After my blog post in October regarding the Ray Harryhausen BBC interview, I eventually went on to purchase the Ray Harryhausen DVD - 'Special Effects Titan'. I have watched the documentary a few times now, and each time I watch it I realise how special and talented Ray Harryhausen was and the massive influence he has had on the film industry right up to today. It's overwhelming to think that one man can have SO much influence and inspire generations of film makers and pioneers of the film industry.
It was great to hear Harryhausen's opinion on special effects today and the use of CGI in films, and although he thought it was a great step forward for films, he said that he would still prefer to use 'real models' even today.
I agree that CGI has provided the film industry and audiences with a magical world and has allowed us to create the unimaginable and enhance the unbelievable, but I do believe that in some cases, the there is blatant overuse of CGI, and unfortunately this can be overbearing on the narrative and actors' performances. One movie that prompted me to write my dissertation about the overuse of CGI in movies, was Man of Steel, and while being a generally good movie and one that i enjoyed; i did sigh when the action sequences played out before me and I was watching a drool of CG fight sequences in double speed and the unimaginable over exaggerated destruction of buildings that, to be honest, was unnecessary and made me as a viewer, switch off.
Even though when we see movies like this, we know it isn't real...that is what we generally go to the cinema for, to escape reality. But we do want to be immersed into an alternate reality that could be imaginable, and when the filmmakers go over the top with CG it makes it truly unbelievable and somehow the emotional connection we have, or want to have as an audience, is somehow lost or broken and it becomes less believable, and less real.
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