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Unpopular Opinion mayhaps:
I loved both The Living D*ad & Fatal Journey, especially, but when it comes to color grading, sound design and even some visual effects, I actually prefer the approach they took in cql despite those two movies having more budget
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I loved both The Living D*ad & Fatal Journey, especially, but when it comes to color grading, sound design and even some visual effects, I actually prefer the approach they took in cql despite those two movies having more budget
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WARNING:
Below you'll find a mix of objective observations, some constructive criticism and personal preferences.
Don't take anything to heart because I'm not bashing any of those.
While it's no secret that I adore cql, I actually loved a lot the movies as well, esp FL
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Below you'll find a mix of objective observations, some constructive criticism and personal preferences.
Don't take anything to heart because I'm not bashing any of those.
While it's no secret that I adore cql, I actually loved a lot the movies as well, esp FL
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The amount of tears I shed for FL...
That is to say, these observations & comments will be about the list of characteristics I put in the first tweet: color grading, sound design and visual effects.
bc this is what was changed between the adaptations, in part due to budget
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That is to say, these observations & comments will be about the list of characteristics I put in the first tweet: color grading, sound design and visual effects.
bc this is what was changed between the adaptations, in part due to budget
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Whatever observation, criticism or preference I have, there's the simple fact that even when something in those categories is not to my liking, I look past it because I like how the characters are written and portrayed so much that they take precedence.
Anyway, here we go:
Anyway, here we go:
There were things that worked in cql quite well and shouldn't have been changed imho.
Here are some comparisons:
I like the clean look cql went for, and this applies to both color grading and sfx.
1. re: color grading >I understand why they went for a darker, more cinematic
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Here are some comparisons:
I like the clean look cql went for, and this applies to both color grading and sfx.
1. re: color grading >I understand why they went for a darker, more cinematic
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look in the movies > it's a valid choice to want to capture a certain eery atmosphere
Personally, tho, I prefer the clean, more luminous look that cql had. It still knew to do eery in the scenes that required it (see Yi City arc) but without reducing the whole drama to that.
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Personally, tho, I prefer the clean, more luminous look that cql had. It still knew to do eery in the scenes that required it (see Yi City arc) but without reducing the whole drama to that.
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2. The sound in both movies was kinda noisy or even weirdly cut in a few instances. Cql gave a clean dub and clean sound design which complimented perfectly the OSTs.
3. Regarding special effects, I think that some of the ones in both movies are nice, but they are not
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3. Regarding special effects, I think that some of the ones in both movies are nice, but they are not
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much better than some of the stuff we had in cql, actually, despite the movies' bigger budget & ppl raving abt them. Some are just... different.
For instance, they seem to use arrays more in the movies, esp Fatal Journey, BUT the arrays in cql are just as well made, even tho
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For instance, they seem to use arrays more in the movies, esp Fatal Journey, BUT the arrays in cql are just as well made, even tho
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they were used a little less (BUT more talismans).
In some instances in FL, they expanded the visual capacity of the arrays (the writing surrounding NMJ's pyramid formation making up a surrounding wall =more budget) BUT in terms of quality, they're the same as the ones in cql.
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In some instances in FL, they expanded the visual capacity of the arrays (the writing surrounding NMJ's pyramid formation making up a surrounding wall =more budget) BUT in terms of quality, they're the same as the ones in cql.
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The Dragon was a similar type of effect as the Saber in cql, just different shape. It took more to animate (=more budget) but the quality is similar.
The spiritual Gundams (forgot how they're called, pls forgive me) looked kinda goofy to me, so that wasn't an improvement imho
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The spiritual Gundams (forgot how they're called, pls forgive me) looked kinda goofy to me, so that wasn't an improvement imho
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Same for the cgi tentacles. Those were pretty bad tbh. The M+rder Turtle had more going on for it compared to those (bar a few scenes which were bad) + it was harder to animate + it was more detailed.
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The energy blasts were pretty evenly matched in quality between the various adaptations, BUT looked kinda videogame-y in TLD in SOME instances > Too much color/glow compared to the rest fo the color grading and the warping was a little too detailed in some shots
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They were used less in cql due to lack of budget, but they were good.
Personally, I prefer the black smoke they used in cql to represent resentful energy compared to the black particles that they SOMETIMES used in TLD. In terms of difficulty in achieving them, they're pretty
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Personally, I prefer the black smoke they used in cql to represent resentful energy compared to the black particles that they SOMETIMES used in TLD. In terms of difficulty in achieving them, they're pretty
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matched but imho the dark smoke looked more realistic and grounded (?). I liked the shots where it was used in TLD (like when Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui fight the puppets).
The puppets look better in TLD, there's no question there. Both in terms of makeup and vfx.
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The puppets look better in TLD, there's no question there. Both in terms of makeup and vfx.
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The way the music was visually represented in the movies had some instances where it looked interesting and others where it looked a bit too much (see the comment about some energy blasts looking videogame-y). I would've preferred a more subtle approach
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when it comes to the way spiritual energy was shown travelling through sound.
Cql shows little of this, and when it does, we see it in the works when lwj plays his guqin*, but it worked very well there so if I had to choose between the two, I once again prefer cql's approach.
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Cql shows little of this, and when it does, we see it in the works when lwj plays his guqin*, but it worked very well there so if I had to choose between the two, I once again prefer cql's approach.
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*we have the energy blasts when he attacks, or the glow and slight warping when the camera focuses on his fingers playing.
I'm not automatically dismissing the glow-y whisps seen in the movies.
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I'm not automatically dismissing the glow-y whisps seen in the movies.
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I wouldn't have minded seeing more of a vfx representation of spiritual energy + sound in cql if they had the budget, but imho the choice made in the movie was a little too much.
they would've done better with a subtle warp effect, perhaps some haze-y glow but not too much,
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they would've done better with a subtle warp effect, perhaps some haze-y glow but not too much,
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traveling from the instrument (and not just the guqin, but also the flutes) to the target. The glow-y string-y whisps in the movies looked slightly out of place compared to the setting, and ig the color correcting chosen for the movies is also part of why that is.
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If anything else comes to mind, I'll add it here.
Anyway, all of this to say: cql may have had little budget to invest in CGI and makeup/extras, but imho there were some things that were well done, either better or on equal footing compared to the movies, so don't dismiss it lol
Anyway, all of this to say: cql may have had little budget to invest in CGI and makeup/extras, but imho there were some things that were well done, either better or on equal footing compared to the movies, so don't dismiss it lol
