CRAP CGI & RUBBISH CAMERA WORK

If there is one thing guaranteed to ruin a film is crap CGI mixed in with awful 'shaky cam' whenever there is any action on screen.

It seems that the lower the films budget the worse it gets, although with regards to 'shaky cam' it also affects some big budget releases as well. I just don't get it. Why ruin an action scene with camera work that renders it impossible to tell what is going on? It is not dynamic or exciting, it is just totally rubbish, annoying and a cheap way of getting away without having to choreograph the scene properly.

In low budget films it is often to try and cover up the fact that the CGI is so bad that it would not stand up to any scrutiny that a well composed shot would bring. Consequently the viewer is treated to the camera being violent flung around the shot like the camera man is having some sort of seizure.

Given the fact that CGI is generally regarded as being quite expensive (any doubts then check out the special features on the Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace DVD where George Lucas discusses the budget with ILM) why do low budget films use it? For many years prior to the proliferation of CGI monster movies and action movies got by perfectly well without the need of a computer. Look at some low budget horror films in the 1970's and 1980's. They used practical effects and creativity and over all the effect was far more convincing than some horrible, poorly textured and rendered CGI abominations that we see frequently on the likes of the SyFy channel.

A case in point. I watched a movie recently called Mega Piranha. Now I know I should not be expecting anything Earth shattering, and I wasn't, but the CGI was so bad that it was laughable. If the idea was to create some sort of horror film then the only thing horrific was the special effects. Not only was the CGI poorly textured (it looked like a cut scene from a PSOne game) but the animation and design was so bad it made me wonder if the 'artists' we intentionally trying to make as bad a job as possible.

CGI has had many benefits for the film industry and I am by no means a hater. Movies like Jurassic Park and Avatar show exactly what can be done when you have top artists and a budget to match but when you are going low budget forget it.

You know, there is nothing wrong with good old fashioned make up and creature design. Go and watch the work of Rob Bottin in The Thing. Go and watch Rick Baker's amazing Werewolf transformation in An American Werewolf In London. Not one computer was used to create those effects yet they provided some of the most horrifying and lasting imagery in cinema.