More Words, Deeper Hole

Question

: james_nicoll; March 22nd, 2012

Is there some reason the aircraft didn't open up with the machine guns right off the bat? Also, isn't running away from an aircraft by driving down a highly constrained route sort of a doomed technique?

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are

comment(s); comment here or there.

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Cool graphics, but the creator shows no sign of intelligence

Nathan Helfinstine

2012-03-23 04:36 am (UTC)

A1: It launched the two probes to follow him and see where he was going. But they are not aerodynamic and have no airfoils, so they only stay airborne by direct thrust out the bottom (and sides to maneuver). That means they have terrible endurance time. When their fuel began to run low, they tried to kill him via laser to end the chase. They failed, so the mothership had to take him out itself.

A2: Yes, I was watching that and thinking "You're not going to outrun an aircraft, duck into another building you idiot!" The only reason he lived was that the aircraft was an inexplicably terrible shot. That should have been a dead-simple bit of strafing. Next, the aircraft utterly failed at Air Combat Tactics 101. "Behind your target" is the best place to be, "above your target" is almost as good. Why voluntarily give up the chase position? From behind it was shooting at a target with almost no relative speed. When it zipped up ahead, suddenly the target was closing rapidly. If you can't hit an easy shot, why make it a hard shot? Then, when the biker starts to close in altitude by climbing the ramp, why did the aircraft just sit there? It obviously had good sensors to know where he was, and had already proven itself maneuverable. But it just sat there and waited to be attacked. He didn't even need the silly sword, he could have used one of the spike bombs if he'd had any left. (Those spikes were amazing effective, too. He tossed it into a concrete or tile roof while doing 30-50 mph, and it stuck instantly).

Further nitpicks: All that plant life growing all over that concrete should have led to lots of concrete spalling. So that below-level expressway should have been covered in chunks of concrete.

Also, no water in the tunnel except for puddles at one portal? The tunnel hasn't developed any cracks or leaks in its years without maintenance? The roof tiles hadn't fallen onto the road surface?

So I was kind of underwhelmed. Yeah, it was cool looking, although if you're going to have a long-haired protagonist you should probably do a good job animating his hair. They would have been better off sticking the hair in his hat. Which had shiny metal rings on the brim, there to catch the light and give away his position. He was nervous from the start, so why wear something that non-tactical?

Cool graphics. Lousy scripting with no thought given to worldbuilding.

Edited at 2012-03-23 04:38 am (UTC)

Re: Cool graphics, but the creator shows no sign of intelligence

james_nicoll

2012-03-23 05:01 am (UTC)

But they are not aerodynamic and have no airfoils, so they only stay airborne by direct thrust out the bottom (and sides to maneuver).

So what are they good for?

Re: Cool graphics, but the creator shows no sign of intelligence

connactic

2012-03-23 05:20 am (UTC)

you could assume that the probes are capable of pulling out someones brainstate via destructive scanning. The mission objectives would be to get brainstate, and if that fails kill the person. So that would also explain why no machine gun fire at the start.

Re: Cool graphics, but the creator shows no sign of intelligence

bwross

2012-03-23 05:54 am (UTC)

Combat outside of an atmosphere.

refugee50s

2012-03-23 04:58 am (UTC)

Don't run from the cops if you don't have a plan.

And if you kill one, plan on a horde to come down on you.

It's a lovely little thing, but where's the story? I feel like this is a clip from a longer work. And there's too many holes.

burger_eater

2012-03-23 05:00 am (UTC)

Dude had a pierced *cap*.

james_nicoll

2012-03-23 05:54 am (UTC)

Maybe the flyer is from the fashion police?

burger_eater

2012-03-23 06:36 am (UTC)

That would explain the reluctance to use machine guns--the robot aircraft is probably programmed to avoid creating any more "distressed" clothing. Otherwise it would have gone straight for the acid bombs.

scott_sanford

2012-03-23 06:40 am (UTC)

This is the only tactic taught in Hollywood. If the person on the ground does not stay in the open, the camera truck will not be able to move along with the target. Notice also that the guy jumped on his bike and ran down the constrained route without cover rather than ducking under cover where he would have been invisible from above; that would have aborted the whole chase scene without any exciting music or pretty explosions. It takes some really powerful stupidity for a helicopter gunship to manage to lose against a swordsman...

The creator clearly enjoyed watching Terminator II, where this particular chase scene made a little more sense.

Nathan Helfinstine

2012-03-23 03:54 pm (UTC)

The promise of CGI is that filmmakers are no longer constrained by the logistics of moving a camera around. Yet they seem to be doing everything they can to avoid using this new flexibility. Did you notice the extreme camera flare in one shot? As I understand it, film cinematographers try to minimize distracting flare. But CGI people love to add it.

kgbooklog

2012-03-23 07:08 pm (UTC)

Depends on the swordsman.

lederhosen

2012-03-23 07:45 am (UTC)

From my great-uncle's WWII memoirs:

The Tiger Moth was not a very fast plane. In fact, the top speed was 120 m.p.h. and they have been known to fly backwards. (In a high wind with the throttle off you could actually lose distance relative to the ground). On occasions, when we were unobserved we would fly along the main road, get behind a car, get down to about 10 ft., then open the throttle and jump over the car scaring the daylights out of the driver. Of course this was illegal, and would have meant instant dismissal if caught. On one occasion the driver saw me coming and accelerated. I was flying into a head wind and much to my embarrassment was unable to catch him.

errolwi

2012-03-23 09:47 am (UTC)

From my great-uncle's WWII memoirs:

The Tiger Moth was not a very fast plane. In fact, the top speed was 120 m.p.h. and they have been known to fly backwards. (In a high wind with the throttle off you could actually lose distance relative to the ground)

It still isn't very fast! I've seen an air display in those conditions by a top-notch pilot, and it was fantastic!

connactic

2012-03-23 07:48 am (UTC)

The aircraft is owned by a nearby autofac. The AI in the autofac is about as bright as a lemur. The aircraft is a stepped-up model of a child's toy. This might be the only one it has- they tend to break down a fair amount.

Along with the aircraft, the autofac has a fair amount of dog-sized drones that can scuttle along the ground. They aren't as fast, but they are capable of surrounding a building, and you don't particularly want to meet them. If the plane has spotted you, you can assume that there are several hundred on their way to your location.

Whatever breakdown caused the collapse and set the autofacs to hostile made them territorial. None of them particularly like having drones from nearby autofacs in their territory. The aircraft drone is an extremely valuable asset- the local autofac can't risk it getting shot down over another autofac's territory. So, if the rider can manage get enough distance away she* is safe.

Of course, what the autofac really wants is what's inside her head. It's not really bright, and knows it, and it's dead certain that the rider has seen more things than is cataloged in whatever crap it managed to download or squirrel away before the net went dead. The scanning process will even allow it to 'simulate' her brain in order to generate more ideas. Sure, it will not be particularly good at it, but it's a lot better than what the AI is currently capable of.

So, it wants to grab her relatively intact, so that the scanning beams can read her meat drive. If it kills her first and waits for the ground-based drones it will lose valuable information. The best way is to use the airborne scanner drones. Those started appearing about seven years ago. The autofacs have access to Autocad 37.5, which included the third-generation 'evolution' design engine. That code can generate new products, but it normally helps to have a human guide it, or else you end up with a finished 'product' like the flying brain-scan drones. After the first autofac made them, they ended up slowly spreading once neighboring facs copied captured/damaged ones.

The autofacs didn't have access to military grade AI to pilot their craft, instead they relied on tactics pulled from software they had available: FPS games. If they were only slightly smarter, they would realize that the enemies in those games were made to be beaten.

* I don't know why most people are assuming that the rider is male- the character looks like a woman to me.

rdmasters

2012-03-23 09:14 am (UTC)

God I miss that game.

Tiny Boppers for the win!

rdmasters

2012-03-23 09:15 am (UTC)

Rivets, that is...

connactic

2012-03-23 05:39 pm (UTC)

heh- I was actually thinking more of some of Phil K. Dick's futures that had rogue autofacs. I think Rivet draws from the same well, though, and I did once own a copy.

I don't think the 'why doesn't she hide' criticism is invalid. There is a good chance that there are other non-flying drones that she has to worry about. Similarly, her choice to flee by the fastest method available to her- although it does involve following a track- might actually make sense to her.

beamjockey

2012-03-23 11:56 am (UTC)

"This video has been removed by the user."

Who perhaps read the criticism here, and may be sulking.

Nathan Helfinstine

2012-03-23 03:57 pm (UTC)

Before it was removed, commentators were complaining that it was an unauthorized repost, and that the actual creator had posted it under his own account somewhere else. I can't seem to find it, though, and I neglected to copy the links people were putting in the comments.

owlmirror36

2012-03-26 06:18 pm (UTC)

Huh. Weird.

The vid has been removed, but there's text that still shows up when I click "More info":

An awesome short film called Ruin. The film takes place in a green post-apocalyptic universe. It was directed by Wes Ball, who is best known for his graphic and featurette work for HBO and DVD/Blu-ray. Ball has been working on this project for two years.
You can also check out a behind-the-scenes making of movie [sic] at Oddball Animation's website.

So searching youtube for [wes ball ruin] brings up many hits, including this one, which I guess is the same film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doteMqP6eSc

owlmirror36

2012-03-26 06:21 pm (UTC)

And, I cannot help but notice, the user who posted the one I link to is called "wesball", so presumably it is legit.

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