CGI and special FX are a wild world. It’s hard to bring some scenes to life by just using sets or props, so movie directors higher professional graphic animators to create the most epic of scenes.
From creating the landscapes of Mars to computer generating dragons into scenes, there’s not much that these animators can’t do. For the most part, viewers don’t even realize that what they’re looking at is computer-generated…
Life of Pi
You wouldn’t believe it, but Suraj Sharma filmed the tiger scenes with just a blue plush. It looks so lifelike in the film that viewers had no idea it was all just CGI.
Game of Thrones
As you might imagine, a lot of Game of Thrones is CGI, especially scenes that include the wall. Probably a bit difficult to build a mile-high wall of ice, so we don’t blame them.
The Avengers
Suddenly, The Hulk is not so terrifying. Dressed in a green puffy pullover, he doesn’t look very intimidating in real life.
Kill Bill
Not-so-surprisingly, Uma Thurman was basically a puppet with literally a bunch of strings attached while filming Kill Bill. Her super athletic character was a bit unrealistic.
Iron Man
The Iron Man suit is just CGI. Yeah, it’s sad. Seeing the actors behind the scenes, though, is admittedly pretty hilarious.
Superman Man of Steel
Most of the Superman movies consist of heavy CGI. It’s no surprise, though, seeing as humans can’t fly…yet. He still made being completely attached to strings look pretty good.
Avengers: Infinity War
There’s no need to take down an entire city for a film, CGI can do that.
Game of Thrones
To film anyone touching the dragons on Game of Thrones, a bizarre greenscreen prop had to be used. Not sure how the actor’s kept a straight face while petting a green sock on a stick.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max is one of those movies where you can’t even fathom how they shot it. It took a lot of props, green screens, and CGI to create the intensity of the action in this film.
Twilight: Eclipse
Taylor Lautner put on a suit and get pet by Kristin Stewart–they didn’t just get a random actor to do it. Lautner was really dedicated to his wolf character.
Godzilla
The entire premise of Godzilla is the fight against a gigantic monster, but to film this, the actors have to just pretend to fight this giant beast.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Manâs Chest
It was probably a bit hard for Bill Nighy to get in character while playing Davy Jones in this bizarre grey suit, but somehow he pulled it off like a true professional.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Quidditch is a wizard sport on flying broomsticks, so this one makes a bit more sense. The actors were moved by rigs and machines to make it seem like they were flying through the air.
Paranoia
Paranoia wanted to pay homage to the Philly tourist trap of Geno’s Steaks. Instead of heading over there, they decided to bring it to LA via CGI.
The Matrix
The Matrix is one of those movies that’s still revered today. Fans loved the action-packed scenes and crazy backdrops. The vast majority of the film was created in a studio filled with green screens.
Hunger Games
These actors really put in work with this fake switchboard. Unfortunately, the crazy switchboards in The Hunger Games don’t exist and are just really the work of some cool CGI.
Narnia
Unfortunately, Narnia only exists in the crazy world of CGI. This mythical world remains… mythical.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Andy Serkis had the bizarre role of playing a CGI chimp. There was a lot that went into creating Caesar, but it truly proved the wide range of capabilities of CGI.
Beauty And The Beast
This film would be a whole different story if the Beast looked like this in it. Although, it’s already pretty weird that a human woman is in love with a man-turned-beast, to begin with.
The Wolverine
Since Wolverine can pretty much immediately heal his wounds, there’s no use in a makeup artist spending time on creating the wound in real life… So, computers will do all of the work!
The Avengers
Spoiler alert: The Avengers squad didn’t really destroy the city. Once again, most films like this one work on a sound stage with crazy green screens.
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Sorry Twilight fans, Edward and Bella didn’t go off on a romantic honeymoon to a private island…it was just a green screen.
X-Men Series
All of the movies with the X-Men involved some heavy special FX and CGI. The movie crew had to employ 12 studios just to make it all happen, but it was definitely worth it.
Walking Dead Series
The Walking Dead crew had to rent out vacant spaces and lots and then use computer magic to create “the end of the world” vibe.
I Am Legend
All of a sudden, this scene from I Am Legend isn’t so crazy, in fact, it’s kind of hilarious. Watch out for the dog head on a green man’s hand!
300
The most important part about this scene and the movie overall was keeping things historically accurate. The directors used screens and computers to accurately portray the time period.
Wolf of Wall Street
Even in this simple shot, a green screen made it all the more realistic for Leo and the gang. Massive budget aside, the cast and crew had to get creative at times.
Robocop
The production team on Robocop used CGI, stop motion, and a life-sized version of the robot to create some of the iconic shots.
The Matrix
One of the most iconic scenes in the Matrix was actually quite simply done–Just a few green guys with wooden planks!
Gravity
Hate to say it, but Sandra Bullock did not head into space to film this 2013 blockbuster. A little movie magic and boom, she was in space.
Avengers: Infinity War
The crew on Infinity War was able to mesh Thanos’ face onto Josh Brolin’s to make accurate facial expressions. It may seem like a lot of work, but it was actually automatically generated.
A Good Day to Die Hard
While Bruce Willis wasn’t really dodging a crashing helicopter, he did have to dodge some real debris on set. Bruce is well known for doing his own stuntwork on films.
Life of Pi
Well, if this doesn’t prove just how talented movie crews are, we’re not sure what will. Life of Pi was filmed in a pool, without a tiger–how disappointing.
Boardwalk Empire
In order to keep the costs low during the filming of the series, the directors had to get creative. Instead of finding two gigantic Titanic ships, they were able to find a spot to film and edit in the ships.
300
They only needed a few real warriors to film for 300 and then the rest of the army was added in later with CGI.
The Avengers
Just for this one shot, they had to have an entire green screen set up. It’s no wonder films take so long to make.
Tron
Naturally, the entire Tron world was CGI and computer graphics. It’s futuristic in nature so the effects had to match.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Although it looks a bit creepy before editing, this makes so much more sense seeing how it was done behind-the-scenes.
The Dark Knight
Who knew that adding a bunch of dots to someone’s face could eventually get made into the grotesque post-accident two-face of Harvey Dent?
Iron Man
A lot of the crazy Iron Man scenes were completely made from a computer sans actors or sets, which seems to be the most frugal way to get it done.
Guardians of the Galaxy
This was probably the weirdest role to cast for this film. Bradley Cooper voiced Rocket, but Sean Gunn put on that green suit and acted as Rocket.
Space Jam
This film probably confused a lot of kids back when it came out, especially when they saw Michael Jordan side-by-side with Bugs Bunny, but once again, it was all movie magic.
The Hobbit
Even though the majority of the film series was shot in New Zealand, that wasn’t quite enough for the directors. They ended up filming a few of the most incredible scenes on sound stages.
The Hobbit
The Hobbit did their best to build their own sets and film on location, but sometimes, a green screen was necessary to pull off the right optics. That beautiful pagoda is absolutely real, but those breathtaking views are not.
Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton is the King of CGI and special FX in his films. Most of the magic of this film was created in post-production, even many of the characters.
Avengers: Infinity War
In reality, there were only about 70 actors during the Battle of Wakanda. Thanks to CGI, they were able to make it look like over 1,000 people were fighting.
District 9
The infamous gray suit strikes again. The aliens were played by actors on stilts in order to make their walk look strange and inhuman.
Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton skipped the grey suits and designed specialized green screen suits for this film. He spared no expense to make his vision come alive.
The Great Gatsby
New York City in the 1920s is sadly just a thing of the past, so, The Great Gatsby relied heavily on CGI and green screen usage to recreate the time period.
Game of Thrones
The scenes of the Wildlings and Night’s Watch climbing the wall were intense. Luckily, the actors didn’t have quite such a treacherous wall to film on, and CGI made it look even better post-production.
Oz the Great and Powerful
Hats off to Franco for making this scene feel as scary as it looks in the film. Actors who can successfully pull of intense green (or purple) screen scenes have truly perfected their art.
Deadly Honeymoon
It was way easier to get a small yacht and work some movie magic than to actually move everyone out to sea. Thank goodness for movie magic.
The Martian
While this film was set on Mars, we haven’t quite gotten that far in the movie business, so nearly all the scenes were shot on a sound stage with multiple green screens.
Deadpool
Deadpool is as funny as it is impressive, with crazy special FX being touted throughout the film. For this shot, Ryan Reynolds was put in a prop car in front of a green screen and the camera was tilted.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
This scene is a true testament to movie magic. Those three green screens, paired with CGI in post-production created the steep, snow-covered cliffsides.
Grey’s Anatomy
Even a simpler show, like Grey’s Anatomy, used green screens every once in a while. Instead of filming in front of an actual city skyline, they opted for a green screen for this shot.
300
The creators of 300 were able to create some of the most stunning and impressive scenes just with some computer graphics. Take this shot for example…
Into the Woods
In order to get Into the Wild really wild, they had to use green screens to get these breathtaking shots.
The Maze Runner
Obviously, the crew had to get creative with the intricate and enormous mazes in this film.
Titanic
The Titanic is all about special FX, in fact, the crew was never actually on a real ship at all. The set was primarily all filmed on a sound stage with green screens.