The "Cloverfield OMG!!" Thread

[Maaz]

The monster is a flying bird thing my teacher watched the trailer in slow mo.

[RUR]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

A new single-shot champ?

Others were a scene in Snake Eyes, and the opening scene of The Player.

Opening scene in Contact, or is that not even close?

[Fozziwig]

Originally Posted by jasonbird

I'm sure I won't have many on my side, but I must say I am so hating the shakey hand-cam movies. To me this movie looks like Godzilla filmed in the Blair Witch Project style. They did the same thing with the action in the Bourne movies (I thought the second one had it the worst). This style really turns me off.

Now if the movie comes out and it's got a lot more steady cam than what has been seen in the trailers (which is zero so far) I will happy.

Anyone else tired of the chaotic camera views in movies as of late?

You have my 100% support!

There has always been handheld camera work, but in the past the operator would make an effort to keep the camera steady so the audience did not become seasick.

These days there is this stupid attempt to make it seem as though the film has been made documentary style by someone that has never used a camera before. So we get silly things like the camera wobbling about, then a little zoom in, then a little zoom out and another wobble - all done on purpose.

Sadly this childish technique infests way too much of cinema and TV these days and it is extremely annoying.

I think I can trace this back to the opening credits of 'Se7en'! Have a look and see if you agree:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY

Since that time we have seen this scratchy style of production that gives the impression that there are no professional camera operators that know how to frame an image correctly. It is distraction for the sake of distraction and it's time for this 'style' to move along.

PS: Se7en was original and brilliant. Today's film makers need to make a note of the word 'original'. Maybe one day they'll manage to create something that isn't much more than a lame spin on the Se7en opening credit sequence.

[nenmu]

Whether the movie lives up to its hype or not,
I still think it'd be interesting to see this movie with the motion enhancer feature.

[Sylin]

Originally Posted by Maaz

The monster is a flying bird thing my teacher watched the trailer in slow mo.

Your teacher is blowin' smoke. The monster is not visible in the trailer but for a very, very tiny sliver that makes its identity indecipherable.

There's some speculation online that it is some sort of multi-sea-creature hybrid... like a whale with arm-like fins and a long serpents tail. I don't really care what it looks like so much as how suspenseful the movie will be. From what I've seen in the trailers, I don't think the ENTIRE movie is handcam... but most of it is.

[J6P]

No folks, "the shaky cam" doesn't date back to Blair Witch. Nor to Se7en or Children of Men or any of the other references. It dates back to the '20s, and it's known as cinéma-vérité, or "cinema of truth" from the French.

Wikipedia entry on cinéma-vérité

Cloverfield was looking to take the approach even farther, though. It was supposed to look like a monster attack on a major city, seen only through camcorders found in the aftermath. I think it's an awesome concept.

Oddly enough, I remember a terrifying nightmare I had as a kid about my home town being attacked by a Godzilla-style monster. The horror in that dream came from NOT seeing the monster, as opposed to seeing it. That's what I was hoping for from this movie; to have all of this destruction and terror going on just over the horizon, with the people trapped in front of it just trying to stay a step ahead, to stay out of the inevitable carnage. Having the camera caged to their point of view means no wide shots of the monster, no helicopter shots unless they see it on a blurry newscast -- things like that.

Now as for how well J.J. pulled it off, we'll have to see. From what I've seen I think it would have been more effective to use non-actors. It looks a little canned. Hope I'm wrong.

[GORT]

Originally Posted by jasonbird

I'm sure I won't have many on my side, but I must say I am so hating the shakey hand-cam movies. To me this movie looks like Godzilla filmed in the Blair Witch Project style. They did the same thing with the action in the Bourne movies (I thought the second one had it the worst). This style really turns me off.

Now if the movie comes out and it's got a lot more steady cam than what has been seen in the trailers (which is zero so far) I will happy.

Anyone else tired of the chaotic camera views in movies as of late?

Then dont go see it the movie isnt even out yet so how do you know what its going to look like can you give me the lottery numbers as you must be abel to see into the future

[ThatArtGuy]

Isn't JJ just the producer?

[Minimejer05]

I think Cloverfield will be perfect. We need a different movie. The trailer looks godly on Blu.

[Luis_A51]

Originally Posted by gamma626

well they didnt film it with some guys camcorder! It was filmed normally with normal sound but the entire movie happens to be filmed with a handheld HD camera and a first person prespective.

You missed his point entirely. If the movie is supposed to be a collection of camcorder recordings from normal people during the attack, then the sound (theoretically speaking) should come from their camcorders as well. Therefore there shouldnt be 5.1 sorround sound. Yet i guarantee the movie itself will have thunderous sorround sound.

[Radimus]

im not a fan of the shaky cam in THIS movie. but it was fantastic in COM and Bourne.


ive read reviews on the movie from advanced screenings. the monster is not a 'flying bird'. it sounds pretty interesting looking actually. and those are 2 guys in hazmat gear in the tent.

they are 'containing' the female because:

BIG SPOILERS BELOW








the drink SLUSHO, in the movie is made from spores harvested from the ocean. what people didnt know is its full of parasites. the monster comes ashore in search of all these spores. and all the people that were drinking Slusho are full of the parasites. the female in the tent with the hazmat guys was full of parasites, thus she was expanding...




END SPOILERS

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by RUR

Opening scene in Contact, or is that not even close?

That's CGI. Did you see the special features on the making of that (I believe a division of Sony did it)? IIRC there was a screen with the metrics. How many CPU hours. Hard drive space. Hardware crashes.

[J6P]

Originally Posted by ThatArtGuy

Isn't JJ just the producer?

You're totally right!

I guess 'a J.J. Abrams Movie' has a lot more weight to it than 'a Matt Reeves Movie'. Just like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was constantly referred to as 'the new Charlie Kaufman film' and never 'the new Jim Carrey film'.

[Tanman19az]

whenever someone finds out what the monster is then please let me know

[Dotpattern]

Originally Posted by Tanman19az

whenever someone finds out what the monster is then please let me know

It's a million HD DVD players in a landfill that comes to life...similar to the poop monster in Dogma only bigger.

[Robmx]

Maybe the camera won't be so shakey with 120hz Motionflow ! LOL

[johnjayb]

Is the slusho comment true??? Hahaha sounds very interesting

[monstermkr]

message me and I'll send you a picture I've seen of the big creature and the parasites. Just don't know how to post pics to this website. If someone contacts me I can send you the pic and maybe someone else can post it up here.

MM

[pscoop]

The first trailer definately caught my interest. I am not sure I could watch it in the theater if it is so shakey, but I would at least check it out on home video(preferably BD)

[Radimus]

Originally Posted by johnjayb

Is the slusho comment true??? Hahaha sounds very interesting

as far as i know/read/heard/been told, yes.


i personally like it, and cant wait to see it.