Yoda before and after CGI
To be fair, they added way too much hair to that puppet. It does look better than the dated CGI though.
Original Yoda looks great. That puppet from TPM has too much hair, has its eyes too wide open, is lit poorly… it’s just a laundry list of how not to use a practical effect.
That picture is a great example of how to light a puppet. Overhead diffused lighting gives the hair an airiness that makes it feel like an aura around the puppet head. TPM is diffused side lighting like they are lighting a person, but it highlights the differences that make it not a person. Plus the puppet is ugly and only tangentially like Yoda.
Damn, I think you need a higher res picture to really drive that home
The death star trench run briefing was one of the first computer generated sequences in a movie.
But as for CGI good or CGI bad, you don’t notice the good CGI. But models are definitely more fun to look at behind the scenes.
Relevant no CGI is just invisible cgi https://youtu.be/7ttG90raCNo
Damn I’ve been watching this all morning. Really interesting watch. The main takeaway is that the “practical vs CGI” debate is entirely fabricated by the media, but doesn’t exist in the film industry. Though it seems likely that studios have something like Non-disclosure Agreements with actors and directors where they have to talk around it.
(In a deleted scene in ANH. Obviously he’d gone full slug by the time of his first actual on-screen appearance in RotJ.)
For those who haven’t seen it yet, this is a great video series on why practical effects and CGI aren’t mutually exclusive, and why the backlash on CGI is mostly unwarranted.
May the fifth be with you
Revenge of the Fifth
Lucas looks much older with the CGI. Must be an industry secret.
George Lucas after CGI
I’m enamored with these old models and techniques. Light And Magic on D+ is a phenomenal retrospective of ILM. Through watching that, I learned recently that the Mandalorian’s ship was, in fact, a physical model. Presumably enhanced and composited using CGI.
Nevertheless, it was a weird realization. There is an old charm to the techniques of the 80s, matte lines and all. Even with the same approach (physical models and motion control), the shots in the Mandalorian just looked too clean, too smooth.
The moral is: it’ll never go back to what it was, and even if it does, it won’t be the same.
No, that’s George Lucas in the middle of props
These models were pioneers of visual effects. I think they were one of first to use tracking shots for minis that replicated the full scale moves. They also created the way of moving the camera just enough during an exposure to give it realistic motion blur.
He is the kid with all the best toys.
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If you didn’t know, George Lucas was a time traveler…
Back when movies looked good…
I don’t think this is really a good assessment. Plenty of movies then looked terrible and plenty now look amazing. The recent Dune films look absolutely phenomenal. It’s a matter of how the films use the technology available, whether that means miniatures with camera tricks or it means completely CG stuff
