Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Well, that was fucking spectacular.

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

BTW, in case people haven't watched this yet, this 2 hour talk with the cinematographer is extremely illuminating about the craziness of the production: https://vimeo.com/127381179

No script, only storyboards (until the studio demanded a physical script).
Stunts were all of course real, but anything to do with lighting or color was a matter of "we'll fix it in post". They also allegedly only shot the middle of the movie, not the Citadel stuff, counting on the fact that Warner Brothers would fund re-shoots to add that stuff back in as the movie clearly wouldn't work without it. Extremely ballsy gamble to trick your financiers.

Last edited by bullet3 (2015-05-23 19:24:07)

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

bullet3 wrote:

Plus they do have a voiceover up front in Fury Road to setup the world, so its clearly meant to work for people who know nothing about the series.

Thanks, I was starting to wonder if I was the only one that heard that.

Just saw it, loved. it. I don't have much in the way of input, though I thoroughly enjoyed when Max is pulling guns from every spot imaginable in the cab. Reminded me of the Thunderdome scene.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

bullet3 wrote:

BTW, in case people haven't watched this yet, this 2 hour talk with the cinematographer is extremely illuminating about the craziness of the production: https://vimeo.com/127381179

Amazing talk. Thanks for the link, I really love these behind the scenes stories.

Sébastien Fraud
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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

This was the craziest, most frenetic movie I've ever seen. It's almost non-stop vehicular mayhem (Miller was a traveling trauma doctor before making the first movie, by the way) with the sparest dialog I've ever heard. There are silent movies with more dialog than this.

Loved Hardy, adored Theron, loved the wives and Nux and Immortan Joe and the crazy side characters. They aren't as well developed as the characters in the first film, but Miller is doing something different here. That was a biker rally; this was a rock concert. And there is some decent development eventually.

The only real negative (aside from possible hearing loss) is that the plot is pretty conventional. It's basically "let's escape from the bad man's fortress," and the rolling siege of a big rig is the same as the end of the second film.

But if you're up for this kind of movie, then you'll never find another that does what this does on anywhere near this scale and looks so good.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Saniss wrote:
bullet3 wrote:

BTW, in case people haven't watched this yet, this 2 hour talk with the cinematographer is extremely illuminating about the craziness of the production: https://vimeo.com/127381179

Amazing talk. Thanks for the link, I really love these behind the scenes stories.

Yes, just watched it too. Thanks for the link. There was quite a bit of green screen and stationery truck scenes after all, not just wire/harness removal. Fair enough. It's an exaggeration to say it was all shot practical, but still, a lot more practical than most tentpoles these days. Those new EDGE rigs were so smooth they had to put artificial movement in otherwise it looked like the War Rig was parked.
Extraordinary that the frame rates were as low as 8fps. And all the DSLRs they destroyed! and the grading on the day for night stuff is amazing. Anything is possible these days. Any thing can be made to look like happy hour now. And all that prep work for the 3D stuff - all forgotten.
And who was the actor that came 2.5 hours late to set each morning? Hardy? Late nights rehearsing with the five wives in the trailer? wink

not long to go now...

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Ya it was clearly Hardy. Him and Theron allegedly didn't get along during filming, and he publicly apologized to George Miller at Cannes after seeing how awesome the finished movie was. I can kinda sympathize though, shooting essentially 2 second chunks of action scenes for months on end has gotta be frustrating as hell

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

http://www.artofvfx.com/?p=12178

Illuminating interview (with breakdowns) of Iloura VFX supervisor Tom Wood, who shows that there was in fact a massive amount of post-production, but not necessarily where one would expect it.

EDIT: Another great technical article, with overall VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-graph … fury-road/

The movie ends up with about 2,000 VFX shots, but there's virtually zero full CG shots.

“You shoot the layout and vehicles and gradually everything might get replaced,” he says, “except the camera and the positions of where things were. You may end up with nothing left of what was actually filmed, but the shot still inherits something real from the plate you shot originally. I still believe it’s worth doing for that reason.”

And with this state of mind, I think the movie deserves its practical reputation. It feels grounded in reality, and apart from the CG guitar shot, everything feels grounded in reality.

EDIT: Holy cow, the guitar and steering wheel coming up to the camera are not CG either. Weird.

Last edited by Saniss (2015-05-30 16:20:54)

Sébastien Fraud
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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Writhyn wrote:

Just saw it. It was great.

The only three problems I had with it was that guitar and steering wheel shot, their reason for going back to the citadel, and their plan once they did.

Second was they seemed way too confident that the citadel would apparently be defensible once they got there. They didn't know they would get a chance to kill Joe, and even if the path was closed, the mountains could still be bypassed. I totally bought the people's reaction when they showed up with the "god" dead at their feet, but that should have been part of the plan somehow.

So I just came back from my third cinema screening of it, and I also had the same thought as you before regarding the logic for going back, and them not knowing they would get a chance to kill Joe.

Am not sure why I missed it before, but this time I realized the very clear plan they had was not only to shut off the canyon pass with the main rig section they were going to detach. Since it also contains fuel they would simply detonate it when their pursuers all crammed up to it in an effort to remove it. The line of dialogue I misinterpreted is right after they mention decoupling the rig, one of the elder women simply says "Boom", and another character looks at them in a confirming manner.

They could be damn sure their pursuers would be hot on their tail, and while they all knew it might not work out if they got stopped before they got there, or if enough people got ahead of them before the pass, their plan was actually completely logical. Even if Joe went up in flames in a huge explosion, they seemed confident they could convince the Citadel population of his demise.

Again, I missed that small exchange the 2 times prior. I don't think the soundmix for those characters was up front and I think the scene had some other character I was watching at that moment, so I didn't really catch it before.

Last edited by TechNoir (2015-05-30 19:58:34)

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

So, according to this writeup, the ending guitar/steering wheel crash elements were practical too (flung into the camera on bungee cords): http://www.fxguide.com/featured/a-graph … fury-road/

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Which I already pointed out two posts ago. You're not getting away with this one tongue

Sébastien Fraud
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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

I'm gonna have to check it out again in 2D, whenever the theater decides to finally start showing it. But it's kind of interesting how so many of us TOTALLY called out that guitar and Wheel shot as CG. I'm not sure if it'll be as offputting in 2D, but it really speaks to how real something looks is down to movement and how something acts and behaves and camera movement. Because despite being built from 100% real footage, it still felt fake because it was such a bizarre thing that didn't fit with the aesthetic of the rest of it at all.

It's just kind of interesting that the CG has come so far that we can make anything "look" real, but in so many cases people just don't know how to use it to make something actually feel real.

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

So I read the article about the VFX and the steering wheel. Wow they're good. The canyon before and after is amazing. I never would have guessed that it wasn't a real place or at least a set.

Witness me!

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

I saw it in 2D. Guitar and steering wheel shot didn't bother me until you guys said something, but it still felt like a nice cap to all that had come before. Everything past that is epilogue; that was exclamation point.

Boter, formerly of TF.N as Boter and DarthArjuna. I like making movies and playing games, in one order or another.

Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

This movie should be called Mad Max. There and back again.

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

By the way, this movie gets better on every viewing. Seen it 3 times now, and could literally go again tomorrow.
It's so perfect from a story structure and filmmaking standpoint, and so dense with character quirks and world-building, that it doesn't get old. Action flows better every time too, since you know what to look out for. It's downright overwhelming the first time, but on repeat you can just appreciate the incredible juggling act of mini-setpieces and how they flow in and out of eachother within each sequence.

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

bullet3 wrote:

By the way, this movie gets better on every viewing. Seen it 3 times now, and could literally go again tomorrow.
It's so perfect from a story structure and filmmaking standpoint, and so dense with character quirks and world-building, that it doesn't get old. Action flows better every time too, since you know what to look out for. It's downright overwhelming the first time, but on repeat you can just appreciate the incredible juggling act of mini-setpieces and how they flow in and out of eachother within each sequence.


Glad it's not just me. The most I've gone to the cinema for one film before was twice for The Dark Knight Rises. However I've seen Mad Max 4 times now, twice with friends and 2 just for myself. Never thought that would happen.

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

The sad thing is, I just haven't been in the mood to go see an action movie. I'm going to end up watching this and Avengers on video.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Invid wrote:

The sad thing is, I just haven't been in the mood to go see an action movie. I'm going to end up watching this and Avengers on video.


Yeah, that is a shame. Mad Max is very absorbing and engaging. You can actually see what it happening and follow it, which in general was what I found lacking with Avengers 2.

I really would recommend it if you have the chance in cinemas. It's such a breath of fresh air in terms of execution. It's pretty much a rock concert on wheels. I think it's impossible not to fall right into the rhythm of it. It'd be like standing 10 feet from a monster truck as it drives over and crushes another car. I can't imagine many being left unimpressed.

If you like action in general, imagine the choreography and design of T2s action sequences, with an intensity in visuals and music that often eclipses the docking sequence in Interstellar. That's pretty much what you are in for.

EDIT: I may have just convinced myself to see it a 5th time... my friday plans will have to change.

Last edited by TechNoir (2015-06-03 19:30:14)

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Busy this weekend, but I plan to see it at least a couple more times while it's playing. We've grown so used to mediocrity, that really flawed but sorta fun movies like Guardians of the Galaxy get hailed as classics (or worse, derivative cookie-cutter shit like Pacific Rim gets held up as some bastion of originality).

This is the rare case where we're dealing with a genuine classic, the kind that comes along once every 10 years maybe. There's no doubt in my mind this movie is going to leave a massive cultural imprint, much like The Matrix did in its time. So I have no problem going back and enjoying it multiple times.

It'd be like Star Wars coming out for the first time and deciding to wait and see it on VHS, it doesn't really make sense.

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

I didn't see Star Wars for months after it came out, catching it at a drive-in with my parents (paired with a movie that apparently didn't come out until '78). Ah, the joys of being a suburban kid with non-rich parents smile

I may force myself to watch those two movies. I just haven't wanted to do so while literally falling asleep from work.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

I'm in the same boat as Invid.

I just don't feel the energy or the time to go see a movie. I haven't been since the Hobbit: Bo5A came out.

Question: do I need to have seen Mad Max before seeing this one?

God loves you!

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Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

Nope, it stands alone.

Also, having rewatched the first 2 Mad Max films recently: the first Mad Max doesn't explain anything, it just kinda lets  you make your own assumptions. And the 2nd film starts with a 30-second recap of the first film, and that's it.
So, with regards to the earlier conversation about Fury Road not needing exposition because it let the first two films do the world-building... I don't think that's the case, these films have always had a good history of showing and not telling.

(Also, until this point in time, I guarantee you when someone said "Mad Max" they were thinking of the last 30 minutes of Road Warrior, and "Two men enter, one man leaves!". You'd be amazed by what the first film is really like...)

Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful smile

Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

I will second that, I have yet to see any of the other Mad Max's and there was basically nothing in Fury Road that wasn't explained through context or world building. I'm sure there's a ton of references and throwbacks I missed, but if that's why you go to watch this movie, you have some issues I can't help you with.

ZangrethorDigital.ca

Re: Mad Max: Fury Road (obligatory spoiler warning)

The more we talk about it, the more I'm amazed. Everything about the world-building made sense without ANYBODY TALKING ABOUT IT! Just pay attention and you'll understand why people are doing stuff.

Witness me!

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