Cool News
Image from RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA... you know the CGI David Fincher project
Hey folks, Harry here with a cool as hell little image from David Fincher's all CGI adaptation of the classic RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA! Fincher and Morgan Freeman have had this baby quietly developing for a while now... and man... tell me ya don't want to see it, I dare ya. GET IN LINE NOW!
Hey Harry,
Revelations Entertainment posted a new "Rendezvous with Rama" slideshow on their "Rama" sitea few months ago. And well there is one pic that i think is quite interesting. It is a design for a biot (anyone who read the fantastic book knows what a biot is) and I thought some of the "Rama" fans might be interested in seeing it. With such a great novel as a basis, David Fincher as the director, Morgan Freeman as Captain Norton and over 100m. $ budget, this is going to be one big cinematic event...hell i want to see this more than Episode 2 or even Lord of the Rings (don`t shoot me).
Roland - DavidFincher.cjb.net
-
+ Expand All
-
I write this letter to
a) this will be a good one coz i haven't seen a clarke written movie since 2001 and 2010
b) better than LOTR? I don't think so.
c) better than episode 2, possibly so.
d) to be the first on this list, hehehe -
Interesting, if anyone can finally pull off a good all-CGI movie, Fincher is probably it. Though I gotta say I LOVED Final Fantasy...
F -
why is it that arthur clarke stories are hardly made into movies and it seems philip k. dick stories are the ones most made into movies. forgive my unresearched self. but i was just wondering which sci-fi writer has the most movies (and i mean, movies, not made-for-tv) made from his stories?
-
like most of you in here i'ma fincher-fan..and i guess he can pull it off, but that picture looked like crap..hehe...
-
I have the script for this. Haven't got round to reading it all yet, but it looks prety good so far.
-
he had no STYLE. It was kubric that made 2001 what it was; Clarkes ideas were brilliant, as are the vast majoritory of his ideas and S.F concepts, but he aint no Asimov.
I love scifi, and any sci fi movie is worth being made in my book, and the more practice with full-cgi the better, but if the classic authors of the golden age are the next targets of hollywood producers lets all bow our heads and pray that we move quickly onto the true littery milestones of the genre, and leave Mr Satelite were he belongs.............. swimming with young boys in Sri lanka........ -
The renewed Website of Revelations Entertainment
(http://www.revelationsent.com) has a very small poster of "Rendezvous With
Rama"...
http://www.revelationsent.com/images/rendezvous_with_rama_poster.jpg
Brought to you by...
http://www.moviefans.de/rama/
-
please would someone make The Mote in Gods Eye, this book, with a little help from a good director, could be even better. P.S. could Mr The Glass Is Half Empty please stop pimping on Harry's site, you know who you are!
-
it will just be like any other film only with a ton of cgi work. however the cgi work will be mainly in the design of rama, it is after all a world which does not exist in reality and they will be bale to do it much more realistically with cgi than with props. so this is not going to be another final fantasy, this film is going to be STARRING morgan freeman IN THE FLESH not in the computer.
-
Where is Horst Buccholtz when you need him?
-
Fincher, while working for Lucasfilm, did fantastic work on Twice Upon a Time in the nightmare bomb sequences. (Although having Henry Selick around probably helped as well.) This is probably the most overlooked animated classic of the 80's. WHEN will we finally get this on DVD (and in the theatrical non-language-edited version please)? WB released the more kid friendly language "director's cut" version on VHS and Laser some time ago.
-
Final Fantasy has suffered from poor marketing. Not because of it being CG or anything to do with the story. I'm older than most of the geeks here and I had no problem following it and enjoyed it for the differences. If you followed what has happened to this movie...in many papers, Legally Blonde had a full color ad. Final Fantasy was mostly a black box with white letters and barely a picture that could be discerned. Some ads had "two thumbs up" but the only other enticement was tiny print about seeing the Spiderman trailer. It's probably because Sony/Columbia was just a distributor for the movie and Squaresoft made it on their own according to articles I've read.
Distributors rarely really get into marketing something they don't own because they aren't seeing all the money.
How could it do well that weekend when the folks who knew it was coming out were already there to see it the first two days? The ads shrunk after that. I haven't seen a TV ad since the week before it opened. The newspaper ads are sporadic at best.
Most people I know didn't have any knowledge about the movie. They didn't know it was coming out and they had no idea of what it was about or how it was made. Those who have had the time to see it have been impressed. The only people I've met who didn't like it or didn't get it, were some girls I sat next to at one show who were complete giggling idiots. They only went because one of their sisters got them to go...she was into it and wasn't an idiot. Their mantra is generally anti science-fiction for some unknown reason.
So don't trust the box office! Remember all the good, interesting films that have tanked for no good reason other than poor marketing. Remember all the crap, too, that has done well at the box office because of excellent marketing (e.g., Independence Day).
CG is not bad. It's helping generate images that could never be shown unless you were hooked directly into a writer or director's brain. CG has also helped generate more jobs. Credits take forever now because of all the people involved in the special effects portion. Final Fantasy required about two actors for each character. One for the voice, another for the motion capture and two teams of animators and effects people...one Japanese, one American (language problems probably caused the few flaws of Final Fantasy according to published reports).
CG is taking movies to new heights. Appreciate it! I do. -
I hope they follow the book: I.E. the biot pictured 'walked' by high speed spinning, only putting one foot down at a time. By the book it sounded as if the legs were ridgid, but I see joints in the picture(s)... Hmmm.
-
what the hell happened with Final Fantasy ? and why aren't people talking about this???? This was the first attempt at cg humans and it was generally ignored at the box office. How depressing, maybe it was the result of bad marketing.... but I saw it on CNN etc...so what went wrong ??? maybe the story was bland and derivative. But how does this bode for future CG funding and features ?
-
This is from http://www.tnmc.org/gnews/rama.shtml......"Okay not entirely CGI. Producer Lori McCreary spoke to a.fincher.news.site about the movie and said that the movie would not be a totally CGI movie in the same vein as Final Fantasy. The actors would be created with a combination of motion capture, facial capture and digital film."
It sounds like models meet cg.
Also another note, from what I can find out: Grant Boucher was an ex digital domain-er who specialized in Lightwave, formed Station X Studios. He and his team were totally kick ass, so the cg should be top notch. -
Man, this is wild... I work at a place where I organize books, and Clarke is in my section... I noticed this book there a few weeks ago, had never seen it or heard of it before. I read the summary on the back, and figured I'd check it out... read it during breaks. So that's what I did, it was a real quick read and I liked it a lot. Naturally the idea of "hey it'd be neat if they made a movie of that" occured to me, but I figured... nah, it's too boring and you never really see the actual aliens, etc... so that didn't seem too likely. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we didn't have any copies of Rama II, so I had to buy that... I'm like half way through it now, and I have to say I think it kinda sucks. At least I'm finally to where they get to the ship but it's like watching a damn soap opera, Gentry Lee is apparently a chump from the looks of things. I like the boring brainy Clarke stuff. Morgan Freeman rules, and as for Fincher... I liked Se7en, I liked Alien 3 alright. The Game was pretty good. I really didn't care for Fight Club. Anyway, It was quite a nice surprise to see this bit of info just days after finishing the book and I had no idea, so... COOL!
-
...doesn't have anything to do with marketing or the look of the film as a whole. It doesn't even really have anything to do with the script (even though it sucked, and yes I will tell you why it sucked in great detail if you're really interested and ask...and no, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it's based heavily on eastern philosophy. Believe it or not, scripts based on eastern philosophy can still suck too.)Yes, I'm going to say it...the animation killed it. Now before you all go off saying how they moved soooo realisticly, you're right...sorta. In the wide shots where we got to see action, full body movement, yeah, it was pretty nice and didn't bump me nearly as much as I thought it would. But everytime a character was supposed to "act" it went straight to hell. I was watching corpes move. Everytime I almost felt myself really getting into an action sequence they'd throw in a close up and WHAM! I'm out again. Those who watched it and liked, can you really say that didn't bump you? And don't use that lame ass excuse of "Well they don't show alot of expression in asian films or anime." What a crock, Anime is a style and therefore the minimalist approach works well so no dice there guys. As far as other asian films go, you're right, but if you think that the characters in FF conveyed any of the subtleties and nuances that can be read in the eyes of characters such as those in Crouching Tiger (damn, I hope this doesn't start a seperate thread) you're full of shit. A good script (I use that term looosely), and great effects will only get you so far, without good actors, even digital ones...you're screwed. And please, do not lump this into the catagory of "all cg features." To put this into the same catagory as Toy Story, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron or Ice Age is wrong. Good CG's future won't be affected, the future for FF's kind of CG is very unclear.
-
Looking forward to the aerial journey along the axis. that'll be cool.
-
I could not agree more about Twice upon a time. DVD NOW! My edited VHS version is so archaic.
-
Jul 25, 2001 7:28:06 PM CDT
Hey PixelPusher, I'm game...spill the beans on why you think FF
by mixed_messages
I'll start this by saying that I enjoyed this movie. When I heard the many mixed reviews about it I decided when watching it the first time I would listen to the story. If it was worth it, I would return and enjoy the CG. I'm happy to say it was worth an encore.
Where you sneering through the entire film so much that it blinded and garbled your ablility to understand the script? I gotta wonder.
And the observation about watching corpses. I noticed that with longer track shots, the characters did on some occasions lose movement in their faces, but with close-ups, the nuaces of their features increased. The exact opposite of your statement.
And to totally write off the incredible work on Dr. Sid is an insult to the artists who created him. Let alone in making a statement about the entire movie being unmentionable against other works of CG. The audacity of such a remark could only be seen as a knee-jerk reaction to a movie that did have unusual ideas. New concepts scare or confuse. Try something different and safe next time so you won't have to suffer these pangs again.
Oh, yes. If you do wish to follow throught with a list of problems within the script of Final Fantasy on this talk back, add the spoiler warning on it so people who haven't watched it can skip over it.
Going back on topic...The Rama project looks interesting. Though I'm curious in how the producers can make this into a block-buster without maurading evil aliens, chest thumping heroes, 'strong but sensitive' women, and planet wide devestation with the inevitable glorious truimph of Humanity. Hard Science fiction stories have it hard in drawing wide audiences. -
Hey, Roland knew the risks when he said it. :-)
I'm ambivalent about this. Fincher I don't think much of, but on the other hand the Rama novels are pretty straightforward and pretty hard to fuck up, and Morgan Freeman does know what he's doing.
On the other hand, Final Fantasy blew like a cheap hooker on a Saturday night (it looked just like a Thunderbirds episode, only with a much more idiotic script and not nearly as realistic) and it's currently suffering the tanking it so richly deserves at the box office. And to be totally blunt, beloved series or no, I don't want SF film to become nothing but CGI. Effects have their place, but "Metropolis", "2001", "Close Encounters" (BUY THE DVD, IT'S BRILLIANT) "Brazil"and even the first three "Star Wars" used models and they remain more convincing, and they also told better, more interesting, and more entertaining stories. In fact, the best SF film in recent memory, Pi, had CGI only for the computer sequences, and the rest was all pure visuals. -
Jul 25, 2001 8:49:55 PM CDT
Don't forget that Fincher's use of CG in FIGHT CLUB rocked!
by the ungod
and those thinking, "what CG?" only prove my point!
-
Jul 25, 2001 11:25:47 PM CDT
I think there was a computer game a few years back called "Rama"
by rant_man
Wasn't the book based on that? Probably vice-versa...anywho, I trust David Fincher. This guy has an eye for film! I mean, Fight Club was a historic film for me...it was the only entertaining and well written film that year! An entire film in CGI, how could that be a bad thing? And question for you all, do think westerns could make a comeback? I'm not talking about shitty "American Outlaw" crap, but like genuine, historic westerns. The reason I ask, is that I'm writing a script for one...and I'm just curious
-
I have been hearing about this for over a month and can't wait to see it. One of the best Sci-Fi series I have ever read. Totally captivating. I have heard some gossip about Ringworld being made as well. By Phil Tippet? Yes? No? Can this gossip be confirmed? I await your geeky and encyclopedic knowledge of all things cool...oh faithful AICN readers.
-
you think Asimov had 'style'? HAHAHAHAHAHAH. All of his stories were little science logic puzzles. All of his characters are indistinguishable from robots. And the robot characters suck too. ------- As for the Sf writer who has the most books made into movies? I'd guess Crichton.
-
Hey i am that guy who wrote harry about the pic and i just wanted to tell you that Rama will not be 100 % CGI.
They will create a big Rama model and than they will wire frame the actors in. easy as that *lol*
Roland
www.davidfincher.cjb.net -
Not that I could give a fuck.
But following from my earlier comments, have I been banned? -
Jul 26, 2001 11:54:34 AM CDT
Lord of the Rings rules the world and further pontification on A
by halloween68
I love Fincher, I love Jackson, and Clarke, I guess I'm eeehhh... okay. I did love 2001, but I'm pretty sure it was more of Kubrick high than anything else. And I'm sorry but I find his, Clarkes, books dull as hell. Don't get me wrong though, some of the ideas he's come up with are damn brilliant. I'll definately go and check it out. Also, anyone help me out here, are there any other Clarke based films? None come to mind. I've only read like three of his books, so I probably wouldn't know one of his adaptations if I saw it. And finally, to the above writer of this article: I keep pulling the trigger, but the words just won't disappear. "More than Rings?!?!?" BLASPHEMER!!!
-
I cant see why everyone is concerned with CGI one way or the other. Anyone who knows anything about special effects knows that while there are limitations, it's up to the director to decide what goes where. People loved the CGI in Jurassic Park because, yes, CGI, a special effect, brought their minds to un unbelievable place. Then Jurassic 2 comes out. Some people didn't mind it, but those that hated it sited CGI as being the problem. CGI wasn't the problem. If you didn't like the movie, its because the director or the story or both ...stank on that picture. Lets take Jaws, for example. People may say it's great and look ma, no CGI. But , folks, it does have special effects. Mr Speilbergo could release a DVD and put a CGI shark in there. If he takes as much care with the CGI as he did trying to get that monstrous mechanical shark to look cool, it'd still be awesome. A CGI department will make models and such just like any modelling shop. It's up to the director to know what he wants and know how to use it to enhance the story. If the CGI detracts from the story, or any effect...or any scene, for that matter....take it out and try something different! :) Rama was a great book series. Lets hope they use the skills neccessary to make the movie just as awe inspiring.
rawhkey
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 209 total posts 207 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 160 total posts 97 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 144 total posts 77 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 68 total posts 68 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 64 total posts 60 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 480 total posts 55 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 53 total posts 50 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 118 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 182 total posts 27 posts