Tuukka
05-02-2001, 10:55 AM
Well, I wrote a pretty popular pro-LOTR topic a few months ago. I guess now it's time to write an anti-LOTR topic. I still believe that the films have a big change to rule the world, but here are some worries:
1. LOTR will be very SFX heavy films. It's very important to their credibility that they look "real". The effects are handled by WETA, which is Peter Jackson own company and they are best known for the space travel sequence in Contact (which ruled). The problem is that many important elements in the films will be made with CGI. For example Gollum will be a 100% CGI creature. Gollum is an extremely important character and he is not a humorous sidekick like Jar-Jar Binks. It's very important that Gollum feels like a real, complex character, not a special effect. No film has ever had a CGI character with major dramatic weight, so I wonder if LOTR can pull it off. Also the main SFX supervisor Mark Stetson left the project four months ago. Apparently he had major disagreements with Jackson. I wonder if it indicates that they are having problems with the effects work.
2. So far 95% of the pics I have seen look really cool. Unfortunately the other 5% are outdoor shots, that have obviously been done in studio. The weathertop scene in the trailers is a good example. It's overlit and looks like a stage. It important that the outdoor scenes look real, not like studio.
3. A huge amount of characters. The films have more than 20 major characters, which can lessen the dramatic impact of the films. In movies too many characters usually lead to messy and confused stories, where the audience has no time to really identify with anyone.
4. Dialogue. I've heard that the dialogue in films will be very loyal to the books. In other words it has certain poetic quality, that can be distracting for many people. It works on page, but does it work when people actually SPEAK it? It might seem too pretentious.
5. The project is simply HUGE. It's possibly the biggest, most complicated film project anyone has ever made. I wonder if Jackson can keep his artistical control in such a big project. The films might be messy and unfocused.
6. This is not an artistical problem, but I'm not happy with New Line's marketing strategy so far. The internet teaser one year ago was very cool, but the theatrical teaser and poster are underwhelming. They are cool for a guy like me who knows the context of those shots in the teaser, but the general public is not going to get excited. It's fine if they don't want to show their cards, but just look at the teasers for A.I and Unbreakable. They don't show really anything at all, but still they rule. They could have done the same thing with LOTR as well, but the execution of the teaser wasn't good at all. Well, at least the cinematography looks cool.
Next week New Line is going to held a big LOTR happening at Cannes and they are going to show lots of footage in there. I guess after that we will know a lot better if the films are going to work or not.
1. LOTR will be very SFX heavy films. It's very important to their credibility that they look "real". The effects are handled by WETA, which is Peter Jackson own company and they are best known for the space travel sequence in Contact (which ruled). The problem is that many important elements in the films will be made with CGI. For example Gollum will be a 100% CGI creature. Gollum is an extremely important character and he is not a humorous sidekick like Jar-Jar Binks. It's very important that Gollum feels like a real, complex character, not a special effect. No film has ever had a CGI character with major dramatic weight, so I wonder if LOTR can pull it off. Also the main SFX supervisor Mark Stetson left the project four months ago. Apparently he had major disagreements with Jackson. I wonder if it indicates that they are having problems with the effects work.
2. So far 95% of the pics I have seen look really cool. Unfortunately the other 5% are outdoor shots, that have obviously been done in studio. The weathertop scene in the trailers is a good example. It's overlit and looks like a stage. It important that the outdoor scenes look real, not like studio.
3. A huge amount of characters. The films have more than 20 major characters, which can lessen the dramatic impact of the films. In movies too many characters usually lead to messy and confused stories, where the audience has no time to really identify with anyone.
4. Dialogue. I've heard that the dialogue in films will be very loyal to the books. In other words it has certain poetic quality, that can be distracting for many people. It works on page, but does it work when people actually SPEAK it? It might seem too pretentious.
5. The project is simply HUGE. It's possibly the biggest, most complicated film project anyone has ever made. I wonder if Jackson can keep his artistical control in such a big project. The films might be messy and unfocused.
6. This is not an artistical problem, but I'm not happy with New Line's marketing strategy so far. The internet teaser one year ago was very cool, but the theatrical teaser and poster are underwhelming. They are cool for a guy like me who knows the context of those shots in the teaser, but the general public is not going to get excited. It's fine if they don't want to show their cards, but just look at the teasers for A.I and Unbreakable. They don't show really anything at all, but still they rule. They could have done the same thing with LOTR as well, but the execution of the teaser wasn't good at all. Well, at least the cinematography looks cool.
Next week New Line is going to held a big LOTR happening at Cannes and they are going to show lots of footage in there. I guess after that we will know a lot better if the films are going to work or not.