logo, and setting it to the Imperial March.

With the prequels, there wasn't really a good logo that featured the episode name. They were all about the episode number, with the name as an afterthought. And with names like "The Phantom Menace" who cares anyway.

In many ways, Lucas tied himself down too much by putting episode numbers into the crawls.
Post
#171986
Topic
spider-man 3
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/171986/action/topic#171986
Time
I'm so scratching my head over this. Yes, she'd make a great Mary Jane just as Kirsten would have made a great Gwen. But didn't they blow the Gwen storyline already in Spidey 1, combining Gwen and MJ into one character? Gwen was the girl next door, and Gwen was the one where Spidey had to choose between the busload of kids or saving Gwen. And unlike the movie, they had some real drama where he chose to save the kids and Gwen died as a result. None of the over-the-top "I can save them both" story that we got.

I have no idea where Raimi is going with this. With Spidey 1, I didn't hold my breath that it would be good, saying "They better not screw it up." I was pleasantly surprised as a result. Then I did the same with Spidey 2, and with MJ looking like ragged-out-hell and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" not withstanding, I liked 2 even more than 1.

Right now, Spidey 3 has me worried that it's entering Batman & Robin territory. This film has a much better cast IMO, but too many characters = an unfocused p.o.s. I hope I'm duly surprised once again. But I'm not holding my breath. Lowered expectations = greater enjoyment of what you get.
Post
#171308
Topic
ADigitalMan's Guide to MPEG2/AC3 Editing
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/171308/action/topic#171308
Time
I've never understood what causes this, but I've somehow worked around the issue in the past.

Have you demultiplexed with DVD Decrypter? The results will probably be the same, but it's worth checking out.

If it's still problematic, I've often figured out the number of frames that a film is "off" and then, every X number of minutes, cut or repeated a frame right on a shot change to fix it.

I think it has to do with Womble editing 23.97 fps at 29.97, doing it's own telecine on the fly. But that is only a guess.

I haven't had the problem since I've been generating stereo reference files, then re-creating the surround mix in Vegas, but the source material has remained in sync for me. The sync problems were always with exported content in my system.
Post
#171003
Topic
Info Wanted: SW Trivial Pursuit: Differences between editions?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/171003/action/topic#171003
Time
What I'd like to do, assuming there are enough new questions to justify it, would be to combine the different editions into one. New questions, new pieces, etc. The Classic Trilogy stuff is great and I'd only like to extend it.

I level the odds by playing teams. Everybody else against me. It tends to be quite fair this way, but I've been soundly beaten by my son's godmother when she sided with my wife. His godfather was utterly useless. I was appalled. This man is responsible for my kid if something happens and he can't keep Zuckuss and 4-LOM straight? Bah!!!