The Art of the Summer Blockbuster #3

The crucial third part of the trilogy. After the rousing opener that introduces the main concepts and characters, after the darker sequel, we have to return to the bouncy fun happy times of the first entry and provide some closure.

So, CGI, eh? Whats up with that?

Computer Generated Imagery. It has given us this. And this.

At times, CGI contributes to the modern blockbuster's highest highs. This is just a delightful smattering of a few things that particularly stick out for me. You probably have your own ideas.

(Yeah. I put The Matrix here. Sue me.)

(Whatever you think of the film, the big showboating Superman as the Messiah shots like this are utterly dazzling)

I don't know about you but, sometimes, in films I think, had I been in the character's shoes there or were I to be placed in a similar situation in my life, there is absolutely no way I'd choose the course of action that they opt for. I mean, just look at that, he's deliberately trying to attract a T-Rex away from a car with a flare. Seriously, Jeff. That's just silly.

Then, on the other end of the scale, you have all those moments where CGI drags you from your seat, treads on your face, screams, "YEAH! THATS RIGHT! You're watching a MOVIE!" Thus wrecking all your immersion and emotional investment. Low points, then.

Its hard to say who is the more ridiculous looking in this picture. I'll tell you one thing though: Jar-Jar has really not aged well. At all.

Well, that was the cheap shot. Seriously, though, the Star Wars Prequels actually serve as an amazing demonstration of how CGI should not be used.

So... bloody... shiny...

RACIST

These are the decisions that led to the creation of General Grevious:

1/ What the prequels really need is another villain.

2/ Villains are cool in and of themselves. They don't need any screen time.
3/ Fights between people are boring.
4/ People don't have four arms, dude. See above.
5/ A guy with four lightsabers will look even cooler than Darth Maul in the trailer.
6/ Obi-Wan needs to actually beat someone down in these films. All his other fights have ended in a sort of 1-1 draw.

I mean, we all read the Extended Universe books don't we? There's loads of backstory about General Grevious in some of them tie-in books! We do all read them, don't we?

And then Obi-Wan shoots him in his heart and quips about it. Awesome.

Its cruel (yet deeply satisfying) just to pick on the Star Wars films, though. Other lead contenders for the Woeful Application of CGI prize are: Van Helsing, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the second and third Matrix films, Alone in the Dark. I'm sure there are many, many more you can think of.

The actual computer animation may not be bad. The design may not be terrible. But the fact is, wrongly used, CGI can ruin films.

Now, for all the film producers who read this blog, a few helpful hints from an industry expert.

The 5 Rules For CGI Use

1/ Never Forget The Human Element.

Look at this way. In the first Matrix, the entire film is geared to the climactic fight between Neo and Agent Smith. Its a proper duel. Everything that preceded lead to it. Everything relies on it. Its not just Neo/Smith its Man Versus The Machines. Its Us Versus Them. Its is the conclusion of everything Neo has learned up to that point. It is The Whole Point.

Then, in the second film. You have the Burly Brawl. Now its Neo fighting loads of Agent Smiths and its not entirely clear why or for what purpose. Unfortunately, this does not (as the Wachowski's evidently thought) make it instantly a million times cooler.

Indeed, Agent Smith is unstoppable because he's got a whole replicated army and Neo is unstoppable because he's the One. At the end, neither Smith nor Neo is defeated. Neo just flies off because, I assume, he's getting a bit bored.

Immediately, we see the One has limitations. He has boundaries. It crushes everything we learned in the first film. Bringing Smith back appeased the fans but it undermined everything we were told in the original Matrix.

Worse still, the fight has none of the emotional impact of that first subway duel. Its an unstoppable force versus an immovable object. Whereas in the first fight, we felt the impacts, we rode with the peaks and troughs in the narrative of the battle - ooh, yes, go Neo - ooh, shit, Smith is pounding him into the wall - in the Burly Brawl, we're just watching a spectacle. And, as it goes on, the quality of the actual effects deteriorates.

"The One needs a stick? Just jump in his chest, dude!"

In the first film, we were scared by six sentinels because of what their appearance meant. In the second and third film, the Wachowski's bring on about two billion of the things but forget the important thing. The human element. The emotion.

(As an additional point, I'd just like to say that there is a startling similarity between the actions of Agent Smith in the second and third Matrix films and V, in the film of V for Vendetta. In both, Hugo Weaving's character makes everyone look just like him in time for the final fight.)

2/ CGI monsters fighting one another = rubbish.

It just is, I'm afraid. As above, there's no human element when Hyde attacks the huge Hyde giant at the end of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Like the rest of the film, its bland and tedious.

3/ CGI battle scenes usually suck.

Once again, a definite risk where the human element is concerned. Peter Jackson does this really well (though I'd say he gets a little lost at points in Return of the King - the army of Dead's appearance in Gondor being probably my least favourite bit in the trilogy)

Again, just because you've filled the screen with billions of people doesn't make something automatically cool.

Troy = Rubbish. They're in a perfectly straight line, for goodness' sake.

4/ Shiny is bad.

Star Wars is the major offender here. The real world is just not glossy. As soon as you see those ridiculously yellow Naboo fighters in action you begin to yearn for something like the Millennium Falcon. A bucket of dented, pocked, dirty bolts. Iconic for just that reason.

5/ Real stuff is better than virtual stuff. FACT.

Miniatures combined with a deft touch of CGI look bloody amazing. See Lord of the Rings for details. Guys in prosthetics still look better, too. Nick's comments about Pan's Labyrinth illustrate that.

I've got a soft spot for Dog Soldiers, too.

The real lesson here is obvious. Its pretty simple, too. Filmmakers think because CGI can do anything, they have to use it for everything. This is not true.

CGI is just a tool like any other. People would get irritated if every shot was a crash zoom. The same principle applies. Use it subtly. Like this:


Not like this:


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Jachap is not bloody shiny.