Harbinger Down Kickstarter

[lordnacho]

My first Kickstarter pledge
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1117671683/harbinger-down-a-practical-creature-fx-film

Have always loved Practical FX, maybe why I'm not into movies as much anymore with all of the CGI overuse, that or I'm old.

Has 39 hours to go, so figured I'd share

[Howard_Casto]

No you are correct in thinking that cgi is crap, because it is.  The big studio's use it because it's cheaper and anymore they are churning out these plot-less spectacles faster then they did in the grind house era.  Practical is better in just about every way....

That being said, I'm not so sure about this one.  You've got the sfx guy writing the thing, which is never a good sign.  Also it looks like a tentacle monster, which is the lamest kind of monster.  To do small tentacles you take surgical tubing, roll it around in some latex to make it look organic, add a bit of slime, and then run some compressed air through the whole thing to make em wiggle.  I could rig some up for under 20 dollars.  Of course the budget for the film is just 350k, so maybe that's all they can afford. 

Eh... I'll probably pitch in a few bucks anyway.  I'm scared practical might go the way of stop motion if we aren't careful. 

[lordnacho]

I don't think they have filmed yet, so hopefully still working on creature design and the tentacle monster was just to get a teaser trailer up on kickstarter.
He does say in the video they are putting in their own money and any extra money would be put to production.

Fingers crossed.

[kahlid74]

No you are correct in thinking that cgi is crap, because it is.  The big studio's use it because it's cheaper and anymore they are churning out these plot-less spectacles faster then they did in the grind house era.  Practical is better in just about every way....

That being said, I'm not so sure about this one.  You've got the sfx guy writing the thing, which is never a good sign.  Also it looks like a tentacle monster, which is the lamest kind of monster.  To do small tentacles you take surgical tubing, roll it around in some latex to make it look organic, add a bit of slime, and then run some compressed air through the whole thing to make em wiggle.  I could rig some up for under 20 dollars.  Of course the budget for the film is just 350k, so maybe that's all they can afford. 

Eh... I'll probably pitch in a few bucks anyway.  I'm scared practical might go the way of stop motion if we aren't careful.

There are people who still use FX in the film industry.  It's not a massive number but it is still there.  The challenge is more to do with time and what can be accomplished versus money.  Certainly money has a say in it but creating a full fledged Enterprise isn't feasible time versus money.

Case in point is Pacific Rim.  The director had them build the entire platform so the pilots would be thrown left and right to make it look more realistic.  He could have easily just used a green screen and had them jump and shake but wanted it to feel more real.

I don't think CGI sucks so much as the vision of many directors sucks.

[lordnacho]

I f'n love Guillermo

[Howard_Casto]

I do too, but it's funny you guys mention that film....  All I could think when watching the trailer is how much cooler it would be in suit-a-mation.