The Jungle Book

You may not believe it, but before watching the movie, I didn't have any psychological preparation for the CG effect of this film. After reading the film, I also read many viewers' interpretations and thoughts on the film, including the discussion on the theme, racial struggle and the rule of dark existence. If you pay more attention to these before watching movies, I'm afraid I'll join the discussion at this moment. But at this moment, I must confess that I don't have much idea about the theme of this film, which may disappoint some friends who come in with such expectation. If I hadn't learned that this novel, The Jungle Book, was adapted from the 19th century, I would have concluded without thinking: This is a real-life version of The Lion King. Different from the metaphor and profound connotation displayed in "zootopia", which is also Disney's work this year, the story of this film is actually simple. At present, the film has achieved great success in box office and word of mouth in the global film market, which is largely attributed to its excellent use of CG special effects. Take me personally as an example, I didn't go for CG, but I finally bought this film of CG, and even gave up my preference to discuss the theme meaning after watching the movie. I can't help but wonder why this film CG is so successful.

Admittedly, not all films exist only to cater to the audience's concerns. But for CG special effects commercial films, the audience's interest is a very important reference for the film production team. This reminds me of a typical negative textbook, "Jupiter Upward", which all my friends know that I "hate" and must be nominated for every bad special effects film. Think back then (in fact, it was just a year ago). I was really attracted by the amazing special effects when the film was advertised. Even if the information at that time was a "disappointed" and "mediocre" evaluation abroad, thinking of having such a grand "cosmic" CG effect, coupled with such a sci-fi blockbuster title, I always wanted to be mediocre and not bad, not to mention small freckles and others. I didn't expect the cruel reality to give me a loud slap in the face. This movie, which went to see special effects, finally proved that it was just a cosmic-level Marisol blockbuster, and the cosmic-level CG special effects produced after such a big battle ended up just showing off skills. We can't say that the CG special effects in Jupiter's Ascending Castle in the Air are not realistic, but we still have to say that the movie itself is very bad. Wachowski's "sister" has made another breakthrough in CG history after the Matrix series, which is just to use CG technology to make a big news.

So, when we watch CG movies, what are we paying attention to?

1. CG's world is both true and unreal, which is true or false?

The scenes in Harry Potter use a lot of live shooting, and a lot of props have elaborate real models to support real shooting. The huts living in the Hobbit series are also real shooting models in New Zealand and other places. Most of the successful CG movies adopt the method of setting scene and shooting +CG to deal with special visual effects. In the process of watching movies, the audience is full of interest in watching and guessing with such a change of reality and reality.

But in this forest fantasy film, we magically find that this process has become much more difficult. From time to time, a little friend threw himself into his mother's arms and shouted, "Be afraid, don't look.". After all, my "big friend" was shocked by the tiger Sheri Khan's first raid. I can't react until I'm in shock. How skillful CG technology is at present. At the moment when the animals speak to the little boy, they are so lifelike that almost every hair shakes to a precise shape, and it is astounding to match the expression that fits the desktop. Can you tell whether the wolf child is proficient in animal language because of his growing environment, or whether the expressions of the animals are all anthropomorphic?

Second, how to achieve successful special effects?

Collected some materials about CG movies, and learned that Fantasy Forest can be regarded as a CG movie in a narrow sense: most of the setting of the whole movie is done by CG special effects. The mysterious and romantic jungle scenery in the title runs through the whole plot, but these "scenes" were actually shot in the studio in downtown Los Angeles. According to the introduction, the production process of the film is that the animation designer first draws the characters and stories in the picture version; Then make a rough version of CG effect, including motion capture; Finally, the real picture of the little boy was taken, and then merged into a piece with some clips made by computer. In the process of real-life shooting, the object of the play is just the fluffy toys of various animals, or the "opponents" of the directors and other staff wearing various animal headgear. Most of the real scenes in the film are done in front of a blue cloth or green cloth background. Unbelievable? These are exactly what a successful CG movie can bring extra fun to the audience.

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3. How much will the use of high-end CG improve the film?

Hey, how do you listen to this question and feel that it should be considered by the producer? Why is it the focus of the audience? Watching movies is a wonderful experience, and there is no more direct and real audio-visual feeling than watching movies. No matter what kind of expectation, the audience must pay attention to the content of the movie itself, even the narrow CG movie is no exception. For non-professional film practitioners or non-film enthusiasts, most people don't know much about the essence of CG technology. In fact, few people watch and judge a movie with CG special effects regardless of other factors of general concern. Just like "Fantasy Drifting of Youth School", which is the best in CG movies, it has won such great recognition because its profound philosophical theme is intriguing. The beautiful visual experience created by about 60% CG special effects in the film has deepened the display of Ang Lee's "double-sided story" and deepened the expression of philosophy. The use of CG special effects has helped the film win many professional awards, which is also perfect from the perspective of film art.

To be fair, "Fantasy Forest" is not a sweet fairy tale, but a fantasy drama full of dark atmosphere. Such a straightforward look and feel is not derived from the repeated exploration of the theme after reading the film, but from its exquisite CG special effects.

As children grow up, it is difficult for us to persuade adults with fairy tales and fables. Because even if the scenes like animals talking and plants dancing are beautiful, our first reaction has already told ourselves that "this is false". Therefore, many excellent animation works can move adults, but rarely shock people. Yes, it is shocking. From the beginning of the story, the jungle mystery is "real" and can't be questioned. At the moment when the tiger suddenly got up and attacked the little boy, the immersive feeling of nowhere to escape seemed as if there were a pair of invisible hands at the scene, and the audience was violently pushed into the seat with the vivid roar. At the moment when the great ape stretched out his huge hand without warning, I was deeply worried about the situation of a "fairy tale" hero for the first time. Not to mention even a fallen leaf and a vine in this fantasy forest, it makes people firmly believe that they have really experienced the baptism of wind and rain, and have really experienced the ups and downs of life and death.

Comparison between the versions in CG movies and cartoon versions

Comparison between the versions in CG movies and cartoon versions

This is a great experience. Adults who are used to everything in fairy tales and fantasies that is no longer true have the opportunity to feel the process of believing that everything in imagination will come true again. This time, we no longer "stay out of the way" to watch the little boy make friends with animals, how to fight against fate, and don't even have to investigate where he should go as a human being. Instead, they can "incarnate" as the little hero, experience this process personally, and relive childhood fantasies.

Therefore, the CG special effects of Fantasy Forest won. From beginning to end, it didn't show off the special effects technology like gorgeous tail to you, but this exquisite experience has been completely integrated into every part of the whole film. I won your affirmation reasonably without showing off my skills.

The success of this film is not so much due to the fact that the CG technology used has reached the top level at present, but rather the use of CG has been raised to a higher level.