Posted on 01/09/2006 3:47:37 PM PST by KevinDavis
Loni Peristere, visual-effects supervisor on the SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that the movie's computer-generated visual effects mimicked hand-held camera moves and realistic lens effects, which also directly influenced the F/X on SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica.
When Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore and visual-effects supervisor Gary Hutzel saw the visual effects that had been pioneered for director Joss Whedon and Serenity's predecessor TV show, Firefly, they came to Peristere. They told him "that's the way it should be photographed, and please bring those rules to Galactica," Peristere said in an interview. "That is the way this should be shot. And now Galactica has taken on its own set of rules. But it started with appreciation for Firefly and appreciation for work Joss had begun." (Serenity is now available on DVD.)
In Serenity, digital animation of the title spaceship taking off in the rain included raindrops on the camera lens. "When you have a massive ship lifting off, it would be hard for the cameraman to keep the lens clean," said Peristere, who worked with Whedon on both the TV show and movie. "We proposed this as a style to Joss, where the animation would have mounted cameras, depth of field, zoom lenses, all in CG, and he's like, 'Well, yeah, my whole movie is a documentary. Find the story in the camera design.' And we went with it."
Peristere's team from his Zoic Studios created Firefly/Serenity's jerky digital style, which differs from the static style of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the more fluid F/X of the Star Wars films. The style adds a sense of realism, as if things were shot by real people and not created in computers. "It seemed sort of silly to not apply the cinematic language to digital photography as well," Peristere said.
As an example, in Serenity's climactic battle scene, visual-effects designers worked as if they had three camera operators following the title ship. "Our job from an animation standpoint was to create an action that moves through the battle, rather than participating in the battle," Peristere said. "Our pilot is chasing Serenity and has to keep Serenity in frame, even though large chunks of debris and fire is coming toward him." The new Serenity DVD includes features on the creation of the movie's visual effects.
Not exactly. Whedon clarifies his position here, well sort of.
Question. What is that language they sometimes lapse into when they're mad - sounds like a cross btn Chinese and Vietnamese.
My son got my hooked on the series prior to Christmas (Sci-Fi network) and he got the 4 set DVD for Christmas. Also so "Serenity" - no spoilers from me - but it's a great movie, but, see the series first!!
Whoa...Space:1999 is far better than Salvage 1, Buck Rogers and Lost in Space.
LEXX is the best!!!!!!!!!!!
Too bad, but the DVDs will live on for eternity. Firefly just requires too much mental agility for the average American viewer (or network executive). Put Whedon's clever dialogue in a familiar high school setting, OK. Put in it outer space and have the characters swearing in Mandarin, and you've got a recipe for brain fog and turned-off viewers - or so the suits at Fox and Universal seem to think.
I'm with you all the way on these. Add Quark and you've got an even number.
And I have them on LaserDisc, before Lucas went back and "improved" them for the DVD release.
Glad you corrected that; I searched first to see if someone had.
Hodar (and anyone) -- as far as I know, the best site through which to keep abreast of Whedonverse doings is:
www.whedonesque.com
Dan
Is that you, Stanley?
I truly hope you are correct. However, your link had no quotes from Josh Whedon; it had other people stating what they 'thought' Whedon had meant. Assertions were made that Josh's statements were taken out of context, and they might have been. I wasn't there for the whole interview.
I would LOVE to see Firefly get picked up. It's much better than any other Sci-Fi series I have seen in a quite a while. It has humor, and it has soul; the character development is first rate.
I had never watched an episode of Firefly, until I heard about it after watching Serenity on the big screen 3x. Then I bought the series, and understand why there is such a following for Firefly.
And Solo shot first!!
I hate you with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns.
You must really like Babylon 5
It does proves TV Execs does not have any brain cells at all period. It was too far advance for them to comprehend...
I saw the Serenity DVD last week. Great film! I thought it was better than the latest Star Wars incarnation.
To me Babylon 5 broke Trek monopoly on sci fi tv...
Not only was Serenity barely advertised, what promos they did run were downright cryptic. The TV ads told the viewer almost nothing about the movie or gave any reason for seeing it. The whole late summer TV ad campaign was pretty much wasted money.
Never seen Space 1999....
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