Rogue One CGI characters

My nitpick with the Tarkin cgi was the fact that Guy Henry is brown eyed, and evidently they allowed it with the Tarkin overlay, instead of Cushing's bluish grey.

Contacts could've been used.

 

The Tarkin CGI is incredible. I watched this film with three uninitiated people, and not one of them noticed that Tarkin was CGI.

 

They might want to hold on to that CGI Leia just in case....

Carrie Fisher suffered a heart attack recently.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2016/12/23/carrie-fisher-heart-attack/95806310/

 

I think some people are just more easily fooled than others.

I've never been fooled by a fully rendered human face in a movie. I thought even Tarkin's hair, before he turned around, was a tell tale sign of CGI. And I will give credit where credit is due, there were one or two shots that I thought looked "real", even known the effect. Meanwhile plenty of people are reporting that their friends and loved ones didn't have a clue. As I mentioned before, that includes my wife.

Meanwhile I imagine that K2 was fully rendered and yet he was photoreal to me. That was a great use of CGI effect. I know the effect is there, yet it doesn't pull me out because it's seamless.

The excuse that we knew going in doesn't really just doesn't hold water going in. It's always a crap shoot when trying to replicate a human being. I find it STUNNING that people are suggesting that CGI Tarkin and Leia can be placed up next to the real things in ANH and they will look equally as real.

 

I know you didn't mean it this way, but that's a pretty tasteless comment. Carrie Fisher is still alive, as far as we know, and I don't think it's the appropriate time to worry about how she will be portrayed in future films (or to joke about the need to keep her CGI avatar around) in case she passes. Imagine, for example, Carrie's daughter reading your post.

Sometimes it helps to stop, think, set your extreme fan persona aside, and then comment.

But don't take offense. I imagine you are actually upset about this, and didn't intend to be crass or insulting. Just offering some unsolicited advice.

 

Hardly an extreme fan persona, but I certainly wish her well.

 

Oh, I'm classifying anyone who spends a lot of time on a SW message board as an extreme fan. Including myself.

Let's hope she pulls through!

 

They posted the same mess about possibly needing to CG her in episodes 8 and 9 in the official Carrie Fisher thread.

The lack of sensitivity is stunning.

 

It's just weird coincidence.

 

I agree with the contention that Tarkin needed to be in this film, complete with the exposition he gives, but they shouldn't have made him so exposed to the camera.

Grand Moff Tarkin looked his worst when he needed to look his best- when he turned around and first revealed his face. Generally he seemed to get better as the movie went on. When he wasn't moving or talking, such as his glare during the climactic Death Star blast, he looked perfect. The film would've been better if we only caught fleeting glimpses of his face, only keeping that full view at the end. A very bizarre choice made by Edwards&Co that will hopefully be polished up and/or redone in a future home release.

Leia looked perfect to me, but I can see there's some dispute there. Just saw the movie.

 

Yup. Took my brother to go see it and he's a huge Star Wars fan. He thought they hired a doppelganger. He had no idea.

 

I saw someone say that CGI Tarkin "turned out to be a horrible decision as the character was a constant distraction."

I couldn't disagree more. I thought they did an incredible job. It was barely even noticeable. Only for a few seconds was I saying to myself..."Wow...that's Peter Cushing...but it's really not Peter Cushing." Then I moved onto paying full attention to the movie again.

It was definitely a great decision, and tremendous work by the team to produce Tarkin and Leia.

 

I'll take CGI Tarkin.

 

On second viewing, Tarkin looked even better than he did on first viewing. Leia on second viewing wasn't quite as good as first, she looked perfectly real up until she spoke this time. Both look remarkable though. We are very close to photo-realism.

 

I personally prefer recasting for two reasons:

1) I thought is was distracting, although it did look very good from time to time.
2) I'm not a real fan of ressurecting those who have passed in film. I think it's ethically shady to be honest.

Why not let Peter Cushing rest in peace? He made his immense contribution to the franchise.

 

I had honestly no problem with these CGI characters being brought back to life. The work done on Tarkin was superb. It was like I was watching Peter Cushing reincarnate. However, young Leia I felt could have been done better. I guess they worked so hard on Tarkin since he had so much more screen time then Leia did at the end.

I sadly have only seen this movie once so far but will hopefully see it again soon!

 

a) how is it any different to giving someone make-up to look like someone else? It's just digital make-up.
b) they need permission from the estate.

 

a) It's different, because a guy in make up is very easy to distinguish from the real deal. We are now at the point, where many can't see the difference.
b) That doesn't change the fact, that the person in question can't decide. We will never know if Peter Cushing would have wanted this. Since, we don't know. Just don't do it.

 

My casual-fan family and friends all said "I can't believe they got Peter Cushing back for Rogue One, he must be about 800 years old now, he looks well!" It blew their minds when I said that it wasn't real lol

To be fair I knew he was CG and could barely tell!

 

It's not Peter Cushing acting though, it's an actor with his likeness. The question is whether or not Peter Cushing would want his likeness used, and sure we can't know for certain, but in many ways it is no different then his likeness being used for anything else in Star Wars. It isn't an actor with his likeness and then they credit it as Peter Cushing acting. If you follow your logic through to the end no animation or painting should be able to use his likeness without his permission. Regarding his estates ethical ability to give permission - what is the difference to them giving post-mortem permission for film rights for books, etc?

 

The point is, that we are now getting to a point, where it is becoming more and more difficult to distuinguish the real actor from a CGI clone. I think using someones likeness for an illustration on a book is something wholly different. Aside from using a stock photo, anyone can distuinguish between the real actor, and an illustration, or the real actor and a cartoon character, that carries his likeness. In all cases it may be argued it's not Cushing, but his character that is depicted, which carries a resemblance to the actor Peter Cushing. However, once the distinction can no longer be made by a great many people, I think we're getting into murky waters. Theoretically they could have Peter Cushing dancing in a tutu, and a greedy family member could give permission, enticed by a very large paycheck.

 

That effect was designed to be shot from a distance, and it was perfectly fine. It's apples and oranges versus how it would have been created for the kind of close up action you see in RO.

 

I could tell something was wrong even from a distance.

 

I could tell it was a prosthetic. But it was real, had weight, and IMO was fine for that super quick cameo.

I think this comes down to taste. I prefer a more obvious prosthetic or puppet over a less convincing CG character. Now there are exceptions; I much prefer digital Yoda over TPM puppet Yoda. But when it comes to humans? Unless you've achieved actual photorealism, it's going to be a jarring experience for me. Like in the case of Tarkin in this film, you're asking me to believe that he's exactly the same as every other human being in the scene; not alien in any way, shape or form. That is a huge stretch.

 

Eh, it worked for the few seconds that it was on screen, though I do believe they very much improved upon the effect of a young Tarkin in TCW.