Sub-Zero

What special effects in movies were you certain had to be CGI, but was surprised to find it out the effect was actually created in some other manner?

Mondo Kane

Bram Stoker's Dracula
I didn't find out untill the SE DVD that not one CG effect was used.

Josh-da-man

Initially, I though that all of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were CGI.

Crocker Jarmen

I assumed there must have been some digital trickery during the girl on the hood scene in Death Proof but was assured afterwards there was none, not even erasing some kind of harness securing her to the car.

Solid Snake

Death Proof is amazing cuz of what Zoe Bell did among other factors

wishbone

I thought Prometheus used green screen for the backgrounds but the documentary showed that they built practical sets.

GoldenJCJ

I thought the whole pod race sequence in Star Wars Ep. I was CGI. Turns out they used miniature sets for some the spectators.

bluetoast

In the commentary they said that the only shot that didn't require some kind of digital effects work was an insert shot of a ventilation unit that had smoke coming out of it.

mrhan

The vintage F1 cars in Rush were real. They borrowed them from private collectors.

GoldenJCJ

I have no doubt the entire sequence was heavily CGI'd but I remember watching one of the documentaries on the DVD where they were hand painting all the little people in the stands. I'm sure when all was said and done they just used CGI to cover the whole thing. My point is at one point in filming there was actually a miniature on set, which is more than I expected.

bluetoast

Yeah that's pretty funny, considering the people would have to move anyway as audience members. Wonder if it had any matte paintings as well.

Troy Stiffler

What did Blade Runner do? Huge sets and composites? That movie amazes me.

dhmac

When I originally saw The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, I thought those huge statues called the "Argonath" were CGI. So it was a surprise to find out that they were actually miniatures (or "big-a-tures" as they called them in the bonus features).

an image of them (spoiler-tagged only for size):


An article about the making of the Argonath statues

Solid Snake

Yeah. The Bigatures or whatever. Amazing detail those things had.

DaveyJoe

A lot of stuff in Nolan's Batman movies. The first thing that comes to mind is the helicopter crash during the Dent prisoner transfer scene. They used some CGI for the transition but they actually did have a flaming chopper crash into the police van.

Michael Corvin

The train sequence in Fast Five. It blew my mind that was all real practical effects and stunts. Even launching the cars over the cliff with stunt people was real. Insane.

Anyone that hasn't watched the making of that movie is missing out. Gives you a whole other level of appreciation.

Thrush

I saw a recent documentary about special effects and was surprised at how much of Starship Troopers was practical.

Sub-Zero

Thanks for all of the replies.

The first time I saw the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day I was certain all of the special effects necessary for the T-1000 were CGI and was quite surprised when I later found out quite a few effects were achieved practically.

Troy Stiffler

I kind of miss that era of building up to major stunts. Anyone remember how heavily promoted the "behind the scenes" T2 canal and helicopter scenes were? And then the "hasta la vista" effect too.

Brack

The ending of Boogie Nights.