Unusual Post Perspective

In my last blog entry, I mentioned something negative that happens from time to time when you happen to work in motion picture visual effects and post production. This time, I'm here to express something else about my job that can sometimes take some of the fun out of seeing movies, but at the same time, offers a larger and more unique mental perspective when it comes to films.

Over the past couple of years, I've found that after working on any given movie, I usually don't try to see that particular film for several months to just over a year. You may ask, "why so long?" or "aren't you proud of getting to work on big movies, Chris?" Well, with the occasional exception, of course I'm proud of the films I work on. However, for a combination of reasons, sometimes it's really hard to enjoy the visual story experience of a movie when it consumes a few months of your life in the form of grueling 40 to 90 hour work weeks. Sure, sometimes I'll see the really really cool ones right away, such as The Avengers or Pacific Rim, but even then, I wont revisit such films for a rather long time.

   

Anyhow, this weekend, I finally got around to watching two movies I worked on that came out last year: The Wolverine and Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters... and while time has offered some mental distance and (I believe) a better capacity to enjoy the journey of the storytelling experience that only a movie can offer, there were occasional moments when the VFX artist part of my mind would think things that took me out of the film.  Sometimes, a scene that is supposed to be really exciting would make me ask "why the Hell did they edit it like that?!?" ...or it the it would look more like this to me...


...Or, sometimes, the unintended conditioning of repeatedly watching footage out of context would occasionally remind me of unintended subtext.


...but in spite of these bizarre insider moments, I am still mostly able to enjoy these movies the same way everyone else does, and I still found both of these films to be very fun. 

By the way, if you should happen to check out or pick up The Wolverine on Blu-Ray, I strongly recommend the extended unrated version, if for nothing else, more intense action sequences, an amazing Kill-Bill-ish moment involving a snowblower (thank me later) and the strange delight of once again hearing Hugh Jackman's version of Logan say "f**k off".  :)

_

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