Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens VFX Breakdown Reel - General

[QUOTE=Flicky;49533401][i]Have[/i] to? No. But sometimes it is better to use CGI instead of, say, a puppet... [img]https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--EOeL13mv--/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_north,h_358,q_80,w_636/18lqbc4zoncepjpg.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] before we talk about the fact that the phantom menace yoda puppet is just a shittily constructed puppet (and that it in many cases was poorly choreographed, surprising given that frank oz was the puppeteer)... there's a different - and more important - reason that yoda looks bad as a puppet in phantom menace. because he's out of place. the rest of the set design for the film is extremely clean and crisp, the use of cgi as both background and for various characters and movements causes yoda's earthiness and stiff movement to contrast [I]very[/I] intensely with the rest of the film. compare him to the other cgi characters of the film to understand why he looks off. jar jar binks for instance moves [I]a fucking ton[/I] and does extremely exaggerated damn near caricature style faces to express emotion. there is little subtlety for him. the same is true for sebulba (the mean pod racer) - dude's got little dangly bits all over his face which causes him to be [I]VERY[/I] movement intensive, especially in his (all important) face. the same is true for watto, the flying thing that owns anakin in the beginning of the film. his wings are [I]constantly[/I] flapping in the background, his face is constantly changing mood, and he is extremely emotive. his legs dangle beneath him, swaying as he moves around. These haven't been (to my knowledge) directly touched upon in the RedLetterMedia reviews of the prequels, but the issue is discussed with Lucas' tendency to try to shove too much visual information into one shot, causing everything to be as busy and as overanimated as possible. Overanimation is one of if not the biggest problem with CGI characters right now. combine these things and then compare them to the way they used the puppet yoda in ep1. he's stiff, stationary, and the only movement that they really gave him was (occasional) walking and his mouth synchronization. given that the other major (cgi) characters of the film have accurate lip syncing, it is extremely jarring to see a puppet yoda, whos lips rarely move beyond opening and closing slightly with stationary eyes. Take a look at [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxaZxpNTm8A]this youtube video[/url] to see what i'm talking about for movement of yoda's puppet and cgi selves, and then compare them by looking up Watto / Sebulba / Jar Jar. Yoda sticks out like a sore thumb. yes, i'll say the cgi yoda in phantom looks better than the puppet - but for the aforementioned reasons. primarily consistency and because the film is shot in such a way that he looks incredibly jarring as a puppet. (for instance, in episode 7, why does that one cgi character look so fucking out of place? because [B]she is[/B]) BUT IMO [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlKoiJu9TsQ]both of these look like shit in comparison to the empire strikes back yoda.[/url] reason? lighting and texturing for the puppet (his skin is shiny and the hair is too prevalent in ep1), and lighting and texturing for the CGI (cgi clothing is noticeable and face is off and the eyes are wrong and the hair doesn't interact with the light properly). lucas is on record as trying to say that he tried to make yoda look younger. he failed and only made him look uglier, and emphasized it with the way that he (and david tattersall) shot the scenes. in fact, in comparison, yoda's movement in EPV is [I]fantastic[/I]. His movement is slightly jilted and stiff, but quick and snappy. You get a sensation of an old wisened character (aided by his voice, the use of the cane in his design, etc), ripened in his age. But then Yoda is just a goofy motherfucker, so you see some snappy movements that match his quirky personality. Everything is accentuated by [I]good[/I] cinematography, hiding the weakness of the puppet and accentuating the real "feel" of having a physical character that interacts properly with the lighting and other characters instead of just sitting in a chair. Yoda is more than just a face in EPV - he moves around, there's shots of him climbing on shit, bending over, etc. All of these things contribute to make him feel more realistic and more whole as a character. this is all obviously up to individual opinion. but personally i find the depiction of yoda in the prequel trilogy to be a serious downgrade from both a visual and storytelling standpoint for his character.

[QUOTE=Butthurter;49576587]he went from fun cranky little guy that can take a joke and still tutor you to a dead serious space monk its like poetry[/QUOTE] suppose that's another thing you can thank george lucas's directing skills for. that man managed to turn one of the best emotionally charged actors in sam jackson into a lifeless cardboard box of a character

[IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/2hcgs41.jpg[/IMG] The difference is jarring. But it looks like Yoda is eating a piece of shit in the the left shot.

That photo is not very good, i found a small one but it's from the same angle and is not squished together. [img]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a115/doubleofive/CGI%20Yoda/CGI-Yoda-Comp1.png[/img] Also no links for the video work in this thread, is there any that hasn't been taken down?

CG Yoda looks a lot closer to the OT puppet then the Ep1 Puppet. [editline]23rd January 2016[/editline] IIRC they actually did the Episode 1 CG scenes as a test for Episode 2

The Episode I puppet looks like its hair is too scraggely and the face isn't round enough on the bottom.

The face of the EP1 puppet is fucking modeled off of Mark Hamill why

[QUOTE=xalener;49592847]The face of the EP1 puppet is fucking modeled off of Mark Hamill why[/QUOTE] It's like poetry, it rhymes.

[QUOTE=xalener;49592847]The face of the EP1 puppet is fucking modeled off of Mark Hamill why[/QUOTE] And the face of the original is a self portrait of the puppet designer with dashes of Einstien iirc.