There were challenges with production because of the special effects. There are just some things that, although written, special effects just isn’t able to do.
CGI is done after the film is done. It’s through the computer. Most of the film is not computer-generated special effects. Most of it is that creature that is in the room with you.
That’s the thing with sci-fi and action roles. You have to play the danger as real. If you don’t, you end up with egg on your face. You have to commit. You can’t think about how stupid it might look without the special effects.
The first film I made was when I was 13 and it was called ‘The Dogs That Ate Detroit.’ It starred my Saint Bernard Barney, and it was a killer thriller with oodles of special effects that were cutting edge for the time.
‘Heroes’ was a huge show with 12 cast members and giant special effects.
I think ‘The Lost World’ could’ve been a successful movie except for the fact that it pre-dated the good special effects and computer graphics.
I loved literary science fiction. In fact, as a kid, when I was reading science fiction, I thought ‘I can’t wait for the future when the special effects are good’ to represent what was in these books by Arthur C. Clarke, Alfred Bester, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Jack Vance.
There are a lot of times where, filming ‘It Follows,’ I’m fighting against a guy dressed in a green suit for special effects, and I’m just like, ‘No. There’s no way this is going to be pulled off.’
CG can do anything, but it can’t do everything well. What it naturally can do is special effects. But using stop-motion comes from our desire to do handmade stuff. There are always going to be kids who get out whatever it might be – clay, bits of wire, Barbie dolls, Legos. They want to tell little stories.
I’ve actually usually been wary of taking on science fiction as an actor because it’s really tough to do. It’s really difficult to execute. There’s often lots of prosthetics, green screen and special effects, and it can get very technical.
I’m one of the guys who wants to watch the film completely done, with special effects, sound and music, because I tend to get disappointed if I watch it not fully done.
So, when the special effects are at the service of the story and draw you into it, that is really the magic.
Besides the mistakes that are pointed out, I love the way readers become involved with the characters. When readers start asking about character motivations instead of concentrating on the special effects, it means you’re connecting with them on a personal level.
‘Spider-Man’ seems to have a different tone to the pure Marvel stuff, but I really enjoyed the ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ and ‘Iron Man’ movies. I love the special effects and how it seems very real, but at the same time, it still lives within the realm of Marvel. That’s got to be a lot of work.
The real trick to these movies and making the big action sequences work – and I’ve forgotten this sometimes and screwed it up – the characters really have to be humanized. Because you can have the greatest special effects in the world, but if you don’t care about the people in those effects, there’s no impact.
I think sometimes people can get lost in the bigger special effects, science fiction, robot stuff, and those are cool and fun to watch, too, but I think it’s so important to sometimes step back and watch something that’s about life and human interaction.
There was a great magazine in the ’80s called ‘Cinemagic’ for home moviemakers who liked to do monster and special effects movies. It was like a magazine written just for me.
Madonna can still produce a catchy pop song, but she hasn’t expanded her artistic vocabulary since the 1990s. Her concerts are glitzy extravaganzas of special effects overkill. She leaves little space in them for emotional depth or unscripted rapport with the audience.
It’s more fun if you can control things like lighting and make special effects in the darkroom.
I had no special effects, no monsters running around, nothing blew up; those things are all things I’ve done so many times that they lose their allure after a while.
The first light-field camera array I saw at Stanford had a bunch of applications, like to do special effects like you see in ‘The Matrix,’ where you spin the camera around in frozen motion. It took up an entire room.
You have these big $200 and $300 million movies with special effects, and I’ve always thought, ‘Gee, why don’t we make 30 movies instead of one $300 million movie?’ Let’s shake it up a bit; wouldn’t that be a better bet? Evidently not.
Every other movie is one of those action things. I mean, ‘Lost in Space’? A bunch of good actors running around shooting at special effects on a soundstage? I took my kids to see that and felt like I was on an acid trip.
It’s all about the special effects.
I don’t really think too much about special effects because that’s not really something I can clearly visualize, so I leave that to the pros.
Something like ‘The Matrix’ would be ideal, something where it’s super agents and wire work and special effects – not necessarily running from bombs and shooting people. Something more sleek, like an assassin.
There is a lot of use of ProTools in professional studios, but this is mostly for the special effects it allows, not for sound quality. These special effects soon fall out of fashion, and I don’t think this trend will define studios permanently.
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