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Speed Racer's Visual FX Uncovered
Marco Trezzini writes "View exclusive interactive samples of the digital building blocks behind the Speed Racer movie in VRMag's in-depth interviews with award-winning Matrix visual FX guru John Gaeta, Dennis Martin, Lubo Hristov, and Jake Morrison.
Including Virtual Reality panoramas of the movie locations, turn tables of the mach 5 and 6,
and many making of videos unveiling the secrets of the visual effects.
Link to 'Speed Racer uncovered' and to John Gaeta's interview." The first time I saw the trailer for this movie, my jaw hit the floor. Nobody makes live action "Cartoons" that look like this. I guess that makes me believe there is no way the movie can be good.
All they do anymore is remake crappy tv shows i never wanted to watch in the first place into crappy movies i still dont want to watch.
Writers strike be damned, im on a viewers strike!
I am behind you all the way on Bladerunner and 2001, but The Matrix had a sound core science fiction theme along with a lot of great drama and situations...
The science of the Matrix was pretty laughable, I mean the machines are smart enough to build human farms, but too dumb to use satellites to capture solar power. A lot of stuff didn't add up. The films only saving grace, which more than made up for the plot holes, was it's deep philosophical questions, specifically about the nature of experience and what it truly means to be human. These are common threads alongside the other two films mentioned.
I think it is sort of obvious that Speed Racer isn't going to be tackling any sort of grandiose, fundamental question of philosophy. The whole cartoon was pretty campy, which the movie seems to have moved away from. This doesn't give make me hopeful about anything other than the visuals being worthwhile.
Sure, it will probably be an enjoyable film, but I would be very reluctant to mention 2001 or Bladerunner in the same breath.
I got a catholic block.
The previews for this film really bug me, particularly the way that the cars are constantly fishtailing back and forth. I realize that this is Speed Racer and this is not supposed to be realistic, but I believe that you need some inkling of reality to achieve any sense of excitement and drama.
Its based on a cartoon! What they have created is a caricature of a caricature of reality. Granted that makes the previews a caricature of a caricature of caricature. Still, it gives me the overwhelming impression of trying too hard, probably to cover up for the script.
Then again, I thought the Matrix series was kind of dumb.
Really, the only way to possibly enjoy this film will be to go in with absolutely no expectations at all.
Forget the Matrix, forget the old cartoons, don't bring any assumptions or fond childhood dreams to the party.
Just order a large popcorn, maybe get a little intoxicated, and go watch the eye-candy.
And if there's a plot that actually makes sense, it's all gravy.
I'm asking because I'm thinking that Speed Racer is primarily a U.S. childhood memory keepsake.
I've seen the trailer pass by before various movies four times now (10,000 BC, Definitely Maybe, Reservation Road, The Spiderwick Chronicles - a pretty spread out mix of audiences), and all four times the audience's response ranged from "wtf is speed racer?" to "what's with the awful effects?".
Somehow I can't see any of the audience here (NL) to be immediately drawn into the movie thanks to the lack of growing up with Speed Racer, and the trailer showing a minimum of story and mostly oddly-composited (I guess it's a "visual style") live action/CG doesn't exactly help to lure people in based on the visuals.
So what has audience response been in other countries?
Gah! How can they screw up a classic!?
There aren't any Neon lights in the 1967 cartoon!
Where's the really fast talking and loud gasping!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Damn you Hollywood!
But what made me laugh was the trailer clearly showed he did _NOTHING_ his whole life but think about racing, or practice racing.
So htf did he build the muscles and learn the skills to take out the ninjas they show later? lol
He's not even a pirate ;)
Exactly. There's such thing as TOO MUCH cgi, and Speed Racer is a perfect example. It looks less like a movie, but moreso a non-interactive video game that we will see in 20 years. I'm going to skip this one.
A product of our continuing devolution as a species.
We are adult infants, and this is the $140 million dollar equivalent of jingly keys.
The science of the Matrix was pretty laughable
I think you completely miss the point of The Matrix. The issue with using human batteries is not as clearcut as it may seem at first. If you recall, the world we live in is actually a simulation, so any assumptions you might have about the laws of nature are no longer valid. In the underlying layer of reality, humans have another type of of biomorphic energy that doesn't exist in the simulated layer or in the sun. This is supported by the fact that Neo is able to use psychic energy to stop the octopus bots even outside of simulation. Also, it is not clear whether the deeper layer of reality is the final reality - it may also be a simulation.
Also, the science in movies like 2001 and Bladerunner is laughable from some peoples' perspectives. For instance the ability to create details and perspectives that didn't originally exist in photos in Bladerunner is pretty silly. You can't hold your breath and go into a vacuum without rupturing your lungs, but this is done in 2001. That may seem minor to a layman, but if you are someone in the field of space travel, it might look like space opera to you.
The point is that they are all movies - fictional reality. Unless they are a perfect procedural simulation of reality utilizing all human scientific knowledge, then they will be inaccurate in some fashion, so no need to get up in arms.
It's about the story right?
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
I wonder where this "original story" lives? Now I'm curious...
It does clear up a few things, like how purely mental techniques and "training" could lead one to "bend the rules" -- and why the Machines couldn't effectively implement some basic security measures. It's impossible to fly in, say, WoW unless Blizzard lets you, but it would be downright easy if they, say, offloaded a bit of the physics computation to the clients.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!