Quote from: LittleDas75 on December 31, 2021, 05:56:33 PM

Is it bad to say that the CG in the Walking with Dinosaurs movie looks a lot better than the CG in these films?

Do you think its laziness? That artists and animators no longer put the attention to detail in anymore? Or is it money based, the movie companies want to save money by not spending more on detailed designs and blending with real world environments? Or is there another factor?

I think I might have a little insight to this!
You're definitely on the right track, the reason being money based, but – as it is always with Hollywood – it goes a bit deeper than that. To put it short, it's because CGI studios haven't unionized.

Practical effects in the movie industry became obsolete in a short period of time, considering how popular they were (King Kong, E.T, Die Hard, you name it), and I kinda hate to admit it, but Jurassic Park had a big influence on this. The CGI in it was something that nobody had seen before, and it truly showed the full potential of what CGI could accomplish (at that time, nevertheless). While the practical effects in the movie were stupendous, it was the CGI that made it a box-office hit. Not the sick Triceratops or the Dilophosaurus in the car, but the Brachiosaurus towering over the humans like an edifice, and the iconic sideview mirror shot of the T-Rex chasing the main characters. Those scenes were some of the reasons what made Jurassic Park a milestone in the history of cinema.

CGI is faster and cheaper than practical effects (but not necessarily easier), and when Hollywood saw what kind of movies you could do with CGI, it was a no-brainer for them to go with the cheaper option. But, it's not just because it's cheaper – it's because there is no union to protect the workers in CGI Studios. What this means is that the competition in the industry is staggering (everyone wants to get to big projects like Jurassic World etc.), the CGI animators have to work crunch time/forced overtime because there is no proper regulation for their work hours, safety or payment.

One nasty example is the Sonic movie redesign. Before the movie was released, the first trailer had a very negative response from the audience – everyone criticized how Sonic looked, and I agree, it was pretty horrible. So, after the initial response they changed the design, and it meant that all the scenes with Sonic's old design had to be done over again. It took five months to finish, raised the budget another $5 million, and after the redesign got a positive reaction (and the movie was another blockbuster) the CGI company branch that was responsible for it, got shut down. CGI takes a lot of time to look good, and while I think Sonic looks okay, it was really unfair on the workers. Same with the new Cats musical. People blame the CGI studio employees when it is not their fault. If you don't have the time and resources (and a healthy work environment) to do your work right, of course it's gonna be a mess.

And here's where "Do you think it's laziness? That artists and animators no longer put the attention to detail anymore?" comes in. It's not that they don't want to put attention to detail, it's because they have to cut corners to get as much done as fast as they can, as cheap as they can. Big studios don't really care if a dinosaur is anatomically correct, or has the right amount of teeth, or if they have feathers or scales or what. They want them to be marketable and make a profit. And when big companies don't care about the craftmanship and artistry, it makes CGI artists more or less cynical. CGI studios are easily exploited, and especially with Disney buying and destroying other studios it makes working in the industry very, very hard.

So I would say that yes, it's money related, but because of that, the people working on the Jurassic World CGI can't live up to their full potential.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing Dominion. Personally I can't imagine it being worse than The Fallen Kingdom, but my hopes aren't too high. At least I'm going to see dinosaurs other than raptors and t-rexes :')

P?

Education

I don't know if I can give an interesting answer other than "I love it", or else I'll be here talking to myself about it for three hours haha.
I think it benefits both animation and live-action if done correctly, but generally it has a bad habit of getting out-dated fast. Also, considering (mainly western) animation, I'm not a huge fan of the standard industry style (think of Frozen, Rio, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, etc.) but there are movies and shows that really live up to computer generated 3D animation's full potential. Arcane: League of Legends and Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse come to mind. As for live-action, I usually prefer practical effects, but CGI can be executed beautifully. One of my favorite movies CGI-wise is District 9. By now it's an old movie but it still looks more fresh than some of the other films from that era.

F?

Thank you for your patience! The past week has been extra hectic, and I haven't had much time to spend online ^^'

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Pterano and Petrie's relationship is my favorite thing about the seventh film. We rarely see the main characters interacting with members outside their immediate family (parents, siblings, etc) so I think it was a refreshing change to make Pterano to be Petrie's uncle instead of a father.

I see Pterano as a grey-area character - he's too good to be bad, and too bad to be good - and he has redeeming qualities, but at least in the film they are overlooked by his greed for power. I don't think it was a wise move for the adults of the Great Valley to banish Pterano away. If he stayed there, they could've monitored his behavior better, intervene if something shady was going on, and most importantly, I think it would've been good for him to stay in contact with his known family instead of spending time with sleazebags like Rinkus and Sierra. Momma Flyer would definitely keep him in line, and Petrie obviously has a positive influence on Pterano. I sincerely think that he could've started to straighten his behavior if not for himself, at least for Petrie.

On the other hand, being punished and spending time alone gives Pterano time to gather his thoughts and reflect upon his actions. Then he can make the decision if he wants to change his behavior, strive for better and return to his family, or if he prefers his life in the Great Beyond as it is. Judging by his character, I see both as feasible choices for him, but personally I prefer him returning back and rekindle his familial relationship with Petrie and the rest of the family.

Petrie has grown and matured when Pterano comes back, and I don't think he idolizes his uncle as much as he used to. Of course he's happy that Pterano is back and is probably the only one in the Valley to be excited about it, but Petrie doesn't put him on a pedestal anymore. It's easy for me to imagine that Pterano has calmed down and doesn't have plots and plans to cause mischief in the Great Valley. Maybe he's old and tired and just wants to find a place that feels like home. And I think Petrie could be a key factor in Pterano redeeming himself and others finding him a threat no more. Or, if not completely redeemed (I don't expect anyone to forgive him for the sh*tty things he has done), at least accepted by the community.

Pterano is a father figure to Petrie. Petrie looks to him to know what to become when he grows up, which complicates things because Pterano is cult leader, who led many astray.

I think calling Pterano a cult leader is a strong but false claim. He became a leader of a small group of seven dinosaurs who agreed with him. He really thought he had the answers and that the path they took was correct, and he led his group to a sharptooth ambush by accident. It wasn't his goal to put his herd in harms way and Pterano is shown to feel remorse and survivors guilt for that incident. There were no religious connotations in the flashbacks or anything reminiscent of cult behavior - no mind-altering practices to suppress doubt, no alienation from society, no threats of leaving the group, no abuse, no unquestioning commitment to the leader. Just because Pterano's opinions were different from the likes of Grandpa Longneck, it doesn't make him a bad person inherently. Literally the reason why the adults don't like him is that he took no responsibility for the mistake he made, for breaking up the herd and endangering those who decided to follow him.

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^ Oh, obviously. A brain fart on my behalf lol.

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