CGI in Films

In the Wells readings on digital imaging, the relationships between photography and computer generated images (CGI) was discussed as being virtual or hybrid images. Using the Landrover online advertisement as an example of this relationship, Lister describes the process of developing these kinds of hybrid images, and how CGI images had to be ‘dirtied down’ to “achieve a photo-realism.”

With that, I was reminded of another phenomenon in the realm of CGI and its incorporation into films. One may notice that in the animated films being released, the CGI is either very realistic or clearly animation. The CGI used in “Tron Legacy” to create the character CLU, a young Jeff Bridges, was so seamlessly incorporated, so realistic, that I didn’t even realize it was computer generated. Other films, such as “Up,” use CGI and incorporate it in such a way that it is clearly animation. Looking at the (CGI) fabric and buttons of the characters’ clothes, they are strikingly realistic; while the textures and materiality is incredibly rendered, the actual physicality of the characters is wholly unrealistic, with large, disproportionate heads, hands, and caricatured facial features. Though these two versions have resulted in positive responses, the middle ground of CGI in films has not met with such success. In the film “The Polar Express,” CGI was used, but was not made to be exactly realistic nor clearly animation and the result arguably led to its lesser success. Because of its “liminal” quality, the CGI in “The Polar Express” was uncomfortable to view, and thus received less positive responses, especially compared to those for “Tron Legacy” and “Up.”