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Next you'll be telling us the noise of the ship's engines, guns and exploding enemies isn't real . . . Go on, burst my (warp) bubble.
I may be wrong but since we are living in an image-based society where everything is being made iconic, even the best story is expected to be accurately represented visually in an appropriate way so if the image isn't effective even the message to convey will be debased
Does the link to Vimeo not work?
No SteveK, it still showing privacy settings message.
Before it said that the video cannot be played here, now it says that the video does not exist
I dunno, it works for me. Anyway, if you're interested go to Vimeo and search on "George Lucas In Love". I just did that and it worked.
I also found it on Youtube:
ROTFLMAO!!!
Yeah, you must have permission (vimeo) to see certain stuff the rest of us (or some of us) cannot ;)
Dart I said I like fantasy also....I like Star Wars...its a great fantasy and you have to give Lucas a lot of credit. It is just that it was such a great success and that it has been emulated to such a degree that it has seemed to kill off other more traditional Sci-Fi movies. Incidentally if you could fall asleep watching Hal take over the ship in 2001 and kill off his (its) human crew....you have my respect for nonchalance.I was on the edge of my seat when I saw it in a theater. For I knew that the surviving astronauts life really was in danger and there would be no force to the rescue. He was in a jam and the only way he could survive was to use his wits. Here he was outside of the ship in a pod with a limited supply of air and his helmet was left in the ship. Knowing what a vacuum does to a human body within seconds..I was stumped..I did not know how he was going to get back in - Hal was sure as hell not going to let him back .......and I really was fidgeting and on the edge of my seat...that was great storytelling, great plot.
And your right reality is around us all day...and in a real world even a splinter hurts. You don't need super heros with super villains and super threats to create danger. It can be as simple as a man sliding downa steep roof and hanging with tiring fingers to a rain gutter as in Hitchcocks "Vertigo". Or it can be Luke Skywalker with his arm just loped off, falling falling to who knows where. Fantasy and "reality" are both great entertainment.
Totally agree Phil, these really area exciting times. Chances are we will find evidense of life within our star system.. We are finding it in some almost impossible places here on Earth. Also how about out there, I believe, without checking, that NASA has identified over 2,000 planets. They are about to put into orbit a new more powerful telescope which should enable us to resolve even more. . Although there has been speculation in the past that higher life could exist beyond the hydrocarbon system..I don't see many advocates of that anymore, so if that holds to be true, it might be more promising to look for life on a liquid water type planet based on hydrocarbon structure. I
I was looking at the method used to gauge the size of the planets going around Trappist 1. Apparently it is just the drop in light intensity as the planet passes in front of the star...We have to be talking about such a tiny drop in value,,tiny, tiny ... amazed how they do it. I guess it is the amount of time it takes for the planet to cross the star (Knowing the type of star they know its size) that you know its orbit. If you know its orbit and you know that little teensy drop in intensity... I suppose you know its size..........Damn amazing.
Whether it is based on fantasy or genuinely science based, a good yarn will engage the audience (although I do object to films that claim to be science based and yet defy basic laws - at least as we understand them).
What has a Light Side and a Dark Side and holds the World together - Gaffer Tape!
Special effects really do need to be just that- special. Not the backbone of every movie produced. The story needs to be that backbone. It needs to work whether the movie/tv/play/etc is being produced with a blockbuster budget or as a no budget street performance. Strangely, it's Pixar that seems to nail that every time. Great stories, told with incredible effects. They know that if you have no story, you're left with lots of shiny objects that are pretty to look at, but quickly get boring. After all, the story is what you take with you long after the movie has ended. It's the part that keeps going.
Absolutely! And, I'm sorry to have come across so harshly. I really am.
Not only Hollywood, but us, as artists and storytellers have a tendancy to 'jump on' when something very original takes us by storm. Star Trek was cool. Not scientific, but cool and done on entirely too small a budget - yet the love of the backstage crew pulled it off!
Star Wars comes out, against all odds, and it takes the world by storm. Suddenly we get Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Quark, Buck Rogers in the 21 Century and all manner of new Space Stuff. Next thing you know, Space Stuff starts to all feel like it blends together.
It wasn't Space 2001 which I fell asleep to. It's my super-awesome movies on real science that do that. And it's not that I lack interest... I love these movies which is why I can never have too many of them. Stephen Hawking's stuff is particularly fun. He isn't afraid to let his imagination run wild. Some of the really cool Astronomy stuff we had was on VHS and we still haven't got the digital replacements yet. One was a PBS series that I really love. Our Astronomy club has it so I can lend it any time I want... But I need to have a copy for home. BBC has an immense collection of very interesting movies and series too. I love this stuff.
Yeah... I get a little crazy, I guess. Sorry about that. It doesn't matter to me who like Star Wars and who doesn't really. I accidentally defend it much like I defend Carrara, and neither need me to do that for them! LOL
I was fairly young when Diamonds are Forever - 007 came out to the theaters around here. It was the first movie I remember going to. That or one of the Planet of the Apes movies. Loved them both! 007's entirely far-fetched abilities of pulse-pounding action combined with an equaly powerful score just pleases me to no end. Planet of the Apes - it was the look of the Apes that I liked. I was young. I don't even truly remember the story - just the cool monster makeup art! LOL
Disney always captured me with amazing art and cleverly designed music to work very well with all of it, along with a very touching story. Jungle Book was always one of my favorites. Ralph Bakshi (Fire & Ice, Wizards) set out to show kids what's really out there - not the Disney Lies. I've never actually thought of Disney as a Lie, but more of a warm, fun adventure for kids and their families - an escape from the horrors of reality.
Wizards was Bakshi's 'kid film' and was set to play at all of the theaters that truly refused to play that new space-flop coming out called Star Wars. It was doing really good too - but nothing compared to SW. So to make room for Star Wars, Wizards got pulled almost as soon as it came. Cool story - Wizards. Nicely animated too.
They started (not NASA, the Astronomy communtiy) finding extra-solar planets by detecting the wobble in a star - revealing the presence of orbiting gravity. But planets have to be really Huge and fairly alone ofr this method at these distances. But it still works - just not for finding possible 'habitable' planets. So They sent up the last telescope, which can do as you say, measure light refraction as something passes in front of a star.
Knowing that we only have a maximum of a few billion years at the most before we have to leave the planet or cease to exist as a species is a Real drama that we are living now.
True - Human beings, as the exist on Earth, are not very space-worthy. Our muscles will break down which will eventually lead to limb loss and increasing bad health - our entire life relies heavily on muscle tissue.
True - Even at impossible speeds which would break Einstien's theory that nothing can be faster than light, it would take many generations before reaching another planet to live on - even if we could go hundreds of times the speed of light! The visible universe is so incredibly enormous that the actual distances are unfathomable.
So the newer technologies being developed to go into orbit can see and record in other wavelengths than visible light so we can put a rush on finding other possible Earth-like (Goldilock-zone) planets, while we also muust race to figure out how to make life in space for humankind possible, which would either require gravity enough to give us our weight in space, or re-engineering our genetics without the unneccessary mass - quite the condundrum.
Indeed. Pixar just won the short animation Oscar for the umpteenth time for "Piper", as I expected after seeing it recently. The whole thing is on YouTube (link below). Woot has a T-shirt that says "I went outside once. The graphics weren't that good". I think Pixar inspired it.
So I always envision stuff like Roger Dean paintings of floating rocks along with the Yes Song: Starship Trooper, the mounds of earth being part of the starship. We'd mine minerals on asteroids and planetesimal as we pass them by or stop for long visits. Adding to our mass to increase our gravity and warmth.
Perhaps by the time Earth starts to get too hot, Mars with acquire an atmosphere. Or perhaps by then we'll have found a way to influence mass to follow us on impossible journeys through space - providing us with the safety of mass from space debris, with our atmospheric projectors creating our very own ionosphere.
Long ago, according to human history, popular religion rejected science as truth. Eventually science rejected religion. Long prior to all of that, the entire human race rejected magic. So here we are, stuck in a state where the three elements of successful space travel are repelled from each other by the very being whom need them to work in pure harmony.
Rosie is the key. For she is not of this Earth and can feel the truth of all. But can she unite them for Earth before it's too late?
Hilarious! Hard to believe I've missed this all these years. Thanks for posting.
Can't wait. If you need gentle prodding, I'm happy to oblige!
Hmm. Is this a sneak preview of your forthcoming animation? Or, have you lost your mind? :-)
Absolutely.
..and I think that's what starboardtrack is trying to say through this whole thread.
While some folks might not like all (or any) of George Lucas' stories, he is who created Pixar, Lucas Arts, THX, ILM, and all along the way taught them all that "The Story Comes First"
I know... I'm known here as a big Star Wars fan. But in this case, I'm just agreeing with stuff that Lucas say in a lot of interviews: "An effect without a story is nothing but crap." whereas a great story without effects might leave a lasting impression, but could be told better.
Film effects began from the very beginnings of filmmaking - for filmmaking truly is an illusion that we're actually seeing something other than a screen.
Filmmakers have all learned very early on the true reality doesn't sell a story, which is why there's always such a struggle to get a movie made. All films, film or digital, require effects of some sort. The BEST effects are never recognized as effects or artificially added, but are soaked in during the telling of the story.
For a time, we used to thrill ourselves at finding the effects shots - looking for the wires, as they say. Which comes from a literal term.
It wasn't George Lucas who invented this stuff, but he certainly does deserve huge kudos for giving them a kickstart, putting in a huge risk to finance them, and give them a place to grow and prosper for all moviemakers to enjoy.
Hiding the Wires is something that ILM has been at the forefront of all along. You dream it, they'll get it on screen - and the audience won't find the wires!
Well in doing so, they publish their inventions and discoveries and it all filters down the pipe until eventually we got the wonderful advantage of being able to use this technology in our homes on our own projects! Anyone can make films or effects or both.
So now, with any storyteller having these tools available can publish great works - telling their stories and hiding the wires along the way. Hiding the Wires is a way of saying Applying effects in an unnoticeable manner. So Hollywood has a huge presuure on them now - the World! YouTube and Vimeo, etc., allow any of us to create and present.
Carrara is so powerful even though so many claim it to be underdeveloped. But those whome got it to where it is now gave us tools that are timeless. We can bring footage into our scenes and render over them or use them to make further elements to be added later in post. Carrara is a Wire Eraser! But even more, we can even have some real fun and exaggerate effects too.
Humanity has a habit of creating reality from what was once fantasy, Space travel, Robots, etc. There are even attempts at Teleportation these days. Who knows in the not too distant future we might be walking to our nearest teleportation node to get to work rather than taking A BUS?? ... There's nothing wrong with a little fantasy in a story, it may lead to tomorrows reality.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2643332/Beam-Scientists-sat-teleportation-possible-transfer-atoms.html
And all because it saved transporting in a shuttle every time Star Trek episodes needed to land on a planet... Go figure.
It's an underlying theme that has been rattling around over the years as I worked towards acquiring a library of content and learned my way into Carrara
...and, yes. I think of all the things I've lost... it's my mind that I mis the most ;)
Back to your true identity I see ;)
Yeah, have you seen the hologram communications they're developing in Russia? Looks just like the Star Wars hologram communications.
Steve that is a great little flick......I really liked it. I couldn't help wondering while watching it that this whole thing could be created in Carrara. I did'nt see anything that Carrara could not do..Even the water ..The wave sort of looks like just a solid coming up the beach with texture. I don't use the toon assets so maybe somebody like Dart or Phil could say how to make the watercolor effect on the beach grass. Nice little story with humor.. Gota see it again,
Took back my true identity after Diomedes kindly showed me how to change my username.
I agree... I LOVE that film and kept watching it after the first time. Yes, I think that Carrara is fully capable. The artists are everything in this one. Story, Assets (including shaders), Animation, Rendering, post effects... all but that last bit can all be done in Carrara. Use Howler or AE or Fusion or HitFilm or any combination of them to tweak and add, then stitch them all together for the final, along with the sound and music tracks.
I think that, even though some of these amazing artists might say that it's simple, because in the end, and it's all done, I guess it really is, it still takes time and practice to get this stuff right. And these folks get it right.
But if any of you are working on this sort of stuff and it feels hard to do... just keep in mind that these folks go to college for this stuff and get really good at it before even getting into Pixar. I'm sure there can be exceptions to that rule in nearly any studio, but these folks have a lot of experience animating, texturing, making foley sounds, scoring music, modeling, rigging... each of those words are carried out by a different individual in most movie-production studios. Again... exceptions might appear in the strangest places.
I see ;)
Hey, I'm all for the shiny objects. I love special effects, but without the story, they're just a light show. Kind of like an overlong fireworks display.
I was just responding to the original post, I keep getting interrupted trying to read through the rest (darned work getting in the way of my forum reading, LOL.)
What I love about both Star Trek and Star Wars is they are good theater in the classic sense. The stories could be performed on a stage (the original Star Trek really did look more like a stage!) and still be good because they follow classic structures- the Hero's Journey, and more recently, the Heroine's Journey. That's why people watch them over and over again. Good old Joseph Campell was right. That's what I try to create in my own stories too- good theater- some comedy, some tragedy, lots of feels, adventure, excitement, a dash of romance, and lots of fun. I can't wait to do animation with effects, but I often ask myself: if I strip away everything but the story, does it still work? I hope so!
There really is nothing better than a good story, expect one with great effects too
(Okay, maybe a few things, but we won't go there, LOL.)
Dart,
No matter how you cut it Time is not our friend when it comes to space....We have the life span of gnat. Clark had figured it out years ago.......our machines will conquor it, not us..Sometimes there are better ways of doing things....For example: You could build an armor suite made of incredible hard material in which to decend to the deepest part of the Pacific..or Saturn if you prefer..You would have a glass port a meter thick and servo motors to move the armor in your arms...Are you really at the bottom of the Pacific or are you in a meter thick suite. Contrast this with a machine that can exist amost natively at those depths with a Virtual Realiity camera setup. Which is closer to your perception of reality?
If it works on the bottom of the ocean..Why would you put people on the moon in space suites when you could put semi-automatic robots with cameras operated from Earth. There is a slight delay, but infinitly better than you being in a suite listening to your breath come in and out and wondering if you should have visited the bathroom before you suited up. A robotic worker or semi-robotic worker can work and build or mine 24/7 no air necessary. Man in that type of situation is a very expensive and dangerous option . And this is within reach of our present day technology. Guess how good we will be tomorrow.
I saw quite a lot there that would be difficult in Carrara - the waves (with foam etc), the feathers on the bird, the sand grains (particles?). Plus the sheer level of detail - not impossible, just very difficult.
A little while ago, I was playing around with formula objects trying to come up with convincing waves - I got a certain way, and produced something that looked like waves coming up a beach, that wasn't actually what I was aiming for! I may have to dig it out again someday.
I agree story comes first. But there has always been special effects. Even what we wouldn't call effects these days, but where cutting edge at the time of making.
Now the silent films where amazing in how they conveyed story without words, but this clip is all special effects.
It's months away yet - I'm still worldbuilding as it were, from "beanpole" style space elevators to orbital facilities, starships, shuttles, military/civilian etc etc. Some of that will work its way into novels, but the visuals will get modelled in Carrara . . .
I'm glad you liked "Piper", the couple hundred audience members I saw it with also liked it. The other nominees were good, but more clever than visually stunning.
I have serious doubts about doing it in Carrara, certainly I could not in this incarnation (and the next, even if I come back as a real animator). For one thing, I'm intimidated by the number of people involved ... about 20 "animators" alone
Here's the complete crew:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5613056/fullcredits?ref_=ttco_sa_1