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Jurassic Park Looks Better Than Modern Movies
- Thread starter konka
- Start date
tl:dr Modern CGI isn't bad, it's great, the problem is the extreme overprocessing of the image and the "fix it in post" attitude that's making modern movies look more fake than JP
More natural looking on-set cinematography, less micromanagement in post. That's why JP has the edge.
Modern movies love to mess with all those dials and over process the image until even practical shots don't look real anymore. It's got to run through 12 different filters and have the graphics department comb through every frame to make 136 touchups.
It's not just about practical vs cgi like everyone likes to repeat forever. CG isnt the problem in itself. It's the amount of control modern effects afford the creators, and the overindulgence of control.
Modern filmmaking has so much control, and it's so easy, that every frame now gets a shitload of plastic surgury until it hardly resembles what was actually shot. Every shot must be flashy with perfect lighting and everything in perfect position with perfect color as intended by the director with absolutely nothing left untouched.
The problem is that real life doesn't look that contrived.
That's the real reason why movies look more fake now. It's not just CGI creatures replacing puppets and anamatronics. CGI can look absolutely real and the technology has improved dramatically since JP. The real problem is that cinematography today is more contrived looking than ever due excessive control and the attitude of "we'll fix it in post."
It's no longer enough to set up a good shot on a real set with the lighting you want and perform some standard adjustments to preference in post.
Now you've got to up the contrast, boost the color, brighten the main character's head a little bit, add a shadow on his left cheek, dull the red on his jacket, CGI his collar so it doesn't look messy, darken the distracting papers on the desk, replace the tree in the window, add light shafts to the window, tint the window green, run the shadows through a blue filter, run the highlights through an orange filter, add a gate in the background, sharpen the image, strengthen the rim light on the arm, move the arm slightly down, apply a little DNR, move the background character slightly to the left to fit better in the door frame, brighten the whites of their eyes, reapply artificial film grain. On to the next shot!
No wonder nothing looks fucking real anymore. Modern cinematography is contrived as shit. You could have a shot with no CG "characters" in it and it will still look fake. And those youtube videos you'll find that turn the contrast down and add a warm filter don't account for the other 1138 changes that have been made to the image already. It's not as simple as "color grading." It's the entire process that's fucked in these types of movies.
...but it doesn't hurt to try. It's interesting to see what JW might look like if they just laid off the fucking contrast a little.
More natural looking on-set cinematography, less micromanagement in post. That's why JP has the edge.
Modern movies love to mess with all those dials and over process the image until even practical shots don't look real anymore. It's got to run through 12 different filters and have the graphics department comb through every frame to make 136 touchups.
It's not just about practical vs cgi like everyone likes to repeat forever. CG isnt the problem in itself. It's the amount of control modern effects afford the creators, and the overindulgence of control.
Modern filmmaking has so much control, and it's so easy, that every frame now gets a shitload of plastic surgury until it hardly resembles what was actually shot. Every shot must be flashy with perfect lighting and everything in perfect position with perfect color as intended by the director with absolutely nothing left untouched.
The problem is that real life doesn't look that contrived.
That's the real reason why movies look more fake now. It's not just CGI creatures replacing puppets and anamatronics. CGI can look absolutely real and the technology has improved dramatically since JP. The real problem is that cinematography today is more contrived looking than ever due excessive control and the attitude of "we'll fix it in post."
It's no longer enough to set up a good shot on a real set with the lighting you want and perform some standard adjustments to preference in post.
Now you've got to up the contrast, boost the color, brighten the main character's head a little bit, add a shadow on his left cheek, dull the red on his jacket, CGI his collar so it doesn't look messy, darken the distracting papers on the desk, replace the tree in the window, add light shafts to the window, tint the window green, run the shadows through a blue filter, run the highlights through an orange filter, add a gate in the background, sharpen the image, strengthen the rim light on the arm, move the arm slightly down, apply a little DNR, move the background character slightly to the left to fit better in the door frame, brighten the whites of their eyes, reapply artificial film grain. On to the next shot!
No wonder nothing looks fucking real anymore. Modern cinematography is contrived as shit. You could have a shot with no CG "characters" in it and it will still look fake. And those youtube videos you'll find that turn the contrast down and add a warm filter don't account for the other 1138 changes that have been made to the image already. It's not as simple as "color grading." It's the entire process that's fucked in these types of movies.
...but it doesn't hurt to try. It's interesting to see what JW might look like if they just laid off the fucking contrast a little.
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Compared to the video gamey look of the Jurassic World version, definitely.
Holds up well but no feathers.......lmao................
/r/opinions_that_have_been_mainstream_for_a_decade
The one CGI picture you posted looks awful. Of course the practical dinosaurs look infinitely better.
Thats because most of the JP dinosaurs were animatronics, puppets, and good ol' guys in a suit. Good practical effects stand the test of time better than CG fests that overuse this tech.
Obviously i don't agree that the effects look great, otherwise my opinion would be a different one, no?
Compared to the video gamey look of the Jurassic World version, definitely.
Main issue with JW's looks was the color grading. There was a heavy blue filter in every shot that made the visuals look less real. Effects were very well done otherwise.
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That's not the shot used in the movie.Compared to the video gamey look of the Jurassic World version, definitely.
You don't see bad CGI, plenty of movies have CGI that you don't even know that is cgi.
OP
OP
I haven't seen the film so I just searched for comparison pics, but even the static shots looks worse than the original Jurassic Park.
This and Terminator 2 have been showing their age for a while now but for a long time they remained as good as modern movies.
Just re watched it this summer and came here to post this, the CGI in this scene has not aged well, totally takes you out of it.
With that said, an absolute marvel for 1993.
no, you just don't notice good cgi because it's so goddamn good.
Maybe it's a generational thing and i'm just old, but when i'm watching a modern CG heavy movie, i'm constantly aware that i'm watching what amounts to a cartoon. And i mean constantly. I don't think it's the technology that is bad, it's the usage, whether from lack of time, budget or competence. Probably all of those combined.
#YellingAtClouds
#YellingAtClouds
Aside from the natural colours/lighting, it's also worth mentioning the great directing and solid understanding of the limitations they were working with.
There was a combination of CG, puppets, partial suits, and animatronics. All used differently depending on what was being shot.
Also CG animation was in its infancy, they were originally going to use high quality stop motion (using bird movements as a reference)... and they still did in a way. They had small dinosaur models that they could position to animate the CG models.
It's still one of the best looking special effect movies of all time.
There was a combination of CG, puppets, partial suits, and animatronics. All used differently depending on what was being shot.
Also CG animation was in its infancy, they were originally going to use high quality stop motion (using bird movements as a reference)... and they still did in a way. They had small dinosaur models that they could position to animate the CG models.
It's still one of the best looking special effect movies of all time.
Really? I've seen some crazy takes, but to say this movie wasn't mind blowing visually back in the day is something else.
i wish movies would just pause sometimes and tell the audience everything that was CG in a particular shot so everyone could shut up about cg being bad. you only notice the bad cg and the millions of incredible effects get lost because they are so good you never notice.
"Jurassic Park looks better than modern movies"
In what way? I never thought this film was particularly pretty looking. In terms of CGI? Yeah I don't know about that.
The animatronics hold up just fine though.
I think the second shot looks fine, TBH
Another movie that holds up incredibly well: Alien
Aside from the ancient computer tech (which is pretty stylish) and a handful of shots, it looks virtually modern. Better, actually, with all of the practical effects.
Aside from the ancient computer tech (which is pretty stylish) and a handful of shots, it looks virtually modern. Better, actually, with all of the practical effects.
Jurassic Park looks way better than movies that came out nearly a decade later, it was a technical marvel when it first came out, the fact it can even be debated shows the amazing technical achievements made. It should look like this and it doesn't:"Jurassic Park looks better than modern movies"
In what way? I never thought this film was particularly pretty looking. In terms of CGI? Yeah I don't know about that.
The animatronics hold up just fine though.
But there's plenty of movies that use mostly practical effects that look terrible and fake. At the end of the day it's up to the filmmaker to use them well.
Yes, the special effects were mindblowing. That doesn't make the movie beautiful. Spielberg released another movie the same year which absolutely decimates JP in art direction and cinematography. Apples and oranges? Who cares.
So no, I disagree that Jurassic Park looks better than modern movies in virtually any possible metric, aside from the narrow specifics of dinosaur animatronics...maybe, I'm not that knowledgeable about either JW movie.
In the 25 years that Jurassic Park has been out you never thought it looked good? Not once?"Jurassic Park looks better than modern movies"
In what way? I never thought this film was particularly pretty looking. In terms of CGI? Yeah I don't know about that.
The animatronics hold up just fine though.
Maybe if we had real dinosaurs to compare the Jurassic Park ones to they would look as ridiculous as CG Rock.Jurassic Park looks way better than movies that came out nearly a decade later, it was a technical marvel when it first came out, the fact it can even be debated shows the amazing technical achievements made. It should look like this and it doesn't: