Beowulf's Stills

[Baltasound]

Pretty sweet, except this one, the hair is just...wrong:

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1184830/photo_16_hires.jpg

[Breinmeester]

Wow, even as a still image it's all lifeless.

[MasterZap]

Oh come on with the bashing already.... It looks nice, I think! Can't wait to see it. Lot better than anything else. Are we out of Uncanny valley yet? Dunno, have to see....

However.... I wonder why all the BeoWolf stuff I've seen looks like someone applied the gamma on an 8 bit file? All the quantization issues in the low end is really disturbing.

It's been in the QT trailers and also in these images. Maybe it's supposed to be "grading" of some sort...

/Z

[DorkmanScott]

The more I see of this, the more awful it looks. Frankly I think Final Fantasy was closer to photoreal. At least its stills were convincing.

[bentllama]

Are we out of Uncanny valley yet?

The answer is NO.

[SkinnyBoy]

Wow, even as a still image it's all lifeless.

quoted for total agreement

[vfx]

What happened to the Diary of Ann Frank - Dear Anne I think it was called? That was for me the most impressive CG for adult orientated animation on the large screen.

[kees]

Lot better than anything else. Are we out of Uncanny valley yet?


I look forward to the movie and appreciate the hard work that went into it.
The main problem I had with FF for example wasn't the CG, it was the super boring story.

So if this has a more interesting story, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I have my doubts 'the average' movie go-er with no CG background will appreciate it just as much though. It can be pretty hard to watch CG that's in the middle of cartoon and real.

This is right smack in the middle of the 'Uncanny valley' if you ask me.

[frogspasm]

Oh come on with the bashing already.... It looks nice, I think! Can't wait to see it. Lot better than anything else. Are we out of Uncanny valley yet? Dunno, have to see....
/Z

It does look nice. But as my wife said, it looks like a video game cut scene. It really seems like something you would see coming from Blizzard for the next World of Warcraft. I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing.

Beowulf does not look "better than anything else". Just watch Davey Jones from the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. He had more life in him than anything I've seen so far from Beowulf. I'm not sure what would have happened if Davey Jones was created as a human character, though. If he was human, I expect they may have had a bit more "uncanny valley" problem. I guess my point is that I totally bought into that character.
I'm waiting to pass judgement on Beowulf until it comes out. From that advertisments though so far, I'm not believing in the characters.

I actually really liked Polar Express, though. The storytelling trancended the freaky lifeless looking characters. I'm hoping for at least the same level of storeytelling here.

[BigPixolin]

Boy I sure am missing out on all the good game cinematics. I have never seen one the quality of Beowulf.

[JesseGraffam]

i'll have to see how this movie turns out, but it is not very impressive to me, based on the trailer. Unless I see really good reviews, then this will most likely be a DVD rental.

[Swizzle]

Boy I sure am missing out on all the good game cinematics. I have never seen one the quality of Beowulf.Ah ha ha ha! I thought that too. Mind you, I still think Beowulf looks pretty scary/uncanny valley, but most video game cinematics still look pretty awful in comparison.

[seandunderdale]

Saw the trailer for this at IMAX over the weekend and it was impressive on the big big screen. Going to need my 3d glasses on too for it woooop! Should be super, but yeh, its still a way off, although they did play the trailer for Polar Express straight after and the difference was amazing. If they improve that much again in a year, then Im sold.

[simps]

The CG imagery looks fine to me, its the motion capture performance that looks stiff and wooden. They should have just done this live action.

[JCAddy]

Do his facial expressions ever change?

hm

[talos72]

Really, I am not sure how this is an improvement over Final Fantasy. The argument that we have to see the entire film to pass judgement on its visuals doesn't really wash. If anything the trailer at the very least is supposed to show some of the money shots to entice audience, and if it is already receiving mixed or lukewarm reception I am not sure how sitting through 2 hours of it will improve the results. What I have seen so far is wooden animation and semi-paralized facial animation on the humans. I am sure a ton of work went into the film by the artists, etc. This is not a knock on them, so don't post death threats. :)

[CodeNothing]

I agree w the Davey Jones example. clearly the level of 'life' that went into him (and his crew for that matter) are at a higher bar than this film. This looks like a gritty "shrek"

Mind you, I dont realy care, and have every intention of seeing it, and enjoying it. But part of why Davey Jones looked amazing was he was a fantasy character that couldent be done any other way. Shek looks good, because it was TRYING to look CG. why is Beowolf CG? most the cast are human.... and they spent thousands of man hours to make their characters look.... human.

should they have made the 300 full CG? basically the only thing that WASNT CG was the characters. and it looked beautifull. I just dont understand the need to make a CG human look real and act. unless it is to make them do things no human could possibly do. but there is no substitute for the emotion on a human face.

[STANER]

uncanny valley thats all i have to say about this movie! i think they should just take the real actors for this movie:rolleyes:

i just dont get it! why you will try to make angelina jolie in 3d as real as possible when you can have the real one:sad:

[fuss]

Hey, I think I just found the *ultimate* answer to the question: "Why are they making this movie all cg and why are they trying to make it photoreal?"

Now, sit down, fasten your belts and take a deap breath, here comes the answer:



Because they WANT to. And because they CAN.





It's their time, it's their money and they can do whatever they want with both. They don't owe you anything, unless you're one of their investors. They have their own vision and they follow it. You don't like it, don't watch it. You think certain aspects of it suck, say it, but keep your criticism constructive and reasonable, just the way you expect it from people who judge YOUR work. By the way of the trailers we are indeed still not out of the "uncanny valley", but everybody who says this movie looks "horrible", "awful" etc. is just full of it. Period.

Oh, and you don't understand why people are trying to recreate photoreal humans with the help of cg? Then go to the 3D WIP and Gallery sections of this site, you should find PLENTY of people to ask.

Oh, and I liked the Final Fantasy movie. Yes, the human characters in it were an example of the "uncanny valley" - and I did not give a shit, because the movie was entertaining. Wasn't the best movie I ever saw, but it was a nice, solid SF flick and I liked it. And I'm going to be in the front row of my local cinema when Beowulf comes out. And if the story holds up, I don't give a shit about the slightly "uncanny" look of the characters, when you stop being nitpicky it's not such a big deal anyway and everything else seems to look just great.

[talos72]

Last I checked films are created for an audience, so if all investors cared about was to do as they please then they could have just as easily made films in a room without ever releasing it into theaters.
It should perfectly legitimate to critique CG related films and topics in a forum such as CGTalk. Yes, many here may be nit-picking on this forum but it is only natural given again this forum having to do with CG and its various uses and applications. I don't see why it is always necessary to provide a solution in order for a critique to be worthy.

Here is a constructive crit: Don't have Angelina Jolie's character (Grendel's mother) wear stilleto shoes in the movie. Just today I read an article on the film on Entertainment Weekly with a still of Jolie's character wearing high-heels, common fashion statement among dark age monsters. :rolleyes:

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