Green Screen shots in Land

[SymphonicX]

The CGI stunt zombies getting hit by the truck in DAWN 04 looked pretty cheap to me, too. I know someone here once said that Chris Romero had told them that LAND's production budget was actually about 12 million which would put it below half of the DAWN remake. Land seemed to have alot more ambitious effects and alot more effects shots in total. Its obvious they couldn't afford the best and I'm sure the rushed schedule didn't help, either. One thing that annoys me in LAND is how they chose to 'enhance' all the physically performed blood effects - like when the Nicotero zombie loses its head on the bridge. The test footage looks great but the finale tinkered product comes off too phoney looking for my liking and may as well have been done 100% CG. Hopefully DIARY is a little more subtle. when has a GAR movie ever been subtle!??! hahaha

[HLS]

For whatever reason, I never watched the special features on the Land disc until just the other day. They have a segment on there that shows all of the green screen shots. Man, I had no idea that so much of a movie nowadays in green screened. Has anyone else watched this? I mean, not just zombie heads blowing away, but just regular shots of people walking down the street were green screened in a studio. HUH. wow. I thought I watched the extras on my DVD. I guess not. I will check it out. off topic. But I like spotting Bloopers in movies. I was just watching The Day After Tomorrow. Abd I noticed when The lead character, what his name, fell off the ice ledge that before he did not have an ice pic then magically as soon as he falls he is shown hanging from an ice pic off the ledge. Just a little blooper I noticed. Sorry for being off topic and such.

[frequentc]

Yeah, I was not a fan of the CGI in Land. Considering some of the footage they showed before they added it (particularly on the head shots and blood effects) it looked better without it. Remember when Charlie shot Chihuahua? Well, he was wearing a hat. There was absolutely no blood on the hat, the hat did not effect the way the blood sprayed out in any way, and when Chihuahua fell down, the blood remained stationary in air, totally uneffected by any kind of logical physics. Stuff like that happened way to much in the film. They should have just left the blood specifically to KNB and lots of squibs. I felt the chromakey looked pretty good. It definately improved the atmosphere of certain shots. Particularly that shot of the docks when mouse was down there. Beautiful and quit creepy looking. The thing that irks me the most however, is that one overhead shot of all the zombies swarming the city after the initial raid. Did not look real at all. For one thing, there were hardly even that many involved in the raid to begin with. I don't think they used one real zombie in that overhead shot. It was obviously just a CGI character copied and pasted over and over again. Considering the overhead shot of the zombies in the opening scenes in Day Of The Dead (one of the most terrifying scenes in a zombie movie... EVER), you'd think they could have done better 20 years later in Land. I was highly dissapointed on that one.

[capncnut]

There are many gripes I have with Land. The CGI is far from top of the list.

[bassman]

Romero interview on the subject of CGI and the most obvious use of it in "Land".... From "twitchguru.com" Romero primarily used CG to add more zombies in crowds, and to put a building where he needed it on a skyline. He also had to use it for another effect that couldn't be created with conventional make-up, a zombie with a huge gaping hole in its head. "It just looked so CG, I hated it," he says. Not being a big fan of CG myself, I told Romero the effect came out much better than I expected, and I actually liked it. "You did?" said a surprised Romero. "Well that's your problem." As much as he hated it, Romero left the scene in. "We had to keep it because it was in the storyboards. They couldn't get past this zombie if they couldn't drill him," he said. "When you see something that can't possibly be, then you say, 'Okay, somebody did that with a [CGI] effect.' In my mind, it takes you out of the whole movie. We had to leave it in because you had to get rid of that guy. What are you gonna do?" This is a good one about Romero's stance on film makers today... Romero himself saw "The Da Vinci Code" recently, and it's a bad subject for the director. "I thought it was garbage," he said. "I think Ron Howard has absolutely no passion towards what he does. We had passion, we didn't have the skill. He has the skills, he doesn't have the passion. It's like $100 million dollars wasted as far as I'm concerned; you could feed Zimbabwe with that." Ouch. It's not just Howard and "The Da Vinci Code" that Romero dislikes. He has a lot of criticism to go around for some of the new directors in Hollywood these days. "Who's going to remember "Saw III" in 20 years? Forget about it," Romero said. "Here's the thing, man: I think that most filmmakers today, they shot music videos," Romero said. "They shot Faith Hill's last music video, and they think they're hot ****. Do they know how to handle it? No, they don't. Put 'em at an editing table, and they're clueless." True......true.

[Neil]

Interesting!

[MinionZombie]

The man speaketh the truth. While I'd prefer many more practical effects in Land, the CGI, over the piece, was fine with me. The one zombie effect he mentions though (if I'm thinking of the right one), did look a bit hokey ... but I've seen many worse, so it's not all bad - the darkness of the film overall certainly helped matters. As for comments on new filmmakers, agreed, there's too much preppy-boy music video director arrogance these days, all flash in the pan and no bollocks to back up those snazzy trousers they're sporting. While I enjoyed Saw III (2 was a bit naff, 1 was excellent and I feel stands out), the sequels probably won't really be that noticed in the future. They'll certainly be mentioned a lot, but a classic? Nope ... SAW 1 will be the one of that franchise to stick out though, I believe.

[capncnut]

Great interview Bassman. It's nice to hear GAR slagging off other people's movies.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I agree with him. If you can't edit your movie or at least convey the message to the editor how you wants and needs then you probably should tsick to Music Videos. I love editing, I had more fun editing than I did making the movie. I would love to be a full time editor.

[coma]

I love editing, I had more fun editing than I did making the movie. I would love to be a full time editor. well, thats when it all comes together. Its make or break time. The logistics with making a film can sometimes make it a big pile o' stress. Editing is "leave me alone, Im busy" time

[Mutineer]

The best example of Chroma Key work in Land was RIley and Charlie's walk through the vacant city during the day. Even I was shocked to learn it was Chroma Key. However, other CGI used in Land was horrible and easily stuck out like a sore thumb. I thought DAWN 2004 had much better Chroma Key work and CGI all around. The only shots you can tell are CGI in DAWN 2004 is the Mall when they first see it looking through the fence, and the close-up of Ving RHames blowing a zombies head off with his shotgun during the raid on the gunstore. ... and the Helo, and the several explosions throughout the film, and the sailboat going off into the sunset.

[MinionZombie]

... and the Helo, and the several explosions throughout the film, and the sailboat going off into the sunset. Of course, Yawn04 had a bigger budget and more time...partly helped also by the stark contrast and 'must be on drugs' intense colour palette.

[acealive1]

For whatever reason, I never watched the special features on the Land disc until just the other day. They have a segment on there that shows all of the green screen shots. Man, I had no idea that so much of a movie nowadays in green screened. Has anyone else watched this? I mean, not just zombie heads blowing away, but just regular shots of people walking down the street were green screened in a studio. the walking up the steps shot going into the city could have fooled me. i ahve a really good eye for it and couldnt tell it was greened. they used a lot of CGI for no reason though

[darth los]

Just for the record, this "green screen" thing is actually called ChromaKey. And I don't mind the use of Chromakey for atmospheric shots, backgrounds and general zombie population shots.... ,,,but I hate it for headshots and gore....keep it prosthetic people!! i've been preaching that since like,,, forever. An example of a movie succesfully pulling off cgi for population shots is when they bust out of the mall garage in the dawn remake and we see thousands of zombies. I think they pulled it off pretty well imo. But the blood and headshots still look computer generated and detract from the scene.