By now a lot of us have heard people claiming that CGI is bad and that it’s ruining modern films. This video gives a pretty good explanation of why that might be and why it’s kind of erroneous thinking to just stand back and claim that CGI is ruining films all on its own. The reasoning behind this is pretty simple: CGI is a tool. It’s not so much the fault of the tool as it is the person holding it and what they attempt to do with it. The arguments made for whether CGI is really useful or is breaking down the modern film experience are therefore kind of invalid.
As the video states we notice bad CGI. When it’s rushed, when not enough attention is paid to certain details, and when someone decides to leave something out either because of time or budgeting issues, then it’s noticeable. That says a lot more about the audience though, and what it says is that as moviegoers we’ve become very spoiled. Much like a child that expects everything to go their way once they’ve been given everything they want, we tend to comment on bad CGI because it doesn’t conform to what we want and know to be the building blocks of an epic movie. The problem with that comes when a movie’s CGI isn’t found to be up to par by people that are willing to take a magnifying lens to every little thing and discern just what’s real and what’s not. This is why the extras on DVD’s are a boon and a bane to moviegoers since they tend to show just about everything that went into the film and could possibly ruin it for some folks and enhance it for others.
Once you realize the magic behind what’s being done you tend to think of it a little differently and see things in a new light. The problem with bad CGI in this day and age is that we’ve been given so much already that picking it out of the mix is fairly easy. Think of movies like Jurassic Park, which used practical effects. Compare that with The Mummy Returns, in which the CGI scorpion king, aka the Rock, was so horrible that people lost all taste for it very quickly. And yet for all that, CGI is in more movies that you don’t know about.
CGI has had to grow and develop along with everything else. By the way, did you know that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that Brad Pitt’s face while in its old phase was completely CGI? It’s true, it wasn’t a makeup effect. CGI is used alongside practical effects all the time in order to make a harmony that blends the two into a film that people will love. It’s a hit and miss kind of thing but as the years have gone by you might be surprised at just how many films have used CGI in such an extensive way.
CGI isn’t ruining the film industry, and in fact it’s kind of enhanced it beyond anything it might have achieved on its own.
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