As many of you know, I have been critical of the recent Green Lantern footage. This has had a mixed reaction. Some people have agreed with me. Some people disagree with me, but respect my opinion. Others call me a troll, and one person told me to 'go kill myself', simply because he thought the footage was good, and I had a different opinion. This is to set the record straight, and give an in-depth look as to why I don't think the costume looks good on film.
The issue is not the quality of the CGI per se, it's mostly the way the CGI is used.
Take, for instance, this picture. Notice that the logo emenates light outward from it, as if the light source were coming from inside of Hal's body, or as if a lamp were constantly pointed in his direction. This creates a very, very odd lighting effect, in which it interacts with the rest of the costume. Since the rest of the costume is CGI, and already has lighting applied to it to match the rest of the scene, it results in a large portion of his chest being lit up very oddly, in a very bright shade of green, which is at odds with the rest of the green in the costume. This is because, from a lighting standpoint, the lighting of the Corps symbol creates a random lighting effect in a dark environment, contrasting with the other lighting effects already present.
And this is when the ring
isn't used.
You see, when Hal uses the ring to charge up, or create a construct, all the lines on his costume light up. Remember that unique lighting issue from earlier? Well, having the lines light up in that manner causes that strange lighting effect to cover the entire green portion of Hal's costume, making the entire costume a very, very neon shade of green.
Don't believe me? See for yourself!
Not-lit up:
Lit up:
A very noticable difference, in lighting and color, causing the lit-up version of the suit to seem like lesser-quality CGI, when it is actually just used in a manner that causes it to appear so. Also note, that the 'lit up' picture appears to be in the same scene as the first picture in this article, or at the very least the same location.
Also, from what I've heard, Hal is a novice at using the ring, hence the presence of the lines. It also seems, from the footage,that this results in energy constantly leaking out of Hal when he moves, which is very clear in the trailers for the film we've seen so far. Let's compare him, to, for instance, Sinestro flying.
Sinestro:
Notice how Sinestro leaves a light trail behind him, but a small one.
Hal:
Since Hal's energy is leaking, this causes another effect to take place. Between this new effect, and the strage lighting effects already present, it makes Reynolds look like a giant flame. Symbolic, yes, but incredibly distracting while in motion. It creates a constant afterimage. When Hal moves, the light follows him, and looks, in my opinion, rather messy.
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