Movie News | Movies.com: When it comes to movies, we’ll take practical effects over CGI any day, but in the case of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, a certain practical effect was banned from the set due to its utter creepiness. We’re talking about baby Renesmee — the half-human, half-vampire daughter of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.
14 comments:
I have always had a really strong feeling on dummies or puppets in theatrical or movie purposes. In years past I thought that there was always a way that could utilize actual puppets and dummies. However with the invention of higher quality cameras and more and more realistic computer effects, my ideas on the subject have changed drastically. In this particular case they most definitely used the right idea. My question would be how did they utilize dummies verses CGI in the remake of Chucky? When a movie revolves around a doll coming to life, how realistic and human do you want it to be? IN that case, I would argue for more and more actual puppet effects to give the doll actual doll movements and style.
I don't many people that admit to having seen this movie but I am one of them. I didn't feel comfortable hating a movie I had never seen, so I watched it. everything they said was true, the acting, story, everything else... it was all awful. It was definitely a good choice to cut that baby though. It was creepy in the movie but not that creepy. I think with that terrible animatronic baby in it, it would have been so much worse. That thing is horrifying and could have a horror movie all on its own but did not belong in this one.
Wow...This is my first time hearing an animatronic puppet. Its realistic movement of eyes, faces, and arms is really cool and amazing, but at the same time, I was surprised how terrifying it is. It is interesting how people always seek to make something human-like or realistic such as robots, but when it gets to too much realistic, it can bring a reverse effect that causes disgust or fright. I was looking at the clip posted in this article, and I could totally see how unnatural and uncomfortable Nikki Reed acts with the puppet through her look and gesture. I think it was creative idea of using high-technology in the film, but I am still glad that they decided not to use Chuckesmee because I think it would bring some kind of discomfort to the audience. However, I wonder what could have been the best choice for the baby in the scene, real baby, CGI, or animatronic puppet because in the movie, CGI still looked like fake and something that did not belong to the world of Twilight. Reading this article, I learned how the director put great effort in deciding what the baby would be and how sometimes, CGI can make things realistic only to the certain extend.
I don't really know much about the Twilight series but the character of the baby seems very interesting. I can definitely understand why the director wanted to use a doll to create the effect of being otherworldly and it would have been interesting to see it actually trickle into the final film. Now that I've seen a little bit about how they film with puppets, I would be interested to see what processes and objects they use when they film scenes that will later have a CGI character added.
Well their right about the baby puppet being creepy. At one point in the video someone says that a fake thing could never work for the part. I see to problems with that. The first is that they did use a fake CIG baby in the end. I haven't seen the film but I guess it must have worked out just fine. My second problem with that statement is that I don't think that the fact that it is a puppet causes it to be creepy, I think that was just a result of the design of the face. There is one shot in that video where you can't see it's face, only it's tiny hands. That one shot looks really real and cute. So I think that if they had taken the time and money to go back and try the puppet thing out again, then maybe they could have made it work. I thought that the people bringing it to life were very impressive.
I think the production team was on the right track of trying to create something other worldly but in this case I am glad they did not use Chuckesmee. I feel that part of what might've made the baby so creepy was that it's movements were very robotic and slow as well as the eyes being way more enormous than that of an average baby's. Maybe one day in the future technology will be advanced enough that these effects won't be so creepy on screen but robotics might have to develop a lot quicker than the rate that the camera is.
I completely agree with Akiva. They say they did not want to use a "fake thing," and yet they ended up using a fake baby through CGI. The baby was not creepy because it was an animatronic puppet. Sometimes, things are creepy because they look so realistic, but that is not the case in this situation. Chuckesmee doesn't even have the correct human anatomy. Her eyes are too big and spread apart, the face sculpt and makeup do not look human, and a one-day-old baby will never have long eyelashes and that much hair. The puppet itself moved very well, and overall the technology worked. I think the art department made a huge mistake in how the baby looked. If the head sculpt was better and if the artist actually knew how big and where human eyes are on a baby's face, the result would have been better. I have a feeling that they did not recreate a puppet because of the cost. I hope his baby animatronic is done again in the future with a better design aspect because I think this is a really good idea overall. I looked at the Curious Case of Benjamin Button again, and yes you can definitely tell the aged-baby was CGI, but that was a movement issue. It at least looked like a baby. When Benjamin dies, however, I believe they used a real baby. Because the scene was so somber, the baby actually looked wise beyond its years. The only question I have for the director is, "Why didn't you use a real baby?"
I never did see the movie, however I'm sure whatever they decided on with the CGI was probably better than that doll. That thing is hands down the creepiest puppet I have ever seen. I don't know why the production team though that was a good idea. I'm still a proponent of real effects over CGI but that affect failed miserably. The doll looked like it was about to kill someone. What I wonder is why they didn't use an actually toddler and go in with effects after the fact. The quality of the movement would have been far more realistic than what the puppet was providing. I think what really made the puppet so creepy was the face. It looked like something right out of the uncanny valley.
That baby is so hilarious and terrifying. I'm actually surprised something looking like that even made it onto the set. I did read the Twilight books as a seventh grader when they were very popular, so while I'm not a Twilight fan, I am familiar with the half vampire baby thing. The idea of having an animatronic puppet could maybe be a possibility, I don't know, but just look at that thing. Why did they make it so freaky looking? CGI may have been the best choice no matter what, I haven't seen the movie, but I would think they could have at least made a less repulsive looking puppet child.
Wow. This is incredibly frightening. Im not sure how I could be able to work with this doll. Its actually insane. I mean like i guess the fact that it is so realistic is pretty impressive. I think they might've designed the doll as though it looked a little unrealistic, but if they designed it to like an actual baby it would be pretty hard to tell the difference. I did see this movie and i dont remember the baby look specially unrealistic so i think it was probably a great idea that they went with CGI.
This animatronic baby is horrifying. This is one of the few examples of having a physical object instead of cgi looking unrealistic. Normally if you want something to look like the real thing you would have a prop instead of inputting it in post but this baby, while moving relatively realistically, looks like something out of a horror film. It is somewhere between doll and baby that just doesn't work. I'm glad they opted for cgi instead of this abomination.
Eek that's soo freaky. I'm glad they cut it out, because it just looks scary.
However, I thought that it moved pretty well. It was just that the dolls face was really weird.
I bet the producers were really mad at the puppeteers. That most have been quite a wast of money having the puppet made and then re shooting it with CGI.
I feel like there is a real future here though with the animatronic puppets. Just maybe this one didn't work out so well.
I'm really not a fan of animatroics in any situation, they just don't look real. This issue has been tackled and somewhat solve by combining it with CGI but the human eye is simply too good at picking out things that just don't seem natural. I personally think that when the audience is to busy focusing on minute actions that just don't look human, they are pulled completely from the magic of the story/play/movie. Then what was the point of going? Stick with real things the best you can, and when leaning toward CGI or especially animatronics really consider if you absolutely must have it.
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