Rogue One CGI characters

From the other thread>

1) Well, imagine you want people like George Clooney and Julia Roberts for your romantic comedy, you would easily need to spend 20-50 Million, instead you would just hire two nobodies who will do the job for 5k a month...

2) it is now expensive but just a matter of time until it gets cheaper. I think that the first Pixar or Dreamworks Animation Movies were super expensive but as time got by, they got cheaper in production, now we have such a movie every 3 months and the make tons of money out of those movies...


I wonder if you need someones consent before CGI-ing him and putting him into a movie...

 

CGI is as expensive as it has ever been, what are you talking about?

Finding Dory had a budget of US$ 200 million, the same as Rogue One.

 

The more I think about this, the more it seems obvious to me that this film needed Tarkin and Leia, and it needed them to be done exactly in this fashion. Tarkin is such a huge figure in A New Hope and he's in charge of the Death Star. He would have been conspicuous by absence if they had simply ignored his character, or tried to get away with mentioning him. There's an argument for simply using a different actor, sure, but I feel like the tech is approaching a place where it can suffice for a supporting character such as this; so why not? It helps connect Rogue One to A New Hope. Having Leia at the end ties it to A New Hope in a really strong way too. Again, they could have just showed the back of her hood or used a different actor, but again, the tech is there to make her look incredibly close to the original. Why not? The film has a really direct link to the original film, so I think it makes the most sense this way.

Obviously the digital versions are not totally flawless. CG and motion capture, of course, has a long way to go before it can replicate the minute subtleties that a great actor can bring. In order to do that you have to be able to accurately recreate the way a specific person's skin interacts with light, down to the detail of the tiny facial hairs, the way it interacts with the environment, the way it moves over their specific skeleton. It's incredibly nuanced work. But the fact that we're this far along already is very impressive to me.

I speak as someone who is not typically a fan of CGI.

 

I hate cgi (especially for the sake of it) but I loved both Leia and Tarkin - The leia scene is so quick but looked great! The Tarkin scenes were very good in 2D and far better in 3D...go figure?? The only thing I would say the Tarkin detractors might have a point about is that his scenes could have been done via hologram (let's say he was transmitting from Coruscant for his scenes with Krennic) so it may have looked better because the transmissions always blur and crackle (so to speak). That being said I am stoked as he was always my fav Imperial

 

You absolutely need their consent. Thats why it's largely pointless.

You want George Clooney and Julia Roberts, its still going to cost you 20-50 million, plus the 5k you paid the nobidies, plus whatever you're paying Pixar, Dreamworks, ILM, whatever.

 

Personally, I feel like they could have found someone who looked like Cushing and used makeup or make him a bit less nessecary to the film. Leia I would have been fine with only seeing her back or silhouette instead of seeing CGI that made Carrie look a little chubby in my opinion.

I mean, it wasn't all terribly bad and I can deal with it calmly and still enjoy the movie.

 

In some shots, I thought Tarkin looked totally real. In others, there was something off. There's was something off about Leia to me too.

I think they got cocky. If they had stuck to wider shots, it probably would've worked better.

Also, as Avnar pointed out, at least some of Tarkin's shot could've been done via hologram.

Actors are already demanding that they be digitally "airbrushed" as part of their film contracts. That would be a way that actors would remain relevant when they are "past their prime." I remember watching Benjamin Button, and some teenage girls in the seats ahead swooned when the digitally 20-year-old Brad Pitt appeared on screen for the 1st time.

 

I enjoyed Rogue 1 a lot more than I expected to, but the CGI stood out and was unnecessary imo. The film had a really good old school feel to it, and all of the other digital effects were done so well, it seems a bit of a crazy decision. They should have used a different actor for Tarkin and like others have said, a silhouette of Leia would have been sufficient.

 

Im actually quite surprised people dislike the cg Tarkin and Leia so much. Yes, they looked odd whenever they spoke, but other than that I think it was amazing, perhaps because I dont watch that many modern movies Im amazed by it and Im not yet jaded with special effects (dont get me wrong, fx wont make me watch the movie, but when theyre in it, theyre in it). But also, I didnt look at Tarkin as a special effect, but as a character - I was too much into story to think about what was done how after the initial shock of seeing Tarkin there

What Im ceretain of is that in absolutely no way would I want to have a different actor playing Tarkin - or Leia, for me (again, for me personally), its either the cg or dont show them at all

 

nothing is perfect but the impact of the shots and the advancements they made are astounding.

 

CGI Tarkin was a feat. He absolutely did take me out of the movie however. It was a stunning effect, but still an effect. But, to be fair, there are people who were totally fooled. My wife, for instance. I asked her days after seeing RO if she noticed anything off about him and she said no, why? She thought it was a live action actor.

Leia was worse. She looked just a shade more real than cut scenes from the PS4. A side by side between RO and ANH Leia obliterates any notion that this was remotely seamless. Even my wife, who was clueless about Tarkin, thought Leia was old footage of Carrie that was "digitalized".

There was one CGI character that was totally seamless; K2SO. He had actual weight and heft to him. They've done a phenomenal job replicating non-organic material. Perhaps the best CGI robot I've ever seen.

 

As far as human replacements, I was wrapped up in the story and tried not to be nitpicky about either Tarkin or Leia. Sure, they look CGI, but I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. Where Tarkin was a fail was the voice acting, only when Guy used some of Cushing's distinct pronunciations did I buy that this was Tarkin. I think he was in the film too much though.

K-2SO was fantastic though.

 

I am sure those at Lucasfilm were well aware they were still a bit into the uncanny valley with the CGI humans, but decided to plow ahead as a statement they were ready to make some bold moves for the sake of the story. Personally I appreciated that effort. Star Wars has been about pushing technological envelopes in the past, and I do not believe TFA followed suit (though I personally love TFA and did not believe the lack of technological innovation detracted from the entirety of the episode) so it was refreshing to see the effort, made for the sake of story continuity.

It also was a cheeky move to give Tarkin the amount of screen time he had, knowing that in a couple of scenes his expression and especially his eyes just were not quite right ... that subtle thing that only our massive history of relying on human facial recognition and eye reading can explain. Leia was off for me, but her appearance was brief and it definitely enhanced the segue into ANH. A back shot now seems like it would have been a cop-out.

Kudos to Lucasfilm for plowing ahead with CGI humans, even knowing the technology is still far from perfected. They felt story continuity should be emphasized even at the expense of some criticism about the use of a technology that will not be totally acceptable for some time to come yet.

 

You'd still have to pay people/estate for using their likeness.

 

I thought the CGI on both Leia and Tarkin was incredible. I went into the theater slightly concerned having read the mixed reactions, but I walked out thoroughly impressed.

Could I tell there were CGI? Yeah sure, but it never took me out of the movie and the CGI was less jarring than recasting the roles would have been. It was a ballsy move by KK and Gareth, and it paid off.

 

It's going to look so dated, unlike TESB, for example, that **** is timeless.

 

Have you ever watched the original release of Empire? With the see through snow speeder cockpits and bland white wall sets on Cloud City?

 

"We signed away our likeness, so when I look in the mirror, I have to pay George a couple of bucks." ―Carrie Fisher, joking about the success of Star Wars

Yes...still love it.

 

DP

 

I was simply stating that the movie was also flawed due to using a special effect that had yet to be perfected.

 

still looks way better than Snoke ,

CGI doesn't always move forward , there's been a lot of bad CGI in the last few years , like any other technique it requires talent as well as technology , just like puppetry - the OT Yoda is still amazing and neither the TPM puppet or the CGI version are as good .

I think the CG Tarkin was pretty good , certainly better than the Jeff Bridges in Tron , but I'd still rather they didn't keep down this road .

 

Carrie was a teenager with a roundish, cherubic face in ANH, made even more so by the hairstyle they put her in. The CGI Leia isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it did get the roundness right. Leia has a more slender face in subsequent episodes because Carrie lost more weight.

 

The CGI recreations of Cushing and young Carrie Fisher were incredible in my mind. I was absolutely blown away by Leia. I actually turned to my friend next to me and muttered, "How did they DO that?" I mean, I know HOW they did it, CGI of course, but the CGI was incredibly well done. It was the best CG creation I've ever seen.