MickeyAnd the Weenie Is...
Tomorrow night is the Academy Awards (a/k/a the Oscars, named for a surly puppet on Sesame Street), so unless someone manages to do something really stupid that's going to be the domestic news for about the next 50 hours.
I don't have anything against an overdone, bloated celebration of people who's everyday life is an orgy of celebration anyway, though I doubt I'd catch it even if it didn't conflict with Dresden Files and Galactica. I did actually stay up once for the whole thing, back when Star Wars had been entered in several categories.
As a kid I was fascinated by articles and documentaries on how various special effects were produced for movies and TV shows. This was before CGI was anything like as photorealistic as it is now; even the blocky cartoonish computer animations in Tron were still off in the future. Back then it was done by carefully photographing actual miniatures, filming explosions in high-speed cameras and generally getting creative about how to get various impossible images on film.
It wasn't that I was disappointed when Star Wars didn't win Best Picture, what I tuned in for was to see John Dykstra and John Stears win for Best Special Effects... and Ben Burtt for Best Sound Effects... and some of the behind-the-camera people who made Close Encounters so special get their due.
So yeah, I was a geek for the behind-the-scenes stuff. As I grew up and paid attention in Literature classes I learned about the structure and elements of a (good) story- it did help me understand a lot of why I felt so unsatisfied at a lot of what I saw on TV and in movies. At the same time the Academy people seemed to be snubbing the "technical categories," usually just flashing the names in a sidebar- if they were even mentioned at all.
I know the Big Names are the people in front of the camera, and the director and (for us geeky types) the person who actually wrote the script... but in most of the major releases the "technical" peoples' contributions made a big difference. If a technician manages to win the biggest award in his profession, why begrudge him his fifteen seconds of fame? If CGI tech is ever advanced to the point they can actually show Keanu Reeves change his facial expression, then why wouldn't that person deserve an award?
Yes, the script is the essential foundation and it's important for the cast to bring the characters alive... but why not some love for the dedicated craftsmen who make the movies?
I don't have anything against an overdone, bloated celebration of people who's everyday life is an orgy of celebration anyway, though I doubt I'd catch it even if it didn't conflict with Dresden Files and Galactica. I did actually stay up once for the whole thing, back when Star Wars had been entered in several categories.
As a kid I was fascinated by articles and documentaries on how various special effects were produced for movies and TV shows. This was before CGI was anything like as photorealistic as it is now; even the blocky cartoonish computer animations in Tron were still off in the future. Back then it was done by carefully photographing actual miniatures, filming explosions in high-speed cameras and generally getting creative about how to get various impossible images on film.
It wasn't that I was disappointed when Star Wars didn't win Best Picture, what I tuned in for was to see John Dykstra and John Stears win for Best Special Effects... and Ben Burtt for Best Sound Effects... and some of the behind-the-camera people who made Close Encounters so special get their due.
So yeah, I was a geek for the behind-the-scenes stuff. As I grew up and paid attention in Literature classes I learned about the structure and elements of a (good) story- it did help me understand a lot of why I felt so unsatisfied at a lot of what I saw on TV and in movies. At the same time the Academy people seemed to be snubbing the "technical categories," usually just flashing the names in a sidebar- if they were even mentioned at all.
I know the Big Names are the people in front of the camera, and the director and (for us geeky types) the person who actually wrote the script... but in most of the major releases the "technical" peoples' contributions made a big difference. If a technician manages to win the biggest award in his profession, why begrudge him his fifteen seconds of fame? If CGI tech is ever advanced to the point they can actually show Keanu Reeves change his facial expression, then why wouldn't that person deserve an award?
Yes, the script is the essential foundation and it's important for the cast to bring the characters alive... but why not some love for the dedicated craftsmen who make the movies?
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
katyzzz
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Passionate Apathy
Did they reconstruct him, or just use old footage and recordings? I remember that bit in the promo was "borrowed" from the 78 Superman movie.
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior