Bassem's Occasional Notes

Classic paintings viewed "in 3D"

noreply@blogger.com (Bassem B.) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:19:00 +0000

Thanks to amazing computer technology, these classic paintings of the Old Masters have been extruded in 3D, allowing us to view them from all angles.

Check it out:

Okay, so it's a spoof and an advert for Samsung's 3D TV sets. The product it's advertising is dumb (more on that below.) But it's well done, both the visual work and the humour.

A digression about 3D TV and films:

I think the idea of "3D" television is dumb - forcing you to wear those annoying glasses at home on your couch, and forcing you to sit at a specific spot in order to see the effects.
Until we can watch 3D television without glasses and with a wider viewing angle, and until the equipment is cheaper (a hundred bucks for the glasses? really?) I'm not interested.

Actually I'm getting tired of every action or fantasy movie being released in 3D. Not that I don't like the tech ; I was excited about Avatar long before it was released, because it was filmed specifically for that effect.
Not so with this recent spew of patched-up movies. Clash of the Titans and Alice in Wonderland have no reason to make me pay extra and wear glasses. The 3D was seldom present and badly implemented.

So I think this advertisement, spoof aside, is promising more than it will deliver. But it's still a fun video.

(Video found via Gizmodo via b3ta via The Daily What)

Counter-Strike de_dust 2 Arabic graffiti

noreply@blogger.com (Bassem B.) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:11:00 +0000

Playing a round of Counter-Strike: Source in the map "de_dust2" for the first time, I noticed some Arabic writing on the walls. I'm used by now to seeing Arabic language mangled in its portrayals in popular media. So I tried to read what was written:

See... Ass... Source? Oh, C-S: Source! I guess they went with phonetics. And then "bahaleh". I don't know what that is. Maybe it's Farsi rather than Arabic.

Then I saw another scribble:

"Freeman Inja Bood." Maybe a botched "in tha hood" ? Gordon Freeman is the main character of the original game.

Then this:

Fr... Frakat... Fragtastic!

The next one is just random letters:

I mean Arabic letters don't even join up like this.

Gee, I wonder which dictator this is (was)?

Do you have any examples of your first language being distorted in movies or games?

Digital Grunt

noreply@blogger.com (Bassem B.) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:00:00 +0000

A day in the life of a post-production artist. This is pretty much what we go through, except we sweat a little bit less than this fellow.

I especially like the part with the client asking them to zoom in, and what happens next.

James Cameron's AVATAR

noreply@blogger.com (Bassem B.) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:14:00 +0000

Some three, four years ago I downloaded a script for a film called Avatar, written by James Cameron.

The fact that the script was available online led me to believe the project had been abandoned - but now Avatar is in production, slated for release in 2009. I am very happy to hear that.

Here's how the story goes in the script I have (I won't spoil things, even though there's not much to spoil, really.)

It's the future. A paralysed, embittered ex-marine is offered the chance to be part of a colonising effort on another planet. He agrees because the colonisation program involves humans using their minds to control another physical body - the body of a three metre tall alien. (Thus the film's name.)

The movie deals mostly with how humans treat the planet and how the aliens treat the humans. I'm not gonna elaborate but there are prominent elements of environmentalism, Gaia spiritualism, and other themes that can easily veer into the cheesy. I *really* hope the film doesn't get preachy about all this. There's a fine line between making people think, and making them roll their eyes and say something like "laaame."

However, the reason I was still able to enjoy the script - and the reason I am so excitedly anticipating the film - is not the plot, but the character and location design. Cameron goes to great lengths in describing the various creatures and landscapes of the alien planet, and it's clear that he's put much thought into all of it. It was a pleasure to imagine all this in my mind, and I have no doubt the film will be a visual feast.

Another reason why I'm looking forward to Avatar is Cameron's decision to release the film in 3D. When I say 3D, I'm not referring to CGI - obviously, there will be a lot of that - most of what you see onscreen will be computer generated imagery.
No, by "3D film" I mean the kind where you have to wear those blue and red glasses in order to watch it, and things seem to jump out at you from the screen.

My only experience with 3D films so far has been Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. At the end, I was thinking, "the freaking Spy Kids franchise came up with a 3D film, why aren't other producers doing this?"

Here's a snippet from the Avatar script:

Now the shuttle is passing lower and lower over the highland rainforest. The tones range from purple-blue, through violet to magenta. Twinkling like tiny flecks of ash on the wind are what look like birds... manta-like flying creatures of various sizes.

A flythrough scene like this, viewed in 3D, is going to be pretty sweet.

Now let me throw some names your way of the people participating in this project. Apart from James Cameron, we have Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez, and Weta Digital on visual effects (if this name doesn't ring a bell, think Gollum.)

Oh and, just in case you didn't know, James Cameron is the creator and/or director of Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, The Abyss, and the Dark Angel TV series (with Jessica Alba), among many others.
He also wrote and directed Titanic, a film that is often viewed as sappy and cheesy, though I think this is largely a reaction to the eventual kitsch status of "My Heart Will Go On".
But if you've seen Titanic (the highest grossing film of all time, by the way,) just think of the part where the ship breaks in half. That was one intense sequence. Cameron knows his stuff.

Avatar is my most anticipated film right now (above Iron Man and The Wolf Man.) I hope it meets, if not exceeds, my expectations.

Here's a crappy sketch I made back in the day. It's vaguely inspired by descriptions in the script. Click it to enlarge.
(I don't need to tell you that the film will look much, much better than this, do I?)

This image of a Na'vi alien was made by someone else. It's not very accurate to the script, and the aliens will look very different in the film, according to James Cameron. Click to see.

image sources:
Avatar poster: wildaboutmovies.com
3D glasses: howstuffworks.com
Na'vi portrait: unknown