Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 05:12:14 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Ricky Gervais's After Life series 3 [split topic]

Started by Cursus, July 23, 2020, 09:33:21 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

frajer

My money is on it's altered footage. It's clearly a "that'll do" rush-job that people picked up on because it's a horrendous march down Uncanny Valley.

But Gervais cannot cop to it because as writer/actor/director/imagineer he would have to admit he had failed in some way, which is something he is incapable of doing.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: MrsWarboysLover on February 09, 2022, 08:56:29 AMEDIT: to anyone somehow in doubt look at how the shadow and highlights in her hair stay frozen no matter where she is in the lake, or which direction her head 2 dimensionally swivels!

Time to get the lads from Corridor Digital on it from their series SFX Artists React. It's the kind of oddity they like.

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: Jumblegraws on February 09, 2022, 09:12:33 AMFor the record, I do like Godliman most of the time, and "no acting discipline" was an overstatement. I was just surprised to see her being defended so robustly, especially after all the shrapnel she got hit with in the Derek threads.

Yea sorry I was acting flippantly you a clearly flippant post, unnecessary.

 same, godliman is ace, shame to see her and gittins and key slumming it

lipsink

My favourite bit of the Limmy video is:

"Little back light there"

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: PlanktonSideburns on February 09, 2022, 10:00:03 AMYea sorry I was acting flippantly you a clearly flippant post, unnecessary.

 same, godliman is ace, shame to see her and gittins and key slumming it

Slumming it? Working with Gervais on Derek and After Life would have their agents grinning from ear to ear.

DrGreggles

Quote from: g0m on February 09, 2022, 02:00:47 AMdidn't they show behind the scenes footage of that shot from a different angle? i'm pretty sure it turned out it was real

It's clearly not real.
Just because there was a photo of them filming something, it doesn't mean they didn't fuck around with it later.
Maybe the footage was shit or you couldn't see her face or something, so they 'fixed' it.

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on February 09, 2022, 10:22:30 AMSlumming it? Working with Gervais on Derek and After Life would have their agents grinning from ear to ear.

Yea I guess I'm being a bit of a snob here

I certainly wouldn't turn down working on any tv show, not even a rubs one

Ferris

Quote from: frajer on February 09, 2022, 09:25:07 AMMy money is on it's altered footage. It's clearly a "that'll do" rush-job that people picked up on because it's a horrendous march down Uncanny Valley.

But Gervais cannot cop to it because as writer/actor/director/imagineer he would have to admit he had failed in some way, which is something he is incapable of doing.

Yeah it's this.

Assuming it's a stunt double they put Godliman's face on in post and hoped no one would notice because it's astonishing the things people don't notice when they're not looking for it.

Ferris

For the record, I also doubt it was taken on his phone and that very convenient photo of him doing it at the time.

The zoom distance on anything further than 5ft away is terrible using a phone camera. Separately, it doesn't particularly look like phone footage (it's not a VHS effect or grainy or whatever) so that would suggest he's just filming bits of a show for Netflix on his phone because it's what he had and it's a big budget production not Robot Chicken.

It was a set-up camera shot with a body double (maybe set up and approved by a unit chief rather than the Rickmaster General if we're being generous) and the hasty editing was done because it's more hassle to go out and film it again and no one will notice.

Alternative (equally plausible), gervais decided he wanted that shot after filming ended so they went back and got that footage, but had to use a stand-in for Godliman - this is less likely because it suggests that level of slapdash production was baked into the shot, though I wouldn't put it past him.


That's not trick film.  She's just a microcephalic who covered her face while getting an all-over tan.

Quote from: Ferris on February 09, 2022, 11:49:25 AMAlternative (equally plausible), gervais decided he wanted that shot after filming ended so they went back and got that footage, but had to use a stand-in for Godliman - this is less likely because it suggests that level of slapdash production was baked into the shot, though I wouldn't put it past him.

I'm sure I read that the shot was done at the end/after completion of filming when it was first questioned.

Ferris

Quote from: Better Midlands on February 09, 2022, 12:41:16 PMI'm sure I read that the shot was done at the end/after completion of filming when it was first questioned.

So the official narrative is they wanted that footage after they'd finished the main shoot, so they went to the trouble of scheduling an extra day's filming, got Kerry Godliman to come and swim in a lake for 5 seconds, then the Rickster filmed it on his phone? And saw that footage and said "yep perfect no need for an additional take or to move slightly to the right when shooting it."

Or

They wanted the extra footage, so sent a two person crew and a stunt double to get the shots and agreed they'd fix it in post because who cares no one will notice (until someone did).

Scenario 2 quite a bit more convincing.

Jumblegraws

Quote from: Ferris on February 09, 2022, 01:26:13 PMSo the official narrative is they wanted that footage after they'd finished the main shoot, so they went to the trouble of scheduling an extra day's filming, got Kerry Godliman to come and swim in a lake for 5 seconds, then the Rickster filmed it on his phone? And saw that footage and said "yep perfect no need for an additional take or to move slightly to the right when shooting it."
Putting aside how implausible it is to get those visuals without tampering with the footage, I have absolutely no problem believing Gervais would do this

Ferris

Quote from: Jumblegraws on February 09, 2022, 01:32:19 PMPutting aside how implausible it is to get those visuals without tampering with the footage, I have absolutely no problem believing Gervais would do this

...fair point.

QDRPHNC

If it is Kerry Godliman, she's wearing a cardboard cut-out mask of her own face attached to the top of her head with an elastic band.

lb99

My theory is that they've bumped up the brightness on her face in the grade and it now stands out too much against her skin in the murky water. In most shots (even properly shot professional ones) the colourist will subtly increase the brightness on actors' faces to draw the viewers eye to them. I think because the footage was poor quality in the first place, and she's swimming in murky water, the colourist has boosted the brightness on the face but did it a little too much so it feels disconnected from the scene around her.

Bunty Levert

The unnatural "maintaining eye contact while forcing a constant smile and swimming towards the best, most nicest and well-written man in the entire universe" expression alone pushes it into the uncanny valley.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: lb99 on February 09, 2022, 02:25:56 PMMy theory is that they've bumped up the brightness on her face in the grade and it now stands out too much against her skin in the murky water. In most shots (even properly shot professional ones) the colourist will subtly increase the brightness on actors' faces to draw the viewers eye to them. I think because the footage was poor quality in the first place, and she's swimming in murky water, the colourist has boosted the brightness on the face but did it a little too much so it feels disconnected from the scene around her.

Fair enough but it also looks like there's dark (or wet and underexposed) hair poking out behind her blond hair on one side, like a bad crop.

Sebastian Cobb

'interestingly' I was rewatching the clip with Neil Fitzmaurice getting sacked in the original office the other day and noticed someone in the comments had mentioned at a certain point they'd held a shot with Gervais by subtly playing it forwards then backwards. Probably to clip off Gervais corpsing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAnIOCIBFR4&t=94s

Jumblegraws

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on February 09, 2022, 03:02:19 PMFair enough but it also looks like there's dark (or wet and underexposed) hair poking out behind her blond hair on one side, like a bad crop.
I assumed that was from amping up the contrast (whether it's a pasted-on image or not). Notice the shadows on the blond section look like little streams of treacle running through her hair.

Something I've not seen anyone comment on is that "she" blinks a couple of times and it looks just like when you see a demonstration of one of those hyper-realistic robots/androids/whatever. Uncanny Valley indeed.


Ferris

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on February 09, 2022, 03:07:05 PM'interestingly' I was rewatching the clip with Neil Fitzmaurice getting sacked in the original office the other day and noticed someone in the comments had mentioned at a certain point they'd held a shot with Gervais by subtly playing it forwards then backwards. Probably to clip off Gervais corpsing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAnIOCIBFR4&t=94s

That's really good! I'd never noticed before.

I imagine every show is full of little patches and tweaks like this. Like I say - Joe public isn't looking for these things when watching along so you can probably get away with quite a lot. The dodgy shot in After Life was probably a step too far.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

whenever I rewatch that clip looking for "clues" i think fine it does look like it could have been shot on a phone, but that definitely doesn't explain that fucking jpeg face hovering across the water.

Quote from: Bunty Levert on February 09, 2022, 02:53:36 PMThe unnatural "maintaining eye contact while forcing a constant smile and swimming towards the best, most nicest and well-written man in the entire universe" expression alone pushes it into the uncanny valley.

this is the thing. even with the money being thrown at the show they let this hilarious shot stay in to keep with this Gervaisian fantasy world.

It obviously wasn't enough for Gervais to just show dead wife swimming, perhaps looking up with a brief smile. (or anxious glance to make sure the nicest, most hilarious man on earth isn't about to piss on her/hurl an unopened can of carling at her head while cackling)

No, for us to really understand how wonderful Ricky Tony is, she has to have a smile fixed on her the entire time she passes and twists her neck. Staring up with the simple, unconditional adoration of a dog. That's definitely how normal people interact with their partners.

Blue Jam

Her hair is dry and her make-up is perfect. That's enough for me.

Jumblegraws

Quote from: Blue Jam on February 09, 2022, 04:21:26 PMHer hair is dry and her make-up is perfect. That's enough for me.
I go wild swimming a fair bit and when the water's really cold, I instinctively keep everything from my chin up above the surface like my head's wired to a rail. So the dry hair and made-up face is the least of it imo.

Quote from: Chollis on February 09, 2022, 12:04:59 PM
For Christ's sake, you can clearly see the "real" swimmer's black hair (or black swimming cap) sticking out under the Godlimask. 
That ain't a shadow.

phes

That was the best bit in three series of After Life

Rolf Lundgren

They could have just cut out the flashback and nothing would have been lost. Tony standing looking depressed by the water and we would have got that he was thinking about his dead wife because he spends every five minutes telling us about his dead wife.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

did someone do a Mulholland Drive diner edit with the face? feel like surely that's something I missed in an old thread

Jumblegraws

Quote from: Beep Cleep Chimney on February 09, 2022, 04:55:33 PMFor Christ's sake, you can clearly see the "real" swimmer's black hair (or black swimming cap) sticking out under the Godlimask. 
That ain't a shadow.

Quote from: Beep Cleep Chimney on February 09, 2022, 04:55:33 PMFor Christ's sake, you can clearly see the "real" swimmer's black hair (or black swimming cap) sticking out under the Godlimask. 
That ain't a shadow.

Like I said above, you could get that effect just by upping the contrast. Like I also said above, notice the less-lit parts of the blonde section have been turned into pitch black worms.