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Originally Posted by Locke
This is true but also amazes me. Some of it is just so, so bad! We know what can be done with CGI but like the last swatch of DC movies...just so bad! Like glaringly bad and it takes you out of the movie.
And...Jurassic Park and LOTR are in worlds entirely of their own. The prospect of even making LOTR the way they did it? I cannot foresee it ever, ever happening again.
The financing, the detail, the work, the schedule, the actors....they must have thought Jackson was a stark raving lunatic!
And then you see the behind the scenes on the DVDs? Oh my God what an experience that must have been...
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Yeah they sadly probably won't ever make movies like that again.
CGI feels bad now basically because that whole side of the industry is pushed and exploited like no other sector. They're not unionized so there's no protections on hours or rates, and producers think they can change things up until the very end and give them impossible timelines.
It's basically the opposite of Jackson and LOTR. Care, planning and attention to detail. They spent 2 YEARS in prep before cameras even rolled. Scouting locations, camera tests to make sure the visuals worked, building whole towns and armies worth of armour with meticulous research and craftsmanship. It's amazing any studio gave them the resources to do it, and for Jackson too, who at the time was an extremely niche small-time horror director. The fact he made those movies for under $300 million TOTAL is absolutely insane.
Today's VFX can be remarkable. There is great artistry in a lot of it. When things are pure animation like Love Death and Robots, or Spiderverse, it can showcase some incredible stuff. It's the mixing of life and CGI that has become lazy and rushed. You still need a layer of real to help blend the illusion. Like the animatronic head of the T-Rex up close or its foot stepping into mud, or the sick Triceratops. Seeing those things actually interact with the environment vs CGIing everything that's not the people is what helps bridge the realities. So even if the actual CGI isn't that detailed, when you see it up close and it's real, it makes the whole thing feel so much better.