I don’t understand why they did it, because the scene is not essential. It doesn’t contain anything that is ever mentioned again. It would have been better to remove it and have Tony get a phone call telling him that his mother passed away.
That's what I don't get, because she DOES die off screen, and then Carmella relays the news to Tony after the fact. The CGI scene really accomplished nothing
I also thought the same thing, I suppose they felt like it was super necessary to have Tony fight with her for one last time before she died, idk at least season 3 gets wayyy better after that episode so you forget all about that weird CGI Livia bit
Well wasn’t this the last time Tony saw his mom? If so I believe it is to show Tony’s fear that his own mother might testify against him and tries to make her have a change of heart and not to, but by the end of the argument Tony realizes that she’ll never change. The time spent in between after that argument and Livia’s death I’m sure that anxiety was looming over Tony until the news he receives of her death hits him like a ton of bricks, both being relieved knowing she can no longer testify and that he won’t have to put up with her anymore, but also sad because he’s motherless now.
@@hawleybarrows2357 But didn't they drop that whole "Livia testifying against Tony" plotline precisely because Nancy Marchand passed away? I think Livia's death would've had the same impact on Tony without this scene happening
Crazy thing is although Livia was the most miserable character in the show, the actress playing her was genuinely the most humorous on the cast. She made Gandolfini break character multiple times during filming.
@@Streetw1s3rI noticed it a secondhand into the scene. People not noticing it right away is mind boggling. Your eyes cant work very well and I dont say that to be rude.
If you're not fully invested in the scene, you don't really notice it. Also take into account 99% of people watched this one time on 4:3 standard definition 360p CRT in like 2001
@@tapset Remember that at the time, years had passed since the first time the line was uttered and the viewer hearing the line again. Viewers that knew she had died would be primed to catch it, but I recall at the time only noticing that the scene's blocking and dialogue were weirdly stilted and chalked it up to them needing to stitch it together from some bad takes. I mean, continuity errors like hairstyles changing between takes were just common as dirt at the time, because a ton of shows did shot/reverse shot using a single camera and multiple takes.
i just watched this episode for the first time yesterday and I can definitely see how this looked "good enough". definitely wouldn't be able to tell in 480i, but i did pick up 2 of the lines that were recycled.
@@oasntetYou just admitted that you noticed discrepancies when you originally watched it. Just stop talking, your aging mind is making you look inept.
this was how Back to the Future pull off George Mcfly in the sequels, Crispin Glover didn't return so they got an impersonator, got him to wear Glover's prosthetic and have him be in the backgrounds in place of Glover. In BTTF3 ending its uncanny how much he can pass off as Glover, he was farther away from the camera which is what sells it.
IME back when cgi/special effects were not as advanced, it wasnt as obvious to us watching it at the time. today, any saavy, intelligent person who spends lots of time online can instantly see something is very off with the clip, especially considering we now have to consider the possibility of AI generated video every time we see a video online. back then, when you just saw something like this for 30sec on TV, it didnt really register as a bad looking edit the way it does today - we just were not paying attention in the same way we do today. same sort of reason why people applauded and venerated special effects in movies from the 50s, 60s and 70s at the time, but by the time we reach the 90s and early 00s the vast majority of people see those special effects as corny and immerson breaking.
The funniest thing about CGi Livia is that you can tell whoever did it really tried but was told by higher-ups to just piss in the wind on a rainy day without getting wet.
Totally. Something tells me Lynch likes that fake sort of look. He's a very deliberate filmmaker. As for this, yeah it's uncanny valley in a way that DOESN'T fit for sure
The attention to detail to actually track down every original line & recognize the outtakes is great stuff, that's the kind of production minutiae I live for.
I hated her the first time I watched The Sopranos, on the second viewing, she was one of my absolute favorites "I wish the Lord would take me now" ha ha!
The scene is done exactly like those shitty memes that add Tobey Maguire Spider-Man over any other movie. It's very interesting how something so difficult and expensive back in 2001 is done massively nowadays.
For what it is worth. By today's standards, its bad. However considering that it was done in 2001, the skill set, tech that was used, and long with the intended medium that the show was meant to be seen on was a 4:3 CRT television rather then 2024 era 16:9 flat screen TV. They did a good job.
Strangest thing is they could probably edit around this... like, have the stitched up audio, but instead of showing the actress, use a body double and show her reflection on a tv screen, or shoot from the back, or anything.
You should do a video on the smaller production goofs and oddities in the series, cause there's quite a few. Stuff like Phil turning into a house, Vito's actor being a random customer beforehand, the Dean Martin song in Whitecaps being cut weirdly at the end, the very clear cut to the dummy Mikey throws off the falls etc. Those were just off the top of my head (and as I wrote this I also remembered Vito killing Jackie Jr being weird as well).
I personally think that they should have recast the role. Just have a message at the beginning of the season before the episode starts have a message that says “ as you may already know the actress who played Olivia has sadly passed away. We will always be grateful for her contribution to this show. we have made the tough decision to recast her character as we hope that she would not only understand, but be supportive of this decision to continue a character she brought to life.”. That’s it, that’s all they probably would’ve needed to do and the fans would’ve probably supported it. That way they could’ve had that amazing season arch that sadly we never got.
@@cyborgcuttlefish6326 It's better than a completely random recast like with game of thrones for example. Livia's actor was amazing of course but I'm sure there were other older italian woman actors they coulda used
I can't remember where exactly (I _think_ it was a TH-cam video), but there's a comment somewhere from one of the guys who did the original CGI Livia. He's basically saying "yeah, sure, we know it's not great, it's the best we could do at the time, oh well". Edit: here it is th-cam.com/video/2ZKPnuUFwOk/w-d-xo.html In the interview in _The Sopranos Sessions,_ Chase admits it was a mistake doing this and that he regrets putting it in. "It seemed like a good idea at the time" kinda thing. The scene serves no purpose and Tony & Livia's final scene in s2 was a fine parting scene, but they had the capability to do it, and the temptation was too much. Great detective work on finding all the original source clips, especially the newspaper/bag thing! I've always wanted to see a side by side of the source and edit synced up, so this video popping up was fortuitous! Great video!
One small correction, this was not actually 2001. This episode aired in 2001, but was filmed and edited in either late 1999 or some time in 2000. Also, some of the lines she uses like “I wish the lord would take me now” and “I don’t know why you’re talking about” are signature Livia lines that she uses basically every time she appears on screen. Those audio clips could have come from any of those other episodes, not necessarily from an unaired take from Meadowlands.
Man I really love your channel. So cool to see someone else that has much interest in the little stuff like this. You are awesome and got a new subscriber 👍
We essentially saw a refined version of this with modern cgi in Rise of Skywalker with Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia, where they spent a lot of effort changing her cloths, hair, and lighting to fit her into new scenes to where she feels more naturally part of the shot
A few notes: This is a composite, not CGI. When you’re comparing costs, it’s not like the process itself was costly, it was the salaries for the crew. It also wouldn’t be just the work for the effect itself, but meetings and administrative tasks that come with bringing on an external team. The Sopranos was also shot on film which would add more steps and take more time. Stemming from 2001 is not the reason this looks bad. VFX work is not just what happens in post production, you need to plan for it and shoot with the effect in mind. It’s clear that whoever shot the scene had no idea what they were doing as not only the lighting, but also the perspective is completely off between the original footage and the new scenes. A VFX artist can try to do their best with what they’re given, but garbage in means garbage out. Most people would be watching this on CRT televisions that were a lot smaller than TVs today and that would smooth over the image somewhat. The inconsistencies would still be there, but the rough edges would be less jarring.
Seeing the original lighting setups gives you a good sense of how challenging the existing material must have been to work with, and an appreciation for what was done over twenty years ago.
I had no idea this was cgi the first time I watched it. I definitely got a weird feeling when I saw her I was like something doesn’t look right about her and that flow all conversations have in sopranos wasn’t there. And there were so many cuts so it was also jarring as well. I wondered why this happened, but then I continued forward watching, and it never really came to mind again until today
Everyone gonna forget that the producers of the show entered the cheat code to activate 'big head mode' on her? I'm starting to believe there's a cover-up.
I watched this every Sunday night when it first aired and I honestly had no idea it was CGI. We had internet back then, but it wasn’t what it was today, where we know all the production details and life stories of every actor on shows.
"It took a staff of four people two weeks just to do this scene" That's... honestly no where near as bad as I assumed it would be. I thought you were going to say something more along the lines of "A team of two dozen people spent six months on this scene".
really interesting how expensive, cutting edge cgi from the early 2000s looks nearly indistinguishable from stuff produced by a variety of AI video apps today. you could almost make this scene on your cell phone today with minimal film/editing experience.
Funny thing is when I originally watched the show I didn't notice it because I was watching on a low-res CRT TV. But when I rewatched it on max it was sooo obvious I couldn't belive I hadn't noticed it before.
I'm just now seeing The Sopranos for the first time, and I found out about Nancy Marchand's death just before seeing this episode. It made her canned responses extra jarring, because I knew it was coming. I bet it looked pretty convincing on an old 90s tube TV, though. Not bad!
you might be interested to check out that movie, Little Man, came out in 2006, one of the main characters was played by a 9 year old dwarf actor, with the head of another actor superimposed with greenscreens and painted skin. Not a particularly good movie or anything, but the novelty of that effect is pretty cool. Your edit was pretty good! I wish they would have at least matched the color temperature better, would be far less jarring. I also think the concept could have maybe worked better if they leaned harder into the surreal aspect of it, maybe have done it instead as one of their iconic dream sequences or something. Then that morning Tony finds out she died like usual. Love your content! Hope the advancement of crazy AI tech means we can finally get the long awaited Kung Pow 2 someday. Would be a cool community project too!
I love the Sopranos! You are a super nerd! I love your video! TH-cam algorithms actually working well for once. A quick browse of your channel.... I think I'm sorted for a while. Great stuff! Thank you!
The sad part is, as bad as this edit of Livia looks back in 2002 or so, the one scene with heimdalls sons head floating in thor love and thunder 20 years later still looks worse imo.
You're right, the main problem is the lighting is coming from the window on her left side, the scenes where the light on her face matches that look the best
The takes would be different, though not from necessarily from outtakes. As we know, Scenes are shot, Wide, Medium, Close, Over shoulder - to create a more effective scene in edit. The takes used from the original episodes were takes used from long shots. Medium/closeup takes of Nancy were required for the CGI, so they dug the old reels of medium/closeup footage from archives.
I do wonder if they could pull this off way better now, like say enlisting ILM people for a month and see what happens. Not creating a CG face from scratch but using the raw footage and assets they had from 2001. If they could’ve fixed the hair and lighting, that would’ve gone a long way towards helping it
I think it was just to make her death a little less jarring for the audience. I didn’t realize it was super imposed footage, and remember thinking it was just her being awful as always. Her characters’ death came as a relief in the next few scenes.
Also, in 2001, this would have been playing at standard definition for the vast majority of viewers. Also, bankruptcy is not necessarily the same thing as closure; there were reports that Rhino needed to downsize but couldn't get out of a lease agreement and had to file bankruptcy to dissolve the lease.
Its a bit surprising to me they never had the thought to redo this with today's updated technology, especially considering the 25th anniversary just happened which brought the show a lot of publicity again. i know i was too young to watch it when it first aired so i only got into it a couple years ago, its one of the greatest shows ever made so its constantly gaining a new audience with younger generations, I don't think its been "too late" to try and go back and make it look better. And of course now everyone has HD televisions so its aged even worse from that factor alone.
They're apparently working on a 4K master for 4K UHD Blu-ray and Streaming (palates of the 35mm ocns/ips were being delivered to scanning/mastering houses recently).. I wonder how they'll handle this as it'll really look apparent on 4K (it was already looking rough on the ropey, over-processed 2K BD masters). Would be a perfect opportunity to use seamless branching on the new Blu-rays to offer both the original and an optional reworked one done with modern fx/ai capabilities. The standard would allow a prompt with a disclaimer and a selection of either.
I’m watching the series for the first time and purposefully didn’t look up when this happened to see if I’d catch it and I most definitely caught it pretty much right away but it was less about the cgi itself, which I think does have a certain uncanniness to it but at the same time it looks incredibly good a especially for the time. It was more about the use of the old dialogue and the overuse of over the shoulder shots showing the back of her head. The dialogue didn’t feel stilted and the way the scene was shot and edited didn’t feel the same as the rest of the show
As someone who freshly watched the whole series, the biggest thing to me is the whole scene being unnecessary, like Tony could’ve walked in and she could’ve been already gone
There was nothing he could do about it. Livia was a made woman, and 1999 CGI wasn’t.
Thank you
Well actually this episode was from 2001 i believe.
@Michael26818 the episode aired on March 4 2001……
I don’t understand why they did it, because the scene is not essential. It doesn’t contain anything that is ever mentioned again. It would have been better to remove it and have Tony get a phone call telling him that his mother passed away.
That's what I don't get, because she DOES die off screen, and then Carmella relays the news to Tony after the fact. The CGI scene really accomplished nothing
I also thought the same thing, I suppose they felt like it was super necessary to have Tony fight with her for one last time before she died, idk at least season 3 gets wayyy better after that episode so you forget all about that weird CGI Livia bit
Well wasn’t this the last time Tony saw his mom? If so I believe it is to show Tony’s fear that his own mother might testify against him and tries to make her have a change of heart and not to, but by the end of the argument Tony realizes that she’ll never change. The time spent in between after that argument and Livia’s death I’m sure that anxiety was looming over Tony until the news he receives of her death hits him like a ton of bricks, both being relieved knowing she can no longer testify and that he won’t have to put up with her anymore, but also sad because he’s motherless now.
@@hawleybarrows2357 But didn't they drop that whole "Livia testifying against Tony" plotline precisely because Nancy Marchand passed away? I think Livia's death would've had the same impact on Tony without this scene happening
@@hawleybarrows2357yeah, but that could have been communicated in another way
That bag crinkling substituting the newspaper crinkling is clever enough to deserve respect.
@@cheesymiccheeseballs8227 true, they put thought into that one
"two Livias talking at once" Tony's worst nightmare
Cwistophah was right.
Always with the scenarios!..
Panic attack incoming...
you look like a puerto rican whoa
Now just stop it. It upsets me.
Crazy thing is although Livia was the most miserable character in the show, the actress playing her was genuinely the most humorous on the cast. She made Gandolfini break character multiple times during filming.
It is ironic the most evil character in a gangster show is not even a gangster.
@@petermj1098 shes far from the most evil character in the show
@@boletop6204Name one more evil than that hag. Simply killing doesn't count
@@boletop6204Janice is
@@boletop6204 how come, when she made a hit agaisn't her own son? You can't get lower than that.
We watched this episode on the day it came on TV. We didn’t notice it was CGI at the time so it served the purpose.
I've watched the series a handful of times never noticed until I clicked this video.
@@Streetw1s3rI noticed it a secondhand into the scene. People not noticing it right away is mind boggling. Your eyes cant work very well and I dont say that to be rude.
@@Barbro247 I watch it on a small TV in my bedroom, that's probably why. It was more noticeable on my PC in this video.
@@Barbro247you're making an assumption abt ppls eyes
Bingo.😊
If you're not fully invested in the scene, you don't really notice it. Also take into account 99% of people watched this one time on 4:3 standard definition 360p CRT in like 2001
You def notice it. All her lines are repeated from earlier episodes. But now it's impossible not to notice with high def
@@tapset Remember that at the time, years had passed since the first time the line was uttered and the viewer hearing the line again. Viewers that knew she had died would be primed to catch it, but I recall at the time only noticing that the scene's blocking and dialogue were weirdly stilted and chalked it up to them needing to stitch it together from some bad takes. I mean, continuity errors like hairstyles changing between takes were just common as dirt at the time, because a ton of shows did shot/reverse shot using a single camera and multiple takes.
i just watched this episode for the first time yesterday and I can definitely see how this looked "good enough". definitely wouldn't be able to tell in 480i, but i did pick up 2 of the lines that were recycled.
@@tapset when I watched the sopranos last year for the first time, I didn’t notice it at all
@@oasntetYou just admitted that you noticed discrepancies when you originally watched it. Just stop talking, your aging mind is making you look inept.
I don't understand why they used so many closeups. Why not set the scene up with her farther back in frame and maybe in darker lighting?
Because they need to justify the 250k$
this was how Back to the Future pull off George Mcfly in the sequels, Crispin Glover didn't return so they got an impersonator, got him to wear Glover's prosthetic and have him be in the backgrounds in place of Glover.
In BTTF3 ending its uncanny how much he can pass off as Glover, he was farther away from the camera which is what sells it.
IME back when cgi/special effects were not as advanced, it wasnt as obvious to us watching it at the time. today, any saavy, intelligent person who spends lots of time online can instantly see something is very off with the clip, especially considering we now have to consider the possibility of AI generated video every time we see a video online. back then, when you just saw something like this for 30sec on TV, it didnt really register as a bad looking edit the way it does today - we just were not paying attention in the same way we do today. same sort of reason why people applauded and venerated special effects in movies from the 50s, 60s and 70s at the time, but by the time we reach the 90s and early 00s the vast majority of people see those special effects as corny and immerson breaking.
Just when she thought she was out, they cgi’d her back in.
The funniest thing about CGi Livia is that you can tell whoever did it really tried but was told by higher-ups to just piss in the wind on a rainy day without getting wet.
That looks something straight out of Twin Peaks: The Return
Totally. Something tells me Lynch likes that fake sort of look. He's a very deliberate filmmaker. As for this, yeah it's uncanny valley in a way that DOESN'T fit for sure
Yeah, Chase should have replaced the actress with the Evolution of Livia.
The CGI budget petered out......died on the vine.
The special effects guy...
He moved or something
It DIED on the VINE
one of the CGIs
Frankly Im depressed and ashamed
@@magnussohlman2535 very observant
Small hands, that was the editor's problem.
He never had the makings of a varsity editor.
always with thuh complainin!!
The attention to detail to actually track down every original line & recognize the outtakes is great stuff, that's the kind of production minutiae I live for.
It's a shame she passed away she was a fantastic actress and we didn't get enough Livia Soprano.
I hated her the first time I watched The Sopranos, on the second viewing, she was one of my absolute favorites "I wish the Lord would take me now" ha ha!
One other thing to consider is how much they expected people to be watching on CRT TVs. You can get away with a lot less smoothing that way.
yeah, now that everyone has 4k tvs its alot more obvious.
The scene is done exactly like those shitty memes that add Tobey Maguire Spider-Man over any other movie. It's very interesting how something so difficult and expensive back in 2001 is done massively nowadays.
For what it is worth. By today's standards, its bad. However considering that it was done in 2001, the skill set, tech that was used, and long with the intended medium that the show was meant to be seen on was a 4:3 CRT television rather then 2024 era 16:9 flat screen TV. They did a good job.
Strangest thing is they could probably edit around this... like, have the stitched up audio, but instead of showing the actress, use a body double and show her reflection on a tv screen, or shoot from the back, or anything.
You should do a video on the smaller production goofs and oddities in the series, cause there's quite a few. Stuff like Phil turning into a house, Vito's actor being a random customer beforehand, the Dean Martin song in Whitecaps being cut weirdly at the end, the very clear cut to the dummy Mikey throws off the falls etc. Those were just off the top of my head (and as I wrote this I also remembered Vito killing Jackie Jr being weird as well).
@@enthiegavoir5955 never noticed the song cut weirdly in whitecaps I’ll have to check it out!
Cold cuts!
Phil turning into a house? When does that happen exactly and in which episode?
or the garbage truck scene
turning into a house?
A proper 4K remaster addressing this scene with modern industry technology would be great.
I've waited over 20 years for an answer to this...
I personally think that they should have recast the role. Just have a message at the beginning of the season before the episode starts have a message that says “ as you may already know the actress who played Olivia has sadly passed away. We will always be grateful for her contribution to this show. we have made the tough decision to recast her character as we hope that she would not only understand, but be supportive of this decision to continue a character she brought to life.”.
That’s it, that’s all they probably would’ve needed to do and the fans would’ve probably supported it. That way they could’ve had that amazing season arch that sadly we never got.
exactly what i was thinking. i feel like recasting isn’t that big of a deal, right? like u think people will understand if it’s for a narrative reason
@@cyborgcuttlefish6326 It's better than a completely random recast like with game of thrones for example. Livia's actor was amazing of course but I'm sure there were other older italian woman actors they coulda used
I can't remember where exactly (I _think_ it was a TH-cam video), but there's a comment somewhere from one of the guys who did the original CGI Livia. He's basically saying "yeah, sure, we know it's not great, it's the best we could do at the time, oh well". Edit: here it is th-cam.com/video/2ZKPnuUFwOk/w-d-xo.html
In the interview in _The Sopranos Sessions,_ Chase admits it was a mistake doing this and that he regrets putting it in. "It seemed like a good idea at the time" kinda thing. The scene serves no purpose and Tony & Livia's final scene in s2 was a fine parting scene, but they had the capability to do it, and the temptation was too much.
Great detective work on finding all the original source clips, especially the newspaper/bag thing! I've always wanted to see a side by side of the source and edit synced up, so this video popping up was fortuitous! Great video!
@@NotQuiteFirst All this is great info that I did not know about. Making this the pinned comment 👍🏼
they took the vid down
@@Hongobogologomo Conspiracy! What are they trying to hide?!?
@@couchbumkino5423 CGI Livia isn't real
@@couchbumkino5423 The video isn't taken down, I had messed up the link when I copied it. I've corrected it, it's now working
One small correction, this was not actually 2001. This episode aired in 2001, but was filmed and edited in either late 1999 or some time in 2000.
Also, some of the lines she uses like “I wish the lord would take me now” and “I don’t know why you’re talking about” are signature Livia lines that she uses basically every time she appears on screen. Those audio clips could have come from any of those other episodes, not necessarily from an unaired take from Meadowlands.
These scenenes have a dreamlike quality to them which is pretty cool, although unintended :D
Man I really love your channel. So cool to see someone else that has much interest in the little stuff like this. You are awesome and got a new subscriber 👍
Thank you!
We essentially saw a refined version of this with modern cgi in Rise of Skywalker with Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia, where they spent a lot of effort changing her cloths, hair, and lighting to fit her into new scenes to where she feels more naturally part of the shot
“Well they used CGI for your mom.”
“You’re kiddin? I mean uhhh… Jesus Christ.”
A few notes:
This is a composite, not CGI.
When you’re comparing costs, it’s not like the process itself was costly, it was the salaries for the crew. It also wouldn’t be just the work for the effect itself, but meetings and administrative tasks that come with bringing on an external team. The Sopranos was also shot on film which would add more steps and take more time.
Stemming from 2001 is not the reason this looks bad. VFX work is not just what happens in post production, you need to plan for it and shoot with the effect in mind. It’s clear that whoever shot the scene had no idea what they were doing as not only the lighting, but also the perspective is completely off between the original footage and the new scenes. A VFX artist can try to do their best with what they’re given, but garbage in means garbage out.
Most people would be watching this on CRT televisions that were a lot smaller than TVs today and that would smooth over the image somewhat. The inconsistencies would still be there, but the rough edges would be less jarring.
I watched this on a CRT back in the day - it was not noticeable at all and I had no idea this happened until many years later!
Seeing the original lighting setups gives you a good sense of how challenging the existing material must have been to work with, and an appreciation for what was done over twenty years ago.
I had no idea this was cgi the first time I watched it. I definitely got a weird feeling when I saw her I was like something doesn’t look right about her and that flow all conversations have in sopranos wasn’t there. And there were so many cuts so it was also jarring as well. I wondered why this happened, but then I continued forward watching, and it never really came to mind again until today
Everyone gonna forget that the producers of the show entered the cheat code to activate 'big head mode' on her? I'm starting to believe there's a cover-up.
I watched this every Sunday night when it first aired and I honestly had no idea it was CGI. We had internet back then, but it wasn’t what it was today, where we know all the production details and life stories of every actor on shows.
CGI usually refers to 3D generated imagery, rather than just comping and color grade.
yeah, this isn't cgi. this is digital editing and comping.
made my day before work, awesome video. I hope CGI Livia makes a return one day
"It took a staff of four people two weeks just to do this scene"
That's... honestly no where near as bad as I assumed it would be. I thought you were going to say something more along the lines of "A team of two dozen people spent six months on this scene".
i honestly didnt even notice this when i first watched the sopranons
I think the real reason HBO paid a mint for this scene was to test out the technology on something small.
I didn’t even notice when I watched last year
really interesting how expensive, cutting edge cgi from the early 2000s looks nearly indistinguishable from stuff produced by a variety of AI video apps today. you could almost make this scene on your cell phone today with minimal film/editing experience.
This scene was ambition over execution, which is ironic because that’s exactly the opposite reputation of David Chase.
When I first watched the sopranos in 2022 i actually didn’t notice until I read a comment online but its painfully obvious once its pointed out
well it's better than the paper cutout they used for Bruce Lee in Game of Death
😅
Funny thing is when I originally watched the show I didn't notice it because I was watching on a low-res CRT TV. But when I rewatched it on max it was sooo obvious I couldn't belive I hadn't noticed it before.
I'm just now seeing The Sopranos for the first time, and I found out about Nancy Marchand's death just before seeing this episode. It made her canned responses extra jarring, because I knew it was coming. I bet it looked pretty convincing on an old 90s tube TV, though. Not bad!
The quality of tv back then you would of never noticed
Excited to see this one! Love your Sopranos vids man
@@sufiroyoink thanks man 😎
I only started watching the sopranos this year, and I didn’t even realize she was CGI in this scene until I stumbled on this video.
Awesome vid, I also love niche editing things like this! More plz 🙏
I like how your mic top is yellow, bottom is green, and your shirt is red. All colors of the Lithuanian flag :)
@@Zorklis odd yet insightful comment 👍🏼
they honestly could of just did this whole scene with tony talking to her on the phone lol
or actually maybe not since he's in the mob
Great vid, great work!
you might be interested to check out that movie, Little Man, came out in 2006, one of the main characters was played by a 9 year old dwarf actor, with the head of another actor superimposed with greenscreens and painted skin. Not a particularly good movie or anything, but the novelty of that effect is pretty cool.
Your edit was pretty good! I wish they would have at least matched the color temperature better, would be far less jarring. I also think the concept could have maybe worked better if they leaned harder into the surreal aspect of it, maybe have done it instead as one of their iconic dream sequences or something. Then that morning Tony finds out she died like usual.
Love your content! Hope the advancement of crazy AI tech means we can finally get the long awaited Kung Pow 2 someday. Would be a cool community project too!
Thanks so much! Never heard of that movie I’ll have to check it out. And I like the idea of the dream sequence a lot
@@couchbumkino5423don't. It's a bad wayans bros movie
@@couchbumkino5423 please watch it. Its a great wayans brothers movie
Wish they could redone the scene with the CGI of today
I literally did not notice this and I'm a Sopranos superfan :)
If they had just darkened her head more to fit the lighting, I think it wouldve been more passable
Never understood why they couldn't just do a fixed shot
Considering the rich tapestry that is the Sopranos I probably would not of noticed there was CGI used unless I knew before hand.
I genuinely had no clue this was a thing in the sopranos
I love the Sopranos! You are a super nerd! I love your video! TH-cam algorithms actually working well for once. A quick browse of your channel.... I think I'm sorted for a while. Great stuff! Thank you!
@@davemoore5906 love to hear that thank you!
im surprised i didnt notice the cgi when i watched this for the first time
This was mind-blowingly good for 2001. Disney still can't get it to look this good in 2024.
Ive watched this show so many times and i never ever noticed this. But now i know i cant unsee it.
I never actually noticed lmao.
The sad part is, as bad as this edit of Livia looks back in 2002 or so, the one scene with heimdalls sons head floating in thor love and thunder 20 years later still looks worse imo.
She honestly looks ok from faraway, it's the close up shots that are too obviously cgi imo
You're right, the main problem is the lighting is coming from the window on her left side, the scenes where the light on her face matches that look the best
Thank you so much. I thought I'm the only one who was going crazy after this
I honestly never noticed it until I watched your video 🤷♂️
Watching yours make me think they should go back and fix their mess. Good job!
The takes would be different, though not from necessarily from outtakes. As we know, Scenes are shot, Wide, Medium, Close, Over shoulder - to create a more effective scene in edit. The takes used from the original episodes were takes used from long shots. Medium/closeup takes of Nancy were required for the CGI, so they dug the old reels of medium/closeup footage from archives.
8:25 That's just an insane detail lmao
Huge respect tbh
I didn't see this in 2001, but I watched the whole series in 2009 and do not remember this. It's so blatant, how did I miss it?
Cipher 😂 def a sim
i embarrassed that i watched this entire series multiple times before i noticed this
the scene feels interesting, its like tony's talking to a ghost....
maybe she already died and he just imagine this interaction and was in denial?
I do wonder if they could pull this off way better now, like say enlisting ILM people for a month and see what happens. Not creating a CG face from scratch but using the raw footage and assets they had from 2001. If they could’ve fixed the hair and lighting, that would’ve gone a long way towards helping it
I remember when I first watched it, I had no idea it was CGI.
Whats strange is i initially thought it was the head size and position that made it look bad but from the other scenes it seeks to he correct!
watched sopranos in my early teens and don't remember ever noticing this (I actually work as a 3d animator now which is ironic)
Good stuff, thank you sir :)
The paper bag shot it probably the best one aswell
I think it was just to make her death a little less jarring for the audience. I didn’t realize it was super imposed footage, and remember thinking it was just her being awful as always. Her characters’ death came as a relief in the next few scenes.
That CGI was traumatic I get nightmares from it
@@JosephP-b7w oh poor you
@@couchbumkino5423Classy
and here I am not know this and on middle of season 4. i came to know it after hearing it from Joe Rogan podcast.
Also, in 2001, this would have been playing at standard definition for the vast majority of viewers.
Also, bankruptcy is not necessarily the same thing as closure; there were reports that Rhino needed to downsize but couldn't get out of a lease agreement and had to file bankruptcy to dissolve the lease.
@@oasntet you seem to know more about them than me lol
Its a bit surprising to me they never had the thought to redo this with today's updated technology, especially considering the 25th anniversary just happened which brought the show a lot of publicity again. i know i was too young to watch it when it first aired so i only got into it a couple years ago, its one of the greatest shows ever made so its constantly gaining a new audience with younger generations, I don't think its been "too late" to try and go back and make it look better. And of course now everyone has HD televisions so its aged even worse from that factor alone.
I did not even realize it was cgi when I first watched it. This is far from uncanny valley for me
CGI Livia Soprano was my favorite character
Cool video!
There is no CGI at all here. It's visual effects, yes, but VFX =/= CGI. It's digital compositing.
I know, but CGI Livia makes for a catchier YT title/thumbnail.
@@couchbumkino5423 Fair enough. What a world we live in.
What a cool video! Great presentation.
2:44 good one, got a chuckle out of me.
They're apparently working on a 4K master for 4K UHD Blu-ray and Streaming (palates of the 35mm ocns/ips were being delivered to scanning/mastering houses recently)..
I wonder how they'll handle this as it'll really look apparent on 4K (it was already looking rough on the ropey, over-processed 2K BD masters).
Would be a perfect opportunity to use seamless branching on the new Blu-rays to offer both the original and an optional reworked one done with modern fx/ai capabilities. The standard would allow a prompt with a disclaimer and a selection of either.
Great job 👍
I’m watching the series for the first time and purposefully didn’t look up when this happened to see if I’d catch it and I most definitely caught it pretty much right away but it was less about the cgi itself, which I think does have a certain uncanniness to it but at the same time it looks incredibly good a especially for the time. It was more about the use of the old dialogue and the overuse of over the shoulder shots showing the back of her head. The dialogue didn’t feel stilted and the way the scene was shot and edited didn’t feel the same as the rest of the show
Just like in South Park when Chef died and they used recycled lines
Ironically, the Lord took her too soon.
@@jonvia this got me lol
As someone who freshly watched the whole series, the biggest thing to me is the whole scene being unnecessary, like Tony could’ve walked in and she could’ve been already gone