Star Wars Visual Effects Side By Side: Prequels Versus Original Trilogy
This article is more than 2 years old
Over the past 20 years or so, science fiction movies have benefited from advances in film technology. The emergence of computer-generated imagery (CGI) has dominated most every big budget Hollywood movie. Although the effects look better and more realistic, many believe that something is just missing when it comes to the tangibility of some of these movies.
Let’s look at the complete Star Wars Saga. These films are not just divided by trilogy, but also by decades of filmmaking technology including CGI and Chroma Key . Below is an image that perfectly sums up the differences between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. Which trilogy would you rather watch?
Is it a coincidence that many consider the original trilogy to be much better than the prequels? Taking away the scripts, the acting, and the direction, the original trilogy has a certain charm to it. The fact that the actors in these films are actually interacting with something tangible makes them more believable. After all, your eyes are only half the equation in making something feel real.
For better or worse, we live in an exciting time in science fiction movies and filmmaking. If it can be imagined, it can be made real. But are we sacrificing something with the over saturation of the moving image. It’s highly doubtful we can go back. No big budget Hollywood film would ever do all their special effects practically without the aid of CGI.
Star Wars: Episode VII will most likely be made the same way as the prequel trilogy, but let’s just hope the writing, acting, and direction will be better so they can better sell “A Long Time Ago… In a Galaxy Far, Far Away” to an audience.
