Review: "Into the Spider-Verse"
Dec. 26th, 2018 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithWe watched "Into the Spider-Verse" today. The storytelling was great. The characterization was very interesting. I loved the movie. But it gave me a headache to watch. The art kept doing a red-blue split like for 3D, but it wasn't supposed to be a 3D show. >_< I couldn't tell that from the trailers. Sadly, it's not a movie accessible to people with vision issues, and not one I can watch again.
EDIT 10/27/18:capri0mni adds this accessibility patch:
But I've been warned about the visuals in this movie, thanks to the Disability community on Tumblr, so I'm waiting until I can watch it streaming on my computer -- a smaller screen, in a brightly lit room, where I turn off the screen, if I have to, and just listen to the dialog during the worst of it.
That should help, but it won't substitute for a genuine description track. A lot happens in the visuals that is not audible, but based on comic book tropes, such as thought bubbles.
EDIT 10/27/18:
capri0mni adds this accessibility patch:But I've been warned about the visuals in this movie, thanks to the Disability community on Tumblr, so I'm waiting until I can watch it streaming on my computer -- a smaller screen, in a brightly lit room, where I turn off the screen, if I have to, and just listen to the dialog during the worst of it.
That should help, but it won't substitute for a genuine description track. A lot happens in the visuals that is not audible, but based on comic book tropes, such as thought bubbles.
Visuals
Date: 2018-12-27 05:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-27 01:30 pm (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2018-12-27 07:05 pm (UTC)Re: Yes ...
Date: 2018-12-27 07:08 pm (UTC)I have no idea how you would have figured that out! I certainly am someone who often points things out that others simply didn't notice (especially around other living beings). I always thought that's because most people don't look around (especially up. No one looks up).
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2018-12-27 08:24 pm (UTC)It's a predator thing. I'm not actually human, despite the meat I'm wearing, and some features of other species come through. Some of these are visual, like the hunter-sight that breaks camouflage and is vitally attracted to movement. Others do other things. At present, my beard hairs -- which I've had for years -- are turning into actual vibrissae in terms of neurological input. So now when the sheets touch them at night, it's very distracting. And I won't give up my damn whiskers.
>> I have no idea how you would have figured that out! <<
Observation and connection. I watch things, the world around me, other people, compare and contrast. I read a lot. Studies of how other species see are fascinating. I stumbled across descriptions of sight-hunters and thought, "Oh yeah, I do that." Some of the better articles on camouflage go into how it works and how some predators see through it.
>> I certainly am someone who often points things out that others simply didn't notice (especially around other living beings). I always thought that's because most people don't look around (especially up. No one looks up).<<
LOL yes. Humans never look up. I look up. I habitually scan the complete environment around me. It's one of the ways people clock me as not being human.
Re: Yes ...
Date: 2018-12-27 09:36 pm (UTC)Oh, yes. This I definitely have - if walking outside, I will stop mid-word to track movement. I've learned that if I want to actually approach anything, though, I have to _not_ look directly at it. Unless it's used to humans in which case it probably loves me.
I want whiskers! Sadly, I have always been very very low on body hair. Mind, it would probably make me crazy as I'm already overly sensitive to sensation.
Anyway. Very cool that you can explain!
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-27 03:49 pm (UTC)I personally thought it was a neat stylistic choice to represent DOF for an animated comic, but I can see how it can create headaches.
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-27 04:38 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-27 06:16 pm (UTC)They actually did a lot of different things in that regard, most of which didn't bother me (but I suppose different ones might bother other people). It was specifically the red-blue split that caused problems.
>>I did find it occasionally annoying and could definitely see it as problematic to people with vision problems or people with certain types of epilepsy.<<
I'm sure it's a poor choice for anyone with a seizure disorder due to the prevalence of flashing/blinking lights. There was no warning for that either, and there should have been.
A plan b of sorts
Date: 2018-12-27 03:55 pm (UTC)Re: A plan b of sorts
Date: 2018-12-27 05:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-27 05:40 pm (UTC)But I've been warned about the visuals in this movie, thanks to the Disability community on Tumblr, so I'm waiting until I can watch it streaming on my computer -- a smaller screen, in a brightly lit room, where I turn off the screen, if I have to, and just listen to the dialog during the worst of it.
Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-27 08:02 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-27 08:23 pm (UTC)Yeah. The lack of accessibility is frustrating -- and shameful. Even more so since the movie is clearly striving to expand the universe and give more representation to more people. ... Except, apparently, the neurodiverse. :-/
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-27 09:13 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-27 10:16 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-27 11:07 pm (UTC)1) It's difficult or impossible to account for barriers that you yourself don't experience. There are myriad different ones. That means a lot of stuff isn't for everyone.
2) Would I want to ban art just because it gives me a headache? No. That's not fair to other viewers or to art, and it violates freedom of expression.
3) However, there are clinical indications that certain things cause problems for some people. Flashing lights and jarring colors are on that list. Therefore, products containing those should have the same kind of warning as food safety. People already include all sorts of things in moving ratings that sound ridiculous to me; if they're watching and warning for "thematic elements" (which describes literally everything in entertainment) then they can certainly do the same for flashing lights and jarring colors. But only on rare occasions have I see a warning even for flashing lights -- and that's on things that actually sent enough people to the hospital that serious complaints were lodged.
I have learned never to assume either competence or civility from humans. Both are too rare.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-27 11:17 pm (UTC)If the movie makers decide that they absolutely cannot tell their story without the problematic visual effects, the least they could do is put a warning on the movie poster, or DVD box, so movie-goers can decide to spend their money elsewhere, before they buy a ticket.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 01:42 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 12:33 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 05:45 pm (UTC)One thing they did in approximately the right amount was the angular effect that represented clashing universes. If they had restricted the red-blue split to those few frames, it would probably have been more tolerable. But they used it in so many other places that it was unbearable.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 06:02 pm (UTC)Hm. :-/
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 06:52 pm (UTC)So I guess one use for Into the Spider-Verse would be showing film students what overkill looks like in a good movie. I can't actually think of another one, so that's very useful. Most overkill movies suck in general.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 07:11 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 09:28 pm (UTC)"The Defenders" has four lead characters, each from their own series. In the shared series, the scenes are color-coded to indicate the focal character. They use clothing, street signs, weather, filters, and other tools to create the effects so none of it is static. We quickly got into the habit of yelling the character names every time the colortone changed. <3
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 10:39 pm (UTC)BTW, do you know about the German animator, Charlotte Reininger, from the early 20th century? She created stop motion animation using black paper silhouette shadow puppets, and was actually the first person to create a full-length animated film -- not Disney -- in 1926.
I mention her because she differentiated different scenes with different overall colors, and that feels like it might be similar energy; I'm not sure if the tint was added later, or if the light used to create create the scenes was shown through different colored tissue paper.
Much of her films were during the Silent Era, and from what I've seen uploaded to YouTube, she's a common homework assignment for German university students -- to write their own scores to her stories.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 10:40 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-28 11:09 pm (UTC)Here's her take on the Grimms' tale: The Golden Goose (1944) with English narration: https://youtu.be/oEgmmSjnqvs (~ 12 min.)
And yes, all the details in the background are also made of cut paper -- her animation and filming rig had several layers of glass, each with a layer of the landscape, with the cameraman filming from above while she sat on a low bench, and did all the animation herself.