In-camera effects – the type executed at the moment of exposure – have essentially disappeared since the transition to digital workflows took place twenty years ago. Though there remain a few enthusiastic holdouts (namely, director Christopher Nolan and my brilliant friend, Chris Webb at FX WRX in Brooklyn), you’d be hard-pressed to find many others who share such a strong passion for the genuine.
I use that term because their way of doing things is more convincing onscreen than anything that comes out of a computer. My enthusiasm for the creative avenues new technologies have opened for us proves I’m not a Luddite. But there’s no denying that compared to most of what we’re currently seeing, a hand-spun quality in which you can sense the presence of a human creator has been lost forever. The satisfaction gained from performing in-camera magic doesn’t just come from slipping one over on the audience. It comes from a way of thinking that’s more in touch with how things really appear in life. Although I’m intellectually certain a human is responsible for whatever CGI I might be watching, that the effects were created by manipulating code and pushing buttons is a bit cold for me. That level of detachment is off-putting and comes through in the work.
Done well, in-camera work calls less attention to itself. Witness George Lucas’ original Star Wars from 1977 versus the latest incarnations of that series. The practical work his team turned out nearly fifty years ago remains awesomely more convincing.
And I defy anyone to convince me we’ve improved since then!
Hi Richard, I cut my teeth 40 years ago in props and special effects work. This post certainly strikes a chord with me. That work and understanding how things appear on camera, the effect of lighting on these objects is certainly a rare art these days. The modeling of the objects, surface textures, shape, color, etc…..all designed to a convincing look on camera. You may recall some earlier correspondence about The Flamingo Kid and the work I was part of for that film which we both worked on. It was always very gratifying to see even the smallest of objects that we had created look so very convincing on film.
-Guy
Yes, Guy…something has undoubtedly been lost!