Cloverfield
We hit the theatres Sunday morning to see Cloverfield in all its glory. The great thing about going at that time is that there's no line up, and it's half price, at six bucks a person! There were a number of great trailers in front of the film, including a teaser for the next Star Trek, and of course, The Dark Knight, all of which look great!
The film itself was short, at around 75 minutes long. The story progressed quickly though. I felt that it could have been longer, or even better, this could be one story among many in a miniseries! I left the theatre wanting more; more effects, more story, more drama. The effects work was wonderful, and integrated beautifully with the erratic camera work. If you see the movie, make sure to sit further away from the screen, as it's filmed from a handicam ala Blair Witch, and could really make you nauseous. It took a little while to get used to it. Tippett Studio and Double Negative worked on the visual effects, while Company 3 took care of the DI and The Third Floor managed the previs. I can only gather that Tippett did the creature effects, while DNeg worked on greenscreens and matte paintings. Overall, they did a spectacular job!
I could not believe how good the compositing was on this movie. The tunnel sequence with the 'night vision' blew me away. I feel so bad for all the roto artits and matchmovers on this film. Good god that must have been hellish to go through. Amazing results though. If anyone from Tippet or Dneg reads this, the OT was worth it (if there was any). If there was a compositing oscar for 2008, this would get my vote in an instant! :) Also, the audio editors should get an oscar as well... AMAZING audio work.
-- Kert Gartner
isotropy1
January 21, 2008 8:23 PM
Agreed, Kert!
Hey Tippetteers.. You guys should really submit your work to the VES Awards next year. Get it done now, so you're ready to go for next year!
Aruna
January 22, 2008 8:59 AM
Aruna, will be ready for VES in advance this time! :) They blocked out time for us to do some sweet EPK's for Cloverfield. Some of it could turn up on the DVD too.
Kert, thanks for the kind words regarding the compositing, It was a short, low budget schedule, but I think we pulled it off! We had 2 huge things in our favor though, One, it was dark and forgiving! and two, the damn camera moved around so much, it's pretty hard to focus on any one shot and pick it apart. :) Baaad for matchmove, goood for us. Throw in the solid moving storyline, sound mix, and editing, bam, movie magic.
davids
January 22, 2008 4:03 PM
The first thing that went through my mind when watching it was the ungodly tracking involved. I agree with Kert about the night vision sequence too, that was one of my favorite shots. I was just dumbfounded with the integration of scenes though, to integrate all the shots together so well and make it look like someone taking video with no cuts is just amazing. Just goes to show how much the bar can be raised in each new film.
-Jason Heinze
Jason Heinze
January 22, 2008 6:52 PM