The Northman was plauged with studio interference. Eggers said its the first and last time he works with a major studio. The whole scene of them dancing at the ritual he wanted them all to be nude and the studio said no. My guess they also pushed for that stupid smoke effect.
I dont know if I’m complitely wrong but I’m pretty sure there was no ”smoke” on the version I saw. Is there a difference in European and U.S version? And even with it’s issues Nothman was epic.
I think it was definitely a regional difference Eggers is not the type of person to pull this kind of a half assed (pun 100% intended) approach. I saw the film in the UK and I don’t remember any gratuitous smoke plumes
Ive absolutely loved him since the witch, one of the best horror movies of the decade, & the lighthouse was so goddamn good I totally understand wanting a bigger budget for northman, and i can see why it didn't grab the average shlub wanting action shlock..i definitely knew it would be his style and not for everyone, even then he didn't go all-in with the historical realism again to make it more approachable, and the berserker raid on the village is still some damn good action but i still loved it haha. I think it's just as good as his first two, but I was a film major, and i think eggers is one of the best new directors out there
It's important to consider the context of the explosion in the James Bond film. That explosion was meant to convey a sense of finality. The distance is part of the director saying that we've passed the climax, killed the bad guy, they made it out. In that context it would feel jarring to have an explosion that presented visceral and imminent danger, unless you wanted to play it for a joke - which would feel more Pierce Brosnan than Daniel Craig.
Exactly. I haven't seen the movie (not much of a Bond fan) but it was clear to me that it was never *intended* to "feel dangerous". I got exactly that sense of finality from it that you mentioned. Now that I know when it takes place, it fits perfectly. I can't remember off the top of my head but I've seen more explosions like this, where the characters are far away and not in imminent danger, to convey that sense of finality, both in positive ("we won, it's over") and negative ("we lost, it's over") contexts. I have zero problems with it. The guys' assessment that it doesn't feel dangerous or impactful like Blown Away did is absolutely spot on, but it's supposed to be like that. I was actually a bit peeved, like, not everything needs to be a big dangerous action thing :P
It's still a naff explosion though. Watch the slo-mo at 1:56 - the way the fire swoops across the path to the right, then back across again as it comes forwards. It doesn't feel like an explosion, it feels like something being set on fire.
@@MerelvandenHurk I think introducing it as the “biggest Hollywood fireball” record paints a poor picture of what you’re about to watch if you haven’t seen the movie before
@@Kinitawowi if I'm understanding the context correctly, that is kinda what it is meant to be. It looks like a gas or fuel plant/refinery of some sort. So the "explosion" is a low pressure ignition that's spreading along the pipe ways. Not having seen the movie, that's what it looked like to me. I thought it was good, and suited the moment well. The acting seemed to lend it more of an air of nonchalance, exhaustion, and a sort of element of "cleansing fire". Not every explosion needs to be high speed and high tension.
To me the explosion says that Bond is in control and knows what he’s doing. Why would he destroy the facility before he and Madeline are at a safe distance?!
Hi! I did some of Westworld ‘glitch’ work highlighted here. So cool to see it talked about! Nothing was motion controlled - usually I would stabilize the shot, retime different parts, and then re-apply the match move so the camera was real time. But for the shot with the sink in the front I did have to rebuild the parts of his body the sink hid (all comp - mostly grid warp morphs)
You and the team did amazing work! It's executed with such eye for detail in terms of what exactly gives us that robot feel, how to translate that in a realistic fashion instead of just going for old tropes. I can feel that a lot of thought went into the movement design, and a lot of effort into getting it just right! I admire y'all's dedication and skill!
Most of their recommendations tend to be Hollywood cliches. Add more stuff to the screen! Add more VFX layers! Ironically this is the stuff that people don't respond emotionally to anymore. I would rather have clean and clear shots where I can see everything as opposed to fake shots with fire, smoke, embers, lense flare, and dirt layers added.
For it to be historically real, I'd bet there would have to be a metric ton of more background noise and environmental chaos happening... It's too surgically clean atm, like a very precisely choreographed dance 🤷♀️
@@poolkrooni why ? it was just a handful of crazy bastards that just started assaulting a small walled village, where would all the torches, chaos, and background fires come from ? people would just flee while the soldiers try to organize a defense.
@@danilooliveira6580 Because it’s a handful of crazy bastards attacking a small village, it’s unrealistic for someone to just stroll through like they’re moving on a track and “yaw” someone at convenient moments like they’re part of a video game cutscene with QTEs. The scene looks too choreographed to be realistic. It has to be choreographed to get the fake oner look. IRL fights like these should be way more frantic and fast and have way more energy in them, if not VFX. These aren’t coordinated military men attacking other coordinated military men. They’re vikings and their strategy is to fuck you up before you get the chance to fuck them up. They won’t be standing around in power poses or doing all this Last Jedi-style “hovering” waiting for people get into position before attacking. People also react in a variety of ways to their village being attacked. Some people flee, other people run into their homes to grab their valuables, other people would probably look for their loved ones/kids, others would try to fight. There is no uniform reaction to these situations. So having all the villagers uniformly fleeing and all the soldiers attacking one at a time, makes it feel like a video game.
Van Helsing with Hugh Jackman has some great effects moments in it! Some of it has not aged well, but the final werewolf/dracula battle has some beautiful work. When Van Helsing screams while holding Anna and transforms back to a man, it's pretty flawless.
Would love to hear y'alls thoughts on the Green Knight giants. So strange, apparently an addition David Lowery did during Covid when the film was delayed and he recut the film, adding a ton of VFX shots
I loved the shit outta that movie for some reason. I want more movies like that, where a writer/director just has a vision in their head that needs to be executed and unconditionally unobstructed. It was unsettling in a weird, almost alien way, but also felt very natural in contrast to the recent trend of over-produced movies. An instant cult classic
The explosion in Skyfall had way more of an impact on me in the theater than the one in Spectre and I think that’s due to an element that’s not discussed as much which is sound editing. That blast at mi6 may sounded real enough to sell it, at least for me. You heard the blast but also the sounds of debris, rapid outgassing, twisted metal, etc. it’s that combo of sounds that makes car accidents so sickening to hear in real life. Another example is when joker blows up the hospital in Dark Knight. The sound editing in that scene is crazy and really sells the moment
It's also the camera. We have two characters framed on either side of the frame, which cover up large portions of the explosion. The biggest issue is the zoom. All amazing explosions have one thing in common. Comparison. In Skyfall, the explosion is far away enough that you can compare it to the unaffected areas around it. See how big it is. In Spectre, the explosion takes up the entire frame, so you have no comparison whatsoever to size - the viewer just gets lost in it. The explosion should should have been a wide angle showing the desert around the building, even just a little bit, to give real perspective on the size.
Yea I agree. Can't recall the Skyfall explosion but I distinctly remember the Joker hospital. I saw a mob movie with Ben Affleck (I believe its 'Live By Night') that had car bombs with great sound.
honestly i think the spectre explosion is a masterpeice, the explosion is meant to feel more like an emotional payoff then a physical one like in the second one
Really didn't like your takes on The Northman. Robert Eggers wanted to show vikings without glorifying them. A long take of a viking raid with minimal distractions and wide angles let's the audience see how brutal and uncaring Vikings were. They were slavers after all. Also keep in mind, Eggers did not have full creative control and dealt with studio interference, but you'd be surprised the kind of weird stuff he was allowed to include. I wish you guys reviewed the draugr fight. It was amazing. Edit: also, putting the Valkyrie in the thumbnail but not showing that scene is a crime. One of the most interesting depictions of Valkyries I've seen. I'm curious why Sam didn't like the story because that was the strongest aspect. It's basically Hamlet. Guess what happens if you rearrange letters? You get Amleth, the protagonist. Shakespeare based Hamlet on this story.
They were pointing out how not "brutal and uncaring Vikings were" due to the camera work, choreography. Telling your story visually is the most important job a director. Aside from that, none of their commpleints were about authenticity. Everyone is aware that Eggers is more than capable of providing that to his films. Also, Sam probably didn't like the story because, like you said, it was basically Hamlet. Instead of making "Viking Hamlet", why not tell a story most audiences haven't heard already as there is probably a ton of reference material in Viking history and lore. Aside from that, the film was longer than it needed to be and had poor character development. That's pretty much the main three complaints people had with this film.
@@jto82jan23 I get what Niko is saying, but he misunderstands Eggers intent. The chaos in the background is as important as the foreground, so he did not want to obscure it. It feels like it was intentionally slow paced so that the audience has time to observe what a real Viking raid would be like if you were in the midst of it. I personally learned a lot about Vikings and their culture from the film. Felt like a very real and unfiltered take on their history and spiritual beliefs. That made the simple revenge story more interesting to me.
I agree with you. As much as I like watching these guys and their takes on CGI, I tend to find myself occasionally annoyed with them mistaking their extensive knowledge on CG for their knowledge on anything filmmaking in general. Sometimes it feels like they put too much emphasis on what they would've done to "make it better" instead of attempting to see the intentionality behind a director's vision. Like I get it, this series is about CG artists critiquing good and bad CG but then sometimes they start bleeding into other territories and talking about more than just the CG and sometimes (not all the time) it comes off as slightly ignorant.
Not gonna lie I skip through more corridor ads than I watch, and this episode's ad was genuinely so fun I watched all the way through. Love how meta it is, great job all around. Also, little boy making an appearance is just wonderful thank you whoever brought him in
That police officer reacting instantly to the explosion, like sound and shockwaves don’t take time to reach you from that distance is what breaks the london mi6 bomb scene for me.
yeah when they played it back multiple times I kept looking at the dude. I dunno if his Que was off or it was just the way they added the explosion but it felt weird. It was like he almost jumped before the explosion,
Big disagree on yalls initial take on The Northman. Robert Eggers isn't going for big viking epic, he goes for small, claustrophobic, personal dramas. There's a reason 75% of this film takes place on a single farm. I think you guys misinterpreted what this movie is supposed to be.
When it comes to "real" explosions, I find it interesting that the Behind The Scenes footage always seems more impactful than the final shot. I reacted much more to the James Bond explosion from the BTS camera, which is a shame because it really is an incredible display of pyrotechnics.
So glad you guys are going to do the Green Knight, such a great, misunderstood movie! Much more of an art house film than a big blockbuster, which caught some people out. The cinematography is epic, especially some of the cutting from one shot to the next.
13:02 How to make a pretty unique (by 21 century standards) movie look like every other movie that came up in recent memory. These guys would complain about The name of the rose or The seventh seal for lacking lens flare.
I think to me the Northman is a masterpiece in movie making.....I didn't even notice they were naked in the last fight because i was so immersed in the fight .....I think being too much analytical really stops you from enjoying these kinds of movies.....
They were wearing leather thongs, Alexander Skarsgård got to keep his after they finished shooting. Guess the studio still thought it was too much peen.
Yeah Robert Eggars is one of the most unique directors today. I absolutely love all of his films, the Northman included, but I will say that he is definitely better at writing horror stories, and I hope he sticks to the horror/thriller side of things in future.
crazy how different experiences can be. I normally enjoy low budget or out of the box movies, but I hated this movie. I thought it was way to long for what was happening.
I feel like we're so used to action fight scenes being fast and cut fast, that we maybe forget that it takes allot of power to fight and that The Northman is maybe more grounded than you think?
@@eliazergonzalez671 I forgot it had a different title back then 'Sword of the Valiant' but the story is the same one. When the Green Knight trailer dropped it was a bit of deja vu.
It would be awesome if y’all did some Star Trek shots, especially a look at the effects in the most recent discovery season or something like it. Or even take a look at the massive effects of the DS9 dominion war ship fight scenes
Corridor Crew, love your content!! One of the greatest explosions that has EVER filmed on camera is the B-52 Bomb Run on the Airwolf episode called 'To Snare A Wolf'. Please do an episode on that!!
What feels more off to me in the James Bond shot, when they blow up MI-6, is that the guy ducks before there is an explosion - he's not looking in the same direction and still ducks before he would probably be able to hear it?
Die Hard With A Vengeance has some fun vfx. Around 1:35:00 when they climb a cable onto a moving ship the cable gets loose and cuts a badguy in half. It goes by fast. Die Hard 1 and 2 also have some great explosions and crashing planes
the add integration was really funny guys, im pretty bad about skipping though them usually, but you hit a note that really resonated with me this time, good job
I cant tell you how similar what you do here is to seasoned magicians reviewing other magicians magic tricks and trying to figure out how they did it. You guys are basically magicians in your own right
I think you guys missed the point of the foreground wipes in the Northman, the helped show exactly what was happening to that village. If we had just followed the main character around it wouldn't have had the same impact. It was a steady build of horror for the audience culminating in that building with people in it being burned, which wouldn't have had nearly the impact if they had just shown it at the end. Or maybe Skaarsgard couldn't manage a full one take of all that. Honestly 99% of audiences didn't care because the movie didn't do a bazillion jump cuts during fights and most of those foreground wipes had something happening in them so it kept the pace of the scene going. Either way, that seemed extremely nitpicky.
I always notice that there almost never is a delay in the sound for distant explosions. We should have seen the explosion behind the Cop talking to M, and then when the sound reached them he should have reacted.
the Northman is great. Also, would love to see you guys react to The Sandman from netflix, that show has the best cgi I've ever seen in a TV show, it's so ethereal and heavenly
Would love to see wayyyyy more breakdowns from Westworld. They do an awesome job with those massive sentry robots. And just the subtle edits they make to environments are very convincing.
what wigs me out about the skyfall explosion is that the cop reacts like before the explosion happens. at the very least, he would hear it after we see it. the sound would not have reached them from that distance at the same time as the light.
According to Wikipedia, Westworld (1973) featured the first of CGI with live action in the storyline of the film (looks like it's some kind of post processing; it would be interesting to know what exactly they did?). Before Westworld, according to Wikipedia, the very first composition of live-action film with CGI was Hitchcock's Vertigo, where computer generated spirograph type images are incorporated into the introductory sequence.
Also the timing was a bit off in "Skyfall". There's no way the cop would react so fast to that explosion since sound travels slower irl. In that shot, it appears that the explosion is a bit far from them.
For the final battle in "The Northman"-if they were really invested in hiding the frank n beans, the VFX team should have just added a waist-high layer of smoke from start to finish and modeled the actors moving through that.
Good example of bad CGI: Eight Legged Freaks. It was my children's favorite movie to watch when Grandpa was babysitting. He calls it the "Big-Ass Spider Movie".
I remember that building explosion scene in Skyfall was used in a lot of trailers and advertising for the movie at the time. IDK why but that shot is burned into my memory for some reason. Never noticed the debris or compositing issues before.
Another thing wrong with Skyfalls explosion is the guy ducks way to soon. He's at least a few hundred yards out, for sound to travel and his brain to process it would be a bit later.
A great in-camera explosion with the element of danger and debris is in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where they blow up the train car with a little too much dynamite.
5:23 its like a completey different colour to the background... the background is far away with some haze.. yet the explosion is clear as if filmed from very close and then just made smaller
Turned down by your take on The Northman. It's 100% animalistic and I loved the choices Eggers made to express it cinematically. It's not the epic hollywood final battle, it's an ugly massacre played by sheer force. Viking goes brrr
Jordan is an amazing actor. I really thought some crazy stuff happened when she screamed over that girl putting her Vessi in the water. So happy to see Jake and Jordan doing a sponsored segment together!
As much as I usually love your guys' commentary, I think your complaints about The Northman are unwarranted. It's genuinely one of the best movies I've seen in years and the movie's commitment to period-accurate lore and religion, the use of magic, prophecy, and family bloodlines were just epic. It felt epic. A little smoke to cover dick and balls because the studio execs were too chickenshit didn't tarnish my viewing of the story at all.
A serious question... Did you learn anything from The Beirut Disaster? Something to make explosions look more real? The disintegrating building in the middle foreground right looked like an effect I've seen in Anime.
What I also hate, is if an explosion had the force to move your once stationary body and accelerate it through space, you're dead 100%. And if your body is accelerated through space, the force on your body will almost certainly mean your body has turned from 1 piece, to many pieces.
Here's the problem with the Blown Away explosion. No one within 40-yards would survive that explosion. The concussive wave alone will kill anyone within 40-yards.
guys, you should do more themed episodes like this rather than looking at specific films, look at specific good and bad VFX types. That was a nice new idea... And Jordan is great! Continue with him form time to time!
The big thing I've noticed with animatronics is they can't get the OO mouth shape correctly. They'll kind of cheat it, but it's not a true O shape with the mouth. Part of the reason the Jack Sparrow animatronics work so well is that Johnny himself uses muted mouth shapes already due to the drunken slurring, unless Jack is yelling, in which case he's got very large and exaggerated mouth shapes. I'm very tempted to go back to the Old Bill scene and watch the dialogue again to see if they nodded to that or not.
theres a way they could have fixed the black widow movie explosion scene, have her jam the staff into the engine, and have her be still holding it for a second and the spin of it flings her around and off her feet and sends her flying off the platform and then the engine explodes. Maybe have it be L shaped so she is able to more realistically put her weight on it as she jams it into the engine, maybe have it just grind against the blades for a second before catching, would have looked way more dramatic and way more realistic.
Absolute reccommendation: CGI analysis of the first five minutes of the French film Athena on Netflix. please do!!!!! Extraordinary single camera shot.
How about the opening sequence of Athena 2022? Yes, it's a "single take" but with a lot of flavor and properly planned pacing. Maybe that one's worth sacrificing the element of cuts/editing.
Right, you hacks are going to teach Robert Eggers how to do a movie. The northman is a very surreal and esthetic film, this scene doesn't aim to show a realistic fight, it shows the viking's point of view, they are basically in transe state and they feel invincible, that's why they move slowly and they kill every one effortlessly. What you find awkward and laughable is actually artistic intent
Suggestion : VFX artists react to balls. Humm... sports balls, like ping-pong balls, baseballs, basketballs, soccer balls, footballs. I'm thinking Forest Gump, but also on the small screen like in The Office S05E22.
Probably the first time I would disagree with Corridor Crew on the Northman (which is totally fine and healthy). They definitely raise valid points about the scene, but I think adding too much distracts from the impact of what the story of the scene was telling. I think it was done perfectly for how it was conveying the realistic brutality of Viking myths and legends, without it being necessarily full of extra blood FX or smoke in the background. They weren’t burning the village yet, that wasn’t part of the story of the battle at that point. It had a more “real” pace to invading a small village town. I think the Northman is a great example of film making at its best.
Please please please do a video comparing the VFX levels of Rings of Power (the arrival at Numenor) to similar TV show VFX from other decades. I was telling my son (10) how incredible the production value is, especially for a TV show. That it rivals blockbuster films today.
I much much prefer this format where its just the corridor guys being honest when dunking on shit effects, or honest about how wowed they are by something. It also lets them cover more scenes and different movies rather than being stuck having to be political discussing the special guests filmography
Still waiting for the day the do Mortal Engines!! 😣 the scene where Hugo's character fires the superweapon at the great wall and it blows up. For the lightning effect to the explosion
Green Knight was a movie! I can't tell how I felt lots of good lots of I don't know. I had a question/observation? I felt like after I left the movie the lights around town took on a green tint for a while. I was wondering if that was something intentional? If certain color saturation can change the way our eyes adjust to light for a moment. It was kinda cool especially if intentional, the rest of the evening was a green night.
13:20 i agree there COULD have been more going on, however; This isn't a massive army going to fight another large army or even a sizable town. This is a small group of hyper-specialized (lol) viking berserkers raiding a small little village/camp. there's NOT that much going on to begin with lol, it feels real because this seems like a pretty accurate depiction of how this event would play out. It's visceral and aggressive. it's not trying to be an "action" movie with over the top turn taking fight scenes. It's telling a story, and the story of this particular berserker is one of specified and intent full aggression. also, the OTHER vikings are actually doing things, so the "main" guy doesn't have to fight the whole village by himself like a marvel hero lol. I think this movie was amazing. If you watch it expecting an action viking movie you'll be upset, because it's a bit more than that. That being said, the action that is in it is absolutely glorious.
Did you guys have a look at Mad God yet? I was particularly taken by the moss zombies with poor worker safety conditions starting at 00:16:30 where we see the fibers move, and by the giants that shovel waste behind them at 01:04:45. Good mixes of stop motion and other stuff. Hope you enjoy it if you haven't!
The Northman was plauged with studio interference. Eggers said its the first and last time he works with a major studio. The whole scene of them dancing at the ritual he wanted them all to be nude and the studio said no. My guess they also pushed for that stupid smoke effect.
I dont know if I’m complitely wrong but I’m pretty sure there was no ”smoke” on the version I saw. Is there a difference in European and U.S version? And even with it’s issues Nothman was epic.
I think it was definitely a regional difference Eggers is not the type of person to pull this kind of a half assed (pun 100% intended) approach. I saw the film in the UK and I don’t remember any gratuitous smoke plumes
I really did not notice any flaws with the movie until i saw this but it's still my favorite of the year
Ive absolutely loved him since the witch, one of the best horror movies of the decade, & the lighthouse was so goddamn good
I totally understand wanting a bigger budget for northman, and i can see why it didn't grab the average shlub wanting action shlock..i definitely knew it would be his style and not for everyone, even then he didn't go all-in with the historical realism again to make it more approachable, and the berserker raid on the village is still some damn good action
but i still loved it haha.
I think it's just as good as his first two, but I was a film major, and i think eggers is one of the best new directors out there
Yaah
It's important to consider the context of the explosion in the James Bond film. That explosion was meant to convey a sense of finality. The distance is part of the director saying that we've passed the climax, killed the bad guy, they made it out. In that context it would feel jarring to have an explosion that presented visceral and imminent danger, unless you wanted to play it for a joke - which would feel more Pierce Brosnan than Daniel Craig.
Exactly. I haven't seen the movie (not much of a Bond fan) but it was clear to me that it was never *intended* to "feel dangerous". I got exactly that sense of finality from it that you mentioned. Now that I know when it takes place, it fits perfectly. I can't remember off the top of my head but I've seen more explosions like this, where the characters are far away and not in imminent danger, to convey that sense of finality, both in positive ("we won, it's over") and negative ("we lost, it's over") contexts. I have zero problems with it.
The guys' assessment that it doesn't feel dangerous or impactful like Blown Away did is absolutely spot on, but it's supposed to be like that. I was actually a bit peeved, like, not everything needs to be a big dangerous action thing :P
It's still a naff explosion though. Watch the slo-mo at 1:56 - the way the fire swoops across the path to the right, then back across again as it comes forwards. It doesn't feel like an explosion, it feels like something being set on fire.
@@MerelvandenHurk I think introducing it as the “biggest Hollywood fireball” record paints a poor picture of what you’re about to watch if you haven’t seen the movie before
@@Kinitawowi if I'm understanding the context correctly, that is kinda what it is meant to be.
It looks like a gas or fuel plant/refinery of some sort. So the "explosion" is a low pressure ignition that's spreading along the pipe ways.
Not having seen the movie, that's what it looked like to me.
I thought it was good, and suited the moment well.
The acting seemed to lend it more of an air of nonchalance, exhaustion, and a sort of element of "cleansing fire". Not every explosion needs to be high speed and high tension.
To me the explosion says that Bond is in control and knows what he’s doing. Why would he destroy the facility before he and Madeline are at a safe distance?!
Hi! I did some of Westworld ‘glitch’ work highlighted here. So cool to see it talked about! Nothing was motion controlled - usually I would stabilize the shot, retime different parts, and then re-apply the match move so the camera was real time. But for the shot with the sink in the front I did have to rebuild the parts of his body the sink hid (all comp - mostly grid warp morphs)
You and the team did amazing work! It's executed with such eye for detail in terms of what exactly gives us that robot feel, how to translate that in a realistic fashion instead of just going for old tropes. I can feel that a lot of thought went into the movement design, and a lot of effort into getting it just right! I admire y'all's dedication and skill!
BRING HER TO THE COUCH! Would be so cool having a dedicated WestWorld episode with someone like Jessica sitting with them
@@Acerdmen Yeeeessssss! :D
@@Acerdmen "Bring her to the couch" Ah. The ol' Harvey Weinstein catchphrase! 😅
nice job!
Northman one take fight had that feeling of historical realness, if you would add even more background noise, fires etc it would lose that feeling.
Most of their recommendations tend to be Hollywood cliches. Add more stuff to the screen! Add more VFX layers! Ironically this is the stuff that people don't respond emotionally to anymore.
I would rather have clean and clear shots where I can see everything as opposed to fake shots with fire, smoke, embers, lense flare, and dirt layers added.
For it to be historically real, I'd bet there would have to be a metric ton of more background noise and environmental chaos happening... It's too surgically clean atm, like a very precisely choreographed dance 🤷♀️
@@poolkrooni why ? it was just a handful of crazy bastards that just started assaulting a small walled village, where would all the torches, chaos, and background fires come from ? people would just flee while the soldiers try to organize a defense.
@@danilooliveira6580 Because it’s a handful of crazy bastards attacking a small village, it’s unrealistic for someone to just stroll through like they’re moving on a track and “yaw” someone at convenient moments like they’re part of a video game cutscene with QTEs. The scene looks too choreographed to be realistic.
It has to be choreographed to get the fake oner look.
IRL fights like these should be way more frantic and fast and have way more energy in them, if not VFX. These aren’t coordinated military men attacking other coordinated military men. They’re vikings and their strategy is to fuck you up before you get the chance to fuck them up. They won’t be standing around in power poses or doing all this Last Jedi-style “hovering” waiting for people get into position before attacking.
People also react in a variety of ways to their village being attacked. Some people flee, other people run into their homes to grab their valuables, other people would probably look for their loved ones/kids, others would try to fight. There is no uniform reaction to these situations. So having all the villagers uniformly fleeing and all the soldiers attacking one at a time, makes it feel like a video game.
Van Helsing with Hugh Jackman has some great effects moments in it! Some of it has not aged well, but the final werewolf/dracula battle has some beautiful work. When Van Helsing screams while holding Anna and transforms back to a man, it's pretty flawless.
Would love to hear y'alls thoughts on the Green Knight giants. So strange, apparently an addition David Lowery did during Covid when the film was delayed and he recut the film, adding a ton of VFX shots
The VFX are strange? In what way? Haven't seen it yet.
@@evangray8001 They're kinda unnatural, otherworldly. But they're supposed to be. Just watch the movie.
I loved the shit outta that movie for some reason. I want more movies like that, where a writer/director just has a vision in their head that needs to be executed and unconditionally unobstructed. It was unsettling in a weird, almost alien way, but also felt very natural in contrast to the recent trend of over-produced movies. An instant cult classic
the red fox is the worse
I absolutely loved that shot, felt like some kind of fever dream. I haven’t analysed it or anything like that, but first impression, loved it.
The explosion in Skyfall had way more of an impact on me in the theater than the one in Spectre and I think that’s due to an element that’s not discussed as much which is sound editing. That blast at mi6 may sounded real enough to sell it, at least for me. You heard the blast but also the sounds of debris, rapid outgassing, twisted metal, etc. it’s that combo of sounds that makes car accidents so sickening to hear in real life. Another example is when joker blows up the hospital in Dark Knight. The sound editing in that scene is crazy and really sells the moment
It's also the camera. We have two characters framed on either side of the frame, which cover up large portions of the explosion. The biggest issue is the zoom.
All amazing explosions have one thing in common. Comparison. In Skyfall, the explosion is far away enough that you can compare it to the unaffected areas around it. See how big it is. In Spectre, the explosion takes up the entire frame, so you have no comparison whatsoever to size - the viewer just gets lost in it. The explosion should should have been a wide angle showing the desert around the building, even just a little bit, to give real perspective on the size.
It could have used a delayed audio sample there. It looked far enough away…
Yea I agree. Can't recall the Skyfall explosion but I distinctly remember the Joker hospital. I saw a mob movie with Ben Affleck (I believe its 'Live By Night') that had car bombs with great sound.
honestly i think the spectre explosion is a masterpeice, the explosion is meant to feel more like an emotional payoff then a physical one like in the second one
Same feeling
Really didn't like your takes on The Northman. Robert Eggers wanted to show vikings without glorifying them. A long take of a viking raid with minimal distractions and wide angles let's the audience see how brutal and uncaring Vikings were. They were slavers after all. Also keep in mind, Eggers did not have full creative control and dealt with studio interference, but you'd be surprised the kind of weird stuff he was allowed to include.
I wish you guys reviewed the draugr fight. It was amazing.
Edit: also, putting the Valkyrie in the thumbnail but not showing that scene is a crime. One of the most interesting depictions of Valkyries I've seen. I'm curious why Sam didn't like the story because that was the strongest aspect. It's basically Hamlet. Guess what happens if you rearrange letters? You get Amleth, the protagonist. Shakespeare based Hamlet on this story.
Right like what the hell would adding all of that shit in the background add to that scene?
They were pointing out how not "brutal and uncaring Vikings were" due to the camera work, choreography. Telling your story visually is the most important job a director. Aside from that, none of their commpleints were about authenticity. Everyone is aware that Eggers is more than capable of providing that to his films.
Also, Sam probably didn't like the story because, like you said, it was basically Hamlet. Instead of making "Viking Hamlet", why not tell a story most audiences haven't heard already as there is probably a ton of reference material in Viking history and lore.
Aside from that, the film was longer than it needed to be and had poor character development. That's pretty much the main three complaints people had with this film.
@@jto82jan23 I get what Niko is saying, but he misunderstands Eggers intent. The chaos in the background is as important as the foreground, so he did not want to obscure it. It feels like it was intentionally slow paced so that the audience has time to observe what a real Viking raid would be like if you were in the midst of it.
I personally learned a lot about Vikings and their culture from the film. Felt like a very real and unfiltered take on their history and spiritual beliefs. That made the simple revenge story more interesting to me.
Well, not on this story. The story in the movie is actually very different from the Amleth legend. It's just loosely based on it.
I agree with you. As much as I like watching these guys and their takes on CGI, I tend to find myself occasionally annoyed with them mistaking their extensive knowledge on CG for their knowledge on anything filmmaking in general. Sometimes it feels like they put too much emphasis on what they would've done to "make it better" instead of attempting to see the intentionality behind a director's vision.
Like I get it, this series is about CG artists critiquing good and bad CG but then sometimes they start bleeding into other territories and talking about more than just the CG and sometimes (not all the time) it comes off as slightly ignorant.
Not gonna lie I skip through more corridor ads than I watch, and this episode's ad was genuinely so fun I watched all the way through. Love how meta it is, great job all around. Also, little boy making an appearance is just wonderful thank you whoever brought him in
That police officer reacting instantly to the explosion, like sound and shockwaves don’t take time to reach you from that distance is what breaks the london mi6 bomb scene for me.
yeah when they played it back multiple times I kept looking at the dude. I dunno if his Que was off or it was just the way they added the explosion but it felt weird. It was like he almost jumped before the explosion,
@@LucefieD it’s like he *knew* :)
@@Zbenesch The plot thickens!
Just what I came here to say!
Was just coming in here to make the same comment. It's behind him.. he can't react to the visible explosion, only to the shockwave.
Big disagree on yalls initial take on The Northman. Robert Eggers isn't going for big viking epic, he goes for small, claustrophobic, personal dramas. There's a reason 75% of this film takes place on a single farm.
I think you guys misinterpreted what this movie is supposed to be.
The Jake/Jordan react is actually a great idea.
You should do an entire episode with producers react.
Yeah I normally don’t watch the sponsored segment but this was pretty funny
8:00 absolutely lost it when you pulled out a mini explosion and hand tracked it 😂
When it comes to "real" explosions, I find it interesting that the Behind The Scenes footage always seems more impactful than the final shot. I reacted much more to the James Bond explosion from the BTS camera, which is a shame because it really is an incredible display of pyrotechnics.
Completely agree.
So glad you guys are going to do the Green Knight, such a great, misunderstood movie! Much more of an art house film than a big blockbuster, which caught some people out. The cinematography is epic, especially some of the cutting from one shot to the next.
13:02 How to make a pretty unique (by 21 century standards) movie look like every other movie that came up in recent memory. These guys would complain about The name of the rose or The seventh seal for lacking lens flare.
I think to me the Northman is a masterpiece in movie making.....I didn't even notice they were naked in the last fight because i was so immersed in the fight .....I think being too much analytical really stops you from enjoying these kinds of movies.....
They were wearing leather thongs, Alexander Skarsgård got to keep his after they finished shooting. Guess the studio still thought it was too much peen.
Yeah Robert Eggars is one of the most unique directors today. I absolutely love all of his films, the Northman included, but I will say that he is definitely better at writing horror stories, and I hope he sticks to the horror/thriller side of things in future.
The Northman was amazing! I'm really disagreeing with Sam on that one
crazy how different experiences can be. I normally enjoy low budget or out of the box movies, but I hated this movie. I thought it was way to long for what was happening.
@@AwfulWeather5684 He didn't write this script.
Blowing up miniatures without fail creates the most iconic on screen explosions. The white house in independence day, nakatomi plaza in die hard...
Napalm explosion from Apocalypse Now and the Dynamite Bridge explosion from The Good The Bad and The Ugly are two of my favs
Oh my God, Jordan is on the couch! Glad to see him, and him giving so much creative input!
Actually, both Jordans were on the couch in this episode... 🙂
I feel like we're so used to action fight scenes being fast and cut fast, that we maybe forget that it takes allot of power to fight and that The Northman is maybe more grounded than you think?
Daaaamn…
That explosion in „Specter“…
Such a shame. So much effort for an explosion that I pretty much forgot that I‘ve even seen in the cinema.
If you do do the green knight I'd love to see a comparison between the latest one and the original with sean conery
Thank you for making me aware there was a version with Sean Connery! This is my first hearing about it and I will check it out
@@eliazergonzalez671 I forgot it had a different title back then 'Sword of the Valiant' but the story is the same one. When the Green Knight trailer dropped it was a bit of deja vu.
It would be awesome if y’all did some Star Trek shots, especially a look at the effects in the most recent discovery season or something like it. Or even take a look at the massive effects of the DS9 dominion war ship fight scenes
A comparison of the battle in Way of the Warrior that's mostly miniatures and the one in Sacrifice of Angels that's CG would be interesting.
Yes that would be awesome to see
Corridor Crew, love your content!! One of the greatest explosions that has EVER filmed on camera is the B-52 Bomb Run on the Airwolf episode called 'To Snare A Wolf'. Please do an episode on that!!
17:28 Another good touch when he freezes is that his drink doesn't freeze with him. You can see it wobble in the glass a bit which adds to the effect.
One of my favourite explosions is from episode 5 of Gangs Of London. After my first viewing I had to rewatch it.
What feels more off to me in the James Bond shot, when they blow up MI-6, is that the guy ducks before there is an explosion - he's not looking in the same direction and still ducks before he would probably be able to hear it?
Die Hard With A Vengeance has some fun vfx. Around 1:35:00 when they climb a cable onto a moving ship the cable gets loose and cuts a badguy in half. It goes by fast. Die Hard 1 and 2 also have some great explosions and crashing planes
the add integration was really funny guys, im pretty bad about skipping though them usually, but you hit a note that really resonated with me this time, good job
this made me stick around to watch it and i'm glad i did
i have to add, the explosion at 6:00 all the debree fades out of existence as it falls down, not just some but all of it.
I cant tell you how similar what you do here is to seasoned magicians reviewing other magicians magic tricks and trying to figure out how they did it. You guys are basically magicians in your own right
the long kiss goodnight also has a nice explosion at the end of the movie. You guys should review that one
Great movie with a lot of fun stuns
I think you guys missed the point of the foreground wipes in the Northman, the helped show exactly what was happening to that village. If we had just followed the main character around it wouldn't have had the same impact. It was a steady build of horror for the audience culminating in that building with people in it being burned, which wouldn't have had nearly the impact if they had just shown it at the end.
Or maybe Skaarsgard couldn't manage a full one take of all that. Honestly 99% of audiences didn't care because the movie didn't do a bazillion jump cuts during fights and most of those foreground wipes had something happening in them so it kept the pace of the scene going.
Either way, that seemed extremely nitpicky.
I always notice that there almost never is a delay in the sound for distant explosions. We should have seen the explosion behind the Cop talking to M, and then when the sound reached them he should have reacted.
the Northman is great. Also, would love to see you guys react to The Sandman from netflix, that show has the best cgi I've ever seen in a TV show, it's so ethereal and heavenly
Would love to see wayyyyy more breakdowns from Westworld. They do an awesome job with those massive sentry robots. And just the subtle edits they make to environments are very convincing.
The Westworld thing reminds me of the way Robocop moves, except Peter Weller actually learned how to move like a robot.
In the spectre explosion, there's a bunch of debris that dissapears at the bottom of the building, before it actually gets to the ground floor
what wigs me out about the skyfall explosion is that the cop reacts like before the explosion happens. at the very least, he would hear it after we see it. the sound would not have reached them from that distance at the same time as the light.
That brand integration was truly incredible.
According to Wikipedia, Westworld (1973) featured the first of CGI with live action in the storyline of the film (looks like it's some kind of post processing; it would be interesting to know what exactly they did?). Before Westworld, according to Wikipedia, the very first composition of live-action film with CGI was Hitchcock's Vertigo, where computer generated spirograph type images are incorporated into the introductory sequence.
Wow, unusual L from Corridor. Specially Sam.
The Northman was good!
The Northman was bad
@@SkidMcmarxx nah. It was good.
@@Vesohag nah.
@@SkidMcmarxx yah.
Little Boy is the explosion in the early days of Mythbusters "Am I missing am eyebrow?" 🤣 😂
One of the best secondary wave explosions is in Koyaanisqatsi or Powaqqatsi.
Also the timing was a bit off in "Skyfall". There's no way the cop would react so fast to that explosion since sound travels slower irl. In that shot, it appears that the explosion is a bit far from them.
At half a kilometer away the sound would take about two seconds to arrive.
More Westworld cgi please!! I love that show and all effects in it are so well done
For the final battle in "The Northman"-if they were really invested in hiding the frank n beans, the VFX team should have just added a waist-high layer of smoke from start to finish and modeled the actors moving through that.
Good example of bad CGI: Eight Legged Freaks. It was my children's favorite movie to watch when Grandpa was babysitting. He calls it the "Big-Ass Spider Movie".
I remember that building explosion scene in Skyfall was used in a lot of trailers and advertising for the movie at the time. IDK why but that shot is burned into my memory for some reason. Never noticed the debris or compositing issues before.
Another thing wrong with Skyfalls explosion is the guy ducks way to soon. He's at least a few hundred yards out, for sound to travel and his brain to process it would be a bit later.
A great in-camera explosion with the element of danger and debris is in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where they blow up the train car with a little too much dynamite.
5:23 its like a completey different colour to the background... the background is far away with some haze.. yet the explosion is clear as if filmed from very close and then just made smaller
Turned down by your take on The Northman. It's 100% animalistic and I loved the choices Eggers made to express it cinematically. It's not the epic hollywood final battle, it's an ugly massacre played by sheer force. Viking goes brrr
Jordan is an amazing actor. I really thought some crazy stuff happened when she screamed over that girl putting her Vessi in the water. So happy to see Jake and Jordan doing a sponsored segment together!
13:40 It is like in RPG When you Drop Out your Full armor and Beat the Boss without anything or Just with the Club
As much as I usually love your guys' commentary, I think your complaints about The Northman are unwarranted. It's genuinely one of the best movies I've seen in years and the movie's commitment to period-accurate lore and religion, the use of magic, prophecy, and family bloodlines were just epic. It felt epic. A little smoke to cover dick and balls because the studio execs were too chickenshit didn't tarnish my viewing of the story at all.
The Wraith (1986) has an amazing building explosion.
crew: "come on haters, she hulk fx looks good!"
also crew: "this world record cinematic explosion is underwhelming"
yeah, they've been kinda floppy lately
I mean they do have a point, many people here that aren't complaining about the northman are talking about how the skyfall one looks better
A serious question...
Did you learn anything from The Beirut Disaster? Something to make explosions look more real?
The disintegrating building in the middle foreground right looked like an effect I've seen in Anime.
What I also hate, is if an explosion had the force to move your once stationary body and accelerate it through space, you're dead 100%.
And if your body is accelerated through space, the force on your body will almost certainly mean your body has turned from 1 piece, to many pieces.
Here's the problem with the Blown Away explosion. No one within 40-yards would survive that explosion. The concussive wave alone will kill anyone within 40-yards.
guys, you should do more themed episodes like this rather than looking at specific films, look at specific good and bad VFX types. That was a nice new idea... And Jordan is great! Continue with him form time to time!
The big thing I've noticed with animatronics is they can't get the OO mouth shape correctly. They'll kind of cheat it, but it's not a true O shape with the mouth. Part of the reason the Jack Sparrow animatronics work so well is that Johnny himself uses muted mouth shapes already due to the drunken slurring, unless Jack is yelling, in which case he's got very large and exaggerated mouth shapes. I'm very tempted to go back to the Old Bill scene and watch the dialogue again to see if they nodded to that or not.
That cg explosion video was fantastic, I just watched it before this one lol
Interesting thing. If you watch the MI6 explosion, you can see the windows below the explosion shatter.
theres a way they could have fixed the black widow movie explosion scene, have her jam the staff into the engine, and have her be still holding it for a second and the spin of it flings her around and off her feet and sends her flying off the platform and then the engine explodes. Maybe have it be L shaped so she is able to more realistically put her weight on it as she jams it into the engine, maybe have it just grind against the blades for a second before catching, would have looked way more dramatic and way more realistic.
Absolute reccommendation: CGI analysis of the first five minutes of the French film Athena on Netflix. please do!!!!! Extraordinary single camera shot.
How about the opening sequence of Athena 2022? Yes, it's a "single take" but with a lot of flavor and properly planned pacing. Maybe that one's worth sacrificing the element of cuts/editing.
Can you imagine if one of the actors sneezed during the biggest real explosion on film?
Next week, Sam digitally draws in all the jewels hidden by the smoke in the nude Viking fight scene.
Right, you hacks are going to teach Robert Eggers how to do a movie. The northman is a very surreal and esthetic film, this scene doesn't aim to show a realistic fight, it shows the viking's point of view, they are basically in transe state and they feel invincible, that's why they move slowly and they kill every one effortlessly. What you find awkward and laughable is actually artistic intent
I can't wait to see Little Boy in future major films, and maybe even some CC vids ;)
Ok yeah the explosion mystery debris got me. 😂
Nah this might be the funniest VFX React video you’ve made.
One rule: NO stunt persons shall die on my set while trying to make fire explosion real as possible.
i actually liked the idea of producer react as an advertisement😂
Suggestion : VFX artists react to balls. Humm... sports balls, like ping-pong balls, baseballs, basketballs, soccer balls, footballs. I'm thinking Forest Gump, but also on the small screen like in The Office S05E22.
Probably the first time I would disagree with Corridor Crew on the Northman (which is totally fine and healthy). They definitely raise valid points about the scene, but I think adding too much distracts from the impact of what the story of the scene was telling. I think it was done perfectly for how it was conveying the realistic brutality of Viking myths and legends, without it being necessarily full of extra blood FX or smoke in the background. They weren’t burning the village yet, that wasn’t part of the story of the battle at that point. It had a more “real” pace to invading a small village town. I think the Northman is a great example of film making at its best.
The Black Widow movie… oh man.. that explosion is such the least of its problems. What a way to not take advantage of an awesome character.
Hey there! Could you do the phosphorus grenade detonation or the bear, or the croc from Annihilation please?
Surprised the hospital explosion from The Dark Knight was referenced
True Detective 1 has one of my fav one-shot ever
That explosion in Black Widow is like something from Bollywood, terrible
Please please please do a video comparing the VFX levels of Rings of Power (the arrival at Numenor) to similar TV show VFX from other decades. I was telling my son (10) how incredible the production value is, especially for a TV show. That it rivals blockbuster films today.
I watched the Northman a couple days after breaking my glasses so I didn’t notice anything off about any of the visuals lol
I much much prefer this format where its just the corridor guys being honest when dunking on shit effects, or honest about how wowed they are by something. It also lets them cover more scenes and different movies rather than being stuck having to be political discussing the special guests filmography
You should cover ones of ol'.Hugh Jackmans greats.
Van helsing! More specifically his werewolf transformation scene aswell as Dracula's
Still waiting for the day the do Mortal Engines!! 😣 the scene where Hugo's character fires the superweapon at the great wall and it blows up. For the lightning effect to the explosion
Green Knight was a movie! I can't tell how I felt lots of good lots of I don't know. I had a question/observation? I felt like after I left the movie the lights around town took on a green tint for a while. I was wondering if that was something intentional? If certain color saturation can change the way our eyes adjust to light for a moment. It was kinda cool especially if intentional, the rest of the evening was a green night.
Northman was 10/10 perfection
So movie can explode 2k gallos of gas but I have to use paper straw to chew... drink a shake from mcdonald
13:20
i agree there COULD have been more going on, however; This isn't a massive army going to fight another large army or even a sizable town.
This is a small group of hyper-specialized (lol) viking berserkers raiding a small little village/camp. there's NOT that much going on to begin with lol, it feels real because this seems like a pretty accurate depiction of how this event would play out. It's visceral and aggressive.
it's not trying to be an "action" movie with over the top turn taking fight scenes.
It's telling a story, and the story of this particular berserker is one of specified and intent full aggression.
also, the OTHER vikings are actually doing things, so the "main" guy doesn't have to fight the whole village by himself like a marvel hero lol.
I think this movie was amazing.
If you watch it expecting an action viking movie you'll be upset, because it's a bit more than that. That being said, the action that is in it is absolutely glorious.
Y’all gotta sell the lil explosion as merch somehow lmaoo
Can you guys react to Kubo? unless its been done already. The stop-motion in that is incredible
Please make that 'he got yaaawwd' into a shirt or something. I need it
Did you guys have a look at Mad God yet? I was particularly taken by the moss zombies with poor worker safety conditions starting at 00:16:30 where we see the fibers move, and by the giants that shovel waste behind them at 01:04:45. Good mixes of stop motion and other stuff. Hope you enjoy it if you haven't!
Suggestion: Will Ferrell punches a CGI baby in the movie The Campaign
I'd love to hear what you think about the 2012 movie set in Ireland - Grabbers.
For an indy film it has impressive CGI, imo.
You should review the special effects in Peter Jacksons first movies - Meet the Feebles, Braindead and Bad Taste. Thinks these were his best movies