Why Modern VFX Suck (And How to Make Yours Not Suck)

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In Episode 1 of this series on why modern VFX suck and how to make your VFX not suck, we dive into the reasons behind the degradation of VFX and why it's becoming such a problem in the world of film. I also give you several tips and techniques on how to avoid these issues in your own films.
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[@alexman378]

Love how VFX artists are the first to say “your story, performances and planning should go first, and VFX should dress up what you already have”. Many lazy directors think that those people will simply do the work for them. It’s basically like being a costume designer, you can have extremely well crafted costumes, but if you don’t have a living, breathing person to put them on, they aren’t as impressive. We can be impressed by the work, but we don’t get the full impact, which also impacts the artists themselves, since their work isn’t appreciated to the fullest.

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

This is a great way of putting it! Thanks for your comment and for watching!

[@jacktheflash8478]

@Question man what?

[@king_kai28]

Can you go into depth? This sounds useful for a development I’m working on rn 🙏

[@alexman378]

@@king_kai28 What is it you need?

[@king_kai28]

@@alexman378 Just a clearer understanding of what you mean by having the VFX dress up what a director should have. Would storyboarding be a good way for a director to engage in planned scenes for a VFX artist? I’d imagine that would go hand in hand with story telling? How would one avoid being lazy

[@Charlie_Alpha_Lima]

2 most important things I learnt about vfx over the years: 1. Place your virtual 1 camera exactly where you would if you were shooting it in real life and it will look much more realistic. Movies like Geostorm and Midway are terrific examples on how to get this wrong 2. Vfx need to be art directed

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Great input, I completely agree! Thanks for your comment and for watching!

[@FinnReinhardt]

Pacific Rim is another great example as well.

[@Kaboom1212Gaming]

VFX is art directed. It's the notes we get more often that muddy the water. Pretty much every Effects shot I get landed at work has many, many notes on it. More often than not it is director intervention that pulls shots away in a particular direction. Directors ought to have a different approach to effects, and be more open to teams doing as they do.

[@MaxIronsThird]

@@FinnReinhardt Pacific Rim 2 is the entire opposite.

[@burtun1760]

@@MaxIronsThird wait, so you’re saying you like the VFX in the second better?

[@TypicalBlox]

I think the first iron man was the perfect balance of real / CGI. Use actual physical sets and props but use VFX to improve them and make them look better, if you look at behind the scenes of the first iron man you will know what im talking about.

[@benkr]

rewatch terminator 2. that was good cgi.

[@ermonski]

The Paramount era MCU films looked great also because of color grading. Modern MCU films just have too much filters and desaturation going for it.

[@Latitz]

To be honest first and second Iron Man movies were both smart use of CGI and practical props. For example Iron Man suits were an actual suits half way. Top was realistic looking prop and legs were done by CGI obviously to ease up movement of actors and stuntmen. Spider-Man 2 2004 is also good example of smart use of CGI. Doc Ock tentacles were very realistic because they used real tentacles with puppeteers for non action scenes. Only issue i found in that movie was that Spider-Mans CGI movement was grounded, realistic and smooth, but all the practical wire jumps ruined the magic. They were very glunky and stif. This is rare example of situation where practical stunts are less convincing than CGI.

[@MrCarpediem6]

True - i was dissapointed how the subsequent Iron Man movies actually looked worse..

[@Skleet]

Can we also implore the idea that VFX should “perfect imperfection”?

[@mcmoonball]

Lesson: CGI can't be a crutch for your film, it should just be an addition.

[@thegoodreylo4749]

Which is why movies can have bad CGI and still be good.

[@erickim1739]

@@thegoodreylo4749 And which is why movies can also have 100% practical effects, on location shoots, 100% real costumes, and still be bad lol.

[@chatteyj]

@@erickim1739 Right the point being special effects be they practical or CG don't make a movie. The exception being unless its one of the stars of the film eg Jurassic park where good CG characters were critical for the films success.

[@hgyuuuuhj098]

Yes it can. But you have to spend a lot of money and time (check James Cameron)

[@KrolKaz]

Oh Yes they can, almost all modern super hero movies are carried by the CGI, hell almost all modern action films as well.

[@InfernosReaper]

The most damning part of CGI, especially in something like the Marvel films is the amount of usage gets to the point where one can't help but ask "if it's mostly CGI anyway, why not just make it fully animated?"

[@Joshua_N-A]

Haha, so true. I thought about the same thing too.

[@torstent8979]

2:07 The Ruffalo-head in the bad animated Hulkbuster. The Ruffalo-head....really sad. I'm not an expert, BUT I think even I could tell easily how to do that in a better way. Just create a real model of the upper part of the hulk buster and then merge the animation to the model instead of merging a Ruffalo-head with the CGI-Hulk-buster. Really lazy for such a big production.

[@marscaleb]

Back in the day, these films were considered animated movies. There are plenty of animated movies that have used real-life footage but are still considered to be animated movies. Tron is a perfect example, and it has less animation than any of the Marvel movies.

[@navi2257]

watching this video, i was just asking the same exact question

[@Zero_Ninety]

The action scenes in those films look like cartoons anyway so they might as well.

[@Cerran032]

Pacific Rim still has some of the best looking CG I’ve ever seen, holds up incredibly well even today

[@psychicpebbles98]

@@LP12576 what's time got to do with the quality of vfx in a movie? That 2013 movie still looks a million times better than 99 percent of god awful vfx in mcu movies today. Hell even terminator 2 a movie from the 80s still holds up.

[@kinjapleb4228]

@@LP12576 What exactly is goofy about its CGI? All the Jeagers still hold up render-wise and the Kaiju still look life-like. I think you're thinking about the second pacific rim that threw away all the weight of the first movie

[@StardustLegacyFighter]

Transformers was way better.

[@joecoolberry911]

2005 King Kong is one of my favorites

[@aarontrupiano9328]

even better. most of the cgi in lord of the rings trilogy still looks good. there's some wonkiness going on in places but for a movie that was made over 20 years ago now it's very impressive

[@JanbluTheDerg]

It makes me think that what happened is that, as tools got better over time, directors realised that they could just rely more on the VFX teams to get it done, and done cheaper. So rather than shoot in a practical set, they'll just green screen it all together, because the technology can do that with greater ease now

[@lopoa126]

They can get it "done cheaper" because of the lack of unions

[@victormeas7898]

Also, VFX Departments are generally unionless, whilst stunt coordinators, costumers, prop artists and set artists do... it's a very sad reality

[@shweshwa9202]

it reminds me that even at lower levels, like in TV or corporate, where I work, some newbies/younger people do not bother to make a shot steady because we have a warp stabilizer on Premiere or a gimble. I had the experience that even on gimble they found a way to get shaky shot because they thought the gimble does all the job. So, no posture, no bending knees, too fast bumpy movements etc. So frustrating!

[@Latitz]

And i have nothing against CGI, but if you have to put lot of CGI in movie then at least make it look real.

[@menacingdonutz]

Something I learned from my dad growing up is that more often than not the easiest solution isn’t the best solution. And so far in life I’ve found that to hold up pretty well.

[@3dchick]

I think the over reliance on CGI to wow audiences without real, story driven reasons for it being there is Hollywood's biggest issue. Like if they just have enough of that, they don't need to care about story, character, plot holes, etc. Very nice video and excellent visual examples.

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

I totally agree! The story and characters are the most important part, but have been taking a backseat to deadlines and schedules, as well as the unnecessary CGI like you said. Thank you for your comments and for watching these videos!

[@3dchick]

@@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms You're welcome, and they're fantastic. 😊

[@Charlie_Alpha_Lima]

Best vfx are invisible. Nothing jumping at the camera, impossible spinning camera moves or explosions in super slow motion.

[@YOBAMUSTDIE]

the only thing Hollywood is carrying for now is diversity and anti white and anti family and anti conservatives propaganda, rest is optional nowadays.

[@andrewreynolds912]

@@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms yea I do wish people would do practical effects as much as possible while reducing the use of CGI is good but it depends on what the shots are and such.

[@nomorepartiezz]

im so glad you brought up the michael bay transformers movies. like them or not, the cgi in specifically 2007 and dark of the moon is so incredible and lifelike. its aged so well.

[@risingtide_official]

There is no golden rule other than the ratio of time, talent, and money. Those are also the ingredients to any movie wether SFX are involved or not.

[@DarthHater100]

You don't know how to spell "whether"?

[@risingtide_official]

@@DarthHater100 I sertanlee hop yu dont spent awl yor tyme lohkin four tipos on da intrwebz.

[@erickim1739]

@@risingtide_official LMAO these commend mayd mi laf.

[@poll1051]

@@erickim1739 How did the translation ai think you were saying dead body 💀

[@poll1051]

@@erickim1739 So I put it into google translate and it thought you were speaking Somalian lol

[@GeorgeVenturi]

The directors and artists forget that Less is More. Watching a boss battle in a superhero movie is like watching an epileptic extravaganza of absurd choreography, fast cuts, impossible camera moves and an overwhelming light and explosions shows which makes it unbearable to enjoy. Recently I've watch The International (2009) with Clive Owen. In one of the scenes there is an intense shoot out inside NY Guggenheim's museum. I've have been there many times before so it was incredible to see the gun fight inside that landmark. Checking IMDB, the production team re-created the museum with the original plans. There are things that CGI can't still replace...

[@AlexSchwartzATV]

@Novelty Court | Weird & Wild B-Movies This observation describes it well. It's sort of intangible but this is indeed the sort of result you get.

[@erickim1739]

"epileptic extravaganza of absurd choreography, fast cuts, impossible camera moves and an overwhelming light and explosions" absolutely NOTHING to do with VFX and all to do with art direction, preplanning, editing choices, directorial choices, and most importantly, money and time constraints. But ok sure.

[@MeepChangeling]

If less is more, then no movie is the best movie.

[@jusayalex]

It's not the artists fault at all. It all boils down to the directors and the upper management. Artists create what the directors give them and more often being overworked to get there.

[@MessengerOfEntertainment]

I’ve been noticing the issue with overuse of CGI from a young age when I noticed how unreal certain shots in Avengers looked compared to films like the original Iron Man, Batman Begins, and 2007 Transformers. It makes me pretty sad to see how far we’ve come with technology when you look back on movies like the original Star Wars trilogy, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future.

[@nelsongoforth6254]

Excellent points, and I will follow. The audience knows, even if only subliminally, when vfx are being overused, or used improperly. When a character, say, is swinging on a web through NYC, fine, I can accept that. In the world of the film we are given that some guy has the strength and agility to make it work, and the web is strong enough, etc. Accepted, through the willing suspension of disbelief. But when that same character suddenly take a sharp left in mid-swing my brain KNOWS that's not possible, and I'm out of the scene (same with forced dialog and a lot of other filmic shorthand, but that's another topic). We all know how basic physics works...how a ball flies through the air, how something floats on the water, how weight and mass affect motion...we see it every day, even if it's not a UFO or a monster or what have you. When CGI animators bend those rules too far, no matter how thrilling, we notice, and we are lost at least for a moment, and out of the story. Filmmakers hate it when the audience is taken out of the movie.

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

That's a great point! I agree, the physics in animation are incredibly important, and a lot of filmmakers have been pushing it too far, especially in some of the examples I showed in this video. That's part of what made the animation in Transformers so great. Because the animated robots had to interact with real objects in the scene, the physics and their animations had to be more realistic and grounded in reality. Very good point, thank you for your comment and thoughts!

[@nelsongoforth6254]

@@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms = I haven't seen a lot of the Transformers, but the animation does look good and 'real world'. The main problem I have with them IS physics, though...when the cars unfold and the legs, etc., pop out...where does the engine live? (or whatever runs the robot). There's not enough room!

[@easystreetphoto2401]

@@nelsongoforth6254 they're not cars, they just look like that

[@Legion849]

@@nelsongoforth6254 Transformers are not cars they are alien robots. They just have the ability to transform themselves

[@jacktheflash8478]

@@nelsongoforth6254 bruh

[@jabariiwilliams5279]

Randomly came across this video. I really appreciate the depth you took me into when it comes to VFX. makes so much sense

[@newchangeunlisted_viewer5594]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR INCLUDING THE TRANSFORMERS MOVIES!!! They are really beautiful to look at, I grew up watching these movies and I love them Amazing content!

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Haha same here, the first Transformers movie was what really triggered my interest in film and made me want to make movies! Thanks for your comment and for watching!

[@middleofnowhereradio]

I'm so happy I stumbled on your channel. As a fellow visual storyteller I appreciate your insights greatly. We do most of our storytelling for cultural projects commissioned by fortune 50 companies and governmental entities that don't get much public airtime, but I'm super interested in venturing out into the indie spectrum. I guess it all starts with a script right?

[@anhilliator1]

I think stylistic usage would be a good topic to cover. Such as Speed Racer's usage of it - the odd rendering actually fits with the cartoony aesthetic the movie has, with its bright and varied color palette and frenetic editing.

[@cleonymirvillanueva9095]

These video essays are really great! I have been really interested into the core aspects of why vfx nowadays are getting lesser in quality and this basically helps me to have a broader view of this particular issue. It is entertaining, please continue this

[@mists_of_time]

Great video. I totally agree with you, the story is what matters. May I give you a little advice? A soft warm light in the shots where we can see you would improve the visual greatly. The grey dark color and YT's compression do some strange tricks.

[@IceJackal1984]

if it wasn't for Transformers 1, the Iron Man 1 wouldn't see success and the MCU would not exist

[@novustalks7525]

literally. it's well known the iron man team took many notes from transformers

[@lankyboy90]

@@novustalks7525 Both ILM so it's not exactly surprising....

[@nathonso_edits]

Interestingly for Andor it seems like they've adopted blending on set foreground with CG background and it works so great, I don't ever get pulled out the story (save for recognising some of the locations as it was mostly shot in the uk 😀)

[@zrl1017]

I’ve also noticed that CGI just seems to be absolutely tanking recently. Tori final Ironman was so good I genuinely thought that they built him an entire fiberglass suit for filming.

[@ZapataCarratala]

Great content! Keep it coming!

[@lopoa126]

Lack of unions. That is the real problem with modern VFX. The artists simply don't have enough time to properly work, so they put out "trash" looking stuff. It really is just about studios refusing to give artists enough time in order to save budget.

[@trentn1127]

Lack of unions didn't stop earlier cgi from not looking like absolute wank. Unions might well discourage the use of vfx in films which would make their misuse less common though they would also hinder the lower budget films that actually make decent use of vfx already. The trouble is a lot deeper with a growing cultural predisposition to complacency. Unions can be great but their application in this sense is a bandaid on a tumour

[@PaulGuy]

Unions all over the rest of production don't stop 14 hour days to stuff ten weeks of shooting into seven weeks of time. The only thing they do for people in film production is get them paid for the OT they are basically forced to work. This is all that would happen if VFX studios were organized. The timelines would still be just as short.

[@TheBigExclusive]

@@PaulGuy - This is because Unions don't have as much leverage as they used to in the past. If VFX Unions try force studios for better hours and longer timelines, then studios will just threaten to ship the jobs to overseas VFX houses in India and China that will create VFX at an insanely cheap price.

[@reservationatdorsias3215]

Eh, unions also are responsible for crazy activist teachers being un-fireable.

[@afriendofepicproportions]

@@reservationatdorsias3215 We're not talking about teachers. This is VFX unions.

[@m_tth_w9647]

Why do I love how straight forward this title is 😂

[@TheRyderShotgunn]

i like that michael bay's style is getting some love, since i have a soft spot for his work seeing as i was the target demographic around the time his first 3 transformers movies came out. people back then criticized his "overuse" of CGI, and now look at what we have nowadays. how ironic that nowadays michael bay uses less cgi than most other blockbuster movies

[@Lupine49]

I think the MAJOR thing that's going on isn't just price, but that the current method is ideal for executive oversight. If you shoot a whole large action sequence with practical effects and max in CGI, it's really hard for an executive to come in and nitpick minor things and change small parts. Doing everything in CGI, means execs can come in and totally rework shots, scenes - you name it. And you can do that up until a few days (or even after) release.

[@erickim1739]

This is absolutely false. You cant just change one aspect of a shot in CGI like clicking "delete fire1" and expect the rest of the scene to look good lol. Only NOW can you see changes you made in real time and its not even 100%. Good VFX companies know how to make great CGI like in the movie dune, but people never fucking talk about that do they? There are plenty of movies, shorts, shows that use amazing VFX and sometimes have whole scenes that are VFX but noone even realises it because it was done so damn well. People only notice the bad ones, just like how we also notice really shitty practical effects as well.

[@Lupine49]

@@erickim1739 Right. The reason Marvel looks like shit, and Dune looked good was because Dune had a combination of practical effects and CGI, and the CGI was used to expand the world, rather than using it to create the world from scratch. A lot of Marvel sequences now are being shot basically entirely on green screens so they can just click 'delete fire1'. They did a TON of work when filming Dune to get the lighting correct, down to timing light bursts to go with what would later be CGI explosions. Marvel is not going that far, because once you've filmed the scene with the 'correct' light, you can't go back and change a lot about it, so instead you film it with flat lighting and use CGI to fix it all in post.

[@erickim1739]

@@Lupine49 but here’s the issue…people keep bringing up marvel movies as if all of their VFX is bad but it’s not…they put out so many movies and shows that of course they can’t have perfect VFX in every single shot lol. Moon knight was great was it not? It had great VFX in certain scenes and not so good ones in others. People are just expecting so much from marvel that it’s an impossible bar to reach

[@exlordinthedude8080]

@@erickim1739 well Marvel is creating the problem themselves by pushing out so much stuff. It's not really a high bar, if marvel is setting themselves up to not meet it when they did before.

[@erickim1739]

@@exlordinthedude8080 I agree that its on noone else but Marvel if they continue to put out subpar material but there are always plenty of VFX shots that are truly amazing in Marvel films/shows even today...People are only bringing up the bad ones as if thats whats important.

[@AndrewRKenny]

Nothing particularly new to me here but really cool to see your own work and experience highlighting your points. Practical sets/effects etc. go such a long way to providing a good basis for post-production effects. Really wish they were becoming more common and not less. :c

[@touzimsky]

6:00 This might not be feasable for some movies, but it's the perfect mindset to start from.

[@JensenP12]

As George Lucas said it: "A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"

[@StardustLegacyFighter]

George Lucas is the gold standard.

[@vladislavslepyshev712]

Great Video! Please make more, especially about Unreal Engine and CGI in film making.

[@windsweptconcept7261]

This is fantastic, good job! Really interesting and easy to digest.

[@TheRyujinLP]

This is hitting the nail right on the head. CG used to be the cherry on top, now it's the whole damn meal and there is just no longer the time to give the major set pieces the time they need to pop when ever frame now has 20 layers of digital trickery going on.

[@LeiDavidChen]

Curious to hear your thoughts on shooting on an LED soundstage, as they still require the same digital environments and other assets as traditional VFX, but now they've been moved up in the process so that much of lighting and composition that would traditionally be done in post are now done in prep and can be seen on set.

[@jacktheflash8478]

It’s certainly something

[@nathonso_edits]

I think they are good in certain situations, Star Wars for example used them first on the Mandalorian and they work great for more static shots like Mando camping out in the desert, but then they decided to film the entirety of obi wan on them and the flaws start to show up, like in any chase scenes they'd have to cut every time the actors ran 5 metres across the sound stage.

[@natalieyeung674]

BROOO thankyou so much, this really helped and the tutorial was really easy to use as well :)

[@m_tth_w9647]

Love this video please make more, I love these kind of vfx commentary videos

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

I plan to make more! Thanks for your comments and for watching!

[@pian-0g445]

Like any form of art being used in filmmaking, it’s about knowing when, how, and if you should use it. There are many factors such as Will making a model, set, puppet or whatever better immerse the actors. Will you be able to achieve what you want only with CG. How much will it be compared to alternatives? I believe in the current day and age, if making big budget fantasy, sci-do or basically stories that are beyond our world, the best movies are made by directors who understand the strengths and weaknesses of cg, and choosing to use it for a purpose. Even The Batman 2022 uses CG but it’s so subtle in most cases you basically won’t ever think about it.

[@bournechupacabra]

It's not like modern CGI has gotten worse, there is just a selection bias when it comes to older movies that have good effects. We always remember the standout movies with good effects, even the ones that had shit ton of CGI like Avatar or Pirates of the Carribean 2 (even then, those movies are still pretty recent in the grand scheme of things). But we just forget about the bad ones. Meanwhile, we can still remember recent bad movies so it feels like things have gotten worse. The truth is that movies have basically always been this way. We do this even though there are still plenty of modern examples of good CGI, like Logan or Top Gun Maverick or all of Denis Villeneuve's movies. I find it ironic that you point out Gravity as a bad example when Cuaron went through painstaking efforts to make sure that the lighting of the CG environment always perfectly matched the lighting on the actors. Imo Gravity is an incredible showcase of CGI.

[@DavidConant]

If one major studio holds most of the projects I imagine it will be difficult to negotiate terms for VFX artists especially when the market is so saturated with new talent.

[@mclefferson]

your video makes excellent well researched points about the use of CGI in modern cinema, however, have you considered bumping up the exposure on your talking head shots a few stops so we can actually see your face?

[@SonicHedgehog1991]

2008 Iron Man looks like a guy wearing a suit of armour, every thing after Iron Man 2 feels like a CGI model moving around

[@northcoaststudios]

Fog/haze is our friend. Even in interior shots, SOME haze in the room puts the audience IN the room. It also gives those wonderful light rays.

[@Snoozelightable]

I remember replaying the suitcase scene from IronMan2 over and over. Blew me the hell away

[@drankin_barry6005]

Transformers was the perfect tale to tell in regard to comparing good from bad. Basically then vs. now. I’ve always thought that.

[@criticalthinker3262]

It's weird, I think pretty much everything you said was right in a vacuum, but I disagreed with almost all the connections lol CGI 100% is best when used to enhance what's already there, but some things can't be done practically and look good. Full CGI characters are going to be harder to do, but can look fantastic if they do it right. Also, people have been saying VFX are getting worse for as long as VFX have existed, same with practical effects, same with movies in general, because people only remember the best examples from older movies, while everything coming out now is fresh in our minds. I think it's fair to say the average movie VFX from a decade ago was worse than the average of today, and if for no other reason but our technology and techniques continuing to improve, today's _best_ movie VFX is going to beat out older effects.

[@averageday]

I see your point. Most of the time bad CGI completely takes me out of the fantasy and reminds me that everything was shot in a blue room somewhere out there.

[@sadness212]

💚Great video as always 💚4:30 I want to ask you a question how can you track the video when the camera looks at the sky???

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Thank you and thanks for watching! Unfortunately there is not really a good way to track this particular shot and I actually was forced to kind of guess in order to match up the movement of the camera in Unreal Engine. I then manually keyframed the position of the live-action footage in After Effects to match up well with the Unreal Engine camera move. Ideally, you would have some sort of tracking markers to track, which could be accomplished by putting markers on c-stands raised into the sky in the background, but due to time constraints I was not able to do this. Sometimes VFX just ends up being painstaking manual work. Thanks again for watching!

[@loganpraz2566]

Another problem with this too is that we only notice the worst vfx, the best vfx usually goes unrecognized unless you’re a professional in the industry because the best vfx shouldn’t be noticed by the viewer

[@loganpraz2566]

(There could be things that are done well that people might not even notice because they think they are real but then one bad shot and now it’s a movie with bad vfx)

[@Nikolai_The_Crazed]

As an amateur 3d artist(I only do it as a hobby), I’ve noticed there are a few different things that play into making your CG look real. I guess, in a way, they’re different layers of realism that all work together. First is lighting. If the lighting is even slightly off, people will be able to tell. The human brain will subconsciously tell something is off, if your light direction is slightly off. Second, there’s detail imperfections. No matter how good you are at making things, your creations in the real world will always have imperfections. Things like knicks, lumps, scratches and micro scratches, smudges and so on. Especially around edges, since those get scuffed the easiest. If it’s too clean and perfect, the brain recognizes that it’s unnatural. Thirdly, the performance/behavior of the elements in question. If something doesn’t move right, or doesn’t behave like it should, that sets the mind off too. Whether it’s falling debris, or a character moving, we can tell when something isn’t moving like it’s supposed to. And like someone else here said; that all takes a lot of PLANNING. A lot of studios will just throw work at their VFX people and expect a good final product. The film director has a lot of stuff they need to give in order to get a solid looking VFX shot. The VFX department is not there to make up for your lack of planning. It’s there to, in a sense, reward _good_ planning.

[@howlettcorps5996]

Um…am I the only one that feels the Gemini VFX look like a video game?

[@bjarkisteinnpetursson9736]

I’ve always preferred to see movies and shows shot on real locations, with real costumes, and real stunts. Then I worked on one of those shows and learned exactly why so many don’t do it 😂 Still think it’s entirely worth it, both for the final picture and for my bank account 💰💰💰

[@andrewmandrona7891]

I remember some of the behind the scenes stuff for the original Iron Man movie and was surprised to see that RDJ was wearing a physical suit for a lot of it. It didn't look that convincing but gave good reference for VFX, which made the film hold up way better. Meanwhile, Endgame is looking more and more like a next-gen video game.

[@walterlacoste1404]

I would say that the fog gets misused and overused a lot. I see many shots in movies and tv where fog and mist are used and I cannot normalize it, cause it would be as if real life was like silent hill.

[@Cinematographer_brenton]

I love this video, It's one of my biggest problem with modern VFX, they don't feel as real not on location

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Thanks for watching and for your comment!

[@ronvance]

Great info. Yes, keep going with it.

[@badconnection4383]

This was a very educational video, and I say this as a man trying to make my own movies. I'm thinking of a sci-fi story, but I don't want the VFX to suck. I never thought about how believable it is for the actor as much as the audience, but yeah, it makes sense. In order for the actor to get into character, they have to see the world that their character inhabits in, but how do they do that if they are reciting their lines in front of a green screen?

[@sunumaudio]

Remember the times before art was made out of passion, instead of cutting corners anywhere possible? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[@marscaleb]

I am tickled by how much of what you said has already been known for ages. Back in the 80's, before CG was even a thing, Robert Zemeckis made a big transition on the visual effect shots in Back to the Future 3 after finishing the second movie. He found that he was able to pull off far more convincing composite shots by staging them the same way we would if it was just a normal scene with two actors rather than a special effect shot. Effectively, he discovered how to make special effects look better by not trying to draw focus to them. And before that, George Lucas had made public statements about special effects, stating "A special effect is a tool; a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing." Thus, in his very heyday as the king of visual effects, he was already advocating a focus on storytelling over the visuals. Half of the advice you gave in this video was already understood 40 years ago, but people have lost that insight over time.

[@pyronuke4768]

I agree. I think early CGI like in Jurassic Park or Terminator 2 still mostly hold up today because the teams knew they could only push the limits so far, and so they had to get creative with a bunch of little tricks to make it look believable. Nowadays VFX programs are a lot more versatile and user friendly, and so the higher ups just kinda take it for granted.

[@mistamacho8704]

1 second into the video and the cinematic production value caught me so off guard I instantly subscribed

[@MrMcGrawAndTheBigFeathers]

Has anyone considered that the CGI workers are *perhaps* overworked after Marvel keeps crunching out 10 products a year with veterans of the field literally making statements about how it’s ruined everything?

[@wavion2]

I can remember playing the early 3d graphics games in the 90's where they always used fog to hide the limited draw distance. Like literally every game of that period. So I still get triggered when I see a bunch of fog in modern games and movie CGI.

[@ermonski]

Color grading also plagued the MCU films. The Paramount-era films looked great because of the balanced color grading, when Disney took over everything looked too desaturated and was topped up with too much Instagram filters to look stylized.

[@memesjack3615]

The Avengers looks very colorful and vibrant compared to Age of Ultron, Infinity War and Endgame.

[@ashajacob8362]

@@memesjack3615 yes indeed in fact first Avengers film is my favorite the last one Endgame is good but it didn't impressed very much especially that final battle I felt it was kinda dark and dull

[@3Rayfire]

Heck you can see how important fog and haze is in video games. The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy remastered relied heavily on AI upscaling and increased draw distance, but without the haze it showed in glaring detail the weakness of the world design itself.

[@nosreklem]

might be a lil more work but having the titles on screen of the movies ur using as bg video would be really nice

[@birdmoney]

What's the aspect ratio of this video? Seeing those black bars while you're talking in a dark room makes you sound really smart

[@cult-ur-fit]

"Focus on your characters and your story" oof that's gonna be rough for a lot of film studios.

[@yearight1205]

This is the problem I'm running into. I want to make a trailer for a movie that's 1 minute long. I have to have a desert area, and I need to have a car scene. So I created the world in Unreal Engine 5, and plan on filming it in green screen. I'm trying to think of how to make this look as real as possible, since the entirety of it has to be done in green screen, since where I live there is no desert.

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

I'm actually working on a tutorial for this exact type of thing, and I hope to have it posted sometime this week! One way to do this is to shoot your footage, 3d track it if you have movement, and then you can enable the Image Plane plugin in Unreal Engine, import your footage to that, and set up your scene how you like according to your footage. I go into detail on this in the video so hopefully that could help you when it comes out!

[@yearight1205]

@@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms buddy, I'll tell you what. You need to do one of your in depth purchasable ones for that. Because I'm not kidding, I'd pay $100 easy for something that covers everything on that. I purchased your bundle pack tutorial, and loved that. Could you consider doing an in depth one? One of the biggest hurdles I'm trying to figure out is the filming of inside the car in a car chase involving a gun out the window firing at another cars tires. I have to rent a car, then have the same car in Unreal Engine 5 that's a 3D model (luckily the scene takes place at dusk). As well as purchasing a replica gun, which I then have to animate the firing of. This stuff isn't too hard to figure out, but I'm stressed on making sure I film everything properly for it. I own a Blackmagic 6k Pro. I am currently the 2nd camera operator on a movie being made. So I know how to film on set. But still new to green screen filming.

[@jasonjenkinson2049]

Maybe there is a beach or sand dunes?

[@AustinParenti]

How did you do outdoor haze on Gemini? It looks fantastic!

[@quax6625]

thanks, very helpful :)

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Thank you for watching!

[@martok666]

thanks for sharing :D

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Thanks for watching!

[@waranghira]

His talking head and Gemini clips have that modern low-contrast grading that loves artifacts.

[@Faceplay2]

As a film Director myself this is why I typically like to film on location and uses a little green screen as possible. even the next feature film that I’ve been hired to direct I believe there’s only maybe five shots in the entire film never gonna have any sort of visual effects everything else will be completely practical on production. Like you said in your video over reliance on VFX is a terrible idea especially when the filmmakers become lazy and not creative with camera movement basic lighting prop design on production.

[@dissonanceparadiddle]

This is why i love the mandolorian. They figured out how to get the best of both worlds with their really cool new tech that got practical elements in the space with the CGI as they shot it

[@dezfoto7534]

Unfortunately they don't mention the fact that the majority of the shots done on the "volume" stage end up getting rotoed so they can replace the background. It's really only good for the actors and reflections.

[@dissonanceparadiddle]

@@dezfoto7534 darn

[@theobserver3753]

Don’t understand why movies suck in every aspect nowadays. Lazy filmmaking definitely takes the cake. Thanks for the video.

[@NateBeard]

wished you would have gone into more detail of what went wrong with the big budget CGI flops in this first video.

[@DallasUnchained]

Great stuff! I also felt that the first Transformers movie did CGI rather well given its source material.

[@SimonDusk6453]

ayo, i when i saw " (And How to Make Yours Not Sick)" i was sold

[@williamkrause5585]

I was so confused for a minute when all I could get from this video specifically was 480p.

[@HDZambo]

Smoke and fog is the cheapest and easiest way to Blend Cgi with footage. Everytime u can work without u should. But when the scene Desiree it of course use it. And if u can t get it Look better without

[@Ariana321]

Generally agree with *all* of that. Though I do have one question.. I've never seen Gemini so I don't know much about it but that ship at 4:30... Is that the Razor Crest from Mandalorian that flies overhead? Because it looks pretty much exactly like it.

[@pac-man2907]

Amazing that your work looks better than Rings of Power or other media where tens to hundreds of millions are spent on VFX

[@n3ofit4]

A nice clip but it should be called 'My promo of my film and my courses". Still, some valid points raised.

[@Elemenace]

People don't talk enough about how certain local laws and costs of film permits have gotten worse to the point where a lot of films (big budget and especially indie) are forced to either rely on just using a studio space for nearly 2/3rds of the movie or to use not-so-good locations just to compensate.

[@Ferdam]

I think this is neck to neck with a more broad and general modern issue I've been noticing: people/companies are adding new features to digital/tech products for no big reason... just like trying to solve a problem that simply does not exist. Maybe overall user experience of things is fading away and 'feature experience' is taking its place, as weird as it might sound.

[@PopartFilms]

Yes! Keep em up!

[@billyheaning]

4:31 What is the scene with the spaceship from? Is that the Razor Crest?

[@vivekrserleena]

yess!!! i've been telling everybody about this and no one cares, now I have a video to share thanks!

[@fetusdeletus9266]

VFX went in a weird parabola like in the start it all looked too smooth or weightless and looked bad but then you had that time where it looked great like Jurassic park and some of the earlier marvel films from like the 2000s and then it went down the chute again with everything looking smooth and weightless recently

[@GR33NY]

Hey I was wondering what song was playing at the beginning of your video?

[@paulbeattie]

There is so much value in the video my god. THIS is how to use VFX properly.

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Thank you! Thanks for your comment and for watching!

[@LilacSreya]

GENUINE QUESTION = At 1:06, Why was Batman v Superman included here as bad VFX? And that also right after the notorious Black Panther sequence? I was under the impression BvS has very good effects (maybe with some exceptions like Doomsday design due to changing at last moment after MoS backlash)?? Is it because dark lighting/hyper realism (used in MoS) = bad or something? Also there are multple “color corrected” versions available, are they all bad?

[@ukmonk]

except modern VFX doesn't suck

[@Natta44]

I would like an explanation of why some scenes in Thor love and Thunder look so off. I saw they used a curved screen instead of normal green screen. This was supposed to make it better, why didn't it? It looked worse, like if you were on a fairground with an obvious screen behind you. You could see were the practical set ended and the screen began.

[@THEMrFill]

time - they didn't give the VFX artists enough time to "smooth" the edges between the set and the LED walls, or to touch up the issues, plus they probably didn't have enough time to properly make the very high resolution backgrounds, making them look _odd_ compared to shows like the Mandalorian, which uses them to amazing results

[@johnprudent3216]

As a fan and someone who’s dabbled, I think you hit it right on the head about why VFX of films of early 2000’s seem more photorealistic and grounded. Because they are added to live plates. I’ve always thought that the grounding of reality is what really helped sell the VFX from films like Transformers 2007. The VFX had to conform to what was captured in a camera that moves realistic around a set and not anime style like a bullet. Which there’s nothing wrong with that when done right and sparingly. I love seeing the use of virtual sets. Do not take it the wrong way, but I feel like they get overused and therefore lose the sense of novelty and suspension of disbelief. Great video.

[@BoundlessEntertainmentFilms]

Agreed, very well put! Thanks for watching!!

[@frugihoyi]

"anime style like a bullet" You mean like Black Panther at 0:57?

[@GinnyFan765]

4:33 Was that the Razorcrest from The Mandalorian?

[@kanedaku]

HD and higher tellys are to blame. Old films got remastered in their own time. Now there's tight deadlines to get it beach body ready.

[@carlchapman4053]

Jurassic Park was the best possible use of CGI because the ENTIRE film was meant to be physical shots and animatronics, the CGI was only added when the special effect teams PROVED that they could do better with CGI than using any other known special effect and that is why it still looks incredible even 25 years later, so as far as I am concerned the benchmark is make a film as realistic as possible using physical effects and THEN ask if CGI can improve on those effects instead of relying on CGI from the outset. The best analogy I have is that a good cook will use salt and other seasoning to make a good meal great but a bad cook thinks 'fuck the food quality, I'll just keep adding salt until it tastes good'. CGI is seasoning to a production that can make it even better but without a good production to begin with it just leaves us all with an unpleasant taste in our mouths.

[@radeksparowski7174]

Well you should check amanda tappings "the sanctuary" series, not pretending they have the budget for another avatar, but the stories/actors/characters were great and the effects were there as sidedish to enhance the whole - most people will roll their eyes for scifi channel/asylum level effects BUT it was not supposed to be a big budget spectacle to ruin your eyes while having no story to tell-hollywood production. Kudos for the creators there. I hope the effects will be used as tools to deliver good stories like in love, death and robots - story is what counts the visuals are to round it up and git it the necessary umpf. I am curious after recent dall-e 2 how long will it take to have the same for video, you will have flawless picture whatever you can imagine but guess what - the question remains "what is it all about, what is the story???"

[@dallassegno]

how much time have they actually saved? i argue it's only been transferred from the sound stage to the lithium mines.

[@Demmrir]

As a video game enthusaist, I really enjoy this trend in blockbuster movies because it's resulted in a situation that I find hilarious: Blockbuster videogames look MORE realistic than blockbuster movies, because the high quality character assets are lit identically to the scene so they don't look like cutouts like Marvel movie actors on greenscreen do. They are more grounded and fit naturally in the scenes. This has already been the case on occasion and with UE5 and next-gen engines finally releasing games next year, more and more games will look more photorealistic than movies do. And it's so delightfully surreal that we're in that situation.

[@LP12576]

I found it! the most unhinged comment in this insane comment section.