In this article, we examine a number of CGI examples that we weren't even aware of. We've studied CGI-like effects from the pre-CGI era as well as scenes that appeared to be CGI but weren't. We’ve also giggled at how goofy CGI-heavy scenes look without it, and we’ve even cried looking at cases of awful digital effects. That was distressing. Here, though, we focus on realistic, non-flashy CGI that in another dimension could have easily just been practical effects. In that dimension your chair would also be real, but now that we say it that just sounds strange. Seriously, take a look at the wheels. That is just hurried compositing, sorry. FX workers of the world, unite!
1. Machete
Source: Fox
Jessica Alba was not actually naked during the shower scene. Alba has a strict rule against doing nude scene, so she and Robert Rodriguez agreed that digitally erasing her underwear would work.
2. Les Misérables
Source: Universal
The singing was not added in post-production but recorded right there with the actors singing their hearts out while they shot their scenes. Clever use of CGI was made to hide the earpieces and microphones the cast was wearing.
3. Black Swan
Source: Fox
Darren Aronofsky used tons of CGI trickery to take us down this terrifying descent into madness, but one of the uncanniest must be Natalie Portman’s weirdly elongated hands. That’s not a hand double, but a CGI alteration of Portman’s own hands.
4. A Beautiful Mind
Source: Universal
As Russell Crowe’s John Nash is losing his mind, he leaves his baby in the bathtub. Obviously, they were not going to risk drowning a baby, so they filmed the kid in an empty bathtub and composited the shot with a CGI-altered, real bathtub with water.
5. Tag
Source: Warner Bros.
Who could forget Tag, the beloved comedy about, erm, sentient price tags, we guess? Jeremy Renner broke both arms doing a tricky stunt, and since the shoot could not be postponed, he had to wear casts and the arms were then digitally added. (Also, we now know something about the movie Tag!)
6. Die Hard with a Vengeance
Source: Fox
Bruce Willis did not really stand in the middle of Harlem with that N-word sandwich board. The board was blank, and the FX team added the hate word (and a surprisingly bland “I hate everybody” for the TV version).
7. Blood Diamond
Source: Warner Bros.
For the scene of Leo DiCaprio’s saying goodbye to Jennifer Connelly, they added one single CGI tear to her performance. It’s seamless, it does give the scene the sort of oomph that the average movie desperately needs – but on the other hand, do they dare question Jennifer Connelly’s acting?
8. Crawl
Source: Paramount
Of course, the alligators in this intense survival flick are all CGI – and so is the storm. The film was shot in a soundstage, and the intense waves of hurricane rain sweeping Florida were digitally added in post.
9. Children of Men
Source: Universal
Remember American Sniper’s plastic doll scene? This is the exact opposite of that. The newborn is all CGI, completely blending with the scene’s lighting and even documentary feel.
10. Brokeback Mountain
Source: River Road
Yup, the first thing in our minds when we think of this movie is heavy
CGI (and only that, because we don’t feel like crying, OK?). Seriously, trees, clouds, mountains, flocks of sheep, entire sceneries were digitally constructed and composited.