The Like/Hate Thread

[Pinky]

Well, the new SW movies did have a lot of cutting edge tech that helped give the industry in general a push in the direction of digital filming, but you can't say they were the only movie that had that sort of effect. The Matrix came out in the same year, and it also had a similar effect on the industry, to name one example. But in the end, yes, they were pretty groundbreaking in terms of tech advancements. But being groundbreaking doesn't mean they are good, and doesn't mean they didn't sacrifice key elements of what makes a film good in order to use all that CGI to the extent they did. They used some awesome stuff that really had the potential to enhance the film, but in the end they just went overboard massively. By comparison, though, the Matrix (which still having a very heavy presence of digital effects) used them in a much finer way and produced a movie that was much more well regarded critically than Episode 1.

I'd dig up the interview, but it's a video one and I can't remember exactly which interview it was, but I remember Lucas himself stating that CGI should be used as a powerful tool to enhance a movie, not become the movie itself. It's just a shame he seemed to have forgotten that when he directed the PT.

Back to 3D. It certainly can be used as a powerful tool to enhance a movie (this has been shown a small handful of times, but as long as such examples exist it's true). But what's been happening with 3D tech since Avatar is that instead of using it to make a film better (most of the time) it's been used as a way to increase the profit that a film produces, and in many cases I would wager that the focus on adding 3D can severely detract from the focus on just making a good film. It is being used as a- if you will- gimmick. It being new tech doesn't really excuse how poorly it's being used; it's just a reason for why such poor use occurs so damn often.

er, the wachoskis used *minimal* cgi with a lot of old celluloid cameras and hong kong wirework to create 'bullet time.' it was a great contrast with lucas's new school digital film making, but they lost to SW. they got swept into the wake of huge budgets and excess cgi trilogies. and i thought the prequels were fine ;x