Using
Sleepy Hollow as a comparison. Imagine.
Though he and I are hardly the only ones who have, as several other members' posts on the forum will attest.
Actually, as I alluded to back in March, I've been meaning to make this post since way back then, but things just never aligned correctly until today because I finally found the time to pick out the screen caps I want to use for the post (even though I took captures from the entire SH film last April
).
But anyway,
Sleepy Hollow does indeed seem to be a perfect template for what the Depp/DS film could be and might actually turn out to be. It literally oozes with great Gothic atmosphere. There are a few elements in SH that I would prefer to see done differently in DS, but given Tim Burton's way of working, if he does go in the same sort of directions with DS, I'll certainly be able to live with it because the way he handled those elements in SH worked quite well. Not to mention there have been great strides made in CGI since SH was done - so in all likelihood what might be done with DS could look even better.
First off, I love the entire look of SH. One amazing thing to realize is that all the scenes that take place in the woods surrounding the village of Sleepy Hollow (and there are numerous scenes that do) were all shot in a huge studio and not out of doors, they look quite authentic (and decidely creepy):
Secondly, the village of Sleepy Hollow, particularly considering that it's merely a group of facades built in an empty English field, looks amazing - and actually becomes a character (or a groups of characters) unto itself:
And even though the backgrounds in virtually every scene are completely added elements, they also look quite authentic and lend the film so much of its atmosphere. I particularly love these two shots:
And lastly there's the CGI generation of the manor house. While I'd much prefer that Burton use a real house for the exterior of Collinwood and shoot exteriors there, I have to confess that if Collinwood were created in a similar way as the manor house in SH, I believe I wouldn't have much of a problem accepting it (and considering what Burton has done in the past (and not just with SH), a CGI exterior may indeed be the way that things go):