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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.
00:03All but the most low-budget films employ comprehensive use of visual effects for a number of reasons,
00:09from creating gorgeous far-flung worlds to fit nevertheless features a CGI moment that you almost,
00:15and while bad or excessive CGI can certainly help ruin a movie,
00:19sometimes visual effects are deployed with such impressively subtle artistry
00:24that you don't even realise they're there.
00:26While nobody watched any of these 10 recent movies under the assumption that they were conceived entirely practically,
00:32each nevertheless features a CGI moment that you almost certainly didn't notice.
00:38So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with 10 CGI moments 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 of CGI,
00:55in practically every scene, but you might be surprised at just how extensively VFX are used
01:00in even the most basic and practical of camera setups.
01:04When a VFX breakdown was released shortly after Black Widow hit screens,
01:08it revealed that even the scene where Natalia and Yelena hang out drinking in a bar required the use of blue screen technology.
01:15At a cursory glance, there's nothing about that scene which simply involves two people sitting down and talking,
01:20which necessitated CGI, most likely suggesting that this portion of the scene was a reshoot captured many months later.
01:28It's been stated before that the crew of every MCU movie captures clean background plates of all major camera setups,
01:34so if it's discovered that shots are missing or a scene isn't quite working in editing,
01:38pick-ups can be efficiently shot in front of a blue screen and composited in front of the plates.
01:43While it's easy to view this use of CGI as excessive, it's certainly a smart way to keep reshoot costs down,
01:49by ensuring the crew doesn't need to revisit the original location, or worse still,
01:54rebuild a set that was destroyed after principal photography wrapped.
01:58And considering you almost certainly didn't notice it, do you really care all that much?
02:02Number 9. 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,
02:13where 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
02:34two weeks, with Ana de la Reguera being the only cast member she physically met on set,
02:39filming a total of two scenes with her. Dahlia was then erased from each shot,
02:43and Notaro painstakingly inserted in his place. An intensely difficult process,
02:48and yet one which is near enough seamless in the final film. Sure, if you know what to look for,
02:53there are a few moments where the lighting doesn't quite match 100%, but considering most general
02:58viewers didn't even know about the casting replacement, they'd likely have no idea they
03:02were looking at a hugely labour-intensive visual effect.
03:06Number 8. 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
03:31soundstage set look considerably larger, while also employing CGI fog to obscure the set's
03:36limitations and imply a greater sense of scale. But we all know that water is one of the trickiest
03:42elements to replicate digitally, behind only fire, and this is where the tragedy of Macbeth
03:48truly comes into its own. During the scene where Macbeth sits in the apparition room and has a
03:53vision of the floor transforming into a bubbling cauldron of black liquid, the liquid is 100% CGI.
04:00While it looks like Denzel 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 photoreal simulation. This is the sort of subtle,
04:15not 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
04:28VFX are spectacular from start to finish, there are few moments where they don't draw absolute
04:34attention to themselves. One scene where you might actually assume the bulk of the setup was filmed
04:39practically, however, is when Duke Leto Atreides is first tasked with presiding over Arrakis,
04:44while assembled with his army on his home planet of Caladan. The eye-watering wide shot shows Duke
04:49Atreides standing on a large platformed area with several hundred officers behind him. It's certainly
04:55lush and expansive, but tangible enough that it could conceivably be filmed practically in an exotic
05:00location given the film's large budget. Yet the scene is actually a mesmerizing trick. Almost all of
05:07the officers are digital replications in a practical location is why Dune absolutely deserved the Oscar.
05:13This is truly next-level work.
05:166. Eddie at the Beach in Venom Let There Be Carnage
05:21The recent Venom sequel ends with Eddie Brock and Venom getting some well-earned R&R at the beach.
05:26While the sunset certainly looks suspiciously picturesque, you'd be forgiven for assuming
05:30that the scene was shot on a real beach and the sky was merely retouched during post-production.
05:35Incredibly, though, the entire beach is fake, with Hardy actually sitting on a small patch of sand on a
05:41soundstage in front of a blue screen. In fact, because so much of the shot was replaced in post,
05:46the microphone used to capture Hardy's dialogue didn't even need to be concealed from the camera's
05:51view as it was simply painted out by the film's VFX artists. Though 98% of the film's CGI moments
05:57draw absolute attention to themselves, this is actually pretty clever and shows the benefit of
06:02hiring a VFX-savvy filmmaker like Andy Serkis to get the job done.
06:065. The Sherman Fields' Candyman in Candyman
06:11It's certainly no secret that the new Candyman sequel uses CGI to VFX-savvy filmmaker like Andy Serkis
06:17to get the job done.
06:185. 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
06:35hidden in plain sight throughout the film? Early on, we're told about the tragic tale of Sherman
06:40Fields, a 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 that
06:51actor 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
07:07enough, and 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
07:28is extremely difficult to spot, in large part thanks to smart use of dim lighting to conceal the
07:34obvious tells of a digital human face. 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 movie.
08:18Some sequences were quite literally filmed in what appears to be a large gravel backlot outside the
08:24studio, with every piece of the Egyptian locale either a background plate or a CGI element created
08:30from scratch. The film's effects are certainly far from perfect, but it's nevertheless shocking just
08:35how artificial it all is.
08:37Number 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 during the
08:59scenes set in Soho itself, the sequence where Jack drives Sandy around Piccadilly Circus is actually a
09:04feat of low-key VFX genius. Though you probably assumed Edgar Wright simply shot the scene in
09:10Piccadilly 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% CGI recreation of 60s
09:29Piccadilly Circus. Because the lighting between the raw footage of the car and the VFX shot match up
09:34pretty 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 arse-kicking CIA agent
09:48Paloma, who promptly takes down a fleet of goons while wearing a pair of precarious high heels.
09:54As a testament to the art of subtle CGI, Ana de Armas actually wore trainers while filming this scene,
10:00and the film's VFX artist then replaced them with high heels, presumably for the sake of both
10:04practicality and safety. Because the heels would fundamentally change the actress's posture,
10:10her 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
10:19breakdown was released, 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 guess
10:32simply 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 shadow
10:48of 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
11:28at WhatCulture 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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