Slashdot Mirror
The Simpsons Come to Life
musicon writes "Makers of the hit cartoon The Simpsons have a filmed the show's opening titles using real actors.
In the hit viral going around the world we get to see what Bart, Homer, Marg, Lisa and Maggie would look like if they were humans. Simpson's maker Matt Groening has approved the human version of the show's opening credits to promote the brand new series." Amazing attention to detail.
"New series" = "new season"
That's also the reason Marge is driving on the wrong side, it was made in the UK.
Five fingers on each hand? No yellow skin and blue hair? Gimme a break.
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
the real world version of the Springfield Shopper.
MacBook Pro. Worst name since the Bicycle
Isn't Bart supposed to be older than Lisa?
Je ne parle pas francais.
This introduction was made by the UK satelite TV channel Sky, although Rupert Murdoch owns both Sky and Fox. If this fil was really made by the makers of the simpsons would the cars drive on the left-hand side of the road as they do in this film?
here just in case there's any trouble with the The Sun's link. As someone pointed out to me yesterday, notice that Homer's car is lefthand drive while Marge's is righthand drive.
They even got the simplest thing wrong "While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car." It's Maggie!
http://chickencamels.poemofquotes.com/
Here's a YouTube link (found on MetaFilter)
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-223127182 7736577327. God bless Google.
from Bromleys local paper (area where the intro was filmed)
CALAMITY cartoon family The Simpsons brought their own special brand of havoc to Bromley last week - as producers filmed a new 'human' opening sequence for the hit American TV comedy.
The spectacular scenes were shot throughout the day last Friday (30) in Lansdowne Avenue, Orpington, because one of the properties looked similar to the family's home in make-believe Springfield.
Producers wanted to film an entirely different version of the opening credits scene, which is always slightly altered every episode, and called up a host of look-alikes for the job.
Read the Bromley Times for our full exclusive report and pictures.
so either you are wrong, or the local paper who specialise in local stories is, hmm tough choice
Interesting that none of the Quicktime versions will play. Either they've been Slashdotted or the Sun screwed up the format. No problem getting Windows Media to play though. The perfect comment on the Simpsons world.
There are several bits left out such as the glowing rod bouncing onto Homer's back, Bart picking up the glowing rod when Homer throughs it out the car and the cash register does not display 847.63. They did an ok job but I would hardly call it "amazing attention to detail".
Homer drives a Lada, a car made in the Soviet Russia...
This is not real. You can tell because Maggie really is driving the car. Just look at which side she's on!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Here's the video on Google Video. Google Video's streaming works better than other sites' streaming, and they generally let you download the video as an MPEG-2, as well. You may need to rename the ".gvi" file to ".avi", they rename it for some silly reason.
It's still a fun trailer, and I know they're never going to really look like the Simpsons, but it's like they didn't even try! At the very least, Marge needs a beehive. And pick a girl that looks a little nerdy with short hair for Lisa. They obviously spent some money on the filming and effects, but it's like they cast from whoever happened to be around the studio that day.
Actually I find it a rather good version of the cartoon opening. Consider the limitations of using real life people, and since the idea was to use real people and not CGI, them it was well done.
I think it is a pretty good opening. Looking forward to maybe seeing it at the start of a few shows in the future.
-Ghost
That's because it's meant to be a British family coming home to watch The Simpsons , presumably through one of those ghastly Murdochotron devices that adorn so many homes these days.
Come on people, think!
Homer: "What country is this car from?"
Dealer: "It no longer exists"
Everyone commenting on how inaccurate this is needs to take a close look in the mirror to make sure that the comic book guy is not staring back at them.
I have put hours into this one second of the Simpson's intro. I have frame-by-framed the whole clip from where Homer tosses it out the window/cut to bart on the skateboard/ the rod appears to bounce and disappear, not landing on the skateboare at all, as this is the point where Bart is using the lamppost to redirect himself. I have a degree in film(so i get way more jokes than average joe), editing was my focus... and The Simpson's are one of my all-time favorite t.v shows.
Score: 1pt. please... I have no links, and have dropped no big names in tech.... Don't worry, I am used to only getting the boobie prize of 1 pt.
Sig Hansen?
Matt Groening needs to start an episode with this opening to make one of the best couch gags ever!
You mean they they'll be horrible freaks with pink skin, no overbites, and five fingers on each hand?!?!
Aaaaaah!
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
Bah. Posers.
"While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car."
Not Lisa. Maggie.
Duh?
Favorite
* * * * * * *
Heaven:
French Chefs
American Engineers
British Bobbies
Hell:
British Chefs
French Engineers
American Police
as you may or may not know, old ladas are just license-produced fiats
Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
This reminds me of the house built in Springfield, NV. It brought the house to life. http://www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/misc/simpsons/s tory.html
Now we need this family to re-film this at the house. Maybe then it can be aired in the US.
While many TV shows are sped up when broadcast in PAL format, these are only shows that are actually shot with film at 24 fps. This would include shows like Friends, Seinfeld, Buffy, and many others. Probably any show you can think of, in fact. You Brits should be aware of the fact that those actors actually have noticeably deeper voices than what you hear on TV.
:)
Older sitcoms that were originally filmed in video (such as, say, the Cosby Show or Alf), however, have a different conversion process that maintains the original speed while adding annoying artifacts whenever there is motion. This also affects sports and news broadcasts (anyone watching NBA basketball east of the Atlantic knows what I mean).
Animation series such as the Simpsons fall into neither category. They are not changed in speed nor reduced in quality for PAL lands, instead it seems they are originally rendered at 25 fps at the studio.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong
phozz
4 years ago a 3d version of the intro was shown at mekkasymposium: http://scene.org/dir.php?dir=%2Fparties%2F2002%2Fm ekkasymposium02%2Fwild%2Fshown/
file yellow3d*, multiple formats available.
Lisa's playing the wrong kind of saxophone. This is unforgivable.
In Soviet Russia, backwards is everything.
Homer still exits the car using the left-hand door when he pulls into the house. Maybe he was fortunate enough to get one of his brother's American cars?
--- Dan
"Makers of the hit cartoon The Simpsons have a filmed the show's opening titles using real actors. In the hit viral going around the world we get to see what Bart, Homer, Marg, Lisa and Maggie would look like if they were humans. Simpson's maker Matt Groening has approved the human version of the show's opening credits to promote the brand new series.
Editor? I need an editor! Come on people!
Note to self: I should save this reply for any Slashdot article covering games, Windows, or politics.
I cant believe bow negative alot of people are about this thing. Ok The Sun made a number of mistakes in the article - the sun is on a par with the national enquirer, if it doesnt invole some b list celebrity with their tits out or following some half arsed sports personality then the sun is incapable of getting even the slightest fact right. But im more surprised at the hostility alot of people have shown towards the clip. This is the first creative thing I have seen on The Simpsons in years so relax people, its a live action parody and I thought it was fun. Its not accurate, its not trying to bring the simpsons to life its just trying to give a little parody to an otherwise tired opening segment (My current fave is where it pans out of Homers head, through the universe and back out of Homers head!). 3 cheers for trying something new - now all you writers got to do is make the show entertaining again (I am not trying to flame or troll so please do not take as such)
If anybody wants save the movies to hard drive. Here they are (I didn't bother with the RealPlayer versions):
High
the_real_simpsons_850k.mov
the_real_simpsons_850k.mov
Medium
the_real_simpsons_330.mov
the_real_simpsons_330.mov
Low
the_real_simpsons_30.mov
the_real_simpsons_30.mov
I didn't label them properly, but the second links point to the WMV version.
Heaven- British house, American salary, Chinese cook, Japanese wife
Hell- Japanese house, Chinese salary, British cook, American wife
Repeat after me: William H. Macy was born to play Ned Flanders. No live-action Simpsons movie will work without him.
Think about it.
THE GOOD HUMOR MAN CAN ONLY BE PUSHED SO FAR
Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 2F18
In Norway, they drink their vodka with water.
In Sweden, they drink their vodka without water.
In Finland, they drink their vodka like water.
And in Russia, they drink their vodka instead of water.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Animated characters can move much faster than real life characters and still stay convincing. The timing on the original Simpsons intro is breakneck. Characters whirl all over the place.
Most of the details people are mentioning as missing simply couldn't be done in live action. They are already running the video at about 1.4 times normal speed, and the humans still move too slowly to work it. Run at a high enough speed to match, things would jerk all over the place, Keystone Cops style.
Part of that is storyboarding cheats, though, which the filmmakers could have done had they known a little more about animation. One of the rules of cartoon storyboarding is that as soon as a character is out of shot, they can move infinitely fast. For example, in the saxophone scene Lisa is out of shot for a moment, and when she comes back she's moved further than a human can. The filmmakers tried to approximate this, but they ended up with a jump cut.
Other times, it just doesn't work because live action takes longer to read than animation. The shot that is supposed to look like Maggie is driving the car is just confusing. Car, baby, car in different place, car turns over the storyboarding axis. Unpleasant. The English countryside doesn't help. It's so detailed and lush that the car seems like a minor part of that last shot.
The whip-pan from Homer tossing his rod to Bart skating is odd.
On the whole, I think they concentrated too hard on trying to match the actual shots, and not enough on trying to match the intent of the shots.
http://www.putfwd.com/index/putfwd-dl-action/id.24 89/type.mov
A huge mistake: in the cartoon, as everyone knows, Lisa Simpson plays a BARITONE saxophone. In this real-life adaptation, she's playing a TENOR saxophone. How could they miss that? There must be 100 episodes with a baritone sax in it. Back to the drawing board, mates!
Yeah British food sucks. According to Restaurant magazine in 2005 the UK only has 4 of the top 10 resturants in the world (more than any other country), including the number one resturant in the world.