“The Use of Visual Effects and
Motion Graphics in Media”
Visual effects not to be confused with special effects have been around since 1972 and now they are a very large part of the motion picture industry. The first major use of computer CGI was in the 1972 Poseidon adventure, which is a story following a group of survivors on a ship that’s upside down. Some pivotal scenes, which show about 400 people being drowned, couldn’t be achieved by special effects so they used visual effects to place the 400 people in the scene. This was the first effect of this type and for the time was groundbreaking which is why the Poseidon Adventure picked up best visual effects.
Green screen or chroma keying is the process in which an actor is placed in front of a green screen and asked to act out a scene. The green background is then changed into whatever is desired. Eg in superman Henry Cavil will be asked to act out flying in front of a green, then later in the post production stage a shot of a moving background of flight will then be added. The technique of green screening can be used perfectly in harmony with the use of CGI in films such as 300. The film 300 is done 100% using green screens for every shot. In 300 there is lots of CGI needed to add the blood effects which is prefect for the green screening process as the blood effects would require less compositing. Another bonous of using the green screen process is all shots can having the ability to add light in post production and opens the doorway to digital cinematography.
Visual effects have been used mainly with a few exceptions to replace special effects in modern cinema a very good example/comparison of the before and after is 2001 a Space Odyssey and Gravity. Both films had groundbreaking special/visual effects for there time and both have a very similar level of critical acclaim.
(Above)
2001 a space odyssey (the most realistic film based in space of the time al done in camera with no added visual effects)
(Below)
Chroma Key or as its most widely known is a very common visual effects in todays film industry the effect allows somebody to stand in from of a green screen and then have to the background changed, this effects is widely used in films such as The Hobbit. This effects when used excessively ruins films as the actors are told what there surroudings are rather than being on a location which would bring a much better performance out of them.
The other main type of visual effect involves creating thing s from scratch whether this be the tiger from Life Of Pie or the dragon from the hobbit. Smaug (below) is made entirely from CGI and is one of the most realistic CGI depictions of a creature to date it took a team of 70 dedicated animators months to perfect how he looked.
I personally think that the overuse of visual effects in film is ruining the mainstream film industry. Films such as the expendables can get away with having each of the 7 members of the cast all working in different locations on green screen and then being put together afterwards. Effects such as this completely ruin on-screen chemistry. In contrast a great example of Special effects used correctly is in the 2011 film The Grey which was all filmed on location on Norway in the snow and ice this was very effective and smart decision by the director as some audience members even stated that they felt cold during the screenings. If the decision had been made to film the gray on a green screen stage there is no way that audience members would react the way they did. Even if the decision had been made to film the grey on green screen, it wouldn’t bring a great performance out of the actors. My final verdict on whether I like the use of visual effects in films is i don't, not that I'm saying that they should be erased entirely but visual effects used more subtlety such as the tyler/cameron winklevoss cloning is in The Social Network.
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