Marvel Studios has been nothing but marvelous when it comes to the production of The Avengers. These superhero films are not only action-packed, but the stunts coupled with the air, sea, and land battles are just absolutely created to near perfection. All that, plus the timing of the visual and sound effects, and the directing skills employed as vital scenes unfold.
Certainly, none of these would have been possible without computer-generated images. To have shot this film decades ago would have been too risky, not to mention, less dramatic with poor cinematography. Stunt doubles have reason to sigh in relief with the advent of blue and green screens.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The hyper-stylized and highly humorous show follows Mrs. Maisel as she tries to forge a path as a female comedian in New York City in the 60s. Rachel Brosnahan has given the performance of a lifetime on this show. So much so that she ended up becoming the latest actress to play Lois Lane.
Mrs. Maisel and her manager are often running around the city to book any gig they can get for the rising star. That means they often rely on the infamous NYC subway system. Luckily green screen is around to make it look like the characters are actually riding the subway.
Titanic
This 1997 film directed by James Cameron was inspired by the latter’s fascination for shipwrecks. The making of the movie was granted a budget of $200 million, the most expensive at the time. Its returns skyrocketed with over $2 billion in ticket sales worldwide. With all the huge numbers involved, don’t expect this iconic scene between Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet to be shot in a real ship.
In fact, it doesn’t need a huge liner to complete such a short part. All it took mostly were some scaled models and computer-generated imagery. Then there’s some green screen to build upon the rest. Here are the main characters behind the scenes, stripped down of their romance on stage with a microphone floating in front of Rose.
Tron
It goes without saying that the world of "Tron" is entirely created with the use of CGI. That fictional world in the middle of the software of a mainframe computer is where its story is focused. This is where fights and competitions had to take place so its character could escape the technological snaggle.
To make this world appear realistic, a lot of color screens had to be installed to film this movie, and they also applied a process called "backlit animation." Its color combinations had to be properly thought of, and they had to match all that with futuristic sound effects.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Sure, this film wasn't the biggest box office success. One thing you can not fault about the film is the filmmaker's creativity and ambition in making it. Not the mention the performances of the two leads in the film, Dane DeHaan and Cara Develingne, who were very good in it.
This spectacular sci-fi extravaganza required a plethora of special effects and CGI to get the film off the script and onto the screen. However, when you consider how much it cost for the movie to be made (a quarter of a billion dollars) and only grossing about $226 million worldwide, you can't exactly call it a commercially successful use of CGI.