RotS - live action or animation movie? (Spoilers)

[Quasqueton]

How many actual, real actors are on screen in Revenge of the Sith, in total? Ten? Half a dozen? Less? Was I the only one to notice that nearly everything in the movie was CG?

When the clone trooper "captain" (or whatever) took off his helmet, it was apparent to me that it was the actor's real head with a CG body in armor.

When the MD robot hands the baby to Obi Wan, I could see the change from CG baby to real baby.

And countless other instances. There were so many places where I could tell the character was CG and not real, it shook me out of the movie. The clone troopers didn't move like real people. I wonder if there are any actual, real world sets for this movie. I think *everything* was CG.

Is RotS a live-action movie, or an animation? What would the Oscars consider it?

Quasqueton

 

[WayneLigon]

If I remember right from Episode One, the sets are real only up to a certain point - usually a few inches taller than the tallest character (there was a trivia point about the sets costing more than estimated because Neeson is so tall). I don't think it was to the point (yet) of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, where the only sets were things they physically interacted with; the 'bloopers' part shows them on the 'jungle set, and it's just a blue screen with a few scattered palm fronds in a rought line along their marked path.

Maybe you can tell when it's CGI but most people probably can't. I'm reminded of Spielburg talking about Jaws, and how people were pointing to real sharks and saying how fake the mechanical shark was.

Within the next few years, the difference between live-action film and animated film will probably disappear. I'd say within 20 years, 90% of SAG - the people that have all the other roles in a film other than the few dozen big stars at the time - might well be out of work once a sufficient template library exists.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Within the next few years, the difference between live-action film and animated film will probably disappear. I'd say within 20 years, 90% of SAG - the people that have all the other roles in a film other than the few dozen big stars at the time - might well be out of work once a sufficient template library exists.

I wonder about this as well. Why deal with a $10 million, petulant star who is only a so-so actor when you can get some guy off Broadway for $30k and paste Brad Pitt's face on him?

Obviously, we're not there yet. But 20 years sounds like a reasonable time frame.

 

[Quasqueton]

So, how many real actors do you think were seen on-screen in RotS?

Quasqueton

 

[Vocenoctum]

Maybe you can tell when it's CGI but most people probably can't. I'm reminded of Spielburg talking about Jaws, and how people were pointing to real sharks and saying how fake the mechanical shark was.

The giant lizard was horrible frankly. LotR had better integration. (I mean, people complained about the water at Isengard, but that had nothing on Ep 1-3!)

 

[BiggusGeekus]

As a follow up

http://slate.msn.com/id/2119328/nav/ais/nav/ais/


Insurance and safety costs are much higher than I imagined. Tomb Raider is apparently the worst of the lot with stuntment and whatnot costing 13.5 million while Angaline Jolie cost $13 million. $26 million you could use toward a complete CGI movie and actress and you'd still have $500,000 to buy beer and smokes.

 

[Captain Tagon]

There were part of RotS where I personally thought the CG was horrible. Most any scene with the clone troopers in it. And the scene at the beginning where Dooku dropped the piece of railing on Obi-Wan.

But I actually liked the giant riding lizard.

 

[Mr. Kaze]

Named Primaries that actually had Lines: Chris, Ian, Sam, Ewan, Hayden, Natalie, Jango's actor, Bail's actor.

Probably most of the Jedi were live folks, too. Until they got wiped out by the forces of CG.

IIRC, Chewbacca and the the wookie chieftain were also guys in suits -- though I don't see what the point behind that was, so it's probably just a rumor.

No, the real question is -- what percentage of lines were delivered by actors we could see (named primaries) as opposed to disembodied voices (Yoda, C3P0, other droids, Grevious, etc)? I ask because Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, Ms. Organa... none of them actually had lines. And that's a not-small portion of the on-camera cast!

Anyway, about the quality of the CG... Frankly I found the texture mapping on the buildings and the droid army machines to be about on-par with Unreal Tournament 2004 (especially in the wookie scene). Found the dialogue to be about on-par with Unreal Tournament 2004, too...

 

[Henry]

As a follow up

I am officially deflated and disillusioned.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I am officially deflated and disillusioned.

Well, if what I hear about the Tomb Raider costuming is correct, you're in good company with Angelina Jolie!