Heroes SFX Vs. Smallville SFX

[DarkSuperman]

I've been just recently watching both Heroes and Smallville and I think that Smallville has Heroes beat in the Special Effects/Super Fights department.

This seems odd to me because isn't Heroes the bigger show? I mean, being on NBC I'd expect Heroes to have the biggest SFX bill, but S-Ville has recently been having a lot of these "Clash of the Titans" type battles between Clark Kent and whatever Alien he happens to be beating down that week. Smallville's writing may not be as strong as Heroes, but their superhero action is top notch.

My question is how come Smallville's SFX seem so much more spectacular than the bigger show Heroes? I KNOW Smallville doesn't have more money than heroes! Is it because they're in their 7th year and have perfected the art of the "Super Fight" or does Heroes not have money left over after paying their plethora of actors?

Check the vids below and give me your explanations please.


Clark vs Bizarro Clark
[YT]CgIhqCR7AZQ[/YT]

Peter vs Sylar
[YT]X4At52-9mL4[/YT]

 

[Primal Slayer]

theres already a thread here http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=287315&page=7

But I think that Heroes totally has Smallville beat. Smallvilles flying basically just consists of some fast colors while Heroes actually makes it look like they are flying. And everyting just looks realistic in general.

Even Smallvilles fights, its just a punch and someone goes zooming into a wall or something.

But Heroes doesnt really do fights so its hard to compare to SV in that area.

Heroes has never been about the "fight" whereas thats part of Supermans/Smallvilles appeal.

 

[Sawyer]

Heroes. Sometimes the SFX on Smallville look really rushed.

 

[DarkSuperman]

Heroes. Sometimes the SFX on Smallville look really rushed.

Yeah sometimes, but their Season openings and finales have great fisticuffs. One should never underestimate the coolness of a good zoom-punch.

 

[Tempest19]

Smallville. has a lot more "wow" effect sequences... that might be because they vary more.

 

[Sawyer]

Yeah sometimes, but their Season openings and finales have great fisticuffs. One should never underestimate the coolness of a good zoom-punch.

Oh yeah, those are great. But then there are things like this...

[YT]Li8-vaIt6r4[/YT]

At first, I thought it was just sfx that would be fixed when the episode actually aired. No such luck.

 

[Matt]

I don't really watch Smallville, but those I have seen in commercials, clips, etc are horrible. Heroes are pretty bad too (I mean, look at West flying with HRG, ugh).

 

[DarkSuperman]

Smallville. has a lot more "wow" effect sequences... that might be because they vary more.

Yeah, I totally agree on that one. If heroes could incorporate more of the "Wow" and keep their top notch story telling that would be perfect. I mean cause it's getting to the point where peter and sylar are quickly becoming "Supermen" and the famous "Kirby Plaza beatdown" won't be cutting it for long. These guys are way too super to fight like ordinary people.

I was wondering why aren't their confrontations more "Wow!" like they are on smallville when heroes is the bigger show? I mean people can argue that Heroes isn't about that all they want, but it is very much based on and reflective of the comic book world and a large part of comics is "Wow!" moments when the super people go "Hulk Smash" on their enemies.

Smallville does this better than heroes at the moment and I was just wondering why? Answers anyone?

 

[DarkSuperman]

Oh yeah, those are great. But then there are things like this...



At first, I thought it was just sfx that would be fixed when the episode actually aired. No such luck.

HAHAHA! Yeah, that was kinda "Rushed" but they have done flying cool before too!

[YT]AT7NutySc4Y[/YT]

Or at least I thought it rocked...lol

 

[Tempest19]

definitely, I dont know why people forget the kal-el flight...

also- last season in the fight between peter and syler not being shown at all... what the hell was up with that? The episode was great, but that "fight" was a serious disappointment. Why didn't they show it?

 

[Sawyer]

I don't really watch Smallville, but those I have seen in commercials, clips, etc are horrible. Heroes are pretty bad too (I mean, look at West flying with HRG, ugh).

Yeah, but Heroes also has great ones, like Peter flying with Claude, Peter exploding and flying down to pick Nathan up, the lightning bolts, whenever someone heals, etc.

 

[DarkSuperman]

definitely, I dont know why people forget the kal-el flight...

also- last season in the fight between peter and syler not being shown at all... what the hell was up with that? The episode was great, but that "fight" was a serious disappointment. Why didn't they show it?

Exactly! That's my whole point...in Heroes a lot of stuff is just alluded to and that might be okay for the first season, but now that the show is the biggest thing on television its time to start cooking with gas so to speak.

I'm not saying every episode needs to have a Smallville "Clash of the Titans" type of fight, but it wouldn't hurt to have one or two per season.

I mean we keep hearing Hiro talk about great power, but so far I haven't seen one Hero demonstrate why I can't kill them all myself with good aim and a shot gun. (Except the Maury and Parkman, being telepaths) Having a good Ol'fashioned Super powered beat down a la smallville every once in a while would serve to reinforce why these characters are bad asses. We still don't know what powers the majority of the company founders had by the way...

Bottom Line, Heroes needs to up their fisticuff game because like it or not epic battles are a part of comics and cutting away just as the action gets good isn't going to work for season 3. they could learn a lesson from S-ville on the super duel front.

 

[The Caped Knight]

Smallville been around for 7 years (Theirfore the CGI is better .)

Heroes is now in it's second season . (Give them more time to get use the works .)

 

[Warhammer]

I feel that Heroes has the better SFX of the two because it has a bigger budget to make the effects slightly better, me thinks. It's no ILM or Weta, but both are all good to me.

 

[Krimasen]

I feel that Heroes has the better SFX of the two because it has a bigger budget to make the effects slightly better, me thinks. It's no ILM or Weta, but both are all good to me.

I agree. The SFX on both shows are usually well done, with the occasional "cheese" moment. Personally, I think the slow-mo scenes on Smallville where something ends up breaking like a mace or knife are really cool.

 

[DarkSuperman]

I agree. The SFX on both shows are usually well done, with the occasional "cheese" moment. Personally, I think the slow-mo scenes on Smallville where something ends up breaking like a mace or knife are really cool.

Yeah Super Speed is always well done on S-ville too. but I think they shine with the super fights they're always larger than life and I don't get that "Wow!" factor on heroes, mostly cause a lot of their stuff is sight unseen and or really toned down, like the 1st season Kirby Plaza fight. Hopefully in later seasons they achieve smallville levels of grandness.

 

[AshtonFoster]

Heroes CGI rocks when Hiro or Peter stops time. And Heroes actually has people flying, whereas Smallville just has a red blur and such.
Sometimes though, Heroes over use the 'green screen' for simple backrounds....looks very cheap.
Smallville has some very good CGI in season openers and closers though.

 

[Superfreak]

Smallville been around for 7 years (Theirfore the CGI is better .)

Heroes is now in it's second season . (Give them more time to get use the works .)

I personally think SV's effects are pretty sub par actually. Everything is done in bullettime, or moc-bullet time (bullet time, without the bullet time, just slow mo, with stupid little whisps of speed trails behind everything). I personally, don't think this looks good. Maybe for superspeed... but not every single other power.

Hereos effects are much better IMO. Why? because they're not over the top and flamboyant. They're simple, which is how it should be. Smallville overdoes everything.

for SV, powers > story and character development

for heroes, powers < story and character development (the way it should be, and the way SV should have been, and how it was when it started... before it got ridiculous)

 

[neemer5]

I think the Heroes' fx far surpasses Smallville's, which really seems low-rent. Unfortunately, there isn't really a lot of fx in Heroes, and what is seen is done very fluidly, so it largely goes unnoticed.

It's still TV-grade, but Heroes manages to avoid some of the cheesy CGI of shows lately (think CSI, House).

 

[Raiden]

I have to say, that fight between Clark and Bizarro looks way more exciting than even that Peter vs. Sylar fight in "Five Years Gone", since that fight occurred mostly off-camera. Smallville's FX reflects a show that has small budget, but that didn't stop them from trying to create some spectacular fights. Hopefully we will see more from Heroes as well.

 

[DarkSuperman]

I have to say, that fight between Clark and Bizarro looks way more exciting than even that Peter vs. Sylar fight in "Five Years Gone", since that fight occurred mostly off-camera. Smallville's FX reflects a show that has small budget, but that didn't stop them from trying to create some spectacular fights. Hopefully we will see more from Heroes as well.

yeah thats what I'm trying to say. the Bizarro fight was more exciting that the Sylar/peter one and I think it should be the other way around. hopefully later on they can achieve this.

 

[Krimasen]

I think another reason why people think there is a discrepancy in SFX between the 2 shows is b/c Heroes aims for a more realistic approach (as realistic as a show about people with super powers can be, anyhow) whereas Smallville is established as being pure comic book and outlandish from the beginning and their sometimes elaborate visual scenes are proof of that (which is a good thing).

Speaking of SFX "cheese" moments, one in Heroes recently comes to mind. It was the scene from a couple of episodes ago where Bennett is looking for West and West swoops in and grabs him like a hawk. I thought that moment looked incredibly cheesy (granted, I've only seen that episode once, maybe it'll look better on a second viewing). That one and the one from earlier on in the season where West grabs Claire and drops her onto the steps as part of their plan to mess with the head cheerleader's mind. haha

 

[Superfreak]

yeah thats what I'm trying to say. the Bizarro fight was more exciting that the Sylar/peter one and I think it should be the other way around. hopefully later on they can achieve this.

but your damn comparison is so flawed.


Sylar vs. Peter in Five years later.... that was just a tease of power. I was just there to show the audience that all of their powers were going to grow, and that Peter was gonna become uber powerful. The point was not to show the fight... it was a taste of things to come.

Clark vs. Bizarro. Please. They didn't even go to the trouble of trying to put it in bullet time... They just flashed red lights, and combined a little slow mo, with some of their girly smoke streamy F/X. I wouldn't even call what happened a fight. I would call it, watching a damn shake from the outside, and one or two punchs. That's not a fight, that's not even a tussle. And it took 7 years to get that? This is why SV is annoying (heroes delivered a taste of things to come, that way outmatches Smallville's current 'big fight'), but more over, you'd think that after 7 years, SV would actually deliver a satisfying battle... but no, they've managed to take the fight out of every fight, with some idiotic narrative device (Zod = Crystal, Bizarro = Sunlight (although we still don't really understand what the hell happened at the end, why didn't clark just superpunch bizarro into orbit at the beginning of the episode?).



Simply put... your comparing a substandard major battle of a series, to a short preview of what future power battles will be like in the future of heroes. I think the comparison is unfair. How about this, wait 7 seasons, I bet that the battles on Heroes, will far outmatch the battles on SV, both in narrative, and quality ($$$$ not withstanding)

 

[November Rain]

there are some stuff in smallville that is better than heroes, there is some stuff in heroes that is better than smallville...

big deal.

 

[DarkSuperman]

but your damn comparison is so flawed.


Sylar vs. Peter in Five years later.... that was just a tease of power. I was just there to show the audience that all of their powers were going to grow, and that Peter was gonna become uber powerful. The point was not to show the fight... it was a taste of things to come.

Clark vs. Bizarro. Please. They didn't even go to the trouble of trying to put it in bullet time... They just flashed red lights, and combined a little slow mo, with some of their girly smoke streamy F/X. I wouldn't even call what happened a fight. I would call it, watching a damn shake from the outside, and one or two punchs. That's not a fight, that's not even a tussle. And it took 7 years to get that? This is why SV is annoying (heroes delivered a taste of things to come, that way outmatches Smallville's current 'big fight'), but more over, you'd think that after 7 years, SV would actually deliver a satisfying battle... but no, they've managed to take the fight out of every fight, with some idiotic narrative device (Zod = Crystal, Bizarro = Sunlight (although we still don't really understand what the hell happened at the end, why didn't clark just superpunch bizarro into orbit at the beginning of the episode?).



Simply put... your comparing a substandard major battle of a series, to a short preview of what future power battles will be like in the future of heroes. I think the comparison is unfair. How about this, wait 7 seasons, I bet that the battles on Heroes, will far outmatch the battles on SV, both in narrative, and quality ($$$$ not withstanding)

If you watched the clip you would have seen that it is a compilation of every peter/sylar fight to date. not just the five years later one.