There's a time-honored phrase in Hollywood: "We'll fix it in post." But the question is, in our bright new digital age, what exactly is "post?" And what is "production?"
Case in point is this weekend's newest blockbuster, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. There are no monkey costumes this time around, no simian makeup. All the apes are digital, under-girded by Mo Cap performances. And as Richard Corliss observes:
... We have reached that moment in movie history when the century-long chasm between live action and animation has been closed; Rise is a seamless blend of the two. It marks a major advance over Avatar, for it allows the motion-capture actors and the "real" ones to interact in natural locations — in the wild, so to speak — beyond Avatar's enclosed fantasyland of the planet Pandora. ...
Which brings us back to the original question, when half (or more) of what audiences see on the screen is created in a computer, how can that be considered something other than, you know, production?
Earlier this week, Mr. Kaplan and I broke bread with a digital veteran who's been supervisor on more "digital post production" than you can shake a mouse at. He had a lot of pungent and interesting things to say, but among them was this:
"Digital post isn't digital post anymore. It's production. Every big tent-pole needs its large dose of visual effects. It takes up more and more of the production budget, more and more of production time. There's tons of people working on it, making it happen. So how is it not production?
"And the unions out there are missing the boat. There are hundred of techies doing this work on any given movie, and none of them are represented by unions. We're the ones putting images up on the screen and we're not getting any benefits, not over time, not pension, not health insurance ..."
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Avatar, and extravaganzas yet to come will be relying on artists and technicians sitting in dark rooms, hunched over keyboards, molding pixels into environments and performances. The days of giant sets and actual charioteers, of dress-extras in the thousands, are as dead as William Wyler and Michael Curtiz
The only question remaining before us is, are the film creators of the 21st century going to be accorded the same respect, not to mention health and pension benefits, as directors, writers, cinematographers and set decorators?
I wish I knew the answer, but I don't.
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9 comments:
I wish the mocap can be pushed beyond the shock-and-awe of monsters and creatures, and be used to simulate human beings in a decent effort.
I really hope that I marry well enough so that I could become a union advocate and raise some serious hell. Whenever I read this blog I get all fired up and want to rally some troops. The only problem is that the troops are so overworked and afraid of losing their jobs that all of the spunk and moxy has been wrung out of them. Alternatively, the new recruits are so green and filled with the desire to impress and succeed, they aren't willing to take up the pitchfork of payed overtime and health benefits.
I wish we, the off screen talent, were not a part of such a divided industry. What will it take to bridge the gaps between inexperience and complacency?.
Simulating human beings - Only worth it if they're supposed to go beyond what an actor or stunt person could do, otherwise there's no point.
There's already digital makeup and digital costumes along with digital stunt doubles.
Everybody seems to forget Davy Jomes and all the other characters in the Pirates movies. They had mocap guys interacting with actors on a real set.
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Avatar, and extravaganzas yet to come will be relying on artists and technicians sitting in dark rooms, hunched over keyboards, molding pixels into environments and performances. The days of giant sets and actual charioteers, of dress-extras in the thousands, are as dead as William Wyler and Michael Curtiz"
What I come away with on this quote is: "visually, we can do anything you want. Please come up with stories worth telling."
I will never understand how so many people were duped by Avatar's eye candy and poor Pocahontas retelling to see it so many times. Best movie moneymaking scheme ever.
If you want to see a truly great filmed version of Pocahontas, check out Terence Malick's "A New World."
it doesn't have to be CG & mocap. I once worked in a post department of an animation studio that (in every technical sense except for the title) turned into a production department that did post on their own work. that way the studio only paid one department & one set of staff to work on pilots, etc. It was great for me, I stayed employed for the entire production (although paid a lot less). I learned a lot! even worked with voice artists in the booth & some script writers. Felt like college with the "all hands on deck" mentality.
But it got to a point where I was told to not only storyboard & do the animatic, but handed ToonBoom & was told I had to animate too. then they were surprised when I couldn't do everything myself to the quality they wanted in the time they wanted. there was a reason I never pursued that end of the biz.
But I will say that those projects all run by one department were a lot smoother than the ones where it was broken up... future speaking? there may not be clear pre production, production & post production departments & workflows. I'm guessing it'll be a lot more fluid & everyone will need to learn both sides of the pipeline to stay employed.
Certainly the lines are more blurred than before.
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