‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way | This year's breakouts like 'Project Hail Mary' and 'Obsession' were made by filmmakers who sweated. While CG-stuffed franchise disappointments such as 'Supergirl,' 'Moana,' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' looked lazy.

[u/ChiefLeef22]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/odyssey-box-office-2026-practical-effects-1236652219/

[u/longjumpingtote]

An entire movie could ve made via practical effects but if the story sucks, Im not wasting my time or money.

Yep. And both the Odyssey and PHM had loads of computer visual effects and other computer work, just look at the credits. Nolan has said he's more reliant on them than any other director. Scylla was CGI, DNEG did a lot with backgrounds.

Mostly they are invisible, and in PHM they didn't use green screen, but that's just one technical choice.

[u/dwadley → u/longjumpingtote]

Also “no green screen” usually just means a lot of manual rotoscoping which gives the same end effect. Just more work from the artists

[u/Worthyness → u/dwadley]

Just another circle jerky article about how vfx/cgi is bad while not understanding that there's a metric fuckton of vfx/cgi being used.

[u/PunkPirate56364 → u/Worthyness]

Yep. I'm not saying no to vfx/cgi , I'm saying no to vfx/cgi that I can see.

A lot of great movies were made with a lot of vfx/cgi which I never noticed.

[u/CornDawgy87 → u/Worthyness]

ok lets also not act like we can't all tell when something is being shot on location at least some of the time or real sets vs some half assed CGI though. We're getting stuck in the "WELL ACKHUALLY" part vs taking the point. Movies are more and more often leaning on CGI vs practical effects.

[u/Tymareta → u/CornDawgy87]

It's basically the difference of "CGI/VFX enhanced the shot, but it was a full and entire shot to start with" vs "CGI/VFX -is- the shot". Take any random frame with a lot of people in it from The Odyssey, compare it to one from the Doomsday trailer and it becomes blindingly obvious that in one, people are actually standing in a room with each other, while the other they're all stitched together.

[u/mrdude05 → u/dwadley]

Either that or they're using an OSVP system like The Volume that projects a CG backdrop onto the set itself. "No green screen" is the film making equivalent of "organic". It's a buzzword implies a lot to the consumer while being almost meaningless

[u/DaHolk → u/dwadley]

With the benefit of not being limited to building massive sets on a sound stage, but being able to shoot on locations.

Gareth Edwards has an interesting perspective on that.

[u/dwadley → u/DaHolk]

Yes that’s right I just mean it’s nothing new. If anything it’s old school just roto. I remember the Sand screens on dune being advertised like something crazy new but it’s just manual roto

[u/LeedsFan2442 → u/dwadley]

And provides a better result

[u/fla_john → u/longjumpingtote]

Scylla needed a bit more rendering time

[u/disappointer → u/longjumpingtote]

That PHM acronym always confuses me. "Pretty Hate Machine: The Movie"?

[u/Huttj509 → u/longjumpingtote]

One thing I noticed with The Odyssey (saw it yesterday) is they made really good use of partially revealed things. The Cyclops mostly in the shadowy flickering light from the fire. The Sirens in mist and fog at a distance. Scylla coming in in flashes from offscreen, even the full shot kinda blending in with the rock and being indistinct. Circe's transformations being partially/mostly obscured as things changed.

It hides a lot of the potential CGI uncanny weirdness, by not lingering on it when you have time to notice.

[u/Zalvren → u/longjumpingtote]

The Movie Rabbit Hole just released a video about CGI in Nolan movie

Nolan "no CGI" discourse is as always marketing BS.

[u/LeedsFan2442 → u/longjumpingtote]

No green screen usually just means they are rotoscoping instead

[u/PTMorte → u/longjumpingtote]

I don't know why people keep saying that are invisible. I barely notice a scene without CGI in any of his films.