To begin, my last blog was about the Writer’s Strike. It is finally over. Stay tuned for future updates on how the deal is working out…
We’ve all heard the term CGI before – if you haven’t then you have been living under a rock. CGI stands for Computer Generated Imagery and it is how audiences witnessed the Titanic sink, how Spiderman traversed throughout NYC and how a green orge named Shrek saved a princess in distress. All of these instances of CGI were done because CGI was needed. The issue facing Hollywood Blockbusters currently is: when is there simply too much CGI?
To begin, lets talk about The Matrix. It is considered a SCI-Fi classic due to its visual effects and its allegorical references to the story of Jesus Christ. However, following The Matrix’s success, the Wachowski brothers decided to go no-holds bar on the sequels and put more CGI than should ever be put in a film. Not to say those films did not possess some great advances in stunt work (the Wachowski brothers actually built a highway in the New Mexico desert just to blow it up in a really amazing chase scene in The Matrix Reloaded), but CGI cannot be the backbone of your movie – a strong story will always be the foundation of truly amazing films. The Matrix sequels epitomize why CGI may not necessarily be the ‘future’ of the business, but rather its Achilles Heal.
The reason I am blogging about this is due to the release of the Indiana Jones IV trailer one week ago. I am one of the biggest Indiana Jones fans. This was realized when I was asked what year Indiana Jones was born in a really random board game. Everyone said that this was an impossible question, but I actually remembered that in the third film the introduction said the year was 1914 and Indiana Jones was 16 years old (something along those lines). With some simple math, I figured out Indiana Jones was born in 1898. With this devotion to the character of Dr. Jones, I am very nervous for the upcoming fourth outing. The reason being that the new trailer brings far more CGI to the table than the previous installments and this emphasizes the question: can there ever be too much CGI in a film?
Indiana Jones is known for its stunts. Whether it be the boulder chasing Indiana Jones in Raiders, the ‘cliff-hanger’ ending in Temple or the motorcycle chase in Crusade. All said films possessed minor effects that used the assistance of the computer, but overall most of the film used real people, in real situations – something modern audiences can tell in the blink of an eye.
The biggest flaw of the trailer comes after Indiana Jones is swinging through a warehouse with his whip. The truck he is chasing crashes through boxes and explodes through the other side ramming into Soviet soldiers (obviously killing them). This is impossible to shoot with real actors – the risk of death is far too great. With the impossibility of actually shooting this scene, Spielberg opted to use CGI to make this scene come to life. The problem is that PEOPLE KNOW IT IS FAKE. Spielberg is responsible for some of the greatest films in American Cinema – his first big hit being the 1975 classic Jaws. Considered one of the scariest films of all time, in the actual film of Jaws, the audience rarely gets to see the shark. The fear is created in the audience's imagination. My opinion is to follow a similar path in the Indiana Jones films. Just allude to the soldiers getting hit. Cut to Indiana’s face showing disgust at the mess the car has left. Spielberg did this in Raiders of the Lost Ark. While Indy was fighting a Nazi soldier, a plane propeller hit the enemy. Instead of using CGI to show the soldier getting cut up, they cut to the tail of the plane being splattered with blood. This keeps the realism in tact without insulting the intelligence of the audience.
In closing, CGI will one day be at to the point where the audiences simply will be unable to see any flaws in the final product. However this is not the issue. The issue remains on the amount of CGI a director should use. Just because you have the power to show everything you have ever wanted on the screen – does not mean you should. Perhaps too much CGI wrecks what could be a truly amazing cinema experience. I sure hope on May 22nd, I am not disappointed.
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