Misc. Projects & Beowulf
Guess I’ve been busy. Not too many posts lately. I’ve been gearing up got the 2008 Dam Short Film Festival, which includes watching hundreds of short films. Also, I begun writing my next 3D book (more on that later).
I did want to squeeze in a mention of “Beowulf.” They’ve finally done it - they’ve finally created shots that were 100% photoreal with a virtual human actor. Astounding. What was really interesting was seeing how the characters evolved and improved during the production. Even the best characters, such as the male leads, have many shots that were “Final Fantasy the Movie” quality - good but not quite. The side characters suffered the most with some appearing as if they had walked off the set of “Shrek.” The women characters were never as believable as the men, oddly enough; perhaps they were too simplified. The men had beards and scars and pimples and wrinkles, which made them more acceptable. The women characters were made too perfect, and thus unreal. Regardless, even the best characters were a bit dead in the eyes, neck, shoulders, and arms. Not enough eye fluctuation, pupil dilation, muscle twitching, muscle sliding under skin, tendon moving, and so on. But, damn, hats off to all the animators that spent several years toiling on the film.