Star Wars: Episode VIII Director Says Episode VII is Ditching CGI

StewShearerOld

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Jan 5, 2013
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Star Wars: Episode VIII Director Says Episode VII is Ditching CGI



Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson believes that film audiences are reaching "critical mass" when it comes to CGI.

Saying that the Star Wars prequels were bad is easy. Anyone with eyes, ears and the ability to experience nausea (an inevitable side effect of using said eyes and ears) can tell you that the films are garbage. Significantly more difficult, however, would be pinpointing the one element that made them so horrible. Granted, some would probably say the bad writing or acting, but for my money what ultimately killed the prequels was their intense over-reliance on computer generated special effects.

That in mind, you can perhaps understand why recent comments from Rian Johnson, a recent podcast, Johnson affirmed that the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/star%20wars%20episode%20vii>Episode VII-director J.J. Abrams and his crew were moving very much away from the CGI-infested film making that ruined the prequels and were instead making the new movie with a more classic sensibility.

"They're doing so much practical building for this one. It's awesome," said Johnson. He would go on to say that he thinks film audiences may be reaching their limit with CGI. "I think people are coming back around to [practical effects]. It feels like there is sort of that gravity pulling us back toward it. I think that more and more people are hitting kind of a critical mass in terms of the CG-driven action scene lending itself to a very specific type of action scene, where physics go out the window and it becomes so big so quick."

While we've already seen more than a <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136283-Star-Wars-Episode-VIIs-X-Wing-Revealed-Update>few pieces <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135002-The-Millennium-Falcon-for-Star-Wars-VII-is-Under-Construction>of evidence pointing to Episode VII ditching CGI for practical sets and resources, Johnson's statements could still be taken as a good sign by fans that one of the most egregious errors of the prequel trilogy is finally being corrected. Granted, we'll have to wait until 2015 to see how well Abrams pulls it off. Even so, there just seem to be more and more reasons for Star Wars devotees to be hopeful.

Source: <a href=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/rian-johnson-says-next-star-726036>Hollywood Reporter


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tangoprime

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May 5, 2011
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Of course they're ditching CGI, they have to cut the budget somewhere to afford all of the inevitable lens-flares added in post. Lens flares of that magnitude are not cheap, let me tell you.
 

Trishbot

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CGI is not the devil. OVERUSE of CGI is the devil.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a wonderful marriage of the two. LOTS of practical effects, sets, make-up, costumes, and CG for the things that REQUIRE it, but only when it simply can't be done through practical effects.
 

Erttheking

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....This is serious? We're gonna be getting more practical effects?...Ok. Show me. I'm interested.
 

Nowhere Man

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Pretty cool that Star Wars is coming full circle in terms of the block buster level special effects thing it started way back with A New Hope. One can even say "The circle is now complete".
 

templar1138a

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StewShearer said:
Anyone with eyes, ears and the ability to experience nausea (an inevitable side effect of using said eyes and ears) can tell you that the films are garbage.
*sarcasm = on* Wow. Really professional. You are the apex of journalism.

*sarcasm = off* Also, they're canon. Get over it.
 

Sniper Team 4

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CGI has it's place, and if it had been done correctly, I think it could have made the prequels amazing. I was actually looking forward to the battle scenes in the prequel, because the battles in Return of the Jedi blew me away. So I thought, with the new tech we have, that these fights would be amazing.
They weren't.

On the flip side, practical effects cannot save a movie for me either. This is a good move, if true, but it will not give this movie a free pass from me, nor is it raising my hopes all that much. I'm still very leery about these rumors regarding the story. All the practical effects in the world won't make up for a terrible story.

Still, it will be nice to see X-wings and TIE Fighters actually blowing up once again.
 

Cartographer

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To paraphrase just a little.

Good special effects, be they practical or CGI can make a great movie even greater.
Good special effects will only make a mediocre movie, more mediocre.

Spend money where it's most needed, the writing.
 

Scarim Coral

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I will believed them when I see it with my own eyes.

Granted I don't think they should ditched CGI competely for obvious reason but yet again it would be interesting if they did recreated the battle scene like the old films (actual model exploding and other non cgi effects).
 

Me55enger

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Queen Michael said:
Can I have a hallelujah, people?
Sure, you can have mine.

Some great news leaden with an overindulgence of opinion in this article. The Prequels were bad, but that's not your place to tell me it is in this manner.
 

CrazyBlaze

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I kinda liked the prequels. I mean they weren't as good as the Orginals but they aren't the garbage people make them out to be. Are they great? Not by a long shot. Good? Not overly. Decent? Yeah if you remove the rose tinted glasses. Sure they are a bit of a mess but I still find them fun to watch.
 

Sarge034

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We're not reaching CGI critical mass, we just don't like shit films. I mean Guardians of the Galaxy had a metric fuck ton of CGI and it seems to have been received rather well...
 

Ishal

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You're kidding.

Well, my interest just took a hit. Star Wars is spectacle first, everything else second. I'd love to see a CGI space battle and watch Star Destroyers and Republic ships duke it out.

CGI isn't what ruined the prequels, it was only a contributing factor, just another tool that was misused along with several others. If this movie is going to go full pander mode to the people who thought the biggest problem in the prequels was making Yoda CGI, it's already fucked. Perspective, people.

Use CGI, but use it sparingly. There is more to creating a spectacle than just CGI. Merge it with other things. Guardians is a great example.
 

Dark Knifer

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CGI isn't universally hated, at least not yet, but seeing a brand new sci-fi movie with purely practical effects? I'm definitely curious.
 

Nimcha

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What a horribly written article.

And what a completely stupid thing to say. Does this guy really think people want to see puppets and tiny models after seeing Avatar? Such crap.
 

90sgamer

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This makes me legit excited. I'm tired of blurry CGI bullshit. CGI is best left for static backgrounds.
 

josemlopes

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Ishal said:
You're kidding.

Well, my interest just took a hit. Star Wars is spectacle first, everything else second.
The hell? Sure the visuals in the old movies were great and but a lot of those movies took place in rather simple places, they never were spectacle first, everything else second.

Like many said, CGI has its place.
 

Shiftygiant

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I am fucking hyped as shit that they announced this. Although recent movies (GoTG) have blended practical and CG amazingly, It will be a fresh of breath air to see a Practical effect movie. And, after all the CG changes to the original and the CG orgy of the Prequels, I'm stoked to see the series go back to practical.