10 reasons CGI sucks

Posted at: Wednesday 5th September 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

Are computers really a blessing for film makers, or are they really the bane of the cinema? Custom PC casts the cold, hard light of the real world on computer-generated special FX

'We are moving into a different era in terms of cinematic experience,' one famous Hollywood director said when discussing the powers computerised special effects were giving to the film maker. 'I liken it,' he continued, 'to the move from painting frescos in the mid-15th century - when you had to finish that piece of plaster that day otherwise you couldn't go on. Now we've moved into the era of oil paintings, which gave the artist more control and more time to think about what they're doing.'

That film maker was George Lucas...

CGI certainly gives film makers new powers, but new powers, especially without being held in check, are not always such a great idea. I’ve had enough of people telling me that I just need to suspend my disbelief and watch the film. Bad CGI effects are a blight on the movie industry, to the point where I’m considering boycotting CGI-heavy movies. I’m not for one minute saying that CGI effects are all crap. In fact, they often do their job perfectly. The CGI effects in ‘The Crow’ blend seamlessly into the film, because they’re not overdone, and they enabled the film to be finished after Brandon Lee’s death. Similarly, the liquid metal CGI effects in ‘Terminator 2’ were not only unbelievably cool at the time, but they also added to the plot.

Nevertheless, a lot of the time CGI effects spoil a perfectly good film with floating animals, overly shiny spaceships and monsters that shamelessly interact with the virtual camera. Heck, if you’re really honest with yourself, the award-winning Gollum didn’t get it quite right either. This is an impassioned plea to the film industry to go back to using real scenery and models, which can then be cleaned up digitally, as opposed to creating unbelievable crap entirely with computers. There are ten good reasons why it should do this, and they’re all listed below.