Terminator: Dark Fate
- Thread starter Gerard
- Start date
Why is it none of the previous films captures that dark tone.
Terminator felt uneasy and dark yet gritty while feeling unsafe plus the whole mood of the film felt like creepy night life after midnight.
Terminator 2 had moments of summer during the safe breaks while the action took place late at night which had a metallic tone but you could still feel that sense of danger.
The first two never had over the top post processing. It felt quite naturally organic. T2 had quite a strong relation to being outside for real. Look at even the canal chase. It felt really realistic as if you were standing watching the events happen.
Terminator 3 started this cheese fest feel that currently exists like making stuff just for the sake of it with no passion. There were moments in it with that unsafe feel and realism to the world but the lame humour leaves a dent coming across too hard.
Salvation had that feel of the first Terminator. It was grungy, dusty, felt like you were in a disaster scene after events. It felt quite realistic in a dangerous unsafe new world from a nuclear event with no cheesy humour for the sake of it.
Genisys was somewhat ok but it felt like the cheese continuing from T3 while trying to capture the night battles of T2 but it also felt over processed in a way like it was too CGI/Digital. Too clean. In some ways it felt like something from X-Men 3.
Terminator felt uneasy and dark yet gritty while feeling unsafe plus the whole mood of the film felt like creepy night life after midnight.
Terminator 2 had moments of summer during the safe breaks while the action took place late at night which had a metallic tone but you could still feel that sense of danger.
The first two never had over the top post processing. It felt quite naturally organic. T2 had quite a strong relation to being outside for real. Look at even the canal chase. It felt really realistic as if you were standing watching the events happen.
Terminator 3 started this cheese fest feel that currently exists like making stuff just for the sake of it with no passion. There were moments in it with that unsafe feel and realism to the world but the lame humour leaves a dent coming across too hard.
Salvation had that feel of the first Terminator. It was grungy, dusty, felt like you were in a disaster scene after events. It felt quite realistic in a dangerous unsafe new world from a nuclear event with no cheesy humour for the sake of it.
Genisys was somewhat ok but it felt like the cheese continuing from T3 while trying to capture the night battles of T2 but it also felt over processed in a way like it was too CGI/Digital. Too clean. In some ways it felt like something from X-Men 3.
With the first movie it was probably more due to the budget available. I know for Salvation they did something to the film that added more of a silver hue to it to make things look a bit different
"The film used Technicolor's Oz process during post-production. This is a partial silver retention on the interpositive, similar to bleach bypass, which will be used to lend to the sense of detachment from the modern world McG was looking for.["
Funny how things were mostly done better with those who were good with low budgets. Compared to those with endless money turning out really mediocre stuff today. Sometimes I miss old Hollywood with the miniature/bigature sets. All the time and work they put in for a scene that can't seem to be done nowadays since they say it is too costly. Yet here we are with all this CGI stuff ruining the immersion and story as well as the overall tone/feel to a film.
No more attempts at making Terminator films?
Less is more!
I think it forces film-makers to be more creative when they have the constraints that a lower budget brings. Too large a budget often means an over use of CGI instead of using practical effects. Some film-makers use the CGI sparingly to good effect; but too many are like a kid in a CGI sweet shop. They just can't help themselves.
Soldato
If it’s a 12 I’ll wait and watch it on TV.
A lot of the effects in T2 that people think were CG were also practical. Bullet hits on the t1000, the head split from the shotgun and the way it got blown up at the end before falling into the steel were all practical effects.
Soldato
Yet if made today I would guess that most would now be done via CGI instead but look worse for it. CGI is a great tool but it covers a lot of lazy film-making at times.
ianh said:
Though I agree with you there
I'm not so sure about that specific example, the practical effects Gerard mentions in T2 weren't very good imo and even at the time stood out like a sore thumb.
Soldato
@Freakbro The effects he mentioned - the head split - gunshot blooms - final exploded/twisted form - all look fantastic as practical effects to me and I couldn't see CGI making those effects look "better" just "different".
Great article on that specific effects shot here...
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/terminator-2-t-1000-splash-head-effect
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/terminator-2-t-1000-splash-head-effect
Funny the way how the metal looks in the real world. I always thought the shiny parts exposed was CGI. The moving puppet eyes were also neat.
More a matter of it being easier and quicker to do in cgi, no real point in having people try to design something then have to trouble shoot it etc and then end up with a bunch of limitations on what it can or can't do or what camera angles it works from, vs a cgi variation that can be easier and quicker to do as well as having less limitations.
People really have this weird rose tinted view of T-2 that the effects were so much better vs todays effects, when Genisys came out people were saying that the t-1000 visual effects didn't look as good as the original in T2, but if you compare them side by side the Genisys version looks much better as it's fluid moves better, its reflections work better etc. People seem to put the effects from T2 on some kind of imaginary pedestal and act like they can't be beaten for some reason or other.
Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
Part of me hopes they’ll go back and fix the worst practical effect ever.... the fake arnie puppet (when he removes his eye) in T1.
That has ALWAYS looked crap
That has ALWAYS looked crap
Another cool thing...
Same with the torso in T2 coming out of Cyberdine. As everyone shoots the top half.
Part of me hopes they’ll go back and fix the worst practical effect ever.... the fake arnie puppet (when he removes his eye) in T1.
That has ALWAYS looked crap
Same with the torso in T2 coming out of Cyberdine. As everyone shoots the top half.
Soldato
Can't recall where I heard it, possibly one of those The Thing (2011) effect analysis slots on Youtube (that movie was originally using practical, but the studio insisted on switching to CGI), but apparently high end practical effects are cheaper, for stuff like monsters, than CGI.
Another CGI problem is that the work takes so long to do that you need to book it in often before you've shot the rest of the movie - which means it's harder to make changes. This cropped up in another YT vid, talking about the Ghostbusters reboot IIRC, where the stuff happening in the big action scene near the end didn't really match up with the characters we'd been with for the rest of the movie.
Another CGI problem is that the work takes so long to do that you need to book it in often before you've shot the rest of the movie - which means it's harder to make changes. This cropped up in another YT vid, talking about the Ghostbusters reboot IIRC, where the stuff happening in the big action scene near the end didn't really match up with the characters we'd been with for the rest of the movie.
Which is funny because all I remember hearing was CGI was to save money over models and puppets. As well as time.
For the most part it does, it's only when people are trying to replicate humans that it's a longer process as anything even slightly off about it ruins the illusion.
Theres a few shots of the young arniebot in genisys that you wouldn't know are cg, the whole scene was filmed with a body double but it had to be totally redone as a digital arnold.
Ita far easier and quicker to go through digital iterations of a character than having to build multiple practical models from the ground up then rig them with animatronics etc.