Ana de Armas' high heels in No Time to Die are 100% digital.
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00:00 CGI is everywhere in modern movies. All but the most low-budget films employ comprehensive
00:06 use of visual effects for a number of reasons, from creating gorgeous far-flung worlds to
00:11 fixing unexpected issues that arose during the shoot.
00:15 And while bad or excessive CGI can certainly help ruin a movie, sometimes visual effects
00:20 are deployed with such impressively subtle artistry that you don't even realise they're
00:26 there.
00:27 Nobody watched any of these ten recent movies under the assumption that they were conceived
00:30 entirely practically. Each, nevertheless, features a CGI moment that you almost certainly
00:36 didn't notice.
00:38 So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture, here with 10 CGI moments in recent movies
00:43 nobody noticed.
00:44 10. Nat and Yelena in the bar in Black Widow
00:48 It's of course no secret that every single Marvel Cinematic Universe movie contains a
00:53 ton of CGI in practically every scene, but you might be surprised at just how extensively
00:59 VFX are used in even the most basic and practical of camera setups.
01:04 When a VFX breakdown was released shortly after Black Widow hit screens, it revealed
01:09 that even the scene where Natalia and Yelena hang out drinking in a bar required the use
01:13 of blue screen technology.
01:14 At a cursory glance, there's nothing about that scene which simply involves two people
01:19 sitting down and talking, which necessitated CGI, most likely suggesting that this portion
01:24 of the scene was a reshoot captured many months later.
01:27 It's been stated before that the crew of every MCU movie captures clean background
01:32 plates of all major camera setups, so if it's discovered that shots are missing or a scene
01:36 isn't quite working in editing, pickups can be efficiently shot in front of a blue
01:40 screen and composited in front of the plates.
01:43 While it's easy to view this use of CGI as excessive, it's certainly a smart way
01:47 to keep reshoot costs down by ensuring the crew doesn't need to revisit the original
01:52 location or, worse still, rebuild a set that was destroyed after principal photography
01:57 wrapped.
01:58 And considering you almost certainly didn't notice it, do you really care all that much?
02:02 9.
02:03 Tig Notaro replaces Chris D'Elia in Army of the Dead
02:07 Zack Snyder faced a major technical hurdle during post-production of his zombie epic
02:12 Army of the Dead, where numerous sexual misconduct allegations were made against cast member
02:17 Chris D'Elia.
02:19 Snyder decided to digitally remove D'Elia from the film and replace him with comedian
02:23 Tig Notaro, an extremely challenging feat given that D'Elia was part of the main ensemble
02:28 cast and typically filmed in shots with other actors.
02:32 Snyder shot with Notaro against green screens for two weeks, with Anadila Ruggiero being
02:36 the only cast member she physically met on set, filming a total of two scenes with her.
02:41 D'Elia was then erased from each shot and Notaro painstakingly inserted in his place.
02:47 An intensely difficult process, and yet one which is near enough seamless in the final
02:51 film.
02:52 Sure, if you know what to look for, there are a few moments where the lighting doesn't
02:55 quite match 100%, but considering most general viewers didn't even know about the casting
02:59 replacement, they'd likely have no idea they were looking at a hugely labor-intensive visual
03:04 effect.
03:05 8.
03:06 CGI water in The Tragedy of Macbeth
03:09 The Tragedy of Macbeth is an undeniably beautiful film, powered by the combination of first-rate
03:15 production design and cinematography.
03:17 Yet you'll probably be pretty shocked to see just how much of the film's style and
03:21 atmosphere was dictated by mind-boggling seamless visual effects.
03:26 The production used countless matte paintings and set extensions to make the film's small
03:30 soundstage set look considerably larger, while also employing CGI fog to obscure the set's
03:36 limitations and imply a greater sense of scale.
03:40 But we all know that water is one of the trickiest elements to replicate digitally, behind only
03:45 fire, and this is where The Tragedy of Macbeth truly comes into its own.
03:49 During the scene where Macbeth sits in the apparition room and has a vision of the floor
03:53 transforming into a bubbling cauldron of black liquid, the liquid is 100% CGI.
04:00 While it looks like Denzel Washington is simply sitting in a set filled to ankle height with
04:04 water, the actor is actually sitting considerably more comfortably in a totally dry set, with
04:10 the liquid instead a brain-breakingly photo-real simulation.
04:14 This is the sort of subtle, not-showy effects work that deserves much greater recognition.
04:19 7.
04:20 Duke Leto's Army on Caladan in Dune
04:24 Dune quite rightly won the Best Visual Effects Oscar earlier this year, and though the film's
04:28 VFX are spectacular from start to finish, there are a few moments where they don't
04:33 draw absolute attention to themselves.
04:35 One scene where you might actually assume the bulk of the setup was filmed practically,
04:39 however, is when Duke Leto Atreides is first tasked with presiding over Arrakis while assembled
04:44 with his army on his home planet of Caladan.
04:48 The eye-watering wide shot shows Duke Atreides standing on a large platformed area with several
04:52 hundred officers behind him.
04:54 It's certainly lush and expansive, but tangible enough that it could conceivably be filmed
04:59 practically in an exotic location, given the film's large budget.
05:03 Yet the scene is actually a mesmerising trick.
05:06 Almost all of the officers are digital replications, and only a small portion of the set is actually
05:11 real.
05:12 Furthermore, the temples and mountains in the background are also 100% digital.
05:17 That the end result is photoreal enough to make you question whether it was shot in a
05:21 practical location is why Dune absolutely deserved the Oscar.
05:25 This is truly next-level work.
05:28 6.
05:29 Eddie at the Beach in Venom Let There Be Carnage
05:33 The recent Venom sequel ends with Eddie Brock and Venom getting some well-earned R&R at
05:37 the beach.
05:38 While the sunset certainly looks suspiciously picturesque, you'd be forgiven for assuming
05:42 that the scene was shot on a real beach and the sky was merely retouched during post-production.
05:46 Incredibly, though, the entire beach is fake, with Hardy actually sitting on a small patch
05:52 of sand on a soundstage in front of a blue screen.
05:55 In fact, because so much of the shot was replaced in post, the microphone used to capture Hardy's
06:00 dialogue didn't even need to be concealed from the camera's view, as it was simply
06:04 painted out by the film's VFX artists.
06:06 Though 98% of the film's CGI moments draw absolute attention to themselves, this is
06:11 actually pretty clever and shows the benefit of hiring a VFX-savvy filmmaker like Andy
06:16 Serkis to get the job done.
06:18 5.
06:19 The Sherman Fields Candyman in Candyman It's certainly no secret that the new Candyman
06:25 sequel uses CGI to de-age original Candyman star Tony Todd in its delirious climax, but
06:31 did you know there's actually a 100% digital character hidden in plain sight throughout
06:36 the film?
06:37 Early on, we're told about the tragic tale of Sherman Fields, a hook-handed black man
06:41 who was shot by racist police officers decades ago, and several times throughout the film
06:46 we see him appear as a version of the vengeful Candyman.
06:50 While it simply seems that actor Hargrove was kitted out in grotesque makeup effects
06:54 to perform these scenes, that's not quite the case.
06:57 Though Hargrove did indeed perform all of the scenes himself, during post-production,
07:01 director Nia DaCosta decided that the prosthetic facial scarring effects didn't quite look
07:06 good enough, and so VFX house Luma Pictures was charged with replacing Hargrove with a
07:12 total digital recreation from scratch, using crime scene photography to create a more visceral
07:18 facial wound.
07:19 Yet because this decision was made in post, no movement data for Hargrove had been captured
07:23 during principal photography, making the process considerably more difficult.
07:27 But the end result is extremely difficult to spot, in large part thanks to smart use
07:32 of dim lighting to conceal the obvious tells of a digital human face.
07:37 4.
07:38 Everything But The Boat in Death on the Nile
07:41 Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the effects will likely be aware that Death
07:45 on the Nile wasn't actually filmed on the River Nile.
07:48 It was in fact predominantly shot on soundstages in London, with the footage then composited
07:53 into background plates, which were shot in Egypt by the film's second unit crew.
07:58 And while many noted how phony the film's Egyptian exteriors looked, you might be surprised
08:03 to learn just how much CGI was actually employed to place the focal crew ship, the SS Karnak,
08:08 on the Nile.
08:09 You probably assumed that the London soundstage contained a water tank and some Egyptian scenery,
08:14 and yet the soundstages are shockingly bare for a $90 million movie.
08:18 Some sequences were quite literally filmed in what appears to be a large gravel backlot
08:23 outside the studio, with every piece of the Egyptian locale either a background plate
08:28 or a CGI element created from scratch.
08:31 The film's effects are certainly far from perfect, but it's nevertheless shocking just
08:35 how artificial it all is.
08:37 3.
08:38 Piccadilly Circus in Last Night in Soho
08:41 Edgar Wright is an extremely shrewd filmmaker where visual effects are concerned.
08:45 Yet, when it came to recreating 1960s London for his most recent film, Last Night in Soho,
08:51 it was reasonable to assume that he would simply alter shots of modern-day London to
08:55 resemble their past.
08:57 While that's largely true during the scenes set in Soho itself, the sequence where Jack
09:01 drives Sandy around Piccadilly Circus is actually a feat of low-key VFX genius.
09:07 Though you probably assumed Edgar Wright simply shot the scene in Piccadilly Circus for real
09:11 and then had the shot edited to resemble its 60s self, the car ride was actually shot at
09:16 another location altogether.
09:19 From the VFX breakdown, it's clear that the car was filmed riding along a closed street/track
09:24 and then cleverly composited into a 100% CGI recreation of 60s Piccadilly Circus.
09:31 Because the lighting between the raw footage of the car and the VFX shot match up pretty
09:34 much perfectly, it looks supremely photorealistic.
09:38 2.
09:39 Paloma's High Heels in No Time to Die
09:42 One of No Time to Die's most memorable sequences involves the introduction of arse-kicking
09:47 CIA agent Paloma, who promptly takes down a fleet of goons while wearing a pair of precarious
09:53 high heels.
09:54 As a testament to the art of subtle CGI, Ana de Armas actually wore trainers while filming
09:59 this scene, and the film's VFX artist then replaced them with high heels, presumably
10:03 for the sake of both practicality and safety.
10:07 Because the heels would fundamentally change the actress's posture, her legs also had
10:11 to be digitally altered to ensure the effect was totally convincing.
10:14 And considering not a single living soul picked up on this until the incredible VFX breakdown
10:19 was released, it's most certainly a job well done.
10:23 1.
10:24 The Dog-Shaped Shadow in The Power of the Dog
10:27 Jane Campion's Oscar-winning western The Power of the Dog uses way more CGI than you'd
10:32 ever guess simply from looking at it.
10:34 From the mostly digital animals to the extended sets and CGI buildings, it's a testament
10:39 to how subtle effects can add so much presence and atmosphere to a film.
10:43 One of its most memorable scenes involves Phil and Peter staring at what appears to
10:47 be the shadow of a barking dog in the hills near his ranch.
10:51 While you might assume that a lower-budget arthouse film simply location scouted a hilltop
10:56 that resembled the profile of a barking dog at a squint, it was ultimately less hassle
11:00 to just rely on VFX to create the precise visual that director Jane Campion wanted.
11:06 In post-production, the entire topography of the hills was changed, with new lighting
11:10 and shadows layered on top to both create the dog's silhouette and make it blend believably
11:15 into the originally shot material.
11:17 And that concludes our list.
11:19 If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know in the comments below.
11:22 And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification
11:26 bell.
11:27 Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there @WhatCulture.
11:29 And I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:33 I've been Ellie with What Culture, I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you