Expert shares reasons why CGI looks worse now than it did 20 years ago

An expert has shared his thoughts on why computer-generated imagery (CGI) often looks worse in movies today than it did decades ago.

CGI has been used for years as a way to make impossible situations and scenarios appear real on screen. 

However, there are plenty of folks out there who think that, unlike other technologies, which are constantly advancing, CGI peaked around 20 years ago.

Now, one expert has chipped in on the debate with why that might be, but not everyone agrees.

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Ever noticed CGI looks worse now than it did? This might be why

Cast your mind back to the early 2000s, and blockbusters like Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and the original Avatar left cinemagoers seriously impressed with their use of CGI. 

But the same can’t really be said for more modern films, with many movie lovers pointing out that the use of computer-generated imagery isn’t as slick as it once was. 

YouTuber Treehouse Detective shared his thoughts on the phenomenon. 

He pointed out that in the early part of this century, there were big leaps when it came to CGI technology, which is why so many of the films from that era look so good. 

But by the time we hit the 2010s, movie fans were used to seeing high-quality CGI in movies, and test audiences started to think that practical effects were ‘dated’, so they would replace them with even more CGI. 

This led to a quantity over quality issue, with the YouTuber explaining that back in the 2000s, the average number of visual effects shots in a blockbuster movie was between 600 and 1,000, but today that number sits at more than 3,000. 

He also blamed the bidding process that studios use to select providers, which often leads to them choosing the cheapest and fastest, rather than the best. 

This means that when movies are made with CGI we’re not seeing the sort of quality we once were.

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But not everyone agreed with his opinions on computer-generated imagery

The YouTuber’s comments sparked debate in the comment section, with some staunchly denying that anyone would ever ask for ‘more CGI’ even if it’s good quality or that practical effects looked old and dated. 

Others decided to lay the blame on focus groups and test audiences, saying that there was clearly a ‘disconnect’ between people willing to be a test and those who watch movies for fun. 

Someone who claimed to work in the industry said that the actual reason was down to ‘lazy’ writing and planning from movie makers. 

“It’s because studios now shoot everything on green screens so they can make thousands of last-minute changes in post-production instead of actually planning out a film properly,” they wrote. 

“It’s just lazy writing/planning from the directors/studios, and they now change big chunks of films after all the shooting is done.”

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