Introduction
It used to be that what you saw on a movie set would pretty much be what you saw in the final movie, but CGI has changed the “reality” of what we see in films entirely.
Script
Narrator: In the olden days what you’d see on a movie set would look pretty much the same as what you’d see in the final film, but with modern technology giving us a capability of CGI, all you need is a green screen and a couple of props. And because of this, movie sets nowadays look completely different to what you see in the final movie. So here are some movie clips, without the visual effects, for you to see what they really look like.
Life of Pi: In this movie we see that Pi Patel spends most of his time in a boat at sea. Oh yeah, and there’s a tiger there too. Except they’re not at sea and there’s no tiger there. Nearly the entire movie was filmed in front of a blue screen and the tiger was completely CGI. However, for the close-up shots, where PI has to physically interact with the tiger, they didn’t use a tiger either! They used a blue teddy bear with badly scribbled on eyes.
Captain America: Civil War: This film used tons of green screens for locations that you would have thought you could get away without having to use it like the fight scene between team Iron Man and team Captain America that takes place in an airport. I mean is an airport really something that has to be done with CGI? Apparently so. But the scene where Captain America stops the helicopter from taking off with his bare hands makes more sense as that was done at ground level rather than on a dangerous rooftop.
The Wolf of Wall Street: You’d think that being based on a true story there wouldn’t really be any need for fancy fantasy scenery, but this film was full of it. It was used for foreign locations the characters visited to enhance the beach houses that they partied at and, of course, for more obvious things like having a lion walk through the office.
Gravity: This wasn’t actually entirely filmed in front of green screens, but in front of TV screens in order to get the right lighting on the actors faces, but, yes, the majority of the scenery is computer-generated and so are some of the props and some of the controls you think they’re interacting with aren’t even there. I’m not sure if this is clever or just lazy.
Godzilla!: Of course Godzilla was completely CGI because using a guy in a suit doesn’t really cut the mustard these days. But aside from the obvious CGI, there is some CGI that might actually surprise you. For example when the armies on the coast are trying to attack the monsters there’s nothing there! Just green screens and a fence and some soldiers.
Jurassic World: Of course this movie heavily relies on CGI as dinosaurs are extinct and dressing an actor up in a dino suit looks…well, we all know what that looks like. So, as a result, many of the scenes look entirely different to what’s seen in the movie. In many scenes where a dinosaur would appear, actors had to imagine there was something there. And in other scenes involving raptors, for example, they had actors with these funny helmets and motion sensors on them for a point of reference. And, as if creating pretty much all the dinosaurs with CGI wasn’t enough CGI, even the scenery was enhanced with CGI made to look even more amazing.
Batman vs. Superman in Dawn of Justice: Most of the Gotham city scenery was done with CGI and, being a fictional city, this was to be expected. But what’s surprising is that they used CGI for Batman’s powered armor in order for the actors to be able to move around more freely and for a huge chunk of the fight it wasn’t even Ben Affleck fighting it was just a stuntman. Huh.
What did you think of these scenes? Did they look completely different? Let us know in the comments below. For your daily celeb fix, subscribe.
Quiz
1. However, for the ________ shots, they used a blue teddy bear with badly scribbled on eyes.Discussion
- Do you enjoy going to see big summer movie blockbusters?
- What’s your favorite Hollywood blockbuster of all time?
- How has the development of computer generated images (CGI) influenced the summer blockbusters of today? In your opinion, have these changes had a generally positive or negative effect on big summer films?