Bouncy Bouncy - monday 2003-12-22 0524 last modified 2003-12-22 0526
Categories: Film
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While watching The Return of the King, I noticed one particular computer visual effect wherein a soldier tossed from a high pinnacle ended up bouncing off a roof when he landed, something of a background effect, to be sure. It reminded me greatly of a scene in Titanic where a man falls off from the nose-down sinking behemoth and bounces off (with sound effect) one of the propellors.

I find it greatly amusing, but I wonder -- what kind of mind thinks of these things? Who thought, "Oh, this guy needs to bounce when he lands - let me make sure to program that effect into the scene?"

After finishing RotK, we went to eat dinner where the television, lo and behold, was displaying Titanic. Indeed, the propellor man came on for his cameo of sick-humor glory not half an hour after we sat down.

Comments

i just saw the m...

i just saw the movie (RotK), and i didn't see the bouncy guy. can you give any particular directions for locating him?

the cool thing about "propeller man" wasn't just that he bounced / deflected, but that he started tumbling end over end (i think).

Matt Libby on January 02, 2004 01:08 AM

saw it!

i saw it last night (finally) and i saw that and thought of you!

christine lieu on January 02, 2004 08:56 PM

Where's Waldo

Bouncy Minas Tirith Guy (BMTG) can be found during the attack on Minas Tirith (as you might now expect). A Nazgul beast flies by and picks up about four soliders of Gondor from an upper ring and tosses them down into the first ring; the cameras lingers on them until all of them land at some point. BMTG in particular bounces off a roof (I kind of expected him to go through the roof, but I guess Gondorian architecture is better than that).

The sound wasn't up loud enough for me to hear in my latest semi-viewing of Titanic, but I think the end-over-end twirling begins with a sort of thwang when the man hits the propellor.

Hurrah, I am forever associated with BMTG in someone else's mind. I'm special.

Ryan Lee on January 02, 2004 09:49 PM

exactly right, w...

exactly right, with the twanging & tumbling after Propeller Guy clips the propeller. you can definitely hear it.

Matt Libby on January 03, 2004 01:24 AM

Should I assum...

Should I assume you own a copy of this Titanic film, or are you playing it back from memory? The mind wonders at the thought that someone might go rent or buy it just to figure out if Propellor Guy makes noise, worthy a cause as it is.

Ryan Lee on January 03, 2004 09:04 PM

from memory, of ...

from memory, of course... how dare you suggest otherwise? i tuned out most of the film except the sinking part (which was basically the point of the film... let's watch massive tragedy unfold, and give us some thin characters and plot as an excuse for tragedy-watching), and the Propeller Guy was just so very memorable.

i saw RotK again and located the "flight of four" in which BMTG must have been, but i couldn't quite pick out which dude it was. if it was the leftmost guy in the frame, i thought i saw him redirect sideways a bit (on striking a building?), but i didn't really notice anyone bouncing all trampoline-like (which was what i was hoping for).

Matt Libby on January 05, 2004 05:06 PM

Here's Waldo!

Sorry! You asked the question, and I just had to respond. -COuldn't help myself.

Waldo -Matt's dad...

Waldo Libby on January 05, 2004 09:45 PM

Well, it's my ...

Well, it's my great pleasure to meet another member of the Libby family, how fortuitous that I called on your name.

I wonder what being Matt's parents is like...

Ryan Lee on January 08, 2004 06:33 AM

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