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April 15, 2006
less is more
There's a shot in the Superman Returns trailer that's startling for all the wrong reasons. In it, we see a crane shot of 40 or so extras all staring skyward—silent, still, awed.
What did I find so jarring about this modest shot? It's real. Peter Jackson or George Lucas would have given us a gaudy, sweeping shot of tens of thousands of squirming people—"Look! Matte paintings can't squirm like this!"—which of course our eyes have already learned to perceive as fake. Their self-indulgent, top-this shots make me think "Look at all the CGI people." The Superman shot, in contrast, made me think "I wonder what they're looking at?"
More, please.
posted by john at 10:56 AM • permalink