PT Practical Effects in the Prequels- Sets, Pictures, Models, etc.

Watching that video earlier today on IGN is what made me find this thread to tell the people commenting over there that the Prequels weren't all CG. Thank you to the OP for starting this fine thread.

Also, I must add, that puppet creature in that video looks terrible to me. The way the head rolls around on the neck as it moves and the type of material they used for the skin is mid-70's puppet/muppet technology. I hope it's in the background and not shoved in our face in the final film. I may groan with displeasure.

But regardless, this thread is awesome. Thanks for the all the pics that were posted. I've saved them all.

 

It's pretty nice as an extra in my opinion

 

yeah it's great.

 

Ya I agree. Having this thing in the background or for a second or 2 (a la cantina and Jabba's palace scenes) could be done well - but it undeniably looks and moves like a puppet and should not get the same air time in the movie as in that video.

But the bizzaro-world part is that so many ppl seem to be extremely happy that they instantly recognize the creature as a puppet! So basically many of the arguments that CGI is bad because it "looks fake" (which has been echoed in this thread) are empty because those same ppl would actually prefer puppetry that looks undeniably like puppetry (rather than something that looks 'real').

Which brings me back to the issue of practical effects and the PT. Could it be that the reason so many ppl believe there were little or no practical effects in the PT is because they were too well done? Do ppl actually prefer the rough and less advanced practical effects of the 70s and 80s over the refined practical effects of the last decade?

 

Now that is a question.

I'm a "both and" person myself. I welcome Bob C. as well as Dexter Jettster. They're both the products of master craftsmen.

 

it's a childhood memory thing.

 

I pointed out this puppet from TPM

 

Wait? The twi'lek were CGI? I always thought she was made by animatronics

 

Again which is exactly what the PT did! I think the point of that is PR. They know that there is this popular misconception about all the CG that the PT used. Not that it really mattered in the least to the success of the movies. This belief was really put out there by the PT itself as they promoted the CG and basicallty ignored talking about the old tech which they took for granted. Why would you go on talking about stuff that already exists?

For those who despise the PT and looking for any excuse to bash them they obviously focused on the CG. Maybe some of them actually thought it was all CG and those who did know the reality didn't care as they wanted to make the point.

Because they NEVER did that in the OT!!

LOL! Awesome point I hadn't thought of it that way.

I'm going to steal that.

Yes because they are more "real" to them. They want the look of the models which are reality to them as opposed to the "CG" of the PT. Of course when you point out that actually that and that and that are actually models or miniatures or real sets etc then they have to desperately come up with some other reason as to why it's rubbish.

 

No, the prequels weren't ALL CG, but you surely appreciate the vast overuse. So many needlessly computer generated characters and locations, too: Kamino, that weird Dexter thing from AOTC. Apart from just being unnecessary, the poor quality animation really ages the films - look how atrocious the Kamino scenes look today.

 

No. Not at all.

No. Not at all.

Sure, Lucas should have built the Kaminoan city on the Atlantic Ocean, of course including giant underwater turbines creating the right amout of waves and killing countless real world creatures underwater along the way.
I'm sure Greenpeace would have applauded.

"That weird Dexter thing" is called an Alien. You can find many of them in Star Wars.

Apart from what being unnecessary?
Kamino? Absolutely necessary. Necessary as a location for the story and thematically as a water world.
Dexter? Absolutely necessary for the plot. Whether he's CG or a puppet is completely irrelevant, since that's unnecessary either way.

The Kamino scenes look exactly the same as they looked when the film came out and when I last saw them they were far from looking "altrocious".

 

I'm referring to some of the ghastly CG interiors of Kamino. And the actual Kamino people, who have to go down as some of the worst CGI character creations in history.

 

Looks good, bro.

 

it has that unfocused look that to white areas in the right/wrong light can have

 

Should we tell him?

 

lol

unleash the hounds.. he deserves it for at least not browsing the thread he's trolling

 

Looks great bro!

 

To be fair... even if they used a model for that Kamino interior, with Obi Wan and the Kaminoans composited upon them, rather than pure CGI... why? What added sense of scale did that model afford them that a real, live set couldn't have accomplished? That room is hardly too large to build, especially considering the massive sets shown in this very thread. The end result does, to me, look a little... odd. The floor shines in an unnatural way., and whether the surreal quality is intentional or not, it does draw attention to the artificiality of it all.

Not trying to be a hater, Lord knows I defend these films more than most... but I call then as I see 'em.

 

There's perhaps some issues of brightness and contrast between obi and the environment but that's me going out of my way to try to find fault. I just have never had an issue with that scene. I guess I always felt the Apple store-esque surrealness was meant to be intentional to emphasize the theme of Kaminans being hi-tec masters of genetic manipulation.

The Kominoans themselves could probably be done better with today's CGI, but in all honesty I find many of the muppet/puppet/suits of the EP1 and ROTJ aliens to be considerably more artificial looking.

 

Artificiality, sterile, creepy, almost dreamlike/nightmare; that works for me. Tipoca City is a demonic hospital.

 

I may be wrong, but I always took that scene as the most direct translation of the script's everything "seems made out of pure light".

It's a surreal place, a very Kaminoan part of the City. The Prime Minster's office, actually. So I would guess it fits the Kaminoan's viewing habits, which has the very practical side-effect of providing them with advantage in negotiations.

Totally different from their guest rooms, which seem to be adjusted to human eyes while still keeping their own sterile and bright identity.
I mean it's pretty obvious the Kaminoan's eyes work differently than ours.

Screenshots also tend to make effects seem "worse", it works better in motion, mostly.

 

MODELS AND MINIATURES!!!!!!!

 

I never said anything else, even if I understand the misunderstanding; what I meant/was thinking was that the unfocused look Kamino have is something that I have seen brought up as bad CGI and I meant that it is something that to white areas in the right/wrong light can have. I was not thinking to clearly when I made the original post.

 

actually i think that was meant for arch stanton.