The Runaways (Marvel/Hulu)

It can't be that expensive to do CGI these days if people can put together CGI effect heavy indie shorts with pretty realistic effects for just a few thousand dollars and a home PC.

And bad animatronics and puppets can be just as phony looking as bad CGI, and can be a nightmare to deal with on the set.



Yes, because that's the most practical way to achieve that effect in that instance. A quadrupedal canine is harder for a human in a suit to simulate than a bipedal therapod dinosaur. I'm sure the Henson Studios could've pulled it off animatronically given the chance, but it might've been more limiting than CGI.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much any animatronics are going to be a lot more limiting than CGI.

 

The standards of a professional production are higher, and it has a lot of other costs and deadlines that home hobbyists don't have.

Not really. It's a lot easier to make animatronics convincing as physical objects, because they already are physical objects. So the very hurdle that is by far the most difficult thing for CGI -- creating the appearance of a physically real object with texture and weight -- is by far the easiest thing for live, on-set effects to achieve.

Besides, watch the videos. Those folks already have created animatronic dinosaurs that look very convincing even to a live observer. This is not a hypothetical, you can just hit the play button and see for yourself that they have succeeded at that. There's no reason the show couldn't hire these actual people to do their dinosaur effects. I think one of the videos said that they already have gotten some work in Hollywood.

Besides, as I've been arguing for some time, it is a gigantic mistake to assume that FX artists have to choose only one technique to the exclusion of all others. You're defining this as practical vs. CGI, and that's an unnecessary dichotomy. The best way to do visual effects is by combining multiple techniques, using each one for the particular thing it's best at. In Jurassic Park, they used animatronics for the shots where the dinosaurs were relatively stationary and the shots where they were physically interacting with the actors or other objects, because that technique was better for shots where you could see their fine textures clearly and for having real physical interaction instead of having to fake it; and they used CGI for the shots where the dinosaurs were seen full-length and moving quickly, e.g. running or jumping, or for the dinosaurs that were just too big or numerous to do practically, like the brachiosaurs.

So the most sensible thing to do here is to use a mix of both. Use the animatronic creature for shots where it's standing still and interacting with the cast, use CGI for the shots where it needs to do something more elaborate. This isn't a shocking or revolutionary idea, it's pretty basic stuff in FX work.

Again, just watch the video. There is a large, startlingly convincing dinosaur standing there and moving around in a real-world location, completely self-contained without any wires or cables or anything. It's a surprisingly simple puppet that can be operated by a single person inside the suit. This is not as complicated as you're making it out to be, and you can find that out just by watching the video.

 

I did watch the videos that were posted earlier and they don't change my mind.
I've been following movies and TV special effects for decades so I am aware of all of the techniques and how they are done.
Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I don't know about this stuff.

 

Then I don't get why you're so adamant that they're only allowed to use one technique or the other, not a sensible mix of both.

More importantly, those practical dinosaurs in those videos are just so cool. It seems like a waste not to do something bigger with them than just the odd Internet video or prank.

 

I never said they can't do both. I was just discussing why I think CGI is more likely than animatroics.

 

That very formulation defines it as one vs. the other. It's a false and unnecessary dichotomy to begin with.

 

Full-length official trailer this weekend? Hopefully?

 

They are supposed to be doing stuff for Runaways at NYCC, so that seems pretty likely to me.

I don't see why. Just because I think one is more likely doesn't mean I think the other can't happen.

 

wow, they heard me,
just released a few minutes after I posted:

 

That doesn't seem to be showing up for me. All I see is a big blank space. Can anyone else see it?

Anyways, go watch the Runaways trailer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6_0dJkjFAM

 

That looks great.

 

I would've liked the trailer a lot better without that cheesy song, which makes the show feel like some boring teen drama. Unless the reviews are strong, I'm going to give it a pass.

 

Any word about the Skrull?

I think FOX owns the Skrulls at the mooooo-ment because of their Fantastic Four license.

Glowy girl hooks up with a shape shifter, and glowy girl gets pissy whenever her girlfriend grows a penis.

 

I can't even get the enthusiasm to watch the trailer. Between The Gifted and Inhumans I'm at least temporarily cured of my tendency to try any superhero show based off of something I like, regardless of the quality of the show. I can still hate watch a bad superhero movie easily, but I just can't keep trying to watch superhero shows made by people who seem to actively hate the source material. Although the Runaways producers at least know what most of the Runaways look like outside of Molly (who should be younger, I don't care about the race change but most of the things about the character that make her who she is comes from her being a 10 year old), unlike The Gifted which at minimum completely screwed up Polaris and Blink.

Same goes for Cloak & Dagger whenever that gets shoved on TV. I'll be sticking with the CW DC shows, Lucifer, Agents of SHIELD and the netflix MCU shows (outside of any done by the producer of IF/Inhumans) for the foreseeable future.

 

The Skrulls are confirmed for the Captain Marvel movie.

 

Good, but this is Hulu.

 

The first episode screened at NYCC with positive reviews.

 

I'm just gonna leave this here...

http://screenrant.com/marvel-runaways-old-lace-dinosaur-effects/

 

I never read Runaways and do not have Hulu but I'm glad for it's fans it seems to be getting an early positive response.
I said this last year(well, some board),"I never thought as a comic fan I'd have more comic based shows available than I have time to watch."

I've still not seen Preacher, Lucifer or Powers over on the Playstation network(which I also don't have).
Shows like Black Lightning, Cloak & Dagger and New Warriors are relegated to the pile I'm already "saving for later" on the DVR. Those being Gotham, iZombie, Supergirl, Legion and the new Gifted.

I do good to stay mostly caught up with AoS, Green Arrow, Flash, Legends/Tomorrow and the Marvel Netflix shows(which I don't have time to binge over a two day time frame).

The Geeks have inherited the TV schedule!!!

 

And I guess I was wrong. I can't wait to see her.
I know my other posts make it sound like I'm against these kinds of puppets, but I actually love them. I'm a huge fan of the Jim Henson Company, and The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and The Neverending Story are some of my favorite movies because of the puppet creatures. It's just that we rarely ever seem to get them these days, so 9 times out of 10 I assume they're going to go the CGI route.