I’m not a huge fan of CGI visual effects. I’m more of a Ray Harryhausen stop-motion monster kind of guy. There are some times, however, where CGI visual effects can blow my mind. These special effects oftentimes also win a lot of awards.
HBO fan favorite Game of Thrones recently walked away from the Creative Arts Emmy Awards with six trophies for a number of technical achievements. Among those, the show won the award for Outstanding Visual Effects. Budgets are tight for visual effects on TV shows, but HBO’s increased budgets surely helped Game of Thrones open its coffers a little more to help fully realize the world of Westeros.
Thanks to YouTube user TheCGBro, we can now see how the CG was actually used in Game of Thrones. CG works best when it adds something substantial to the shot. You can plainly see in these shots that the CG melds extremely well into the natural shot. There is no indication that any visual trickery was ever used.
I think it’s obvious why Game of Thrones won the Emmy. Now if only we could get this kind of CGI budget for the next Wolverine movie.
[h/t: John Nack of Adobe]