Why did George Lucas shoot everything in CGI?

C

c.g._eads

Veteran
did george lucas shoot ep 1-3 with heavy CGI cause he thought it was the best way to shoot his movies, or because it was cheaper?

I know CGI is expensive, but i assume he saved a lot doing everything in house.

c.g.
 
I think it was the only way to achieve what he wanted.

Take the Pod race for example. To shoot that practically would have been impossible.

I tend to think of some greenscreen work being a bit "lazy" as well. It is far easier on the director and crew but does nothing to help actors.
 
I thought the pod race scene was put in there so that he could market a video game based on it... but maybe it's just me.
 
HorseFilms said:
I thought the pod race scene was put in there so that he could market a video game based on it... but maybe it's just me.
Click to expand...

Wow, imagine that; blatantly modifying the content of a film purely for financial gain!

Would he really do that? :evil:
 
Well being the age I am, 35, and Star Wars being the first movie I seen back in 1977, I was hooked by these spaceships flying in space and it not looking fake. I was disappointed by the CG ships and wished that Lucas continued with the models. This model look is timeless and the models gave the ships superior depth where CG could and still can not do. Ep 3 did this better than 1,2 and I was impressed but being aStar Wars buff I knew the difference.
 
well, if there's anybody in the world who could shoot a film for 250 million and guarantee four times the return, it's George Lucas. I bought into his whole schpiel that he used computers cause it was the only way to acheive his vision. But I, like you Steve, found all the CGI ships (and everything else) to look fake, to have no soul. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized "he just did everything in the computer so he could make an extra 100-150 million on his films, even though he knew it wouldn't look half as good as the real thing." And so we're stuck with star wars films that don't look like star wars films.

this came about cause I watched 3 and 4 back to back and no matter how hard I tried, I could not believe that the man in the dark suit was the same man who we saw in ep 3. And I realized it's because my brain doesn't accept anything in the first three films as "real".
 
I think there is too much CG in his films. I like CG, but I hate when a film is a CG.
everybody says that L. made a great job, well working in a blue-room, and then direcing a CG master is not a hard job. and he can change ie. the whole background at any time when it is not good. do this L. on the set!
 
I read in an article about king kong and it mentioned that George made a visit to the set during filming. He went to the miniature set and saw the vast amount of miniature jungles, trees, etc (king kong has 3 times the miniatures of all 3 LOTR films put together) and said "you know we could do all that digitally." And the King kong miniatures guys just said "so?"

I really think George doesnt see the degredation of quality when using CGI compared to that of using miniatures. He wonders why on earth the LOTR is so damn successful....just in terms of VFX....and its because they used a great balence of CGI and also great miniatures. Apparently George thinks we are stupid, but film going audiences are pretty smart....and can pick out what is fake and what is not.

Its gonna be awhile before CGI reaches a level of COMPLETE photorealism...and its just not there yet. So in the meantime...miniatures are still a good idea. George thinks CGI looks better and its also cheaper....so in his opinion he's lucked into some kind of win/win situation where he pays less for higher quality. It just doenst work that way.
 
lucas.jpg
 
I have the interesting insight of someone whose (edit)family(edit) worked with Lucas Film from time to time for the last, say, 10 years. To that end, I can verify that there have been, indeed, characters, planets, sequences, vehicles, and scenes, that were inserted after the scripting process was completed, for no other reason than to design a videogame based around them, or release action figures based on them. I could go into greater detail, but I would get in ass loads of trouble. Nuff' said.
 
I noticed people always say that.

"So and so sucks...."

"Yes; but they're rich.."

It still doesnt change the fact that his last 3 films suck though, does it?
 
My biggest qualm with Lucas doesn't revolve around the prequels, but with complete overhall that the original trilogy receives with each new reincarnation. I mean, for F's sake... by the next cycle they will show A New Hope as an unrecognizable husk of its former greatness. GL has gone so far as to take out elements that were just created for the Special Edition, thus coming around full circle. Lesson? Leave good enough alone. Don't get me wrong, the remastering aspect I love...it's the tweaking and retweaking that gets my proverbial goat.

As far as the prequels, the only way to view this is with a moderate case of selective amnesia (the classic trilogy...forget they exist.) As soon as you start comparing 1, 2 & 3 to 4, 5 & 6 the newer ones go down in flames at lightspeed.
 
CG has been suckin balls lately, but mostly with these new "star wars" movies...i think they need to take the "star wars" title off everything about these flicks.
 
John_Hudson said:
It still doesnt change the fact that his last 3 films suck though, does it?
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Neither does it change the fact that his 2 previous movies were amazing (didn't care for THX1138 much and ESB and ROTJ were not formally directed by him). No matter what he does now or in future, he is still the man who brought us the Star Wars, practically refining the way the movies are made, and wrote Indiana Jones.

...if that's a ***** for you, I would consider it an honor if you ever named me one
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by John_Hudson
I noticed people always say that.

"So and so sucks...."

"Yes; but they're rich.."

It still doesnt change the fact that his last 3 films suck though, does it?
Click to expand...

Ah but I didnt mention his film making ability or my opinion on the latest CG shite SW's episodes. But then again I am 90% sick of anything that comes out of Hollywood even when it is shot in my home country.

My point really though: He must have done something right at some point.
 
Yeah, but now the dude wants to make the new Indiana Jones as a 3-D "Action Spectacular". That would totally blow ass, and just because the dude was involved in great things in the past does not excuse his current actions.

Also, he produced Howard the Duck. So, I have to second, G. Lo is a biznazt.
 
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