CGI replacing puppets and cartoons :(

[D'Snowth]

A little old, but still very informative: Amalgamated Dynamics founders Tom Woodruff, Jr. and Alec Gillis discuss in detail why producers go with CG over practical effects, citing things such as box office safeness

Oh, so one of the reasons movies and such have to go with cheap CGI instead is because they'll otherwise fail at the box office? Are you kitten me?

 

[mr3urious]

Oh, so one of the reasons movies and such have to go with cheap CGI instead is because they'll otherwise fail at the box office? Are you kitten me?

Not to mention, the reason why often times the CG looks so cheap is because of the time constraints those big Hollywood producers often put on the production nowadays, not giving them enough time to make sure it looks right.

And it also hurts the poor guys in the VFX companies, forcing them to pull all-nighters for no overtime, and even causing them to go bankrupt because of the way these producers do things. I mean, look at Rhythm & Hues after their work on Life of Pi. They didn't even see a cent from that Oscar-winning movie for Best Visual FX that grossed hundreds of millions worldwide.

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/19/174703202/visual-effects-firms-miss-out-on-a-films-success

 

[D'Snowth]

And this is exactly one of the reasons why I choose to remain independent: so as to avoid all of this kind of corporate influence.

 

[Drtooth]

It really stinks that stop motion films have been doing such low business as of late. A lot of them become the more mainstream of the cult type films, especially when they hit home video.

Shawn the Sheep basically disappeared as soon as it premiered here (as did CN's weekday airings of the TV show which didn't even last a full 2 weeks before being replaced by the network's favorite show). But to be fair, was that even that well known to anyone who didn't follow everything Aardman ever did?

I'm sure the new Stop Motion movie about Hades from the Robot Chicken team isn't doing that well, then again, the R rating makes the audience incredibly specific.

 

[D'Snowth]

Now that Sid & Marty Krofft have made a big comeback with the success of MUTT & STUFF on Nick Jr., and now the SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS reboot on Amazon, they've made it perfectly loud and clear that they have no intentions to ever look into replacing traditional puppetry with CGI - that alone is a breath of fresh air, especially when you consider that they admitted that way back in the 70s, they were never really interested in the actual artistic aspect of puppetry, and even said that's why Jim Henson was always the better puppeteer than them.

 

[mr3urious]

Now that Sid & Marty Krofft have made a big comeback with the success of MUTT & STUFF on Nick Jr., and now the SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS reboot on Amazon, they've made it perfectly loud and clear that they have no intentions to ever look into replacing traditional puppetry with CGI - that alone is a breath of fresh air, especially when you consider that they admitted that way back in the 70s, they were never really interested in the actual artistic aspect of puppetry, and even said that's why Jim Henson was always the better puppeteer than them.

Unless you count the Land of the Lost movie that the Kroffts had a hand in producing, which used a ton of CGI.

 

[Drtooth]

I think the operative word is "count." I'm sure most Sid and Marty fans pretend that film didn't exist. And while they signed off on it, I can't imagine they were happy with how it turned out. And if you remove that from the equation, it still is a different case being a movie and all.

For TV work, I'd assume they want to keep tight to their roots for puppetry, but like I said that other thread this was brought up, with enhanced puppetry techniques that have the same level of detail that Henson stuff usually does. They still have that retro-charm, but they also look modern. I mean, look at that horrid movie that was supposed to be a franchise about the characters stolen from an obscure local kid's show. You know the one I'm talking about. While the puppets, I have to admit, looked professional and nothing too different from a standard kid's television show.... but those costume suits! Eek! They looked at least 2 decades out of date and from a TLC daytime preschooler show with no budget. Meanwhile Mutt of Mutt N Stuff is very high quality, but has a nice retro appeal.

 

[Drtooth]

Hilariously, the new Tarzan film is being chided for it's awful looking CGI, but getting negatively compared to the absolutely gorgeous CGI job of Disney's Jungle Book movie.

That said, I have absolutely no desire to see Tarzan, especially when they say Samuel L Jackson's the only good thing about it.

 

[D'Snowth]

I think the operative word is "count." I'm sure most Sid and Marty fans pretend that film didn't exist.

When it was on cable, I tried watching it, just out of my own curiosity, and I had to change the channel after the first ten minutes, I couldn't get through it. Anytime a movie has to settle for Will Ferrell instead of who they originally wanted (in this case, Jim Carrey, who probably couldn't save this movie either) is pretty much a clear sign it's doomed to fail.

And while they signed off on it, I can't imagine they were happy with how it turned out.

They do actually consider it a blemish on their reputation, but much like the Chipmunk movies, the LOTL movie suffered from too much corporate influence, which is something the Kroffts pretty much try to avoid at all costs, considering they're indie. Still, after the LOTL fiasco, they're being very cautious about any future movie deals, but unfortunately, their caution is costing them their movie deals: we were supposed to get a LIDSVILLE movie from DreamWorks with Conrad "Gingy" Vernon directing and Allan Menkin doing the songs, but apparently it's not going to happen; likewise, a PUFNSTUF movie's bounced from like three different studios, each wanting their own say in how the movie will turn out, rather than let Sid & Marty do it their own way, so that's not happening either. I'm just amazed that Viacom, of all people, are actually letting not only Krofft but Bagdasarian do their shows their own way.

 

[Drtooth]

In the case of the Chipmunks, Viacom didn't produce the show in any capacity. They just bought it and it was a big enough hit that a second season was ordered. After all, the show was searching for a home in the US for a couple years. I'm surprised that Nick of all companies jumped on it. When they usually air shows that aren't produced by them, they tend to screw them even worse than their own non-Spongebob Nicktoons. Miraculous Ladybug was just pawned off on Nicktoons, despite the ratings. If you told me a year ago that nick was going to air the new Chipmunks, I wouldn't believe it and would think it more likely for netflix.