The other day I was talking with one of my friends about how far movies have come in the last ten years in terms of special effects. The CGI improvements are particularly noticable in series such as Harry Potter or Pirates of the Carribean. LoTR set the bar with their realistic costumes and sets by WETA workshops and with Andy Serkis playing Gollum, but you don't see a change between the films because they were all done at once.
Compare Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince (2009) to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). The Quidditch scenes alone - in SS they look like a computer game, in HBP they look *real*. They were able to take footage of the actors on brooms and incorporate it into the scenes. Also look at how much better they integrate creatures into the scenes - Dobby (Chamber of Secrets, 2002) and Buckbeak (Prisoner of Azkaban, 2004) to the Inferi in HBP and the entire final scene.
Davy Jones in Pirates 2 and 3 is amazing CGI as well. Bill Nighy (you may remember him from Love Actually as the naked rock star) plays Davy Jones. Like Gollum, they use a lot of his facial expressions, but the really cool thing is that all those tentacles have AI. It seems like facial CGI is going to make huge improvements in the next few years, the aging done in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is just the beginning.
I think it's a pretty exciting time for special effects in movies. :)
Anyways, this post was inspired by this video - Visual Effects: 100 Years of Inspiration. Check it out! And if you like the music, it's Blue Man Group and you *must* see their show.
I'll add some pics and clips to this later tonight :)
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I remember seeing Bill Nighy the first time as Davy Jones...I was blown away!!! The scene at the piano where Will tries to steel his key...so so so cool and realistic (which is what makes it so very cool).
ReplyDeleteI love HP for CGI, and LOTR as well...both were breathtaking and out of this world. :)