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Once upon a time CGI

pearlsandplumspearlsandplums Posts: 29,595
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in Cult, Sci-Fi & Fantasy TV Shows #1
I'm a fan of OUAT, but ive frequently wondered if the CGI is made to look other worldy and fake, or if they just cant afford to get decent CGI,
Everything that is CGI on the show looks awful, buildings, inside of castles, monsters etc

Does anyone know if it was a deliberate offort, or if they are just cheapskates?

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    LightningIguanaLightningIguana Posts: 21,854
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    #2
    The latter probably.

    Saying that, though, it's possible it relies more on CGI that other shows and just doesn't have the budget to make things look that good and have what it wants.
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    Jennifer JayneJennifer Jayne Posts: 9,022
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    #3
    At least it isn't Once upon A Time In Wonderland level CGI, now that truly was awful. And yes it is due to budgetary restraints, they have to use a lot of CGI whether that is backdrops/characters or magic there is an awful lot of it required in every episode in the show.
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    David MillsDavid Mills Posts: 742
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    #4
    It's meant to look like a fairytale World.

    And also if you're not watching in HD on a HD tv it will look a lot worse as it's filmed for HD and the lower quality rips especially streaming or watching it online lessen the quality and the CGI suffers...you only have to watch clips on youtube to see it.

    But if you're watching in HD on a HD screen and still think it looks terrible then I can't really agree with that, I watch it on TV and it looks amazing, best CGI job on a TV show at the moment I feel especially as they have to do something so big scale every week.
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    Jennifer JayneJennifer Jayne Posts: 9,022
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    #5
    I watch it on a 50" HD TV watching a 1080p source. The graphics are good and up there with some of the best shows out there currently, but I wouldn't say they are amazing, the show has a limited budget so either the CGI or the story has to suffer slightly obviously they are going to go with the CGI and cartoon it up a bit to lessen the lower quality which being a fairytale show they can easily get away with.
    This isn't a dig at the show at all as it is currently in my top 5 shows that I watch, and believe me there is a lot of shows that I watch, so its quite a competitive list :D.
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    David MillsDavid Mills Posts: 742
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    #6
    *marv* wrote: »
    I watch it on a 50" HD TV watching a 1080p source. The graphics are good and up there with some of the best shows out there currently, but I wouldn't say they are amazing, the show has a limited budget so either the CGI or the story has to suffer slightly obviously they are going to go with the CGI and cartoon it up a bit to lessen the lower quality which being a fairytale show they can easily get away with.
    This isn't a dig at the show at all as it is currently in my top 5 shows that I watch, and believe me there is a lot of shows that I watch, so its quite a competitive list :D.

    Yeah that's true and they have to come up with something every week too. It's filmed a month or two before broadcast & so I think time constraints were they possibly run out of time to spend on some CGI before they're into the next episode count were as with a movie they'd be able to spend longer coming up with stuff.

    Plus not just the CGI the sets and costumes in general are pretty well put together. Adam tweeted the other day there 75 set ups in one day...it seems like a hard show to get made. As you said, the cartoon style of it works perfectly and I like it to look like that. Plus how exactly will they make ice monsters and dragons look realistic anyway since they don't exist. :D
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    montyburns56montyburns56 Posts: 2,011
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    #7
    Someone posted a load of production stills on a website that I visit and I was amazed at just how much of the show is filmed in front of green screen!
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 150
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    #8
    *marv* wrote: »
    At least it isn't Once upon A Time In Wonderland level CGI, now that truly was awful..

    Tell me about it. I was actually looking forward to this show because the previews looked excellent, but I gave up after 2 episodes due to the awful CGI. It made SyFy movies of the week CGI look like they had been done by ILM in comparison.
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