Jim Henson Pictures on Time Dogs

[grail]

Originally posted by sidcrowe
I don't like the Muppets doing CG.

It's like Baskin Robbins. Why have 32 flavours if you can't get Vanilla right?

Why take the Henson name to CG before they can do a good Muppet film first?

Ah, well....

now that's more like it.

to be honest, i absolutely agree. Henson will always by synonymous with puppetry to me, and i don't necessarily want to see them change. however, i fear they're seeing some imaginary "writing on the wall" and so they're trying to break new ground so that should their art (as it truly IS art) really become obsolete, they can still be a viable company with something to offer.

or at least maybe they wanna look that way to a potential buyer, so they can keep the Muppets themselves in play...

 

[Chilly Down]

This is slightly worrisome, but not time for full panic yet. The problem is, all studios want these days are CGI animated films, because that's the latest "thing." So Henson has to produce what studios want to buy. However, unlike most studios which use traditional animators to add in the actions long after the voices have been recorded, I'm almost positive they'll use the Performance Control System demonstrated at MuppetFest, where puppeteers actually provide the performances and the voices in real time for the virtual environment. So puppetry isn't dead...it's just taking on a slightly different form at the moment. And just as traditional animated features are being made right alongside the CGI films, I'm sure traditional Muppetry won't completely disappear either. D.B.H. made a point of telling us at MF that Henson would always keep the traditional stuff alive, which drew a large round of applause from the audience.

 

[murgatoad]

Originally posted by Chilly Down
This is slightly worrisome, but not time for full panic yet. The problem is, all studios want these days are CGI animated films, because that's the latest "thing." So Henson has to produce what studios want to buy. However, unlike most studios which use traditional animators to add in the actions long after the voices have been recorded, I'm almost positive they'll use the Performance Control System demonstrated at MuppetFest, where puppeteers actually provide the performances and the voices in real time for the virtual environment. So puppetry isn't dead...it's just taking on a slightly different form at the moment. And just as traditional animated features are being made right alongside the CGI films, I'm sure traditional Muppetry won't completely disappear either. D.B.H. made a point of telling us at MF that Henson would always keep the traditional stuff alive, which drew a large round of applause from the audience.

Yeah. Well, let's see. I saw "The Santa Clause 2" last week. The CGI-created reindeer were pretty effective. However, the puppets (in particular Comet) were lame as ****. Sophisticated as it was, it practically screamed "I'm a puppet!" IMO, the only thing Henson has to fear in getting into CGI is the overwhelming competition they face. They're very very late getting into the game.

 

[Drtooth]

Say what you will, it's not the same if Henson Does CGI. That's like Pixar doing "teeny Little Super guy" type stop motion. I mean, They have done CGI over the years, In the Jim Henson Hour, there was Waldo C Graphic, in MTI there were the Mosquitos (that appeared for like five seconds).

Basically, it is a change of venue so far, but I still think that their puppetry is the tops.

Basically, CGI films are either hits or misses. Look at Pixar. Their films were the most popular of All the CGI's (mainly because they started the CGI Film boom). Few people however, can recall Dreamwork's ANTZ, which I absolutely adored! And some films are just... blehhh. I mean, though Final Fantasy had breath taking visuals, the plot was really contrived, and I didn't like it. I saw some of it, and I didn't want to see the rest.

Besides, If you're famous for one thing, people have doubts and worries about other projects.