Benjamin Button...

What was the first thing I noticed about the movie? Brad Pitt's face... all I could think about for the first 30 minutes of the movie was how well the VFX were. Of course I loved the movie, but first and foremost it was the effects. I did not think too much about it after we left the theater because it is hard to talk to people about VFX in movies when they just don't care as much about it as I do. They enjoyed the story over anything and I enjoyed how well they made him look like a really old man!

School in a way ruined me.. I can't go into a theater to enjoy a film like before. When I see a movie that is effects intense I just think about how much time must have went into one shot or another. 3D, oh forget about it... all I think about is, well, EVERYTHING. Rendering.... eee. I look at how the shots are, I listen to the sound effects (whether it worked or if it was just completely off), soundtracks are huge to me because other than visuals, music is my other love (although I can't play an instrument to save my life....), so if the music drags it seems like the film does the same. Oddly though, I can think a movie is just ok but the soundtrack can make me love it. Go figure....

Ok, so I take it back... school hasn't ruined me. It just makes me appreciate a good film when I see one much much more. Now I just know that I need to watch movies more than once to enjoy it like I used to, and thats actually not a bad thing. Its like music, you hear a song and enjoy the beat or the lyrics but until you listen to it a few times you cannot really fully "get" it... but maybe thats just me  =)

The links I came across after my curiousity got the best of me...

http://image-metrics.com/ and http://www.mova.com/ ... This is pretty much the technology behind the facial animation