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Effects Over Story....
This is something that has been on my mind you years. This generation of movies such as "Tranformers," "G.I Joe: Rise of Cobra," the "Star Wars" prequels, and many others today, rely heavily on computer animation instead of hard working effects that can look great and get the job done if done right. Sure, there are times where it is not possible to make some of the effects with a computer, I do not know anybody with an autobot or a Millennium Falcon, but when it is necessary, why not add some artistic value to a movie? Some animatronic creatures, people on makeup and costume, stop-motion animation, anything that might make the budget not so expensive and wasteful.
When I buy a movie, whether it has a big budget or not, I love watching the special features and seeing how they did some of their scenes. This is a list of some of my favorite movies and why I enjoy them over some of the big budget movies.
Nightmare on Elm Street
First off is the movie that started a real classic icon, Freddy Kruger. The first of his series brought terror into those that watched it, and mystery to those that wondered how it was done. One of their effects, which only cost 10 cents, was where Freddy formed on the wall above a bed, looking down at lead character Nancy. For that, all they used was spandex. Of coarse, there were other effects, such as a reversed room that was built for Tina's death scene, but this was one of my favorites because of how cheap it was. Oh, and the story was interesting as well.
For those of y'all that do not know me, l love the supernatural, and out of all of the different aspects of it, a good zombie movie always thrills me. Keep in mind that I have not seen every single zombie movie, but the effects are simple like most horror movies. Some fake blood and makeup and a few people willing to play dead, and there you have a zombie movie. Even the main actors can be a zombie for a few scenes if needed.
Star Wars Prequels
Honestly, who does not like "Star Wars"? Maybe you are not a total nerd about the series like me, since I have only watched the movie, but complete nerd or not, what I am about say will be agreed by most. What I liked about the original Star Wars was how simple it was; meet strangers, save the princess, destroy the Death Star. There was not a bunch of political story telling like the prequels, nor was there a load of CG effects just took you away from the story. Plus, there was more emotion, and and as the story went own we met Yoda and of coarse Vador and the Emperor, who does not love them?
Clerks and Chasing Amy
Lastly, one of my favorite writers/directors, Kevin Smith started out by maxing out his credit cards and his job as the main part of his $30,000 budget for "Clerks." Sure, it was black and white, in a convenience store, and had no name actors, but it was funny and kept my attention. That is what I love about Kevin, he is a clever writer and knows how to work with a budget.
When I buy a movie, whether it has a big budget or not, I love watching the special features and seeing how they did some of their scenes. This is a list of some of my favorite movies and why I enjoy them over some of the big budget movies.
Nightmare on Elm Street
First off is the movie that started a real classic icon, Freddy Kruger. The first of his series brought terror into those that watched it, and mystery to those that wondered how it was done. One of their effects, which only cost 10 cents, was where Freddy formed on the wall above a bed, looking down at lead character Nancy. For that, all they used was spandex. Of coarse, there were other effects, such as a reversed room that was built for Tina's death scene, but this was one of my favorites because of how cheap it was. Oh, and the story was interesting as well.
Any good zombie movie
For those of y'all that do not know me, l love the supernatural, and out of all of the different aspects of it, a good zombie movie always thrills me. Keep in mind that I have not seen every single zombie movie, but the effects are simple like most horror movies. Some fake blood and makeup and a few people willing to play dead, and there you have a zombie movie. Even the main actors can be a zombie for a few scenes if needed.
Star Wars Prequels
Honestly, who does not like "Star Wars"? Maybe you are not a total nerd about the series like me, since I have only watched the movie, but complete nerd or not, what I am about say will be agreed by most. What I liked about the original Star Wars was how simple it was; meet strangers, save the princess, destroy the Death Star. There was not a bunch of political story telling like the prequels, nor was there a load of CG effects just took you away from the story. Plus, there was more emotion, and and as the story went own we met Yoda and of coarse Vador and the Emperor, who does not love them?
Clerks and Chasing Amy
Lastly, one of my favorite writers/directors, Kevin Smith started out by maxing out his credit cards and his job as the main part of his $30,000 budget for "Clerks." Sure, it was black and white, in a convenience store, and had no name actors, but it was funny and kept my attention. That is what I love about Kevin, he is a clever writer and knows how to work with a budget.
"Chasing Amy" was great as well, funny, smart, romantic, and I enjoyed Silent Bob's long speech.
Now, I obviously did not pick a lot of great movies, but I am going by what I have seen, so if there is any that you'd like to name then say so. For instance, I did not name the "Evil Dead" Series, I have only seen the second one.
By the way, I am new here so check me out.
Comment
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Comment by Chris McBride on August 20, 2009 at 5:58pm -
So, are there any favorite movies of yours that do not have a big budget and is worth seeing? Any that are classics?
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Comment by MDS on August 20, 2009 at 3:00pm -
Actually, I didn't mean to bring it down. LOL
But you DO have a point as well. A lot of movies do rely simply on the effects to sell the movie to the audience and to actually TELL the story. Which is the WORST thing to do.
Transformers is a prime example. There really isn't a story to that movie, yet that is all that you see people talking about. How the effects were, and how they action was. Yet, without the effects and action you have NOTHING at all worth filming, and it shows SO many things that the people behind the camera screwed up on.
I think the main thing is to NOT use the Effects as "Crutch" so much. Instead use the effects as a "highlight" and let the main body of the movie support it.
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Comment by Chris McBride on August 19, 2009 at 9:32pm
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Oh, I was also saying that you do not need a big budget to make a good movie.
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Comment by Chris McBride on August 19, 2009 at 9:30pm
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Well dang, you pretty much brought my blog down lol. Although I understand what you were saying, I was saying that some movies spend so much money on the effects to a point where they spend $400 million, and it does not bring anything to the story, it just shows a bunch of computer mess to take you away from the uninteresting story. Take Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for example, although I have not seen it, I know how bad it was. It had so many explosions and fighting robots used to take you away from the story.
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Comment by MDS on August 19, 2009 at 3:06pm
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I don't think that movies rely on CGI effect OVER the story so much as they rely on the CGI effects to TELL the story, and that's where they go wrong. Seriously, never use your effects to TELL the story, use the effects to HIGHLIGHT and ACCENT your story.
Look at something like ET for example, a movie that by it's nature relied HEAVILY on the ability of the special effects department. Well, they did a good job with the effects they had at the time, yet they KNEW their ability to do the job would RUIN the movie if the effects didn't work properly before even filming started. Because of that, they KNEW that they had to be on the ball and do a good job right away or else the entire product would be laughed at. But because they knew their effects only resulted in a BETTER film, they didn't BANK on the effects. They went out and got actors that were able to convey their parts, writers that knew how to script a scene and a director that had a CLEAR vision of what he wanted and how to get it.
With recent movies, the effects department has lost that "touch". Instead, they tend to say that they will be able to make a "better" movie WITH their effects being CGI and able to do anything they want. If the effects aren't working, they can just simply strip them out of the movie and start all over again and re-insert the new effects into the movie. It basically means that the effects department can try MORE than one attempt to get the right result, so they became somewhat pushed to the forefront of a movie because they COULD be redone as many times as needed.
I'm sure that if they were told you get ONE chance and that's ALL you get, they'll find themselves holding off until they are SURE what will work to highlight the story again. Prime example, look at how WELL District 9 is when the main story only needs the special effects to MAKE it believable, BUT NOT to tell the story.
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