Behind the Magic: The Visual Effects of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - General

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzxrwXHCoU[/media] I'm amazed by how much detail goes into objects and set pieces that are seen for a split second and usually through a lot of motion blur.

[QUOTE=kidwithsword;51010554]I'm amazed by how much detail goes into objects and set pieces that are seen for a split second and usually through a lot of motion blur.[/QUOTE] problem is, people would notice if you skimped on the details. It's kind of like how in music, people tend to joke about how you barely notice a bass player's contribution actively in a song, but without the bass you notice pretty fast how empty it sounds sometimes VFX artists rely too heavily on saturation of things you're not supposed to pay attention to, the transformers movies are a prime (heh) example of flourishing greeble in lieu of being able to get things to work right. (not gonna dig for it now but I remember an interview where they talked about how they did transformations, many parts were irrelevant and there was no mechanical way they thought up to do it proper, so they just crumpled the animation rigs, models clipping through one another blatantly, and shook the camera a bit more to mask it

damn that's a lot of layering pretty sure the vfx in fury road used like half the amount and it looked better, too.

There were some pretty atrocious VFX in Fury Road too, they're usually just too subtle (or brief/ etc) to notice. When the doof warrior's thing crashes and all the shit flies towards the screen is the particular example that comes to mind. It was completely unconvincing and a bit cheesy, and, although I managed to smile through it because of how goofy it was, it still definitely took me out of the moment. Can't think of anything in Force Awakens that had the same effect, although I suppose the CGI characters would be comparable since almost no one can get that perfectly convincing yet.

the truck crashing was meant for 3d. it sucks in 2d and wasn't even that good in 3d, but yes, i agree.

[QUOTE=Biscuit-Boy;51011085]There were some pretty atrocious VFX in Fury Road too, they're usually just too subtle (or brief/ etc) to notice. When the doof warrior's thing crashes and all the shit flies towards the screen is the particular example that comes to mind. It was completely unconvincing and a bit cheesy, and, although I managed to smile through it because of how goofy it was, it still definitely took me out of the moment. Can't think of anything in Force Awakens that had the same effect, although I suppose the CGI characters would be comparable since almost no one can get that perfectly convincing yet.[/QUOTE] It's kinda annoying they had to shoehorn that obvious 3D gimmick in because other than the backdrop, [del]electric guitar and steering wheel[/del], that scene was still 99% practical effects including most of the objects. Behind the scenes on that particular crash at 27:00 [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKAHGwCyamc[/media]

[QUOTE=NachoPiggy;51011791]It's kinda annoying they had to shoehorn that obvious 3D gimmick in because other than the backdrop, electric guitar and steering wheel[/QUOTE] even the steering wheel was practical, I forgot which bts video had footage of that

It's the little details that make it look so good.

[QUOTE=Niven;51011798]even the steering wheel was practical, I forgot which bts video had footage of that[/QUOTE] Just did a quick search further and you're right! Can't find the particular BTS video though but I did find this [url=https://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-graphic-tale-the-visual-effects-of-mad-max-fury-road/]article talking about it[/url]. [quote]The sequence made use of numerous Namibia plates, including stationary action that would be enhanced with moving backgrounds, canyon augmentation, a War Rig and other vehicle crash stunts. Surprisingly, the final twisted mix of vehicle pieces, metal and bungie-corded guitar that fly towards camera were largely practical effects. “I thought the best we could do was at least shoot the guitar,” says Jackson. “It was all wires and flame throwers and had fuel lines that were broken and leaking fuel and various bits of wires dangling off. I just imagined that for real coming up to the camera and bouncing back. We set up a shoot for that where we hung the guitar from bungies on a cherry picker. I suggested that if you pull the guitar back and release it in exactly the same way it will always go back to the same spot. We released it and marked where it was going to and put a camera exactly there, so we could repeat that event and push the camera slightly closer.” Even the steering wheel that flies out after the guitar was achieved photographically, as Jackson explains: “We shot that on a little gimbal spinning. In the end, George wanted to push right into the mouth of the wheel, but the resolution wasn’t enough, so we tracked the action of the spinning wheel on the gimbal and I built a little rig to photograph that with a high res stills camera. So we matched the motion of the spinning one and did a really high res version - like stop motion. Pushing right into the mouth of the steering wheel was all a live action element.” [/quote] Guess how it was just composed and shot and edited in made it look a bit out of place and jarring, but knowing that other than the backdrop itself being practical effects that's even more impressive.

[QUOTE=NachoPiggy;51011791]It's kinda annoying they had to shoehorn that obvious 3D gimmick in because other than the backdrop, [del]electric guitar and steering wheel[/del], that scene was still 99% practical effects including most of the objects. Behind the scenes on that particular crash at 27:00 [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKAHGwCyamc[/media][/QUOTE] I absolutely despise 'made for 3D theater' gimmick effects, but at least they're passable if they're a one-off in the middle of a film. But for such a huge practical effect end shot, that was sloppy and obtrusive

I remember when the first trailer showing the X-Wings flying over the water came out, there was a user here who kept insisting that the X-Wings were physical models when someone pointed out the CG.

[QUOTE=NachoPiggy;51011842]Just did a quick search further and you're right! Can't find the particular BTS video though but I did find this [url=https://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-graphic-tale-the-visual-effects-of-mad-max-fury-road/]article talking about it[/url]. Guess how it was just composed and shot and edited in made it look a bit out of place and jarring, but knowing that other than the backdrop itself being practical effects that's even more impressive.[/QUOTE] Although I'm impressed with the lengths they went through trying to get it right - it was still blatant that it was not genuine and, by that reasoning, they failed miserably in their goal with that specific shot.

man the last third of this movie kinda sucked really hard tbh.

i love the swishy beepy sound effects that they put over all the breakdown stuff

I wonder if the actors go to the premier of their movie and watch it for the first time and think to themselves: What the fuck? It was day time when we shot that scene

[QUOTE=dai;51015782]I absolutely despise 'made for 3D theater' gimmick effects, but at least they're passable if they're a one-off in the middle of a film. But for such a huge practical effect end shot, that was sloppy and obtrusive[/QUOTE] 3d theater needs to fuck off and die tbh