Monday, August 6, 2018

A Quota Quickie: VFX Narrative Driving Films

During a discussion I had recently with an old friend, a "film" editor friend, we touched upon visual effects technology today and the "tent-pole picture". As I told him, I am no Luddite. The technology is wonderful, and filmmakers with little money can compete with the big boys, to some degree. (And television producers can work with smaller budgets than ever before.) The problem with this wonderful technology is producers go crazy with its processing power.

With today's blockbusters, at least, narrative drive is often propelled by the visual effects, where it should be the story. The narrative drive should be the natural exponent of "story".

Give me a good book. There, any special visual effects are in one's head and they never take over from the story.


2 comments:

Jon said...

An interview with Andrew Davis about the 20th anniversary of "The Fugitive" also makes this point.
"We’ve gotten into the world of eye candy and into the world where if [films don't] have tons of eye candy where a 22-year-old in some other country can just enjoy watching it, then they hardly get made."

http://www.mandatory.com/fun/563385-exclusive-interview-andrew-davis-on-the-fugitive-20th-anniversary-edition

Simon St. Laurent said...

Thank you!