CGI is a Blessing and a Curse For the Science Fiction Film Genre
Posted by admin on 17 Feb 2010 under moviesLike many cinematic genres science fiction has benefited greatly from the amazing advances in CGI that have occurred over recent years. The technology has enabled sci-fi directors to realize their visions much more thoroughly, and it has been a crucial factor in the creation of some truly stunning films.
However, I don’t feel that these advances always bring something positive to the process. In a paradoxical way, they often seem to detract from the genre. Now that directors can put pretty much anything they can imagine onto the screen using CGI, making it look very close to real, they seem to consistently go overboard.
An example is the movie Alien Versus Predator. While it’s not absolutely jam packed with CGI, there’s quite a bit in there.
The director doesn’t hold back, and goes all out to realize his vision. All the events occur in rapid succession. The editing is frenetic and the action comes very think and fast. However, the characters have very little depth, and their relationships are not interesting or well developed. The film is certainly stylish, and has a lot of energy. But ultimately it’s pretty forgettable.
The original movie, Alien, is very different in almost every regard. Being made in the late seventies, there’s no use of CGI. The editing is not particularly slow, but there are a lot of long shots and set pieces that play out gradually, increasing the tension. The story seems to unfold in real time. The cinematography is just brilliant – crisp and clear and atmospheric. The characters are all deep and complex, as are the relationships between them.
All these factors combine to create an amazingly suspenseful movie that you can watch over and over again without getting bored. And the film contains scenes and images that people will never forget. (You’ll no doubt remember the famous chest bursting scene. That was done with puppets and exploding sachets of fake blood!)
It’s as if the limitations that the film-makers had to work within back in those days actually made them more creative, and they came up with a more memorable, brooding, and original sci-fi movie as a result. Matt Hayden is a writer in Sydney Australia. He has an often humorous blog about politics, news and popular culture.
Article Source: CGI is a Blessing and a Curse For the Science Fiction Film Genre
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