Tuesday, December 18, 2012

What if A Visual Effects Supervisor Made An Ethical Stand Against Stupid Visual Effects?

[By the way, I am quite aware that Josh Whedon is a genius and the issues I discuss below are taken out of context.   But there is still a point that holds true, even if that sequence may (or may not) have been representative of the movie as a whole]

I was in Fry's the other day admiring a fabulous flat panel display. This one happened to be an LED LCD display, but it doesn't really matter, there are excellent displays of all the different technologies, each at their various price points, etc, etc. None of that really matters except to observe that the economy must be doing well for some people, or there would not be as many people buying these things.

The point of mentioning this is that I happened to be watching The Avengers (2012) and it looked beautiful on this 50" display. Except for little thing. Just one little minor point. Hardly worth mentioning. Well, I guess I will mention it anyway.

It was incredibly stupid. Stupid beyond belief. A fabulous clusterfuck of excellent digital visual effects without a neuron to rub together with another neuron, as far as I could tell. A giant robot that looked like a big fish, undulating through the sky and emitting bad people who wanted to blow up office workers in NY.  And a healthy looking guy and his drop dead gorgeous, yet wholesome, girl friend in black spandex, shooting arrows at bad fish while saving school children on a bus.  Well, I gotta tell you, you will need a lot more big giant robot fish undulating through Manhattan to make much of an impact on the number of office workers there, I thought to myself.

Then suddenly, without any warning, I felt as though I was surrounded by light.  The light became blinding and I was graced with a sudden vision.  A vision of a better world.  

What, just imagine for a second, what if the next time someone brought a really stupid movie to a visual effects supervisor, if this visual effects supervisor, he or she as the case may be, stood up and told the producer and director "Enough is enough, this movie is stupid. More stupid visual effects! I will not allow the noble art of visual effects to be dragged through the mud of your lack of imagination. Money! Is that all you think about is money?! What about art? "

Can you imagine our noble visual effects supervisor or visual effects producer standing up to them like that?

No? Well, neither can I. Nevermind, it was a silly idea.


Anybody seen my script?


Since Josh Whedon directed this thing I am sure that there is more to it than was apparent in 10 minutes of sitting in Fry's.  I know this.  Yes, I realize, I need to see the movie.  I know.   I know.  I am sure, since its Josh Whedon, that it was very entertaining and probably very intelligent in ways that are not obvious from the totally out of context segment that I saw.   I do realize this.

Nevertheless, I will still hold to my foolish vision of the visual effects supervisor making a stand for integrity and content.   In another world, a better world, I am sure.

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