[Eug Wanker]

Cool

Technologically, this is a movie of many firsts; it’s the first feature-length, stop-motion film edited using Apple Final Cut Pro (FCP), it’s the first feature shot using commercial digital SLR still photography cameras and, perhaps most significantly, it’s the first movie to choose digital cameras over film cameras based on the criterion of image quality.



“For editing stop-frame animation, Final Cut Pro definitely works,” says Lucas. “It’s fairly friendly with the high-def footage I have.” A longtime Avid editor, Lucas is using FCP for the first time on Corpse Bride. “We inherited the edit system from a previous film crew,” he reveals. “I was thrown into the deep end to learn Final Cut Pro during production. It took me two weeks to master.

Strangely enough, they used Nikon lenses on those 24 Canon EOS-1D Mark II cameras.

I wanted to see this movie, but now I want to see it if only for the image quality. Hopefully my theatre gets a good copy of the movie. BTW, initial reviews are very positive.

[ReggieX]

That's pretty cool!

[teknopimp]

very cool. not surprising they went digital as it would save time importing. i'm surprised they used Nikon lenses, guess they still have that hold on public perception about their quality, or they were on sale.

[Timo]

I saw it last night; I thought it was excellent visually (the sound is a mess, however). The wife was less impressed.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by teknopimp

very cool. not surprising they went digital as it would save time importing. i'm surprised they used Nikon lenses, guess they still have that hold on public perception about their quality, or they were on sale.

They already had the lenses:

“ We originally selected the Nikon D2H because of the wireless ftp, the chip size, and the fact that we owned $90,000 of Nikon glass [lenses],” notes Watts. However, random noise was visible as pixilation in dark areas when the shots were played back as a movie. This pixilation effect was only visible in stop-motion photography, an application the Nikon hadn’t been designed for.

Originally Posted by Timo

I saw it last night; I thought it was excellent visually (the sound is a mess, however). The wife was less impressed.

I'm concerned it might be too much like Nightmare Before Christmas. Certainly a lot of the music is similar, as does much of the design.

[iMOTOR]

Production software incorporated dcRAW and Truelight’s proprietary color transforms. The software took care of resizing and annotation by generating code that directed Apple Shake to produce QuickTime files for editorial and 2K DPX sequences to match the color profile of 5248 film scans.

So they used Shake to assemble the footage from still frames, interesting.

It sounds like this workflow will make it easy for other stop frame animators to experiment with digital.

[demograph68]

Visuals is overrated. But whatever... OMG IT'S ANOTHER TIM BURTON MOVIE! HE'S AWESOME! I'M GOING TO HOT TOPIC TO BUY A SHITLOAD OF BURTON MERCHANDISE BECAUSE HE'S SO IMPORTANT AND CLEVER! YAY!!!1!11!!!!!!1

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by demograph68

I'M GOING TO HOT TOPIC TO BUY A SHITLOAD OF BURTON MERCHANDISE BECAUSE HE'S SO IMPORTANT AND CLEVER! YAY!!!1!11!!!!!!1

I thought Hot Topic is like a "Toys-R-Us" for your type of folks.

[Salty]

Sounds cool, glad they used FCP it's some good software!

[Timo]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

I'm concerned it might be too much like Nightmare Before Christmas. Certainly a lot of the music is similar, as does much of the design.

I think on the surface is obviously resembles Nightmare Before Christmas, but Corpse Bride is for me quite different in texture, pacing and story.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by demograph68

Visuals is overrated. But whatever... OMG IT'S ANOTHER TIM BURTON MOVIE! HE'S AWESOME! I'M GOING TO HOT TOPIC TO BUY A SHITLOAD OF BURTON MERCHANDISE BECAUSE HE'S SO IMPORTANT AND CLEVER! YAY!!!1!11!!!!!!1

I find that kind of ironic coming from a guy with a sig of another "important and clever" icon

[DeathMan]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

I find that kind of ironic coming from a guy with a sig of another "important and clever" icon

zing!

[demograph68]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

I find that kind of ironic coming from a guy with a sig of another "important and clever" icon

I knew someone would compare the two...
The only reason I had that sig was because of the release of With Teeth.

[Eug Wanker]

Finally saw the movie and it was great. I like how the dead looked more real and fun than the living. It had some faults but I'd say overall it's still highly recommended.



Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

[Eriamjh]

Wonder what they used for Wallace & Gromit?

[JoshuaZ]

Note to self... download movie here in Japan. Looks cool.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by teknopimp

very cool. not surprising they went digital as it would save time importing. i'm surprised they used Nikon lenses, guess they still have that hold on public perception about their quality, or they were on sale.

Maybe it's cuz Nikon lenses are top quality? (So is Canon, Zeiss, etc... they're all pretty comparable at any given price.)

tooki

[teknopimp]

Originally Posted by tooki

Maybe it's cuz Nikon lenses are top quality? (So is Canon, Zeiss, etc... they're all pretty comparable at any given price.)

tooki

any shooter knows that. i had thought they bought the nikon lenses but was informed they already had them. buying eos cameras then buying nikkors would have been ridiculous.

[mdc]

i watched the movie last night and i really enjoyed it.
i prefered the nightmare before christmas, but i will definitely be buying this when the dvd comes out.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

Wonder what they used for Wallace & Gromit?

Cheese. Probably... Wensleydale.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by teknopimp

any shooter knows that. i had thought they bought the nikon lenses but was informed they already had them. buying eos cameras then buying nikkors would have been ridiculous.

Yeah, they already had $90000 bux worth of Nikon lenses. Then they got the idea to shoot digital but when they tried the Nikon digital cameras they felt the bodies produced too much sensor noise. So they went with Canon EOS bodies instead, and just used Nikon -> EF mount adapters.

That must have p!ssed off Nikon's PR dept. royally. Even owning Nikon lenses wasn't enough to make them buy Nikon bodies.

[tooki]

Well, even the animators said it's a specific type of noise that didn't become apparent except in this particular application.

tooki

[Eug Wanker]

Apple's article on Corpse Bride: Match Made in Final Cut Pro

Tool Chest
Power Mac G5
Xserve RAID
Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II
Final Cut Pro
QuickTime
FileMaker Pro
Arri Laser
Quantel IQ

Originally Posted by tooki

Well, even the animators said it's a specific type of noise that didn't become apparent except in this particular application.

Perhaps, but I wonder if they were just being diplomatic. Nikon's cameras of that era were well known in photography circles to have sensors that were noisier than Canon's.

[Kerrigan]

There are very few good kid's movies left, glad to see that Tim Burton is still out there. Most kids' movies are computer-generated and have no charm, and the scripts are crammed full of pop-culture references to please the "kiddult" audiences. Nice to see some old fashioned story telling from Mr Burton.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Timo

The wife was less impressed.

Could have told ya !

-t

[teney7]

I take pictures for the campus newspaper with Nikon Digital SLRs.. they are AMAZING cameras

[MrForgetable]

i watched the movie yesterday. it was alright. i was more amazed with the technical aspects of the movie though. i guess i am a geek at heart.

[MrForgetable]

Originally Posted by tooki

Well, even the animators said it's a specific type of noise that didn't become apparent except in this particular application.

tooki

the sensors nikon uses are okay dealing with noise in general, but it produces A LOT of noise in the shadows, even at low ISO. the 5000 dollar D2X is even worse in the shadows than the D70.