Practical Effects: What CGI Hopes to be Like

                When it comes to movies, the industry has evolved to where practical effects have been overshadowed by CGI, or Computer Generated Imagery. CGI has gotten to the point, however, that while it may look nice to see for those few action shots, practical effects are generally better than what CGI can offer.

                First, there’s the matter in our overuse of CGI today. While CGI is a great tool to use for small effects that normal practical effects couldn’t pull off, it can easily turn into having too much CGI, or even having a movie based around it. According to the article “Sunday Discussion: Practical Effects vs CGI - Is One Better Than The Other?” on firstshowing.net , one of the main points brought up was how “5-10 years later they won't even need cameraman on the set anymore, who knows, maybe they won't even need actors since they can just CG it.” With CGI, much of what is physically done is reduced tremendously, which in turn can take you out of what is actually real, unlike what practical effects can offer.

                Second, there’s the matter of fragileness with CGI, which movies with practical effects as their primary focus don’t need to worry as much about. According to the article “Practical Effects Masters on the Pros and Cons of CGI” tested.com, the author states how “These days, when a movie relies too much on CGI, the story can lose its reality, and audiences can get bored with it in a hurry.” With the use of CGI, the risk of having an audience lose focus on what the movie is trying to accomplish, while with the use of practical effects, an audience would be more willing to focus their attention on the film.

                Finally, there’s the matter of realism in practical effects that CGI can’t make. According to The People Project’s article of “Practical Effects vs CGI”, one of the biggest problems when it comes to CGI was how “the authenticity of a physical movement or of an emotional expression will be lost as movie directors opt more and more in favor of computer generated imagery.” Through practical effects, issues such as a potential loss in in authenticity wouldn’t be an issue, because the effects in question are actually there, rather than pasted in later on.

                In conclusion, while CGI is good for many of the visuals we enjoy today, practical effects seem to do better than what CGI has to offer.