Throughout the past decade, films have been released that use CGI. From the CGI in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Films to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” CGI has shown its place in cinema whether it is good or bad. As the decade comes to an end, everyone tends to look back and see how things have changed and advanced over the course of time, as would be the case with technological advancements in films.
Students at APSU have given their thoughts on films and the technological advancements that have happened in the past decade.
Allison Levy, a sophomore majoring in Art Education, stated that in the past decade “movies have come a long way from general effects.”
“CGI was very rudimentary the way that it was a decade ago,” Levy said.
“If you think about current movies such as “Hereditary” or ‘IT,’ ‘IT’ had good CGI compared to the original ‘IT.’”
To Levy, the one movie that sticks out to her the most when it comes to CGI was the remake of “The Lion King” because of the animations of the lions.
The sci-fi actions of “Ready Player One” also impressed Levy.
According to Levy, when it comes to technological advancements in the future she said, “if we could have movies in VR, that would be really cool because you could immerse yourself in them.”
Freshman Taylor Binkman stated that movies in the past decade “[have] gotten a lot better animation-wise.”
When it comes to CGI in the past decade, Binkman said, “Disney has gotten good at animating animals, making them look really realistic and one wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
To Binkman, the film that sticks to her the most when it comes to CGI was the 2019 version of “The Lion King.”
“You couldn’t even tell that they were CGI animals,” Binkman said. “They looked real,” Binkman said.
“The one that I have seen that was the best so far was the new ‘Lady and the Tramp,’” Binkman said. “It had very good CGI all the way down to the eye movement.”
When asked about where films will be going in the future with technological advancements, Binkman said, “I feel like most movies are going to be live-action in the future or they are gonna be 3D animated.”
“There is not going to be a need for 2D animation because everything is becoming modernized,” Binkman said.
Paul Schuhart, sophomore communications media major, sees recent films in the past decade as a big shift into more expanding universes.
However, Schuhart does not approve of the amount of reboots done.
“Studios aren’t willing to pay out as much to more original ideas and because of that they are playing it safe, it’s kind of annoying,” Schuhart said.
With the way technology has advanced since 2010 there are even movies and shows featuring actors who have been dead for years.
“James Dean, an actor who has been dead for a long time, will be coming out in a new movie soon and they are going to CGI him in there,” Schuhart said. “I remember when we looked at something like “Toy Story” and the CGI in there just looked like blocks and it is kind of hard to believe that that blew people away, and then we look at the new “Toy Story,” it’s just insane the amount of detail they can add in there.”
To Schuhart, the films that stick out to him the most when it comes to CGI are “The Hobbit” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
Schuhart said, “‘Avengers: Endgame” had the best [CGI].”
There is a question of where films and shows will go as technology continues to increase.
“Since they are bringing James Dean back, obviously people that are dead are coming back, I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought Marilyn Monroe back,” Schuhart said.
As the years go by, media also tends to improve technologically.
Film is one of the prime inclusions in this.
Just seeing how CGI can be used in horror films for effects and bringing deceased actors into modern-day movies has already proven worth, so it’s curious to see how much more it will improve in the next ten years.
Here’s to another decade of technological advancements.
