ILM Showcases "Dead Man's Chest" Effects Work

bonniegrrl writes "The work of ILM folks (including VFX supervisor John Knoll) is being showcased in a site just launched to explore the mind-blowing visual effects of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (heavy Flash). Interactive clips at the site allow you to peel back layers of animation to see what ILM had to start with before transforming actors wearing tracking markers into astonishingly real characters. Test your effects awareness by making the call: what's real and what's ILM, rotate turntable models of the animated characters, and download some goodies." The submitter also claims that there are a few Easter Eggs of footage in there somewhere.

I didn't notice a lot of special effects...

[From A Far Away Land]

I suppose the mark of really good effects is when you don't notice them being used.

Re:I could tell it was all CG effects

[PCM2]

This has all the earmarks of an AC troll, but I'd like to chime in and say .... agreed.

The first PotC movie was great fun, but the second one fell way short of the mark. And one of the main reasons was because they spent so much time showcasing effects and so little on story. I mean, the end... WTF?? Does that make any kind of sense to anybody? Are you really waiting on the edge of your seat to find out how that was possible or did you just roll your eyes?

All the scenes on Davy Jones' ship looked fake. Completely fake. It was as if the characters walked off the real world and into this alternate world where every single person or object is made out of CG. It felt claustrophobic. Maybe that was part of the point ... you were supposed to want the characters to escape Davy Jones' ship. But all I really wanted to do was escape that scene, which was way to long a section of way too long a movie.

Similarly, the scenes with the voodoo witch lady. Wow, way to come up with a cheap way to move the plot forward in between action scenes. All the characters miraculously appear in some green-tinged CG swamp where the voodoo lady is always up and waiting for guests. Almost as if she was, say... an Oracle?? Then we leave again and it's back to the rest of the movie.

It's the same thing people are always saying about videogames these days. Too much money spent on the look, not enough on "game play" -- or, in this case, giving you an entertaining movie to watch.

And what is the deal with making every movie three hours long these days? I'm sorry, but there was not enough movie in King Kong to last three hours. There wasn't enough in PotC: Dead Man's Chest, there wasn't enough in Casino Royale ... enough already!! Give me 90 minutes of decent movie and save all that money you spent on these "gorgeous" effects (which Disney apparently feels so compelled to justify that it set up a Web site to promote them).

Re:I could tell it was all CG effects

[Anonymous Coward]

Similarly, the scenes with the voodoo witch lady. Wow, way to come up with a cheap way to move the plot forward in between action scenes. All the characters miraculously appear in some green-tinged CG swamp where the voodoo lady is always up and waiting for guests. Almost as if she was, say... an Oracle?? Then we leave again and it's back to the rest of the movie.

Did anyone else think of the voodoo lady in Monkey Island II when they watched these Dead Man's Chest scenes?

It's "Captain" Jack Sparrow to you!

[n0w0rries]

They lost me at one of the first scenes... when they go "You're being arrested for assisting a pirate Jack Sparrow to escape" and they both correct him "Captain... Jack Sparrow". LAME LAME LAME. I really liked the first movie, but the second movie had a terrible script. I can only imagine the 3rd will be worse.

Re:I could tell it was all CG effects

[Ford Prefect]

The first PotC was such an awesome movie because Disney thought it would suck. They half-made it, and tossed it aside. Because they thought it would fail, they let the director and Johnny Depp do their thing - no market droids wanted to touch it.

... And ask anyone what they remember from the first, and it'll be Johnny Depp's character and the humour, not the special effects.

Re:missing the point, conflating, and No You Could

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one that liked the movie. I was looking for entertainment, and didn't play the "try to spot the CG". Sometimes I don't want substance, but just something to entertain me. And while this movie wasn't LOTR, it was good enough for me.