[REL] M3GAN (2023)

[Night457]

particularly you want to check out the rare Costa Boates(sp?) 3x90min docs

Well, maybe not AGAIN.

to get things like light play and shadows right it's a lot easier to do face/eye replacement than full character CG. Especially when you have another kid in the shot and need the human interaction.

OK, I get what you mean now. Face replacement = painting him out (like much of Jar Jar); full character CG = there is no body double in the shot at all (like Yoda). That distinction I admit is important. I have seen CGI fests where clearly the actors are reacting unconvincingly to nothing, because they can not imagine what the director has in his head.

I can not say what is easier for the computer artist technicians, but I am certain what is easier for the actors. The believability of the performances is ultimately more important to me than the believability of the visual effects. If I were an actor, I would prefer to play my scenes with a real life little girl who gets painted out rather than just pretend there was one there. (Even if the scene involves her slaughtering me. Oh my!)

Thanks!

[David32441]

particularly you want to check out the rare Costa Boates(sp?) 3x90min docs

Well, maybe not AGAIN.

to get things like light play and shadows right it's a lot easier to do face/eye replacement than full character CG. Especially when you have another kid in the shot and need the human interaction.

OK, I get what you mean now. Face replacement = painting him out (like much of Jar Jar); full character CG = there is no body double in the shot at all (like Yoda). That distinction I admit is important. I have seen CGI fests where clearly the actors are reacting unconvincingly to nothing, because they can not imagine what the director has in his head.

I can not say what is easier for the computer artist technicians, but I am certain what is easier for the actors. The believability of the performances is ultimately more important to me than the believability of the visual effects. If I were an actor, I would prefer to play my scenes with a real life little girl who gets painted out rather than just pretend there was one there. (Even if the scene involves her slaughtering me. Oh my!)

Thanks!

From watching things like the Corridor Crew Youtube channel there's so many subtle things that can be "not right" in a pure CG shot. They talk about things like the darkness of shadows. For instance something else in the scene casts a near black shadow while the CG creature casts a dark grey shadow. You won't see it - but your brain is thinking something's not right. It's that last 5% that is almost impossible to get perfect. Although M3GAN has fake eyes so you don't have the "uncanny valley" issues of things like the Polar Express you still have the physical interaction of what a human actor does, the colour balance and the human interaction for the cast. Also much easier to spend $1000 on a wig than $100,000 on CG hair for 1200 shots. I bet there's probably only about 50-100 shots where they need to do the CG face and eyes.
The reaction of people is important. There's a shot right at the end of the terrible Indy 4 where there's like a whirlwind of debris flying around. The characters are reacting in awe to the CG ship, but in reality you'd be worried about the flying debris as large as a car whirling past your head!

[David32441]

Anyone else heard that it opened with a huge $30m+ opening this last weekend! Very high for a quiet January month apparantly. Got some good reviews from 2 internet critics I saw.
Also, there's now 2x 10minute youtube videos that show that the actress playing M3gan wore that plasticy looking face as a prosthetic stuck on her face, even show her pealing it off. And yeah, her own hair was sleaked back and the M3gan hair is a wig. There even seemed to be prosthetic eyes - maybe used for some closeups to avoid use of CG budget? I assume the actress could see out of them a bit. Didn't think they'd put an actress through that - a full face prosthetic! But obviously the cheapest way to do the effects - shoot it 100% real, and just do a few CGI eye shots. Even the sequence where she runs through the forest seems to be someone bent over and doing that for real - possibly the actress - but couldn't tell.
One of them mentions the actress won a dance championanship in New Zealand? Oh, and it also mentions that her dance teacher taught her the dance that she does in the corridor that's become a internet meme - apparantly. The director and producers seem to pat themselves on the back - but give little credit to the performance of the young actress who's the most believable cyborg since Robert Patrick(?) in T2.
Not sure how long we have to wait for a digital download? Maybe will have a long cinema run before they release it digitally?

[Night457]

Also, there's now 2x 10minute youtube videos that show that the actress playing M3gan wore that plasticy looking face as a prosthetic stuck on her face, even show her pealing it off.

Now I am getting excited! Little girl is a hardcore old-school type, with traditional make-up effects. Oh yeah, baby.

Without my looking at the youtube videos before seeing the full film, my guess is that they used the basic mask and then enhanced it with CG for closeups?

One of them mentions the actress won a dance championanship in New Zealand? Oh, and it also mentions that her dance teacher taught her the dance that she does in the corridor that's become a internet meme

I could tell the girl knew how to move! I guess it is not too surprising that it became memed. And don't misinterpret this, but she was cast for her body and not her face or her voice.

(She was acting with her body, not her replaced face or voice, you pigs out there. )

young actress who's the most believable cyborg since Robert Patrick(?) in T2.

She's cuter, too. And scarier.

Not sure how long we have to wait for a digital download? Maybe will have a long cinema run before they release it digitally?

If anyone is curious for a look but hates movie theaters, here is a filthy CAM job with hardcoded French subtitles:
https://bflix.gg/movie/watch-m3gan-91330
But don't think for one moment that it is worth downloading. Wait for a real version.

Nowadays a "long" cinema run is 3 weeks, right?

[David32441]

Also, there's now 2x 10minute youtube videos that show that the actress playing M3gan wore that plasticy looking face as a prosthetic stuck on her face, even show her pealing it off.

Now I am getting excited! Little girl is a hardcore old-school type, with traditional make-up effects. Oh yeah, baby.

Without my looking at the youtube videos before seeing the full film, my guess is that they used the basic mask and then enhanced it with CG for closeups?

One of them mentions the actress won a dance championanship in New Zealand? Oh, and it also mentions that her dance teacher taught her the dance that she does in the corridor that's become a internet meme

I could tell the girl knew how to move! I guess it is not too surprising that it became memed. And don't misinterpret this, but she was cast for her body and not her face or her voice.

(She was acting with her body, not her replaced face or voice, you pigs out there. )

young actress who's the most believable cyborg since Robert Patrick(?) in T2.

She's cuter, too. And scarier.

Not sure how long we have to wait for a digital download? Maybe will have a long cinema run before they release it digitally?

If anyone is curious for a look but hates movie theaters, here is a filthy CAM job with hardcoded French subtitles:
https://bflix.gg/movie/watch-m3gan-91330
But don't think for one moment that it is worth downloading. Wait for a real version.

Nowadays a "long" cinema run is 3 weeks, right?

A few countries were upset that because Matilda had had a cinema release in their country then it was going to be 3-6 months before Netflix (the studio that made it) would release it in their country! But only Christmas Day in America - well, that's only going to encourage VPN use to get around borders!
Yeah, that's a good point - cast because she was NZ dance champion, not for her looks.
They're saying a sequel is planned (kinda obvious in successful horror - $12m film becomes a viral sensation and makes $30m+ in a few days release in USA alone). You wonder if the M3gan actress will be too grown up for the robot. It's not like they can explain a 6 inch height gain like they could explain Arnie's ageing... not that they explained that that well. But they can just cast the next 11y (they said she was 11 at time of filming) dance champion. They don't even have to give in to actress demands for x million. They can just replace her. Kinda sad really! Hope the kids are on for "points" on the film (a share of the box office). The producers are going to walk away with mult-million dollar point bonuses I bet!
Oh - and one other thing emphasised was about M3gan's efficiency of movement and cat-like head tilts. A robot wouldn't make inefficient movemtn - doesn't explain the corridor dance though!

[Night457]

I can not name names for movies or studios, but I have heard of cases where the streaming and theatrical releases were virtually simultaneous. Of course it may be different in different countries too. They are experimenting with different choices to see what approach works best for them.

Yeah, that's a good point - cast because she was NZ dance champion, not for her looks.

Not that I was saying she is some hideous mutant freak! She looks like a cute kid to me. They just covered her face, because it was necessary for the character.

It's not like they can explain a 6 inch height gain like they could explain Arnie's ageing... not that they explained that that well.

She has not gained that much, has she??? I have not watched any of the T-3-4-5-6s, but if they can have a liquid robot that imitates anyone they can have an old man bot. And do not SPOILER anything for the end of this particular movie (I have not seen it, let alone others here) but for a sequel they can have a new improved model of the doll that just happens to be taller. And with a different face and hair for that matter. It's a DOLL!

But they can just cast the next 11y (they said she was 11 at time of filming) dance champion.

Makes sense to me. Jason Voorhees was played by multiple actors, and for someone whose face you see there have been multiple James Bonds. Why not Multiple M3gans?

[Sully23]

s saying she is some hideous mutant freak! She looks like a cute kid to me. They just covered her face, because it was necessary for the character.

I thought M3GAN was going to be or I thought it was Anabell.

[David32441]

I can not name names for movies or studios, but I have heard of cases where the streaming and theatrical releases were virtually simultaneous. Of course it may be different in different countries too. They are experimenting with different choices to see what approach works best for them.

Yeah, that's a good point - cast because she was NZ dance champion, not for her looks.

Not that I was saying she is some hideous mutant freak! She looks like a cute kid to me. They just covered her face, because it was necessary for the character.

It's not like they can explain a 6 inch height gain like they could explain Arnie's ageing... not that they explained that that well.

She has not gained that much, has she??? I have not watched any of the T-3-4-5-6s, but if they can have a liquid robot that imitates anyone they can have an old man bot. And do not SPOILER anything for the end of this particular movie (I have not seen it, let alone others here) but for a sequel they can have a new improved model of the doll that just happens to be taller. And with a different face and hair for that matter. It's a DOLL!

But they can just cast the next 11y (they said she was 11 at time of filming) dance champion.

Makes sense to me. Jason Voorhees was played by multiple actors, and for someone whose face you see there have been multiple James Bonds. Why not Multiple M3gans?

Yeah, not seen it. Hope nobody spoilers it! But any film featuring a robot they could make another one.
No I don't know if she's grown, but that's what can happen with kids in films. I can't recall the film but there was one where they said the kid had grown about a foot between the start and end, and as it wasn't shot in order you could see the characters had changed. Teeth falling out too. I know the first HP. The outdoor shots were filmed about 11 months before the special fx shots and they look quite different in different scenes. Then they cut to them saying goodbye at the station and they've all de-aged a year!

[pistachio]

Spoiler: The movie opens with a sing-songy toy commercial involving a little girl and a dead dog. I realized then that the tone was going to be different than what the trailer lead me to believe. Very good.

If you've seen the trailer you already have the gist of it. There are no major key events or twists in the movie you could possibly spoil (except maybe for a small one near the end). It was enjoyable and surprising in other ways.

I thought this movie would be unbelievable and sappy but they handled it pretty well. The girl who plays Cady does such an awesome job. All her emotional breakdowns and interactions with M3gan were actually really moving.

M3gan is not as frightening or even as unsettling as I would have liked. Lots of missed opportunities with that one, especially for a premise like this. For a horror movie that's all about traumatic experiences, it's not very psychologically disturbing.

Anyway, I liked it.

[David32441]

Spoiler: The movie opens with a sing-songy toy commercial involving a little girl and a dead dog. I realized then that the tone was going to be different than what the trailer lead me to believe. Very good.

If you've seen the trailer you already have the gist of it. There are no major key events or twists in the movie you could possibly spoil (except maybe for a small one near the end). It was enjoyable and surprising in other ways.

I thought this movie would be unbelievable and sappy but they handled it pretty well. The girl who plays Cady does such an awesome job. All her emotional breakdowns and interactions with M3gan were actually really moving.

M3gan is not as frightening or even as unsettling as I would have liked. Lots of missed opportunities with that one, especially for a premise like this. For a movie that's all about traumatic experiences, I was hoping it would at very least be psychologically disturbing.

Anyway, I liked it.

I saw in a review they aimed it quite PG-13. So yeah, it's not horror or gore, so I know I'm going to like it - I didn't want it to be really nasty! It's supposed to make you think a bit about technology bringing up this generation of children. Has laughs in it too, so I read.