Practical Effects: What CGI Hopes to be Like

                When it comes to movies, the industry has evolved to where practical effects have been overshadowed by CGI, or Computer Generated Imagery. CGI has gotten to the point, however, that while it may look nice to see for those few action shots, practical effects are generally better than what CGI can offer.

                First, there’s the matter in our overuse of CGI today. While CGI is a great tool to use for small effects that normal practical effects couldn’t pull off, it can easily turn into having too much CGI, or even having a movie based around it. According to the article “Sunday Discussion: Practical Effects vs CGI - Is One Better Than The Other?” on firstshowing.net , one of the main points brought up was how “5-10 years later they won't even need cameraman on the set anymore, who knows, maybe they won't even need actors since they can just CG it.” With CGI, much of what is physically done is reduced tremendously, which in turn can take you out of what is actually real, unlike what practical effects can offer.

                Second, there’s the matter of fragileness with CGI, which movies with practical effects as their primary focus don’t need to worry as much about. According to the article “Practical Effects Masters on the Pros and Cons of CGI” tested.com, the author states how “These days, when a movie relies too much on CGI, the story can lose its reality, and audiences can get bored with it in a hurry.” With the use of CGI, the risk of having an audience lose focus on what the movie is trying to accomplish, while with the use of practical effects, an audience would be more willing to focus their attention on the film.

                Finally, there’s the matter of realism in practical effects that CGI can’t make. According to The People Project’s article of “Practical Effects vs CGI”, one of the biggest problems when it comes to CGI was how “the authenticity of a physical movement or of an emotional expression will be lost as movie directors opt more and more in favor of computer generated imagery.” Through practical effects, issues such as a potential loss in in authenticity wouldn’t be an issue, because the effects in question are actually there, rather than pasted in later on.

                In conclusion, while CGI is good for many of the visuals we enjoy today, practical effects seem to do better than what CGI has to offer.

A Look on Trends: The Rise of Indie Games

Over the past few years, big-name publishers such as “EA” and “Activision” have been showcasing a common trend of marketing the same cookie cutter “copy-and-paste” games, diminishing some value among the videogame industry. Through this, crowdfunding, and self-fulfillment, there’s been a rise a rise of popular games that weren’t aided by these big-named publishers called Indie Games (Independent Video Games), games created by either individuals or small groups of people.

                One of the main causes for the rise of these Indie Games would have to be from crowdfunding, the practice of funding a project by raising many small amounts of money from many people, most notably from Kickstarter, a United States based company started in April of 2009. As of 2013, Kickstarter has launched roughly over 107,000 projects, having a total number of dollars pledged being roughly $717 million. From these statistics, Indie Games such as “Shovel Knight” (crowdfunding $311,502), to games such as “Mighty No. 9” (crowdfunding $3,845,170), many of these Indie Game developers have felt that crowdfunding has helped in making their games possible in the first place, and thus normally resort to crowdfunding corporations when starting their games.

                Another cause for the rise of Indie Games would have to come from the feelings of self-fulfillment of developers when it comes to their projects. When it comes to Indie Games, one of the biggest reasons they aren’t aided by big-named publishers. This is mainly because many publishers don’t normally practice risk adverse, or are not willing to take risks on projects that may end up failing, and thus prefer games with larger budgets. It’s because of this, however, that the Indie Games are given a challenge to stand up to the big-named publishers in delivering a game that would surpass their expectations. From an interview about “Indie Game Development” on thecreatorsproject.vice.com, Kellee Santiago, an Indie Game developer for games such as “The Journey” said to the website the following: “I think there is very little in the way of a talented developer to become successful. Indie developers are an extremely connected and supportive community, and distributing your game is as easy as making a website.”

                Lastly, it’s through common trends of “copy-and-paste” games that would be another cause for the rise of Indie Games. With many of these similar types of games flooding the video-game marketplace today, sales have been seen decreasing for future instalments of the games. The biggest example of this comes from the popular video-game series “Call of Duty”. Looking at the total sales of “Call of Duty: Ghosts” released in 2013, the game has sold roughly 14,500,000 units worldwide. However, when compared to the game previously in the series, 2011’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2”, sales are seen to have been decreased, with “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” selling roughly “24,200,000” units worldwide. Just from these two similar game sales recorded alone, the decrease in creativity and continuation of “copy-and-paste” games may have led to Indie Games becoming more popular among games, as many Indie Games are seen to offer more creativity and innovation than many other games today.

                Overall, with the methods of “copy-and-paste” games, the feelings of self-fulfillment, and the help of crowdfunding services, Indie Games have been rising up from over the past few years. Perhaps in the future, if these causes were to remain true, Indie Games may even one day surpass and even create the new standards of how video-games should be created.

"Kiwi!" Film Review

In life, many people spend their lives working towards their dreams, no matter how big or small. In the short film “Kiwi!” directed and written by Dony Permedi, we see just that in both a cute and meaningful way, showcasing how far someone will go in order to achieve their dream.

In “Kiwi!”, we follow the story of a nameless kiwi, a flightless bird that’s normally native to New Zealand, who works towards his one, overriding ambition and dream that he’s been at work for his whole life. While the story may be small, it’s all that needs to be said about the film, and any other details revealed about the film would only ruin it to those who have yet to experience this film.

Visually, the film is a simplistic-looking 3D animated picture, featuring very basic shapes, colors, and textures for the kiwi, its environment, and background. This visual style gives the film the feeling of a short cartoon that would be seen on television today on networks more geared towards children. To the film's credit, however, this style of animation actually works out for the better, as the cheerful and bright visuals helps balance out the powerful message with a charming look and feel, while also showcasing the message the film is trying to get across to the viewer in an adult manner.

With the visuals of this film in mind, sound direction is also kept very simple. The music track played in the background, played by Tim Cassel, is a single trombone that plays a simple, but very catchy, tune. Like the music, many of the sound effects used are basic; however this is never a bad thing. The simplicity of the film is what makes it work over all else, and the film knows this.

The kiwi's cartoon-like appearance and behavior is simple. The character’s movements and actions are all basic, and are never overdone. This in turn actually helps in connecting to the kiwi even more, as his limited characteristics actually brings out what we want to see in the character. When you see the kiwi jump up and clap his feet in happiness, or wipe his face with his foot after some hard labor, you want to connect with him. Had the kiwi been more realistic, the film would have lost its balance of visual continuity, and would have ruined the film.

With everything all said and done, the film is one that should be seen. It’s visuals and sound design, as well as its story, are all big factors that help largely make up what “Kiwi!” is as a film. By the end of the film, you’ll be left with nothing but sadness and satisfaction.

Car Crash Cuts Clean Through Power Pole! Major Blackouts in Norton follow suite.

In the late afternoon of Sunday, November 2^nd, the driver of a black 2008 Toyota Camry barreling down Old Colony Road of Norton coming off of Pleasant Street in Attleboro lost control over her steering wheel and crashed her car completely through a power pole, taking out the bottom half of it, and rolled into the front lawn area of a local car wash facility, which lead to a major blackout that covered the majority of facilities in the area.

As the scene unfolded, Christine Davis, a local of Norton and an employee of a Dunkin Donuts affected by the blackout, stated how show saw the entirety of the event, being able to see it “right through the large glass windows of our store”. “I was taking care of front counter when I saw the car crash, and watched as everyone in the store turned their heads towards where the crash came from.” Christine said, still a little in shock over the car crash. “Next thing I knew, my co-workers, the customers, and I all ran out of Dunkin Donuts running just to see what was going on.”

Dave Blauder, owner of the “Cozy: Beer and Wine Cordials” liquor store across from the local car wash, only heard the crash when he was going to restock the shelves before running out of the store to see what happened. Dave told us that he heard “a huge crash that seemed to shake the bottles of wine right off the shelves.” While Dave’s wine bottles didn’t actually fall off the shelves, he was still left with a temporary closing of hos store, due to the blackout that happened. “With a crash like that being cleaned up, I don’t know how anybody in this area could keep their business running.” Dave stated.

“From the way the victim was acting after we got her out of the vehicle, I could tell she was on some type of drug” said Thomas Petersen Jr., Detective Lieutenant of the Norton Police Department. Thomas showed up only seconds after the accident happened, as he was already heading down Old Colony Road to make a stop at the Attleboro Police Department. After helping the victim into the ambulance and setting up a road block to cover Old Colony Road, he proceeded to go through the various facilities affected by the black out, and helped keep calm of the people while more police officers came to help roadblock the street. When asked by an employee at Dunkin Donuts how bad the situation was, Thomas stated how “The blackout, may last a few more hours, however it shouldn’t be too big of an issue. The main concerns right now are making sure that not only the victim is alright, but also figure out what to do with the power pole, since the car took out the bottom half of it.”