YouTuber StoryBrian has posted a video that argues CGI effects peaked in the 90’s and early 2000’s and that we now suffer from what he calls the “WETA Effect”. Basically, he’s saying that CGI used to be one or two things added into a scene built on reality, meaning there actual people touching actual props with actual backdrops and filmed using actual cameras. However, as computing powers expanded, whole scenes could rendered in CGI, meaning we could be wowed with the beauty that was created but ultimately feel entirely alienated because it simply wasn’t real.
Perhaps the best line in the video is when Brian says, “The problem, I think, is a subtle one: putting beauty, or impressiveness over believability when believability is actually more important.”
I think we can all agree that John Carpenter’s The Thing isn’t believable. However, the fact that real FX were used and it could all be interacted with by the actors suspended that disbelief, making everything seem all the more terrifying and real. Just think of the outrage over the 2011 pseudo-remake/prequel. Nobody was really bitching about the story, were they? They were far more upset that the creatures were done with CGI when we knew that they had the ability to honor the original and make fascinating, horrifying, disgusting REAL creations. We felt betrayed and let down, rightfully so, in my opinion.
What do you all think? Check out the video and then leave your opinion in the comments.