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Ana de Armas' high heels in No Time to Die are 100% digital.
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00:00CGI is everywhere in modern movies. All but the most low-budget films employ comprehensive
00:06use of visual effects for a number of reasons, from creating gorgeous far-flung worlds to
00:11fixing unexpected issues that arose during the shoot.
00:15And while bad or excessive CGI can certainly help ruin a movie, sometimes visual effects
00:21are deployed with such impressively subtle artistry that you don't even realise they're
00:26there.
00:27Well, nobody watched any of these 10 recent movies under the assumption that they were
00:30conceived entirely practically. Each, nevertheless, features a CGI moment that you almost certainly
00:36didn't notice. So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with 10 CGI
00:42moments in recent movies nobody noticed.
00:45Number 10. Nat and Yelena in The Bar in Black Widow
00:49It's of course no secret that every single Marvel Cinematic Universe movie contains a ton
00:54of CGI in practically every scene, but you might be surprised at just how extensively
00:59VFX are used in even the most basic and practical of camera setups.
01:04When a VFX breakdown was released shortly after Black Widow hit screens, it revealed that even
01:09the scene where Natalya and Yelena hang out drinking in a bar required the use of blue-screen
01:14technology. At a cursory glance, there's nothing about that scene which simply involves two
01:18people sitting down and talking, which necessitated CGI, most likely suggesting that this portion
01:24of the scene was a reshoot captured many months later. It's been stated before that the crew
01:29of every MCU movie captures clean background plates of all major camera setups, so if it's
01:34discovered that shots are missing or a scene isn't quite working in editing, pick-ups can
01:39be efficiently shot in front of a blue screen and composited in front of the plates. While it's easy to view
01:44this use of CGI as excessive, it's certainly a smart way to keep reshoot costs down by ensuring the crew
01:50doesn't need to revisit the original location, or worse still, rebuild a set that was destroyed
01:56after principal photography wrapped. And considering you almost certainly didn't notice it, do you really
02:01care all that much?
02:029. Tig Notaro replaces Chris Dahlia in Army of the Dead
02:07Zack Snyder faced a major technical hurdle during post-production of his zombie epic Army of the Dead,
02:14where numerous sexual misconduct allegations were made against cast member Chris Dahlia.
02:18Snyder decided to digitally remove Dahlia from the film and replace him with comedian Tig Notaro,
02:24an extremely challenging feat given that Dahlia was part of the main ensemble cast
02:29and typically filmed in shots with other actors. Snyder shot with Notaro against green screens for two
02:34weeks, with Ana de la Reguera being the only cast member she physically met on set, filming a total of
02:40two scenes with her. Dahlia was then erased from each shot and Notaro painstakingly inserted in his
02:46place, an intensely difficult process and yet one which is near enough seamless in the final film.
02:52Sure, if you know what to look for, there are a few moments where the lighting doesn't quite
02:56match 100%, but considering most general viewers didn't even know about the casting replacement,
03:00they'd likely have no idea they were looking at a hugely labour-intensive visual effect.
03:058. CGI Water in The Tragedy of Macbeth
03:09The Tragedy of Macbeth is an undeniably beautiful film powered by the combination of first-rate
03:15production design and cinematography, yet you'll probably be pretty shocked to see just how much
03:20of the film's style and atmosphere was dictated by mind-boggling, seamless visual effects.
03:26The production used countless matte paintings and set extensions to make the film's small soundstage set
03:32look considerably larger, while also employing CGI fog to obscure the set's limitations and
03:37imply a greater sense of scale. But we all know that water is one of the trickiest elements to
03:43replicate digitally, behind only fire, and this is where the tragedy of Macbeth truly comes into its own.
03:50During the scene where Macbeth sits in the apparition room and has a vision of the floor
03:54transforming into a bubbling cauldron of black liquid, the liquid is 100% CGI. While it looks like
04:00Denzel Washington is simply sitting in a set filled to ankle height with water,
04:05the actor is actually sitting considerably more comfortably in a totally dry set,
04:09with the liquid instead a brain-breakingly photo-real simulation.
04:14This is the sort of subtle, not showy effects work that deserves much greater recognition.
04:197. Duke Leto's Army on Caladan in Dune
04:24Dune quite rightly won the Best Visual Effects Oscar earlier this year, and though the film's VFX are
04:29spectacular from start to finish, there are few moments where they don't draw absolute attention
04:34to themselves. One scene where you might actually assume the bulk of the set-up was filmed practically,
04:39however, is when Duke Leto Atreides is first tasked with presiding over Arrakis while assembled
04:45with his army on his home planet of Caladan. The eye-watering wide shot shows Duke Atreides standing
04:50on a large platformed area with several hundred officers behind him. It's certainly lush and expansive,
04:56but tangible enough that it could conceivably be filmed practically in an exotic location,
05:01given the film's large budget. Yet, the scene is actually a mesmerising trick. Almost all of the
05:07officers are digital replications, and only a small portion of the set is actually real.
05:12Furthermore, the temples and mountains in the background are also 100% digital. That the end
05:17result is photo-real enough to make you question whether it was shot in a practical location is why
05:22Dune absolutely deserved the Oscar. This is truly next-level work.
05:28Number 6. Eddie At The Beach In Venom Let There Be Carnage
05:33The recent Venom sequel ends with Eddie Brock and Venom getting some well-earned R&R at the beach.
05:38While the sunset certainly looks suspiciously picturesque, you'd be forgiven for assuming
05:42that the scene was shot on a real beach and the sky was merely retouched during post-production.
05:47Incredibly, though, the entire beach is fake, with Hardy actually sitting on a small patch
05:52of sand on a soundstage in front of a blue screen. In fact, because so much of the shot was replaced
05:57in post, the microphone used to capture Hardy's dialogue didn't even need to be concealed from
06:02the camera's view, as it was simply painted out by the film's VFX artists. Though 98% of the film's
06:09CGI moments draw absolute attention to themselves, this is actually pretty clever and shows the benefit of
06:14hiring a VFX-savvy filmmaker like Andy Serkis to get the job done.
06:18Number 5. The Sherman Fields Candyman in Candyman
06:23It's certainly no secret that the new Candyman sequel uses CGI to de-age original Candyman star
06:29Tony Todd in its delirious climax. But did you know there's actually a 100% digital character hidden
06:35in plain sight throughout the film? Early on, we're told about the tragic tale of Sherman Fields,
06:40a hook-handed black man who was shot by racist police officers decades ago, and several times
06:46throughout the film we see him appear as a version of the vengeful Candyman. While it simply seems
06:51that actor Hargrove was kitted out in grotesque makeup effects to perform these scenes, that's not
06:56quite the case. Though Hargrove did indeed perform all of the scenes himself, during post-production,
07:01director Nia DaCosta decided that the prosthetic facial scarring effects didn't quite look good enough,
07:07and so VFX house Luma Pictures was charged with replacing Hargrove with a total digital
07:13recreation from scratch, using crime scene photography to create a more visceral facial wound.
07:19Yet, because this decision was made in post, no movement data for Hargrove had been captured
07:23during principal photography, making the process considerably more difficult. But the end result is
07:29extremely difficult to spot, in large part thanks to smart use of dim lighting to conceal the obvious
07:34details of a digital human face. Number 4. Everything but the boat in Death on the Nile
07:41Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of VFX will likely be aware that Death on the Nile
07:46wasn't actually filmed on the River Nile. It was in fact predominantly shot on sound stages in London,
07:52with the footage then composited into background plates which were shot in Egypt by the film's
07:57second unit crew. And while many noted how phony the film's Egyptian exteriors looked,
08:02you might be surprised to learn just how much CGI was actually employed to place the focal cruise ship,
08:07the SS Karnak, on the Nile. You probably assumed that the London soundstage contained a water tank and
08:12some Egyptian scenery, and yet the sound stages are shockingly bare for a 90 million dollar movie.
08:18Some sequences were quite literally filmed in what appears to be a large gravel backlot outside the studio,
08:24with every piece of the Egyptian locale, either a background plate or a CGI element created from
08:30scratch. The film's effects are certainly far from perfect, but it's nevertheless shocking just how
08:35artificial it all is. Number 3. Piccadilly Circus in Last Night in Soho
08:41Edgar Wright is an extremely shrewd filmmaker where visual effects are concerned, yet when it came to
08:46recreating 1960s London for his most recent film Last Night in Soho, it was reasonable to assume that he
08:53would simply alter shots of modern day London to resemble their past. While that's largely true
08:58during the scene set in Soho itself, the sequence where Jack drives Sandy around Piccadilly Circus is
09:04actually a feat of low-key VFX genius. Though you probably assumed Edgar Wright simply shot the scene
09:10in Piccadilly Circus for real and then had the shot edited to resemble its 60s self, the car ride was
09:16actually shot at another location altogether. From the VFX breakdown, it's clear that the car was filmed
09:21riding along a closed street slash track and then cleverly composited into a 100%
09:27CGI recreation of 60s Piccadilly Circus. Because the lighting between the raw footage of the car and
09:33the VFX shot match up pretty much perfectly, it looks supremely photorealistic.
09:39Number 2. Paloma's High Heels in No Time to Die
09:42One of No Time to Die's most memorable sequences involves the introduction of
09:47arse-kicking CIA agent Paloma, who promptly takes down a fleet of goons while wearing a pair of
09:52precarious high heels. As a testament to the art of subtle CGI, Ana de Armas actually wore trainers
09:58while filming this scene, and the film's VFX artist then replaced them with high heels, presumably for
10:04the sake of both practicality and safety. Because the heels would fundamentally change the actress's
10:09posture, her legs also had to be digitally altered to ensure the effect was totally convincing.
10:15And considering not a single living soul picked up on this until the incredible VFX breakdown was
10:20released, it's most certainly a job well done.
10:23Number 1. The Dog-Shaped Shadow in The Power of the Dog
10:27Jane Campion's Oscar-winning western The Power of the Dog uses way more CGI than you'd ever
10:32guess simply from looking at it. From the mostly digital animals to the extended sets and CGI buildings,
10:38it's a testament to how subtle effects can add so much presence and atmosphere to a film.
10:43One of its most memorable scenes involves Phil and Peter staring at what appears to be the
10:48shadow of a barking dog in the hills near his ranch. While you might assume that a lower-budget
10:53arthouse film simply location-scouted a hilltop that resembled the profile of a barking dog at a
10:58squint, it was ultimately less hassle to just rely on VFX to create the precise visual that director
11:04Jane Campion wanted. In post-production, the entire topography of the hills was changed,
11:09with new lighting and shadows layered on top to both create the dog silhouette and make it blend
11:14believably into the originally shot material. And that concludes our list. If you can think of any
11:20that we missed, then do let us know in the comments below. And while you're there, don't forget to like
11:24and subscribe and tap that notification bell. Also head over to Twitter and follow us there at
11:28WhatCulture and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:34I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real soon!
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