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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deset Gled" data-source="post: 9624820" data-attributes="member: 7808">I want to get away from posturing about the politics of AI, and focus on the fact that this trailer is, unfortunately, pretty crappy.  I get what the guy was going for.  I get that he's a fan of both LotR and Ghibli.  I get that this is a fan creation.  But it's also blatantly obvious that the fake trailer displays little knowledge of what makes film or animation good.Let's start an analysis by looking at one of the most iconic parts of the "What if?" trailer.  From the time stamps of 0:41~0:47, you have the famous Council of Elrond, and the legendary "My sword, my bow, and my axe" dialogue.  Absolutely powerful stuff.  Now, take a look at the same sequence in the original trailer, at roughly the same time stamp (re-linking here to avoid watching the side-by-side version on Twitter):[SPOILER="Hiding in-line video"][MEDIA=youtube]vFpD-tfPfxE:41[/MEDIA][/SPOILER]The first and obviously horrible misstep in the What If trailer is noticed before Aragorn even starts talking.  In the original scene, as seen in the original trailer, Aragorn makes a step down to face Frodo at his level.  This is a critical action, with deep meaning.  He is intentionally and purposefully lowering his height to Frodo's height.  This is important both symbolically and visually.  However, in the What If trailer, this is truncated to Aragorn making a small lean forward.  It robs the action of all meaning, and shows a distinct lack of visual understanding of the scene.Next, let's look at something as simple as the framing of the characters.  Everyone in this scene (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli) is shown in a tight close up that crops off the top of their heads, and focusses on their faces (the same thing was done with Gandalf earlier in the trailer).  As introductions to these characters, this is critical.  The original LotR trailer was making a very clear point by showing off both the real-ness of the visuals, and the abilities of the actors.  Remember, LotR (and fantasy stuff in general) had been done in animation before; one of the major reasons for all the hype around Jackson's LotR (especially the first in the trilogy) was that it was live action.  The framing is designed specifically to show this off.Focussing specifically on Gimli shows how badly the What If trailers screws this up.  In the live action trailer, you can see the snarl of John Rhys-Davies lower lip, the visible bottom teeth giving the agressive impression of a slight underbite, the intensity of his eyes as they slightly squint, and a subtle move forward that projects both intensity and action.  In the What If trailer, you get literally none of that.  Instead you get this:[ATTACH=full]401121[/ATTACH]All of the intensity is gone; Gimli looks almost sleepy.  Absolutely none of the acting is preserved, and even less of the detail.  Even the motion is muted.  It's an insulting introduction to the character.It should be noted that one major facets of the What If failure is that it fails to recognize the differences in medium between live action film and animation.  If you go back and look at trailers for real Ghibli films, you'll find that introduction scenes rarely show characters with this tight framing.  Instead, more zoomed out shots are typical.  This can give the viewer a better idea of character design and allows animators more options to use different details and techniques to show emotion.But, looking beyond my nerd-rage there, let's give the What If trailer some leeway because it was trying to do a shot-for-shot remake of the original trailer (despite the fact that some shots take more artistic license, but whatever...).  If you're going to introduce a character this way, how would a Ghibli film do it?  Like this shot introducing Yubaba in the Spirited Away trailer:[ATTACH=full]401122[/ATTACH]Notice the extra level of detail on the skin and hair.  Notice the extra emotion in the eyes.  If you go watch the real trailer, you'll see that the light in her earings is an active, flashing gleam of light that adds action and intensity.  In short, this shot has everything that the live action LotR trailer has, and everything that the What If trailer doesn't.  Proving that even if this isn't typical for the for the medium, it's still possible to do it right.  Studio Ghibli does it right, and the What If trailer doesn't.And that's just my review of 6 seconds of the What If trailer.  The rest is, frankly, more of the same.The What If trailer should not be considered a shot-for-shot copy of the original LotR trailer.  It's basically fanfic level stuff.  Crossing over two ideas without the proper understanding of what made either great, and losing the heart of both.If you showed Hayao Miyazaki a copy of this, he wouldn't need to know whether or not it's AI to be insulted.  No matter how it was made, its the equivalent of showing him a lower quality direct-to-video knock-off of his art.  And he's a guy that takes his art seriously.  It would be the equivalent of trying to get J.R.R. Tolkien to read a Hobbit/Scooby-Doo crossover and lecturing him about the world building in it.  There's a time and place of this kind of stuff at a fan level. But frankly, it's not the kind or level of work I would want attached to my name if I was a professional in the industry.</blockquote>

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