Completely CGI Green Lantern costume

[upandatom]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44611

This'll be.... interesting?

 

[Clerval]

Good. I hope they pull it off. It can't be done as a real costume if you're going to do it right.

 

[Nexus6]

I'm intrigued.

 

[upandatom]

Based on how seamless the Two-Face effects were in The Dark Knight, I'm guardedly optimistic that this will look good.

 

[niennumb1]

Is ANYTHING made practical anymore?

Sure makes owning movie props more and more rare and unique!

I feel bad for these actors having to interact with reference points all the time in these sorts of films. There's something about being made up and outfitted with the clothing that helps transform one into a character.

 

[lonepigeon]

Good. I hope they pull it off. It can't be done as a real costume if you're going to do it right.

Why is that?
I'm not familiar enough with the character to understand why they would need to do this. Every pic I've seen of Green Lantern he has a spandex super hero suit like any other comic character.

 

[IndyFanChuck]

If the bar was set by the Dark Knight's Harvey Dent special effects, then it's a very very high bar. In my opinion, Harvey Dent's all digital face was superb. Just flawless.

But I don't know. I HONESTLY think Marvel will pull a "Wolverine" on this one and ruin this franchise. I hope they get it right, but Avi Arad just seems bent on destroying franchises. Hulk, Daredevil, Wolverine.... next up Captain America (Bucky? Really?) and Green Lantern.

I may be wrong. But after Wolverine, I'm really jaded. :sick

 

[BDK]

But I don't know. I HONESTLY think Marvel will pull a "Wolverine" on this one and ruin this franchise. I hope they get it right, but Avi Arad just seems bent on destroying franchises. Hulk, Daredevil, Wolverine.... next up Captain America (Bucky? Really?) and Green Lantern.

I may be wrong. But after Wolverine, I'm really jaded. :sick

That'd be a good analogy but Green Lantern's DC not Marvel. I don't know a lot about GL's suit to comment on if this is a needed thing, I never much got into that series.

 

[firesprite]

That'd be a good analogy but Green Lantern's DC not Marvel. I don't know a lot about GL's suit to comment on if this is a needed thing, I never much got into that series.

True. DC has a much worse track record with movies than Marvel does.

Indy, the only one of those 'bad' films that Marvel Films is actually responsible for is Wolverine. The others are Fox who still holds the rights to those franchises.

 

[dualedge]

Good. I hope they pull it off. It can't be done as a real costume if you're going to do it right.

I've read enough Green Lantern in my life to completely disagree with that notion. I'm not saying they're necessarily doing it the "wrong" way or not but the only thing that would REQUIRE cgi about the costume is the suit appearing or disappearing or maybe some digital enhancements if they really wanted to push it. I'll give'em the benefit of the doubt until I see it though...

But IMHO, there's nothing about the suit itself that couldn't be done at least mostly in a practical fashion. If they can do practical "light up" costumes like they're doing in Tron 2, they COULD do it for Green Lantern if they wanted to.

 

[Westies14]

True. DC has a much worse track record with movies than Marvel does.

Indy, the only one of those 'bad' films that Marvel Films is actually responsible for is Wolverine. The others are Fox who still holds the rights to those franchises.

Wolverine was run by Fox too, wasn't it?

 

[firesprite]

Wolverine was run by Fox too, wasn't it?

Actually, you're right. I stand corrected... so none of the films cited by Chuck is actually a Marvel Films production.

 

[Solo4114]

Why is that?
I'm not familiar enough with the character to understand why they would need to do this. Every pic I've seen of Green Lantern he has a spandex super hero suit like any other comic character.

Because this is what Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern looks like:

And THIS is how bad it COULD look if they did it as a practical costume:

Personally, I don't think you can do the Green Lantern justice as a costume using practical effects. You MIGHT be able to get away with a Spider-Man style costume, but one of the key differences there is that Spider-Man isn't necessarily supposed to be super bulky or muscular. The Green Lantern, I think, would need to appear somewhat muscular. Not hugely so, mind you, but it'd fit better with the character if he had more definition and tone. That becomes increasingly difficult, the more skin you're showing. Whereas Spider-Man is completely encased in the suit (so you may not notice where the costume is padded), the more skin you show, the more likelihood people will be able to see the obvious padding necessary to create superhero-like definition in the costume.

Plus, because this isn't Batman or some other hero who wears "armor", you can't disguise it that way. The costume would have to be padded, and that could cause some problems. I don't think it'd work as well for a superhero whose face is really visible and for whom you'd want real definition.

Coupled with the fact that the film HAS to be CGI-heavy (in order to do the various ring effects, obviously), it seems like a no-brainer to me to do a CGI costume and be able to give people a Green Lantern that REALLY looks like the Green Lantern, not just some dude in a costume.

 

[dualedge]

Because this is what Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern looks like:

And THIS is how bad it COULD look if they did it as a practical costume:

Personally, I don't think you can do the Green Lantern justice as a costume using practical effects. You MIGHT be able to get away with a Spider-Man style costume, but one of the key differences there is that Spider-Man isn't necessarily supposed to be super bulky or muscular. The Green Lantern, I think, would need to appear somewhat muscular. Not hugely so, mind you, but it'd fit better with the character if he had more definition and tone. That becomes increasingly difficult, the more skin you're showing. Whereas Spider-Man is completely encased in the suit (so you may not notice where the costume is padded), the more skin you show, the more likelihood people will be able to see the obvious padding necessary to create superhero-like definition in the costume.

Plus, because this isn't Batman or some other hero who wears "armor", you can't disguise it that way. The costume would have to be padded, and that could cause some problems. I don't think it'd work as well for a superhero whose face is really visible and for whom you'd want real definition.

Coupled with the fact that the film HAS to be CGI-heavy (in order to do the various ring effects, obviously), it seems like a no-brainer to me to do a CGI costume and be able to give people a Green Lantern that REALLY looks like the Green Lantern, not just some dude in a costume.

I know this isn't what you're suggesting but on the surface it almost sounds like you just want to see Ryan Reynolds wearing some green glow paint instead of a costume

Making a practical suit that has an added "glow" in post production would hardly be difficult I think.

As to the muscular issue, I think that's one of those aspects of comic books that simply cannot be translated into real life portrayals IMHO. It's like with Christopher Reeve in Superman... I never felt like he was less than perfect because he didn't have Mr. Universe muscles.

I definitely don't like seeing every hero where sculpted latex either so I think we can agree there.

The way they did it in Spider-Man was subtle but worked very well I thought. A very slim muscle suit covered by a simple textured costume. Ditto the way they did it in Superman Returns with the extremely thin but opaque fabric.

Don't get me wrong, maybe they've got an idea that completely merits the way they're doing it (I'm sure there will be plenty of debate once we finally see it too) but if they did decide to go the more "traditional" route, they could easily do it with a practical suit and add a glow or cgi enhancements.

And personally, I don't feel the need to see every superhero's muscles just like they show it in the comics. In comics, everybody is essentially drawn naked (minus the naughty bits) and ultimately, I'm very muchh for all the superheroes (at least the male superheroes) wearing clothes even if it means hiding some muscle definition.

Edit: Oh, and lemme just add, no offense to the dude in the costume pictured but he's not exactly as buffed up as Ryan Reynolds nor is he wearing a movie quality suit either so I don't think it's quite a fair parallel

 

[Solo4114]

Oh, I know. He's there for hyperbolic value.

But you can always look at pics of Reb Brown in his Captain America costume to see equally bad costumes from actual movies. Spandex/Lycra outfits just don't work.

I agree about Routh's costume, though. I thought that was perfectly fine in terms of showing definition and such. I'm just not so sure how well that'd work on a mostly black costume.


Actually, come to think of it, that might explain why they're doing the CGI costume. If the film is shooting on green screens, and he's wearing an outfit with a bunch of green on it already, maybe they just decided it'd be easier to CGI the whole thing.

 

[dualedge]

Oh, I know. He's there for hyperbolic value.

But you can always look at pics of Reb Brown in his Captain America costume to see equally bad costumes from actual movies. Spandex/Lycra outfits just don't work.

I agree about Routh's costume, though. I thought that was perfectly fine in terms of showing definition and such. I'm just not so sure how well that'd work on a mostly black costume.

Actually, come to think of it, that might explain why they're doing the CGI costume. If the film is shooting on green screens, and he's wearing an outfit with a bunch of green on it already, maybe they just decided it'd be easier to CGI the whole thing.

Yeah, from what I read on one site, they want it to look truly "alien" in design... and I can only guess as to what that means. It does make me think that whatever it is they're doing, hardcore fans probably aren't gonna like it very much, or at the least, be very, very divided (of course, when are hardcore fans NOT divided?)

I think the uniforms in Fantastic Four worked pretty well too. But part of what works for movie costumes like those is that they work really hard to give the suits a texture and some visual depth so that it's more than just straight spandex. With the FF costumes, in addition to the fabric's texture, there was also a subtle color gradation from the boots to the neck. That type of thing helps a lot.

And also take the Phantom as another example - it was (relatively) simple spandex but printed and layered that gave it some really nice visual depth. The movie isn't one of my favorites either but I'm impressed by what they did with trying to fit a guy in a purple spandex costume into a jungle setting.

My guess is that whatever they do will probably grow on me if I don't love it right off the bat but this CGI "alien" thing they're going for has me wondering what they're up to...

Superhero movies are my all-time favorite genre (sub-genre?) so I'm relatively easy to please. That of course doesn't stop me from wanting to debate everything. I'm still the guy that wants to see Wolverine wear a mask at some point even though everybody else thinks it's a goofy idea

 

[Hecubus114]

It'll be the clone troopers all over again. And those looked absolutely ridiculous at times.

 

[SmilingOtter]

Actually, come to think of it, that might explain why they're doing the CGI costume. If the film is shooting on green screens, and he's wearing an outfit with a bunch of green on it already, maybe they just decided it'd be easier to CGI the whole thing.

In that case, they'd just make it a blue screen.

 

[Solo4114]

Hadn't heard they're going for "truly alien", but that kind of annoys me if they want to do some weird Guyver-like suit or whatever. How freakin' hard is it to keep the suit simple and make it look like the comics, ESPECIALLY if you're doing an all CGI suit?!

Ah well. I guess we'll see.

 

[dualedge]

Well, this is the rumor... I think this comes from something at slashfilm...

Ngila (Dickson, costume designer) was tasked with trying to find a way to do something that stands apart from all of the other superheroes spandex suit designs we've seen in the past.

The Green Lantern suit is something that should look alien — it needs to seem other worldly. It encompasses any creature that wears the ring, and Hal Jordan is the first human to ever wear the suit. This was a chance for Dickson to do something different. You also have to consider that Hal changes into the suit multiple times in mid scene, and the cg also allows him to do this.

I've heard that when the cg is complete, the suit will look like a manifestation of his power.