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The Secrets to Making Incredible INTERSTELLAR Visual Effects Look REAL

The Secrets to Making Incredible INTERSTELLAR Visual Effects Look REAL

Filmmaker and visual effects expert Matthew Gratzner shares some secrets about working on the cosmic thriller Interstellar, and also previews the next cutting-edge technology on the cinema horizon – virtual reality movies.

“My take on all visual effects is, you do whatever works best for the shot. I still to this day believe that visual effects is nothing more than a magic trick – you never want to show your hand,” Gratzner said. “If you have one shot that’s primarily digital, if you can the shot should be practical, maybe mixed with digital. You should always be moving it around.”

He adds that ideally, the audience should never be able to say, “‘Oh, that’s just an animation, or oh, that’s just a model, or just a stunt person on wires.’

“The challenge with today’s visual effects is because so much of it is done on the computer, I sort of feel it’s just animation. The differences between some of the heavily animated sequences in today’s films versus a Pixar film is a very thin fine line. It’s not like everything has to be miniature, I also don’t believe everything has to be CG.”

He also emphasizes that no matter how incredible the visual effects are, the movie’s other elements need to be solid to make the film a box office success.

“It always comes down to this – and I don’t care if it’s digital, I don’t care if it’s live action – if the characters aren’t compelling, if the story’s not compelling, no amount of glitz and jingly keys of visual effects is ever going to get an audience to like the movie.”

Watch the full episode to also hear Gratzner discuss the differences between practical effects vs. digital computer-generated imagery (CGI), as well as the virtual reality projects he’s working on.

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