I'm just not blogging, well, here.
I got a gig, folks. It's a free gig, but it gets me into the writing game's door, a preverbial foot, as it were. I've been awarded with some interviews, some people think I might know something, and my opinion actually carries some weight. And? I even get free tickets on occasion.
If you'd like to see where I've been writing? Take a bop over to orlandofunandfood.com.. Good group of people there. They gave me a chance when several other websites won't. I say "won't" considering I've written for several other websites, for free, and they ignored me and asked me to pay for their events when they happened at my Disney Parks. So?
We moved on.
However, I've been thinking about writing lately and it was time to revisit here. One of my movie critic friends, someone I trust and, apparently, really likes it when I do my movie lists, asked me to make another listing. So? That's what's going on here.
Not necessarily about theme parks, so this seems like the perfect spot to drop a few lines.
Today's topic? The best special and visual effects!!
See, I know a guy. He's an animator. Good one, too, won an Oscar and everything and, well, he and I were having a terrific conversation about the need for special effects. There was a time, way back when, in the times of King Kong, the original, when people bought a ticket to see the wonders of the movie. To be, truly, dazzled by the flickers of light on the screen. That, in and of itself, was worthy of a ticket. Who cares that the movie might have been limp or pathetic, you came to be wow'd. In the fifites, things changed around a bit more. All common sense was thrown aside, including the ability to suspend disbelief, to just be purely entertained by the drive in movies that Hollywood was cranking out.
Then came Jaws and Star Wars. Suddenly, with these pictures, the special/visual effeects came along side the tale you were watching and enhanced it. Usually, the story was so good, you didn't come to be wow'd by the special effects-instead, the movie came alive because of it. The experience was fuller by the presense of image, not the mere suggestion of it. We came to see Jaws to see a movie about a shark, not a facsimile of fish; we went to Star Wars to join on the heroes journey through outer space-and that couldn't happen without special effects and visual effects.
Now, I'm using two terms here, interchangably.
Special effects are usually seen by the actors. The best example I can think of is Jurassic Park. Those dinos in the kitchen? Those were costumes and puppets tormenting the actors. The actors had something to interact with.
That shark in Jaws? Special effects.
Visual effects are slightly different. These aren't usually seen by the actors and are added post photography. The actors in the Millenium Falcon did not see the star field at all as they hit lightspeed.
Combine these two? And you have the fundamental difference between stage and screen. The screen can give a more otherworldly experience slighly better than boards. However, the stage gives you a human element that cannot be replicated on a movie screen.
Keep this all in mind when I take you on a brief trip down the special and visual effects that have truly made me go WOW....
Here, for the first time for little movie-watcher-me, did the effects upstage the story. A wholly realized world that didn't exist in any reality we had ever experienced. Yes. As a geek, I did actually see this one for the visuals. It was like watching a huge video game. But the wow factor was there, bright and vivid.
But it also showed that the story really, really needed to be built up. YOu don't just make a story around the visuals. You should have a good story, first.
Bob Zemekis is a god. No, really. Like Hitchcock before him, he has this amazing ability to combine an incredible story with special effects so unique, you realize that they just blend, seamlessly. Here's where I first noticed him (however, Romancing the Stone is a wonderful movie too). He takes a crapload of animated, violent tropes and then hurls them at the screen, repeately. At the same time, he takes a 1940s film noir detective/crime tale and shows it at the same time. And it works to the point where you start to wonder where the animation ends (a sexy Jessica Rabbit is really just a Lauren Becall mole that we expect in these movies) and the live action begins. It's a deft piece of work that hugely entertaining. Disney tried to market it to the kiddies, but it becomes evident to the adults in the audience this is, in the end, a crime movie with a really stupid ending.
Still WOW!
I hate James Cameron, technically. I find his movies are overbearing and poorly written. Haven't we seen this before? And when he breaks new ground, he tends to wave his hands around alot to get everyone's attention. LOOK! I CREATED SOMETHING.
But I cannot deny what he did here, at all.
Many have been complaining about the fact that Disney is building a theme park experience around these movies. Rides at the theme parks let you feel like you are part of the story, a virtual experience. When I saw Avatar in 3D and in IMAX, the flimsy story was right there-but I didn't mind, because, when parts of the movie are flying out at me, I felt like, I, too, was somehow transported to Pandora as well.
So I get why they want to make a ride out of this stuff. Oh, and it made a crapload of money by upcharging for the IMAX and 3D glasses and stuff.
But the film is huge testament to motion capture. Unlike animation, there's a human undercurrent here and it shines through to the audience, making it easier to connect and dismiss the fact that the story is "meh." Watch the sides of the screen when Jake walks around the tree tops, as slight whisps alight on him and you in the audience. Watch how rockets are launched AT YOU when the bad guys attack. You feel like you're underfire and suddenly become very empathic to the cause of the protagonists.
No matter what the crappy story is.
I hate the term, but I can't think of a better one at the moment, but I like to think of it as "live-action" animation.
2. Forrest Gump 1994
WHen digital photography was in its infancy, this movie came out. And I realized, slowly, that we cannot trust the uncompromising actuality of photography any more. Before this movie, there was a concept of "photojournalism." It meant that National Geographic or Time could send a learned photographer out into the world and they would just take pictures and tell the tale of the world.
That ended with that movie. Sure! They're still out there, capturing images like we've never believed.
But we might have doubts.
Because of this movie. This movie, also from Zemekis (he won an Oscar for his efforts) seemlessly blends the realities we have all grown up with and adds the protagonist in there. Kennedy met him. His grandfather appears in Birth of a Nation.
The digital photo revolution has begun.
Now? We can do this all on a laptop. But then? This was new and I learned in that darkened theater that I may never trust an image again. Ever.
And it's a good movie, to boot. Slowly, we're shocked by the images, impressed at their special effects abilities. But then? Puft. We get absorbed and accept this new timeline of history. With Mr. Gump being activtly involved.
I will admit, these are not my favorite movies. I find, like James Cameron, that the ego of the director sometimes got the better of him. Luckily, he was graced with incredible actors who based the story in their very human emotions, pulling the audience closer to their hearts.
While the world they inhabit is completely, and utterly fictional. This is a world that can only exist in dreams and in fiction. Very similar to Avatar-it's actually closer to Forrest Gump. Human like experience within the fantastic. Where this is superior? It's not all digital. Frequently, shots had to be overtly planned, I had learned and just mere camera trickery was utitlized to save money and to allow performers to be in the same room-continuing the very human presence. Gandalf towers over the hobbits in their homes. But he's just merely standing closer to the camera, using smaller plates and tea cups.
A final battle surges with animals that we have never seen, a cast of millions populating our field of vision. We fly over the battlefields, pull in close and then see touching, independent moments. As an audience member, we're introduced to the scope, as well as, able to connect to the humanity beneath the tale.
Good stuff!
Now? Go get some popcorn! And tell me what movies you think have the best special effects!!
