The topic this week is Special Effects in the movies. Have Computer Generated Images (CGI) taken over the screen and negatively affected the story?
We have come a long way since the original 1933 King Kong movie. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: a Space Odyssey, took us on a journey through time from our humble origins as primates to our yet-to-be-realized future on another planet. A few years later the mechanical shark in Jaws was enough to cause a generation to flee the bathtub in favor of the shower. 1977’s Star Wars showed us that the future looked a lot like the present, but with robots, Land Speeders and Warp Drive.
Each one of these films was a milepost in the development of special effects and how they helped to drive the story. By making the unreal look so real we were able to suspend our disbelief and “buy in” to the story.
Today we have 3-D movies that are the next best thing to being there. Last year The Lioness and I had some complimentary movie tickets and watched The Life of Pi in 3-D. It was an amazing experience, but I grew tired of wearing the glasses to watch the film. That’s my personal preference, and not to be construed as the average audience reaction.
The following video takes a look at how CGI is changing our experience at the movies. The film maker talks about the WETA Effect (named after a digital special effects company started in the ’90s) and in his opinion the effects today are too polished—the unrealistic is too realistic.
Take a look at what he has to say and compare it to your experience at the movies.
Do you think that Special Effects are negatively affecting our entertainment dollar?
Related Links:
- The WETA Effect: Why Don’t Special Effects Impress Us Like They Used To?
- 6 Reasons Modern Movie CGI Looks Surprisingly Crappy
Weta…a KIWI company. I recently watched something about the new Star Wars movie and was thrilled to see they are going for more realism than the last three.
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Thanks, Jo. It will be interesting to see how the Franchise plays out with new people at the helm. Ω
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I hope they do not ruin it.
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Yep. One too many times I think there scenes/movies made just because, CGI-wise, thet’re doable. And that’s terrible. 🙂
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Spot on commentary on my experience with recent computer graphics. Thanks for sharing.
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