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Thread: The Pros & Cons of Michael Bay - discussion topic

  1. #191
    drifand is offline Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
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    [QUOTE=GoktimusPrime;472364]I can accept butt-ugly bots so long as the story is good. QUOTE]

    Here's the thing, if its a good looking bot, means kids will want one. So if there is more effort in making their faces cooler, they will make more money than a toy where people may pass.

    Just look at Iron man's hulkbuster. I can't get the image just forgotten whereas some chracters in TF movies are easily not remembered.

    The Dinobots were okay, just that the rest are questionable. Probably a handful I could remember, but guess what? I can remember all the humans easily.

  2. #192
    Smint is offline Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
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    I think what's really lacking for me about the designs and the faces in particular is they all look the same.

    There's too much detail, too many lines, too many edges, ridges. Its too busy. And that makes telling the faces apart difficult because there's nothing instantly recognisable.

    The other thing is Bay's fast editing makes it even harder to see the face.

    And here's my point without being able to recognise the expressions on their faces its that much harder to make a connection with them. They're characterless robots.

    I think it was a good idea that Optimus actually has a face. We need to see him talk and convey expression. And it's just as important to see this when the TF's are doing battle. The designs and Bay's fast editing just makes this impossible.

    Its why Sam Raimi had Spiderman lose parts of his mask in the Spiderman movies. So you could actually see and feel what the character is feeling.

  3. #193
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    I agree that the robots are visually 'busy', but I suspect that that was intentional. It showcases the robots' complexity and reminds us that these are large, complex machines, as opposed to the boxy, inflexible G1 designs from Marvel/Sunbow.

    In the same vein, the odd, gangly proportions and angular, complex faces reinforce the point that these are alien robots. That's probably why the faces are hard to 'track' in fast action sequences. It's easier following faces in general during longer or 'calmer' shots, and to the filmmakers' credit, action shots are easier to follow in the sequels.

    The other thing is that the complex designs mean the character models have a lot of freedom of movement without joints 'cheating' or solid parts stretching or flexing. How many times in G1 or Beast Wars have we seen joints 'float' or solid pieces warp or twist to allow a character to move?

  4. #194
    Megatran Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Smint View Post
    The other thing is Bay's fast editing makes it even harder to see the face.
    On the other extreme is the slo-mo of the likes of Megan Fox running. And yes its even harder to see the face.

  5. #195
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    Quote Originally Posted by Magnus View Post
    I agree that the robots are visually 'busy', but I suspect that that was intentional. It showcases the robots' complexity and reminds us that these are large, complex machines, as opposed to the boxy, inflexible G1 designs from Marvel/Sunbow.

    In the same vein, the odd, gangly proportions and angular, complex faces reinforce the point that these are alien robots. That's probably why the faces are hard to 'track' in fast action sequences. It's easier following faces in general during longer or 'calmer' shots, and to the filmmakers' credit, action shots are easier to follow in the sequels.

    The other thing is that the complex designs mean the character models have a lot of freedom of movement without joints 'cheating' or solid parts stretching or flexing. How many times in G1 or Beast Wars have we seen joints 'float' or solid pieces warp or twist to allow a character to move?
    These are the exact things that I find appealing about the movie bots. I like the complexity and their alien forms. This was particularly drawn into focus for me in AoE when you compare Bee's "classic" face to the faces of Drift, Hound and Crosshairs. They're all basically just humans with faces made out of metal. Bee actually looks like a robot alien.

    I don't think the solution is necessarily to just give them human faces like in AoE. As long as you can give them clear and distinctive features without too much visual noise and complexity. I hate to say it, but the Twins are a good example. As awful as it was, you could definitely tell you were looking at faces.

    Distinctive colour identification of characters makes a big difference in action shots. It's just a shame that they didn't do with the AOE dinobots what they did with the toys (obviously it would have to be toned-down for the screen).

  6. #196
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    The AoE Dinobots actually are coloured like the toys, but they're so toned down that you can barely notice it. But it's there if you look close enough. They're more like... grey with tinges of colour. Or as Sam Witwicky would say:

  7. #197
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    Quote Originally Posted by Megatran View Post
    On the other extreme is the slo-mo of the likes of Megan Fox running. And yes its even harder to see the face.
    Bwah haha! Nice!

  8. #198
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    For the Michael Bay fans out there, tonight on channel seven, the movie "13 Hours" is on, from about 9.30pm.
    This was one of just two non-Transformers movies that Michael Bay directed during his 10 year run on Transformers... neither of which raked in huge amounts at the box office.

    It's interesting to see that Michael Bay has only ever directed 13 movies, and five of them (almost 40% of his directing experience) were Transformers movies.
    His box office average though is still pretty impressive, despite a fairly poor average to his review ratings.

  9. #199
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    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
    For the Michael Bay fans out there, tonight on channel seven, the movie "13 Hours" is on, from about 9.30pm.
    This was one of just two non-Transformers movies that Michael Bay directed during his 10 year run on Transformers... neither of which raked in huge amounts at the box office.

    It's interesting to see that Michael Bay has only ever directed 13 movies, and five of them (almost 40% of his directing experience) were Transformers movies.
    His box office average though is still pretty impressive, despite a fairly poor average to his review ratings.
    I got through about half of 13 Hours on Netflix a while back... It's not bad, but there are some lazy character and story-telling elements in there that made finishing the film low down on my priority list. Like all Bay films though, it looks spectacular, and there's the usual glorification of the military that can be a bit sickening (especially for non-'Muricans).

    Was the other film he made during the TF years "Pain and Gain" (or something like that)? I've read theories about that film that fit into my ideas about Bay as a film maker, especially with regards to his TF work - i.e. that what he's doing might look superficially bad, but his movies are actually cleverly and deliberately perverse.

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  10. #200
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    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post

    It's interesting to see that Michael Bay has only ever directed 13 movies, and five of them (almost 40% of his directing experience) were Transformers movies.
    I had no idea it was that few! He’d certainly made s big name for himself pre-TF movies with so few under his belt then

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