Ghostbusters movie by Paul Feig

[Solo4114]

I just find it funny how you phrased that. first you say the packs are the least objectionable, then go on a mini rant about the heart ;o)

personally, I wouldn't be the LEAST b it surprised if feig threw that on there to **** the fans off. we already saw in the emails how they bash the fans who are upset.
to me, it looks like they took a fan off a microwave oven, threw it in a box, added a light or two, and made something that 'kind of' resembled the thrower as a 'cute nod' no doubt.
just seems like the laziest design ever. like the enterprise beer/engine room in that reboot ;o).

I mean, like, the general look of the packs seems pretty innocuous to me. Same with the jumpsuits. They look close enough. Fine, I'm cool with that. Whatever. But the inclusion of the heart symbol in the nuclear symbol itself, while a relatively minor thing, just serves as a reminder to me that this is a very "designed" film, in that it is specifically targeting a market using techniques that are expected to most appeal to the target market. Like I said, maybe it'll be part of the movie, but when I see the picture with the heart thing, it just says "Look, it's Ghostbusters, but you can tell by the heart that it's for women! See? Because that's what a woman would do! She'd put a heart on the nuclear accelerator strapped to her back! Women love hearts and stickers and crap!"

To be clear, this would be like if one of the characters was a "jock type" and they had him wear a football helmet in the film, and another was an "egghead" type and they put tape on his glasses, and so on. It smacks of designing by archetype, rather than the characters determining the design themselves. Again, I may be wrong about this, and the character may genuinely fit this design. But much of the pre-release promo/hype material has been so focused on "Funny enough for a man, but PH balanced for a woman!" marketing.

 

[Halliwax]

Is the trap contained within the pack? Check out the rectangular portion with a handle on the bottom.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CIv_SQ1W8AAhXe1.jpg

you may be on to something there about the trap at the bottom, that screams tool box top to me. also a ton of copper 3/4" plumbing pipes. there seems to be quite a few vintage pieces on it. im not feeling it at all, but love examining props

i feel like this was a last minute design or really rushed...

 

[KrangPrime]

To be clear, this would be like if one of the characters was a "jock type" and they had him wear a football helmet in the film, and another was an "egghead" type and they put tape on his glasses, and so on. It smacks of designing by archetype, rather than the characters determining the design themselves. Again, I may be wrong about this, and the character may genuinely fit this design. But much of the pre-release promo/hype material has been so focused on "Funny enough for a man, but PH balanced for a woman!" marketing.

or 'donatello's the nerd, lets give him glasses so people know! as if 25 years of history wasn't enough ;o)

another movie designed by ceo's, marketing research and people with no clue ;o)

 

[KrangPrime]

also, someone made a good point. some of these parts look like it was bought at home depot. I'll bet you ANYTHING there's a chance we could see a sponsorship scene with them shopping down the aisles looking for parts and the scene opening with a huge shot of a hardware store sign ;o)

sponsorship worked so much better when it wasn't in your face obvious. every time I See those cheez it's ;o)..

 

[jcoffman99]

Subtle eh?

 

[jlee562]

I'm pretty sure the old proton packs looked like they were built from a bunch of parts from a junkyard.

 

[Riceball]

I'm pretty sure the old proton packs looked like they were built from a bunch of parts from a junkyard.

They looked cobbled together certainly but not from parts that look live they've been sitting deep in a junkyard, buried under tons of other junk for the past 10 - 20 years.

 

[d_jedi1]

I saw this on facebook..

 

[jlee562]

Meh....one out of context shot of a proton pack doesn't make a convincing case for much. If the finished film has no narrative reason for having a built up patina, then I'd have to cede the point.

Although I do find a hint of irony in it being knocked for apparently evoking both "junkyard" AND "Home Depot."

Because I would hate to think that some people might just be projecting...

 

[Jeyl]

I saw this on facebook..View attachment 495356

What is this I-Phone?

 

[d_jedi1]

I think it's just someone speculating on what the parts are. Like I said, I swiped the pic from Facebook

 

[Dreddful]

Oh my...that's bad.

 

[KrangPrime]

Subtle eh?

View attachment 495343

but look at the one in the left, it's not fully tilted toward the camera ;o).....hey, it's a fridge. you expect things to be arranged like that ;o).

Not staying on a full shot of the sears hardware logo while superman and zodd are battling it out in the background ;o)

 

[TheStig]

Meh....one out of context shot of a proton pack doesn't make a convincing case for much. If the finished film has no narrative reason for having a built up patina, then I'd have to cede the point.

Although I do find a hint of irony in it being knocked for apparently evoking both "junkyard" AND "Home Depot."

Because I would hate to think that some people might just be projecting...

The original didn't have a plot reason for the design of the packs. The most they even showed of the development is Egon and Ray talking about containing ghosts and then Egon is shown putting together a Neutrino Wand. We know they're nuclear and to not cross the streams, but that's it. After that they never explain the purpose of any aspect of the packs. There's transistors, valves and various bits on the pack and they're just there because it looks scientific in the 80s. It's not about the pack, it's about busting ghosts. As long as that happens, it might be a decent movie.

If I had any complaints about the new packs, is that I wish it had the red lights on the cyclotron part. Maybe it will have something similar in the movie itself and they haven't turned it on for the photo.

 

[DakGibralter]

What a toxic thread this is. It's embarrassing.

Meanwhile over on the TFA thread everyone's tearing one dude apart for his blind pessimism. Why are there only one or two people on this thread willing to say all this bashing might be premature?

I like good hype. I prefer it. I want movies to be good. I love this site because, the vast majority of the time, we're all nerds who like to dissect everything and discuss the character arc, plot thread, and prop artist greeble of choice that excites us. We wouldn't do this if we hated everything. We like obsessing and getting excited about minutiae. Anonymous vitriol, misygynistic generalizations, uninformed speculation and slamming a creative choice for no reason and without scrutiny or context seems sort of like what the rest of the internet is for.

None of us know anything about this movie. It's a beloved franchise that we're all worried is going to get ruined, I get that. But there are thousands of excited words in every other thread about greebles and patina and grips and hoses and lug nuts and here we are acting like a homemade-looking proton pack is anathema without knowing thing one about this film.

Say what you want, but the guy who designed this proton pack is probably just as big a GB fan as we are, definitely had an endless budget at his disposal and most likely has more experience working in props than any of us. And he chose this. Isn't that worth at least a modicum of consideration?

I think it's a cool prop. It looks like something made by hand that has a bunch of dangerous homemade tech inside. The original proton pack is incredible, don't get me wrong, but the fact that this really looks like it was made by a mad scientist with limited time and resources is kind of a cool take.

If this movie is any good, which I hope it is, I won't be ashamed to admit it. If it sucks, at least I will have given it the benefit of the doubt until I saw something concrete.

 

[d_jedi1]

Maybe he was more of a Luigi's Mansion fan.
Perhaps they incorporated the trap INTO the wand.

 

[TheStig]

The movie is going to stand or fall on the story, not the props.

 

[KrangPrime]

i'm not sure if this came from paul feig, or twitter....but if feig....have you EVER seen a movie director actually WANT to **** off the fans? this is kind of like showing an old proton pack get blown to smithereens in a video and saying 'forget what you know' ;o)

edit - until anyone comes up with something different, apparently this was dome by some news site called 'ghostbusters news'. who are apparently pro paul feig. you'd think doing something like this might not be the best idea now!

 

[jlee562]

^ tl;dr "I have no idea what this is, but I'm upset anyways."

 

[AJTaliesen]

Say what you want, but the guy who designed this proton pack is probably just as big a GB fan as we are, definitely had an endless budget at his disposal and most likely has more experience working in props than any of us. And he chose this. Isn't that worth at least a modicum of consideration?

Maybe, but I wouldn't be so sure of that. Not on this forum. About 15 years professional experience myself, and I've seen work here that is way better than what I did in the business...primarily because most of what happens here is for love, not pay. (and because people here build things to last 20 years and look good in your hand, and real props are usually built to last 20 days and look good at whatever distance it may be seen from by people who will never get to touch it). But also because, some of the people here are ****ing amazing prop builders.

Here's a little gem to spark some memories though:


Although it was meant to be homemade, it was meant to be homemade by someone who was a genius. The idea was that they had built something cutting edge.