The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

[furystorm]

SW > Alien (-4) > Indiana Jones > LOTR > Hobbit > PT

 

[jye4ever]

It was very exciting when the Radagast/Beorn eagle calvary arrived, can't wait for it to be extended as it so deserves.

I don't think DiFabio would like the EE Beorn scene from DOS, it has some real shady cgi.

 

[Khev]

It was very exciting when the Radagast/Beorn eagle calvary arrived, can't wait for it to be extended as it so deserves.

I don't think DiFabio would like the EE Beorn scene from DOS, it has some real shady cgi.

Well yeah apparently everything about these movies other than Smaug "sucks" but shady CGI for the Beorn scene? Wha...?

 

[jye4ever]

Outside when he's cutting the wood, that background....yikes.

But overall the scene works.

 

[Irvy]

I wish we could have seen a more gnarly transformation of him into bear mode like werewolf in london.

 

[jye4ever]

SW > Alien (-4) > Indiana Jones > LOTR > Hobbit > PT

LOTR > SW OT > Raiders > Hobbit > Aliens > PT.

 

[Khev]

Outside when he's cutting the wood, that background....yikes.

But overall the scene works.

The only visual effects that I thought were distractingly dodgy:

Compositing of Radagast on his sled (and eagle at the end) against green screen backgrounds
CG Legolas on his CG horse in pursuit of Bolg at the end of DOS
Compositing of Dain riding in front of his troops

And that's pretty much it. I thought Azog looked just as good as Gollum or Smaug and the gold statue in DOS didn't bother me.

 

[Khev]

LOTR > SW OT > Raiders > Hobbit > Aliens > PT.

Not too bad. Though I can easily say that BOTFA > ROTJ.

 

[rushmore223]

The only visual effects that I thought were distractingly dodgy:

Compositing of Radagast on his sled (and eagle at the end) against green screen backgrounds
CG Legolas on his CG horse in pursuit of Bolg at the end of DOS
Compositing of Dain riding in front of his troops

And that's pretty much it. I thought Azog looked just as good as Gollum or Smaug and the gold statue in DOS didn't bother me.

I can get behind most of the things you say about the Hobbit, but that is going too far.

Of course it's all opinion, but to my eye, Azog and Bolg are nowhere near as realized and realistic as Gollum, not by a longshot.

 

[Khev]

Of course it's all opinion, but to my eye, Azog and Bolg are nowhere near as realized and realistic as Gollum, not by a longshot.

It's not like any different artists/technology were used between bringing Gollum and Azog to life. All the same elements were in play, the only difference was overall design and different mo-cap actors.

 

[Irvy]

I got the book set for christmas celebrating 20 years of weta, a worthwhile pickup that will take weeks to get through.

 

[Khev]

What did Weta do prior to The Frighteners?

 

[jye4ever]

The only visual effects that I thought were distractingly dodgy:

Compositing of Radagast on his sled (and eagle at the end) against green screen backgrounds
CG Legolas on his CG horse in pursuit of Bolg at the end of DOS
Compositing of Dain riding in front of his troops

And that's pretty much it. I thought Azog looked just as good as Gollum or Smaug and the gold statue in DOS didn't bother me.

Especially Legolas and Dain.

Not too bad. Though I can easily say that BOTFA > ROTJ.

Man Khev, that's a hard one, 55% of ROTJ is just so epic.

 

[rushmore223]

It's not like any different artists/technology were used between bringing Gollum and Azog to life. All the same elements were in play, the only difference was overall design and different mo-cap actors.

I don't know how much you know about the process, but while the technique is the same, the amount of rendering and man hours spent on fine tuning the look and texture of Azog, for instance, is not the same as the amount of time they spent getting the look of Gollum right. And depending on the project, often times artists will be assigned specific characters or elements to work on. On team of artists might be assigned environmental aspects, while another might work on Gollum, and yet another team may work solely on groups of characters, like in battle sequences.

There is much more to it than simply saying they used the same equipment and animation house, so it has to look the same.

 

[Khev]

There is much more to it than simply saying they used the same equipment and animation house, so it has to look the same.

Correct, but they were the same nevertheless. They might have spent less time on Azog of AUJ than Gollum due to late inclusion of his design but I didn't see that having a negative affect on his final form. In fact I found his face to look more realistic than Gollum's mostly because of difference in eye size. I find that oversized eyes are hard to render well and Gollum and the Na'vi are two good examples of that.

Gollum DID look a lot better than his LOTR self but no better than Azog IMO.

 

[rushmore223]

Correct, but they were the same nevertheless. They might have spent less time on Azog of AUJ than Gollum due to late inclusion of his design but I didn't see that having a negative affect on his final form. In fact I found his face to look more realistic than Gollum's mostly because of difference in eye size. I find that oversized eyes are hard to render well and Gollum and the Na'vi are two good examples of that.

Gollum DID look a lot better than his LOTR self but no better than Azog IMO.

I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree strongly with you on that.

 

[Khev]

I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree strongly with you on that.

That's fine.

 

[DiFabio]

Oh man, Dain. He looked awful. I kept wondering why they thought he looked good enough (unless it was a last minute thing).

Also, I think the reason Gollum and Smaug look so good is they don't have any day light scenes. Gollum had that nice, textured, veiny skin that is perfect in the moon light. Smaug was surrounded by glistening gold and fire. It really reminds me of Gollum in LOTR when he looked absolutely fantastic in the Minas Morgul, Shelob's lair and Mt. Doom scenes.

Then again, Azog was in plenty of night/day/fire/ice scenes and still looked like ass to me. So I dunno.

 

[Jokes & Bats]

Just watched all extended LOTR films on blu ray and....well....they make the Hobbit look like dog dirt.

I wish the Hobbit would have been made 15 years ago like LOTR so that it would be....good.

 

[Khev]

Just watched all extended LOTR films on blu ray