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

Makes sense. Though your last sentence points to a whole other problem, which is CG accumulation. In that scene, you have CG clones talking to a CGI Yoda on a CG set on a CG planet. In isolation, it's basically a still from an animated film. That kind of accumulation is my main issue with the visual look of ROTS and AOTC. TPM avoided this almost entirely, apart from some of the gungan sequences.

 

Fair enough. I myself do like the painterly quality to AOTC and ROTS, but I can see where you're coming from--they do seem a bit less grounded to me than TPM, but personally I find that that quality sort of contributes to the sense of heightened emotional intensity and full-on, high space opera feel that these two movies have. So when Anakin's riding on the speeder bike with the blood-red sun behind him, it may not look photo-real, exactly, because the sunset is sort of exaggerated and larger than life, but it certainly is beautiful and powerful (to me).

 

sorry. my mistake.


Message for everybody. The attack on the Jedi Temple at night with Anakin. I thought the Clone Troopers looked the most realistic in that scene. Especially the part when Senator Bail Organa shows up. I thought they was in suits there. Now how they look on 4k digital? I dot know. I have not seen SW on a 4k digital TV yet.

 

I don't know how they look on a 4k digital TV either. But in this clip (which is pretty much how they look when I watch the blu-ray) they look as digital as they always have, IMO.

 

It's a matter of preference I guess. And I'm completely serious in saying that in this particular scene I've never thought "hey, those clones are digital!"


And it looks great in 4K. Not because the movie would be in 4K (it isn't), but because 4K TVs (and OLED 1080p sets) have inherently better color reproduction than pretty much any 1080p TV. There's also great upscaling which creates a beautiful and sharp image. But if you don't like the look of these films, then I can tell you that it's probably gonna bother you even more on a better screen.

 

This is amusing, & relevant to this thread:

 

What Ewan McGregor said in this interview isn't much different from what Carrie Fisher has said for ROTJ in 1983 in Johnny Carson's interview (listen to what she says at 7:42):



Nice try DD!

 

If Clarkson likes the Prequels, they must be good because he's one of the most opinionated, hateful people on the planet.

Also, the scene Ewan is describing as his last shot is a pick-up shot when they were filming Sith. They shot the Tattooine scene from Sith in Tunisia during production of Attack of the Clones so they wouldn't have to go back there during production on Sith for one shot. So anything they had to re-do for that shot during ROTS had to be done in studio on green screen.

 

It's not a "try." Ewan acted in all three PT films, and he has a better sense than anyone here about the proportion of green screen to non-green screen work done, at least with his scenes. And he makes it very clear that it was a little over the top. That's all. Nothing to get defensive about. It's just his opinion about something he directly experienced.

You don't have to agree with him that it was overdone. But to deny that all-green screen sets were a heavy feature of ROTS and AOTC is to deny reality. Embrace the films, including the visual style, if that's what you enjoy. But there's no need to try to revise history, and claim that the PT was just as practical, as a whole, as the OT.

 

I'm not defensive or trying to deny that green screen were used for the PT.

However, I don't see what the video or the comments of the actors regarding green screens (comments that are now more than 10 years old by the way) had to do with the thread ("Practical effects in the PT"), and what new this brings to the thread when we've already heard this many times, except reinforcing the picture that "everything was green screens on the PT" while the use of green screens was never, and still is not, unique to the PT.

You just have to look at those videos of the special effects in the Avengers or in other movies:

https://www.facebook.com/allocine/videos/10154190234655148/

 

Yes, the amount of green/blue screen shots is not even comparable, but the PT did also have loads more miniatures though.

 

Agreed. Though one can chalk that up to the sheer scale and exoticism of the worlds the PT visited, and far less location-shooting for ROTS and AOTC than the OT had (which necessitated miniature environments, whereas the OT was mostly in an actual place - mostly).

Also, a lot of the miniatures in the PT (such as Felucia) were scanned, and turned into digital environments. So there are fewer "in-camera miniatures" in the PT than it seems.

 

I've always been pretty critical of the look of the Avengers, and other Marvel films - especially the digitized outdoor locations. To me, it was pretty clear that New York City was almost obscenely fake in the first Avengers films, and it's a film I'll never watch again. I also hope that Lucasfilm will not follow in Marvel's footsteps in terms of visual style. So far they haven't, and I hope that discipline holds.

 

Still, I don't see the same amount of vitriol against the use of CGI or green screens in many other blockbusters these days as the PT still receives... But here's a fun fact, compared to the great majority of blockbusters that have been released during the recent years, the PT was still conservative regarding the use of CGI since it was still too costly and too time consuming to build everything with computers. That was the main reason why a great number of miniatures had to be built since it was still an easier technique more than 10 years ago.

And regarding this comment:

I don't why people working in the film industry now have to limit themselves regarding their imagination and the use of technology just to please people who only like "on location-shooting" and praise "realism". Matte paintings and miniatures were used in the OT, miniatures and CGI were used in the PT, and a lot more CGI were used in TFA than in the PT and OT with no use of miniatures... Technology has evolved for the past 40 years, allowing film-makers to get closer and closer to more and more imaginative worlds and stories as realist as possible. You can't simply ask things to stop evolving just for the sake of nostalgia...

 

Wasn't trying anything. Just an amusing & relevant quote. Despite what some fans here think the PT cast sure believed there was a saturation of blue/green screen use during those movies. As they describe here.

Portman: "Pretty much every set has blue-screen, even it's just out a window or something".
Christensen: "It's everywhere! I think I've been on one set where there hasn't been any bluescreen".

Combine that with the fact that by RotS there was no location shooting with the cast at all. Not one shot. So the whole movie was shot within sets...that all included blue/green screen. Many of which were made up of nothing else.

Then there's this from McGregor regarding the PT: "There were less & less (actors) as we went along. I don't know if they didn't like me or what...but as we went along I had less & less people to work with. By the third one they sent me off...off I went on my own & I spent 3 months in a green stage."

So these are the people actually there on set. As opposed to fans on the internet who weren't. Sorry but these kinds of comments from those involved make a mockery of the narrative trying to be created in this thread.

 

A narrative that you're imagining.

 

No, I can read.

 

Nobody's saying that there wasn't cgi.

 

And despite more than 100 pages full of pictures and videos of the models, miniatures, costumes, locations and sets used for the making of each of the PT movies on this thread, you're now saying that we were creating a false narrative here?

As darthosaka mentioned, you're the one who is imagining this scenario. And I'm not saying that the comments of the actors are irrelevant, but what has been posted here during the last 100 pages aren't irrelevant either...

 

Just like nobody has ever said there were no sets at all. Yet clearly some fans here have tried to argue the use of green screen has been greatly exaggerated. Reports from the cast & those involved suggest there's been no exaggeration at all.

 

Why are you coming with this on this thread now? I'm beginning to wonder if you've really looked at those last 100 pages of pictures and videos that has been posted by many other members, or if you're just posting comments on the wrong thread...

 

No, everyone's aware there were practical sets & miniatures used in the PT. No one including the cast have ever said the entire trilogy was shot only in empty green screen rooms, like Sin City or 300. What's only ever been claimed is that there was alot of green screen use in those movies. More & more as they progressed. A fact confirmed here by the cast.

 

Then how come I've seen people misidentify models and sets as cgi? Why can't you just accept that it's not wrong to like the special effects of the prequels?

 

Huh?? When have I argued against that? People are completely free to like digital animation. They can even prefer it to practical shooting. It's just personal preference.

 

Darth Downunder If you really believe that people on this thread have been trying to push a false narrative regarding the use of practical effects, miniatures, models and sets during the making of the PT, then what do you do about those thousands of other people all over the internet who have been hammering on the false narrative that "the PT was only 100% CGI and green screens" during all those years? While it has been clearly demonstrated on this thread that, despite the use of green/blue screens and CGI a lot of times for the making of the PT, practical effects, miniatures, models and sets were still used a lot and in great quantity...

Besides, I don't see why you would be upset, come here and then try to accuse us of making a false narrative on this thread while the title of this thread is clearly "Practical Effects in the Prequels- Sets, Pictures, Models, etc." So, we are discussing the subject of this thread. If you want to, and if you don't like this thread and what has been exposed and discussed during those last 100 pages, you can create your own thread titled: "Green screens, CGI and animated characters in the Prequels". Nobody forbids you to do it, you know...