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Cubism For CG And Movies
Aidtopia writes "Computer Graphics pioneer Andrew Glassner has a cool page on virtual cinema. The Matrix Reloaded introduced us to virtual cinema--re-rendering live action to show it in a way that would be difficult or impossible in real life. Glassner takes this much further by using unusual (and physically impossible) camera distortions, morphing multiple points of view simultaneously in single continuous image. Could this be the next big revolution in film? How long until we see a movie done like this?"
You can read the original PDF paper here
--Tim
It is looking a little slow already. So in case it goes down, here is a link to the google cache.
"I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines." - Mr. Furious, Mystery Men
Reminds me of Panquake
http://wouter.fov120.com/gfxengine/panquake/
- Warriors of Zu Mountain
would be a good example. Once people get over the newness of all these special effects from Asian film makers, maybe we can go back to go back to action scenes where people actually do THEIR own stunts unassisted. THen we'll never have to see Jackie Chan on wires again. *sigh*Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
Seriously, though, it's like everyone's doing it.
Anyone who listened to George Borshukov's talk about virtual cinematography and the Matrix Reloaded at SIGGRAPH 2003 knows how much work went into modeling the characters for all the virtual cinematography scenes. Referring to the first Matrix's bullet time techniques as being "the same" as what's going on here makes no sense, since they're two totally different means of achieving that type of camera style.
Given the stills that were shown during that SIGGRAPH presentation, which, incidentally, had side-by-side comparisons of the real and virtual actors shot under controlled lighting conditions, there's basically one thing that gives the digital doubles away--somehow, I doubt people were checking the shape of the back of Agent Smith's head during the Burly Brawl.
I guess now I chalk a lot of this up to inability to completely suspend belief when I'm watching scenes that I know are physically impossible to shoot.
Also, some of those Burly Brawl shots are just head replacements, so look for those Agent Smiths that don't quite have the right face and then come back and tell me that all those CG bodies look fake.
Cubism, being a movement in painting that attempted to depict a more complete illustration of the painted subject by showing it from a number of different perspectives, was influential in forming the visual depiction of many directors/photographers. Here is an analysis of Truffaut and Eisenstein making the same argument
Surrealism extended cubism into the fantastic world of dreams and provided a fresh perspective that allowed the auteur to look at what did not exist before, recreating reality, as it were.
Surrealism is not new - check out Salvador Dali's own rendition of the dream sequence in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound in 1045.Here is a list of some films using Surrealism in some form to render their visions of reality
Roger Corman talks about Surrealism in his films
Here is a good list of surrealism in films
I suppose by this you should also clarify that the first Matrix used this too, for the backgrounds for those bullet time scenes. The Matrix Reloaded is more like those same techniques refined (clearly, the backgrounds are way more complex now).
2) Where's "Neuromancer" -- the book from which everything in the Matrix (including its name) that didn't come from Kung Fu movies was stolen? Again it's been optioned continuously but never green-lighted.
William Gibson's script for Neuromancer is out there and IMHO... well, let's just say that it isn't much better than the one he had for Johnny Mneumonic.
Actually much of the non-HK stuff wasn't from Neuromancer but the Grant Morrison comic book series The Invisibles (an astounding piece of work. It starts off with the notion "What if every conspiracy you ever hear of was true...?" and goes ape). The W. Bros had a copy of The Invisibles on the set of The Matrix and referenced it constantly (and you can pick up sly inserts in the movies). I recommend it to anyone to pick it up.
What is music when you despise all sound?
Actually, Watchmen is being made into a movie already. See?
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-main.html?2003- 07/16/11.00.film
enjoy! I am looking forward to it. I thought this info had already reached the /. crowd.
"It takes a very long time to count to 2 in binary." ~'Fourlegged'
"solipsism"? latin, from solus (alone) + ipse (self)
a noun. the philosophical theory that the self is all that you know to exist.
riiiiight... now how 'bout you try that post again, but without all the pretence. and use words you really know.
or re-apply your 2p review to 12 Monkeys.
You know, I guess I have to agree. My original reaction was "blah, they just took a bunch of half-baked ideas from greek philosophy and buddhist theology, and threw them together with a bunch of fight scenes." But now that I think about it, the philosohpy itself wasn't that bad. It wasn't new or insightful, but it was well presented.
What drove me crazy was the dialogue. The Neo and Morpheus characters continually made the philosophical discussion sound like it was being carried out by a bunch of drunken frat boys on a Saturday night. "Some things change, other things stay the same." Whoa there Morpheus, that was sure deep. And then, of course, Neo just never seems to get it. His facial expressions, at least, make it look like the cranks in his head are turning very slowly.
Anyway, I think your guess is interesting. But if they are going to finish with the reference to the syllogism of the cave from Plato's Republic, Neo's perception of reality needs to be scaled up quite a bit. In the MR, Neo and company are only (supposedly) in sphere two, as described by Plato; there are four total. But then I think the point Plato was making was that it is generally impossible to reach the third sphere, much less the fourth sphere. You are always looking at shadows, even if you think you are looking at forms.