The reality of special effects

[HCIsland]

Originally Posted by Meela

I'll support that, I was overwhelmed when I first saw Minas Tirith. It was a fantastic sight. It's sights like those that make the long, painstaking processes utterly worthwhile.

My favourite Minas Tirith shot is after Gandalf spooks off the Nazgul while rescueing Faramir. The shot follows Gandalf on Shadowfax from behind as they arc around to return to the city. The integration of the live action in the forground with, the real landscape and the minature Minas Tirith seems just about perfect, and this is in a jostling shot that looks like it was shot from the back of a truck.

There is a comment at the beginning of the thread that I have to disagree with though, and that is that good special effects are necessary. Certainly it's great when FX and story telling are both strong, but I would take good story telling over FX any day. I can think of many films I've enjoyed with mediocre FX but none with bad story telling.

H.C.