Oct 19, 2023

Will CG addiction kill the modern blockbuster?

Youtuber Cody Johnston posted a video on his Some More News channel last week asking "Why are modern blockbusters ...... poses the question, "Why aren't they very good?". The video is an hour long and offers many answers to that question, but the part that caught our attention focused on the over-reliance on modern CG VFX.

In the video, Johnston argues that the ability to create almost any shot imaginable using CG has created an unsustainable mindset among producers.

According to Johnston, scenes are now shot with post-production VFX in mind. Blockbuster filmmakers no longer build shots and scenes as they did when VFX was a tool to complete a near-finished shot. Instead, CG is used as a catch-all device to create most of the images the audience sees on the screen.

"If you don't know how a scene is going to look, you can't light or film it in a particular way. Even a boring wide shot must be evenly illuminated."

According to Johnston, the pre-production process is shortened to lengthen the post-production period. This means that directors are not thinking about artistic intent or spending as much time carefully and at length on a scene as they once did. Instead, they are working more like documentary filmmakers, who need to cover as much ground as possible and then just deal with it in post-production.

Another problem Johnston sees is the way modern VFX services are tendered. According to him, when a studio needs work, they often solicit bids from several VFX houses and eventually settle on the cheapest option. However, despite regularly going to the cheapest bidders, the VFX budgets of major studios have ballooned disproportionately in recent years because of the overuse of CG. Johnston cites several well-known examples in the clip.

"Instead of being an expensive option, CG must be used sparingly.

"And even though the cheapest effects are chosen, they bloat the film's budget.

Johnston uses a lot of sarcasm to imply that this creates an unsustainable situation and contributes to the production of inferior films with exorbitant budgets.