User Profile: seventiesfilmnut

Post: #52008
Topic: CGI and Digital or Real models and actors-whats your prefferance.?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/52008/action/topic#52008
Time: 4-Jun-2004 4:49 AM

I firmly agree that there should be a mix of both.. whatever gets the job done most effectively! I think Lord of the Rings mixed both really well - most of the time I have trouble telling real from fake.. which is how it should be. I gave up in the end and just enjoyed being transported into another world for three+ hours. I watched AOTC again two nights ago (NEVER again BTW!!) - the CGI is waaayyyy too obvious, expecially during the first half of the film - alot of it just looks too 'clean' and seems 'flat'. It's blatently showing off! The scene were Yoda, Ben and Mace are walking along and talking in that great hall is atrocious! Look at their feet... Alot of the battle scenes at the end are great however, it's just a pity they fall flat as there's no real tension created by the lack-lustre script.

If you mix the two, and only use it when necessary, it creates the right 'feel'. It's similar to an painter trying to create a pleasing balance in his/her work. Throwing CGI at an audience ALL the way through a film just turns it into a sophisticated cartoon, alienating the audience on some inner level, which is what I feel the prequals do. CGI is NOT perfect. It IS clean, but far from perfect! I still prefer a real location wherever possible, because it is REAL! Some people here feel that CGI is the answer to all a film-makers problems. WRONG! It's just a tool, and it's stil being developed! See how much of The Special Edition CGI looks dated already now? I think the real challenge is keeping CGI out of the picture unless it's absolutely necessary. I still prefer most of the effects in the original trilogy. Whilst the PRESENTATION of these effects might look dated i.e. film dirt, boxes aroud ships, black lines around objects etc etc, I still feel that they hold their own. With computer technology all these 70's/80's era flaws can be removed, leaving the wonderful effects looking better than ever. I'm very curious to see how they clean up some of the (few) remaining effects scenes in the new DVD's. I'm still hoping Lucas might relent and give us the originals as well though... Knowing Lucas he's just winding us up anyway, knowing many are spending ALOT of time making the laserdisc copies look just right... then he'll go and release the legit versions!! Doh!!!

Post: #52001
Topic: [i]Laserdisc[/i] Stop Light?
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/52001/action/topic#52001
Time: 4-Jun-2004 4:24 AM

Hi everyone!

Well my first post on this forum and it's not even to do with Star Wars - hahaha!!!

There's no such thing as wow and flutter with CD!! Records and tapes yes - CD definately no! The information is all read into a buffer anyway before it is converted to analogue and then to the amp/speakers. There is something called 'jitter' which affects CD's, though it doesn't seem to be a very well understood or correctable problem.

This whole green pen business is also rubbish! It's interesting that audio engineers are agreed it makes no difference whatsoever, and those who only rely on the ears think it does! There was a forum where someone had actually run some error correction tests on CD's (wish I could find it again) with and without the green pen treatment - there was zero difference. If your cd player or laserdisc player needs a green ring drawn around the disc to play it properly, then the player is a bad design! I've got a very good quality Hi-Fi system, and I've tried this green pen treatment many times - blindfolded I cannot tell the difference! The human brain is a cunning piece of work, and can fool you into thinking you've heard a difference because you've been told, or read somewhere that you 'should' hear a difference.

The one treatment that does make a measurable difference is the thorough cleaning of your CD's or LD's. A good quality plastics cleaner should be used with a VERY soft lint free cloth. Make sure the laser in your CD player or LD player is perfectly clean as well, and the player sits on a stable platform away from any vibration.

Just my 2$ worth (or in my case my £2 worth!!!)

Happy listening/viewing!

- John

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