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"What do you know about CGI?"

On Tuesday I have to give a ten minute presentation on CGI. I've prepared a video with footage of Willow (one of the first films to use CGI) The Abyss (a big breakthrough) Terminator 2 (the next big breakthrough) Indepdence Day, Phantom Menace, Pearl Harbour, Black Hawk Down, Blade 2, Spiderman (yes, I said Spiderman, not Spider-Man) Attack Of The Clones and probably some more I'm forgetting. I have a few facts about CGI (for example, Spielberg thought it would be blocky SNES style graphics before work on Jurassic Park started) and I can give a brief outline of how it's done, but apart from some pointless trivia, I don't know a heck of a lot. My video almost lasts 10 minutes by itself, but it'd be nice if I could give some more information.

Anyone know the first film to use CGI? I've heard it's Looker (made in the 80s) but I also heard The Black Hole used it (probably for the crazy effects at the end as they go through the black hole) and that was made before Looker. I can touch on how The Last Starfighter used CGI for all it's ships etc.

So anybody have ANY facts/triva/knowledge of computer generated imagery? Like how many effect shots were in certain films? How much the effects budget was for certain films? Anything you've seen on IMDB? I need some help!

Mystique wrote:
> MoJoJoJo wrote:
> Spiderman (yes, I said Spiderman, not Spider-Man)
> *****
>
> Why say it then? Why? If you're doing a thing on movies and stuff WHY
> don't you say/write their names properly? WHY? Urgh, if you put
> 'spiderman' instead of 'Spider-Man' in any essays you have to write
> and I was your tutor, I would so fail your ass.
>
> Yes I would.
>
> IT'S SPIDER-MAN NOT SPIDERMAN! IT'S NOT HIS NAME, IT'S WHAT HE IS!
> HE'S A SPIDER-MAN! NOT PHIL SPIDERMAN!

Just... Just let it go.

*lowers mytiques fists*

It's only a small mistake.

Someone had to do it.

MoJoJoJo wrote:
> Spiderman (yes, I said Spiderman, not Spider-Man)
> *****

Why say it then? Why? If you're doing a thing on movies and stuff WHY don't you say/write their names properly? WHY? Urgh, if you put 'spiderman' instead of 'Spider-Man' in any essays you have to write and I was your tutor, I would so fail your ass.

Yes I would.

IT'S SPIDER-MAN NOT SPIDERMAN! IT'S NOT HIS NAME, IT'S WHAT HE IS! HE'S A SPIDER-MAN! NOT PHIL SPIDERMAN!

Wasn't a bullet hole, the T1000 nutted the window. And that clip is in my video, heh.

One CGI bit that will always stick in my mind:

The T 1000 sliding through the bullet hole in the helicopter window in Terminator 2.

...but i spent all that time getting all that...

YOU WILL USE IT I TELL YOU!

Na, someone else is doing animation, and I told them everything I knew about CGI in animation (like the CGI stuff in Aladin and Lion King) so I'll stick to film. I just need some important facts I can throw at people.

I just read through a thing on www.pixar.com and picked out as many key points as i could be bothered.


First storyboards are drawn in a comic book style and scripts are given out for the actors to get used to the character and then they start to work on characters and make them have hinges or "avars" which is where the character moves from. Woody from toy story have 100 avars in his face alone.

After this they start to work on backgrounds and make it to the directors likings.

Once this has happend they start to work on making clips of the characters moving and they clean these up, add backgrounds and they have the final version ready to be released.

Using "digital light" every scene is lit up just like a normal stage lighting but is done with a computer.

There is alot more so go visit www.pixar.com and see "how we make movies"

You're doing a talk on CGI without mentioning the new Digital Cinematography thing used in the Matrix? Not that I know much about that other than a lot of people saying it's not actually ready yet.

And what about totally computer generated films, like Toy Story and the Final Fantasy film?

Oh... and i know that my mum doesnt have a guitar.