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Subject:	RE: FLASH: About Flash in Sweden and perception
From:	Byer, Mark
Date:	Wed, 19 May 1999 14:59:35 +0100

I know I'm getting into this thread a little late, but...

> ----------
> From: David Gary
>
>
> Content _should_ be king. The bottom line is, no matter how cool Flash is,
> it
> still cannot stand up to 3D animation and high-end
> interactive visuals on CD-rom or video special effects. It doesnt matter
> what
> you produce, it cannot compare to video, which
> is what we are used to. I haven't seen a flash site yet, including my own,
> that
> was worth the DL, simply because, for what its worth, it doesn't come
> close to
> what we're used to in the "Video" world. The new Star Wars better have a
> good
> plot, because
> people could care less about the visual effects these days, simply for the
> fact
> that good CGI has come to be an expectation by the public. In this day and
> age
> its really hard to "Wow" a crowd in feature films with effects, much less
> on
> the internet with
> cheap animated graphics.
>
The Form vs Function debate has raged since the beginning of time, or so it
seems. Generally I totally agree with the above. I often end up in heated
debate with our own design group on just such balancing of form and
function. In the end that's just what it comes down to... balancing.

The movie analogy may not have been the best choice though David...

According to the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the top ten
grossing movies of all time are:

1) Titanic
2) Jurassic Park
3) Independance Day
4) Star Wars
5) Lion King
6) E.T.
7) Forrest Gump
8) Jurassic Park: Lost World
9) Men In Black
10) Armegeddon

How many of these had fantastic special effects? Actually every one of them.
How many had solid plots? That's a matter of opinion but even if we agree
Jurassic Park or Independance Day had solid plots were they really that much
better than Shindler's List (58), The English Patient (117), Good Will
Hunting (121) or Philedelphia (143)? (Note that these last four rate below
Terminator II: Judgement Day (14) and Jaws (19)! So much for the solid plot
theory.)

The point is that people do care a great deal about visual effects these
days and the box office proves it. So does the PC gaming industry, and your
own web site for that matter. But people also care about content. Form will
engage, content will retain. That's the balance we should be striving for.
IMHO.

-M-

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