Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Forgeties79 135 days ago
I think it’s also important to remember that there are tons of terrible practicals out there, we just don’t think of them because they were bad and forgettable. Lots of great CG too that you likely never recognized as CG. Sicario is littered with examples. You’d be hard pressed to call out even most of them.
2 comments
trentnix 135 days ago
That's true on there being lots of terrible practical effects out there. The parent lauded Raiders of the Lost Ark for its practical effects. In contrast, Last Crusade was a great movie that had a few practical effects that were terrible. The scene with the tank going over the edge of the cliff is so bad and so fake that I could help rewind and pause to laugh at it when I was a kid.
link
xnorswap 135 days ago
Isn't the very worst aspect of that very scene, the CGI part rather than the practical effects part?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np4OojYGixI

Sure, the tank rolling at the bottom looks a bit like a model, but it isn't nearly as jarring as the part where the shot of the guy in the tank looks like it came from another world entirely and has been badly edited in on top.

link
trentnix 135 days ago
It's the guy in the tank that breaks it. Pretty sure it's just a dummy.
link
dylan604 135 days ago
The going over the cliff scene is a drop in the bucket to Raiders' melting faces or sticking with Last Crusade's fast aging scene
link
autoexec 135 days ago
Even terrible practical effects can be weirdly charming though.
link
Forgeties79 134 days ago
No less immersion breaking though. Highly doubt “weirdly charming” is the objective for most poorly done practicals!
link
autoexec 134 days ago
True, but it really does hold up better than CGI. For example, a Dalek isn't really fooling anybody, but it's still far better than a CGI Scorpion King. I think it's easier for the brain to accept something as a representation of something it isn't when it's farther outside of the uncanny valley
link
Forgeties79 132 days ago
You’re not comparing the worst practicals to what is considered one of the single worst CG renderings of all time though. There is also a camp culture that the Daleks fit in to - they weren’t trying to sell it as “very real” even at the time, that was “the look” and the budget. CG in live action is generally either shooting for 100% realism or is for comedic purposes intentionally absolutely awful. There’s a lot less in between than with practicals.
link