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I still find original Alien movies as the most impressing movies on effect side. Or old Star Wars movies. Even the old Dunes movie managed to make one. New CG
by nicce 5y ago
I still find original Alien movies as the most impressing movies on effect side.
Or old Star Wars movies.
Even the old Dunes movie managed to make one.
New CGI movies just feels so fake. Some feeling is totally missing.
- eigenvalue 5y agoI just watched Alien again recently and had the same thought. It looks infinitely better and more realistic than anything made in the last few years. We should go back to using models and miniatures and restrict the computer to things like automated camera control.
- lovehashbrowns 5y agoWhy would we stop progress on a technology just because it’s not perfect? Particularly on something as subjective as this. This attitude is prevalent in some of the weirdest fields but oddly enough I don’t see anyone saying we should stop flight because the leg room in modern planes isn’t great. Although I’m curious what your thoughts would’ve been had you been around to see the Wright brothers on their first flight. Or the first cell phone that came in a suitcase. Or the first camera that was just a photo sensitive plate and a hole for a lens. How would any of this had been improved if people just gave up the second they realized something about the technology wasn’t perfect?
- nicce 5y agoHmph. Isn't CGI just different path? We could have improved miniatures as well. Maybe technology to produce them or use with CGI. It is not so binary. Computers are no the only technology we know.
- lovehashbrowns 5y agoOkay but I've never said we should stop using practical effects. I don't see any point in trying to limit artists in what technology they can or can't use.
- hypertele-Xii 5y agoCheap, but technically well-executed. A kind of economic uncanny valley.
- Zircom 5y agoReally? The little xenomorph skittering off after it burst out from the chest literally made me laugh out loud with how silly it looked, it was so incredibly stiff and fake.
- nicce 5y agoThere are of course some minor problems, but the overall environment creates so ”real” feeling. It is not perfect, but somehow it makes one to believe this could be real. I don’t really know how to describe that. It is missing from the modern CGI movies.
- open-source-ux 5y agoThat example of practical effects looked quite stiff and fake like you said. But practical effects also continued to improve over the years even though CGI came to dominate the film industry. Alien was released in 1979, but a few years later saw the release of An American Werewolf in London (1981) which featured a memorable werewolf transformation (all practictal effects). Then in 1982 saw the release of The Thing which took practical effects a notch higher. Also, today filmmakers sometimes use a hybrid approach: combining practical and digital effects. I do wonder how much further practical effects would have developed if CGI haven't overtook the film industry.
- grogenaut 5y agoI will note you are picking some of the best effects movies of all time and comparing them with everything else. On the other hand compare "The Expanse" (Prime Video) with B movies of the Alien era, and the level of story telling they are able to do in a long form TV show. Then compare TV shows of the Alien era. The story telling there is much aided by CGI. Tho that show uses a good mix of practical and fake. Lots of small sets for ships, lots of fake displays. Many fantastical worlds that they can pump out with CG.
- nicce 5y agoIt is also worthy to note , that comparisons are made for Marvel movies or other very high budget movies. I would put Alien above all of them. High budget movies could still use same techniques in these days but they aren’t.
- monocasa 5y agoAlien's horror genre gets away with not actually showing that much in order to build suspense. Few genres are afforded that luxury, particularly not super hero movies. I don't see many people citing Superman 2 as the kinds of effects we should go back to.
- nicce 5y agoThere are planets, spaceships, big buildings and so on for creating the atmosphere. CGI is used to create those in these days as well.
- monocasa 5y agoAnd those aren't the points that people generally point to as failures of CGI. You can have goofy CGI with those, but you can definitely have goofy looking practical effects with elements too.
- grogenaut 5y agoNothing in my comment disagreed with your point. I agree, the practical effects in much of Alien are great, and better than CG for those things.