ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

Has anyone checked out the "smoothing" remastering they have done on Youtube?

Someone in an unofficial capacity has taken some scenes from some of Ray Harryhausen films and somehow smoothed out the stop~motion animated scenes in order to make it flow more seamlessly.

On some I could see an improvement that made the animated figure move in a more natural way. Other scenes the smoothing effect was very minor to make it standout.

Opinions?

[Gord Green]

The "smoothing" is really an attempt to apply CGI to Ray's stop motion. The technique wasn't around when Ray was doing his thing. I'd like to think he would have used it as a tool if he could.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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Thanks for calling this to our attention, Mike.

It's a very interesting idea, but it's such a subtle change that most of the time I couldn't really see the difference!

I watched the videos which compared the clips labeled "original" and the "8x smoother" for Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, and King Kong.

Frankly I wouldn't have noticed that the animation had been "smoothed" if I hadn't already known it. I expected the Kong animation (the jerkiest stop motion of the three) to be visibly altered, but it actually wasn't all that different — except for a few shots atop the Empire State Building, like when Kong grabs the biplane by the wing and flings it downward. The smoothing seemed to add a "blur" to the planes fast movement, and that helped the scene.

Maybe the folks conducting this experiment will try to increase the smoothness, just to see how fans react.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)