Having viewed several 3D films over the years and being disappointed by all of them, I didn't have much hope for Hugo (2011). As I mentioned before, I didn't think modern 3D could ever live up to what it once was, due to directors cutting corners and making their 3D effects laughable. However, Martin Scorsese has succeed where others have failed.
Scorsese has used 3D space correctly. The foreground, mid-ground, and background are all beautifully presented in Hugo. Is the film perfect? No, there are several instances continuity error. Two most noticeable are in the book store and in the clock apartment that Hugo lives in. Going down the stairs of the book store Isabelle is in front, but in the next shot Hugo is in front. The other error mentioned is with the automaton. In one shot it's hand is stopped on the right, resting on the paper. However after a quick shot away, we return to it's hand on the left and in the air, before it starts drawing again. There are several more examples of this in Hugo. Also in the 3D there are a few frames that show blur which isn't there in the 2D version. And I don't know why Scorsese decided to have it snow inside a building. Throughout Hugo you can see snow flakes floating in the air, inside the train station, which has a roof. The snow should have been kept to the outdoor scenes only.
Ellen Lewis – the casting director – did a great job in casting Ben Kingsley to play the role of Georges Méliès. The two men look alike, and this helped to make this motion picture look authentic. Here is a comparison photo I compiled:
Méliès lived from 1861 until 1938. He was the first to use stop-motion photography, as well as special effects such as dissolves and fades. He was also one of the first people to include animation into his films, such as hand-drawing certain effects (disappearing in a puff of smoke). He was also the first to create real narrative films. Méliès actually told stories with his films, before that motion pictures didn't really tell a story, they just showed everyday things such as a woman sweeping the floor, a man sneezing, men leaving work at the end of the day, or a train coming into the station.
Motion Pictures began when two men had a bet about running horses. One man said all four legs lifted off the ground, the other said that at least two leg always stayed on the ground; similar to how a human runs. They set up several cameras around a racetrack and set them to take pictures at intervals. As they were flipping through the photos, they noticed that it looked like the horse was running when the pictures were moved at a quick pace in order. Since that time, motion pictures have continued to be this everyday thing. If it wasn't for Méliès, films today may still be of ordinary things.
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