I do tend to think that, unless the primary appeal of your movie is spectacle, if your story isn’t good without special effects then no amount of special effects will make it good.
There are some exceptions, like when plausible special effects sequences are completely integral to the plot. Like I can’t imagine a live action Spider-Man movie working without CGI web-slinging sequences.
There’s… a few things to unpack here. All film is spectacle, otherwise they’d publish a book. Inception is an existential thriller about living in dreams; does it *need* to fold the city in half to make this point?
Probably not, but it does make the point! What about the sequence where a car with a dreaming passenger crashes and rolls over, and the dream starts rolling over? Those visuals are certainly integral to making that scene make sense, but is that scene integral to the plot?
Would this scene still have worked without any CGI? Well, yeah, since they didn’t use any.
This was all practical effects, filmed in a rotating hallway, with the occasionally wire harness to keep a character airborne a little longer. Same thing with the cafe scene, where the shopfront explodes. No CGI needed; they used air cannons.
…And that is all special effects (SFX). There’s often a lot of confusion about these terms, but “special effects” is basically synonymous with practical effects. It’s anything you do on a movie set or with the camera film to show something that isn’t just “real life being filmed.” Like, any time someone fires a gun on tv, that’s a special effect, because it’s (presumably) not a real gun firing a real bullet; it’s a special mechanism designed to create a flash, smoke, and recoil movement.
What you’re probably thinking of is Visual Effects (VFX). That refers to computer-generated images that are applied digitally in post-production. VFX does tend to feel “cheaper” or “sloppier” more often, and frankly just because a movie prioritizes on VFX as a “spectacle” doesn’t mean it’s good. Like, Avatar was groundbreaking in being a blended CGI “live action” movie… and it kind of sucks. Dozens more movies tried to do the same thing and sucked so much harder, I don’t even remember their names.
Meanwhile, the Wizard of Oz was a massive SFX spectacle! Everything from the single-shot transition from b/w to technicolor and the house in the tornado, to the moving trees, flying witches, and giant disembodied Wizard, it was all special effects, and that was the appeal!
playing a car game, aiming for some mindless fun. not vibing too much with it until ☝️ i have discovered two things 1. you can just go wherever tf you want, no need to race 2. there is a radio station that plays classical music
To anyone who needs to hear it: your queerness, transness, heritage, disability, plurality, neurodivergence, immigration status, and any other identity of yours is not a problem, or a burden to others. You are not to blame for the state of this world. Your experiences, your stories, all of the things that make you the person who you are today enrich your communities and make this world a better place. You deserve to have all of your qualities and identities celebrated, honoured, and to be loved of who you are.
So go out into the world and take small steps towards being proud of who you are. Be the most unapologetic person you can be, at your own pace. There are so many people, both within your communities, and beyond it, who you might never have guessed you could’ve helped with your freedom and your joy.
I mean, obviously news outlets are responsible for their own screw-ups, but I do think it says a lot about how rapidly Canada/US relations have deteriorated over the past year that a major American news magazine would credulously quote a satirical news article’s claim that Trump’s ambassador was threatening to bomb Ottawa.
Sometimes the best way to get unstuck is to just grab the broom and sweep. If it doesn’t solve your problem, it will at least clear a path for progress.
