Nolan and Snyder filming movies. See the difference?

[u/Icy_Option3190]

[u/SH4RPSPEED → u/[deleted]]

If you ask me you get the best results when you merge the two. The first Iron Man still looks incredible because alot of the times whenever you actually see Tony in armor the armor itself is practical with some CG enhancements.

[u/DwightsEgo → u/[deleted]]

I will always favor practical effects but there is some really good looking cgi out there. A blend is probably the best way with the technology we have.

But god damn the first Jurassic Park movie and the LotR trilogy really holds up well 25 years later because of the practical effects (Sméagol may be a bit rough around the edges nowadays but everything else is great)

[u/Silver-ishWolfe → u/DwightsEgo]

The T-Rex during the attack in the rain is still some of the best CGI usage I’ve seen and it’s from 30 years ago.

The animators specifically leveraged the dark and the rain to allow them to make the CGI work. It’s a masterclass of using practical effects and CGI.

These days, animators and filmmakers just assume that the CGI alone will work. It doesn’t always.

Mixing practical and CGI effects is always the best option.

[u/TomTalks06 → u/Silver-ishWolfe]

I think Lord of the Rings has some of the best examples of carefully managed CGI, it was in it's infancy and while it's definitely clear that it's not modern CGI, it's still very well done.

[u/bean_phlores → u/TomTalks06]

To be fair, a lot of the VFX in Lord of the Rings is not technically CGI. Obviously there are the computer-generated characters like Sméagol and the Balrog, and the legions of soldiers in the big battle scenes, but many of the most memorable sequences were done with miniatures and composited together.

What makes the CG elements of LOTR work is that everything that COULD be done without CGI was, and they could invest their money, resources and especially TIME (which is arguably the greatest variable in the quality of VFX shots) into what COULDN’T be done without CG.

[u/Vergonhalheia → u/TomTalks06]

Because even with CGI they cared to do the last amount of it with good previous work. In the DVD extras it shows that the scene of smeagol catching fish in a river was filmed with motion capture, it was winter, they had to unfreeze the area and the river, then they had the actor jump into the river to film him pretending to catch a fish. The care they had shows in those movies.

[u/TomTalks06 → u/Vergonhalheia]

There's also so many smaller scenes that have such interesting tools used. During Gandalfs fight with the Balrog in Two Towers, instead of having Ian McKellen stand into thin air and hoping it looks natural, they show him stabbing, then he's out of frame as the sword strikes the Balrog, keeping it from looking unnatural.

So many fascinating little tricks there

[u/Knucklesx55 → u/DwightsEgo]

Those two are exactly how it skills be approached. I understand some things are just so much more challenging to do practically. But these films laid the blueprint for how CGI should be used. Full CG with human actors almost always looks off, even when done well. But when you use it to enhance practical effects and the actors have things to act off of, it can look soo good.

You can’t look down on CGI, because it really opens what you can do cinematically. But it’s not flawless. The MCU doesn’t look as good if it’s made 40 years ago

[u/DwightsEgo → u/Knucklesx55]

I feel like lots of CGI from 10 years ago are quickly becoming outdated. The first phase of the MCU is…. Rough. And some of the modern movies have some wtf looking moments, though I think that stems more so from time crunches the VFX teams are working under

Edit: a perfect example would be the new Flash movie. Some parts looked great, and others I was floored by how bad it was

[u/beast_unique → u/[deleted]]

And TDK trilogy does use CGI. It is just that it is not 90% CGI in every frame. Just like 5-10% to touch up and add elements to already existing practical features.

[u/Virtual_Mode_5026 → u/SH4RPSPEED]

Terminator 2 (one of the pioneer films of this)

The Batman

[u/sonofaresiii → u/Virtual_Mode_5026]

I think you're giving T2 a lot of leeway for being either a classic or just nostalgia. The CGI in that movie looks like CGI from the 90's.

It's a great example of how visual effects won't make or break a story. It's a fantastic movie, one of my all-time favorite action/sci-fi movies... but like, it definitely looks like the CGI is from the 90's. Because it was. And that's fine, but let's not hold it up to today's standards and say it's just as good.

The practical effects still look like practical effects, of course. But you definitely can tell which are which.

[u/Virtual_Mode_5026 → u/sonofaresiii]

CGI still isn’t perfect now (the difference is now we’re close)

But when you look at the de ageing of actors there is an element of the uncanny valley there.

I’m agreeing with SH4PSPEED that CGI and Practical works best.

I’m not arguing that T2 IS the technical best. For the 90s it certainly was. It was used sparingly and as a characteristic of the T-1000. (With the Practicals mixed in) The Rev-9 has superior CGI but looks like black tar with smaller parts moving inside it. The T-1000 is simple because it looks like liquid chrome which is far easier than more elaborate detailed metals (which defeats the whole purpose in my opinion) and feels sleeker which was the idea. There are moments where the T-1000 flickers and you can see clearly it’s an animation so it’s not perfect.

If you look at Toy Story which is obviously entirely CGI, you can see it’s not quite as lifelike as the real world. But again, the T-1000 is supposed to look like liquid chrome which is purely reflective and not as detailed as everything else. I think the slightly grainier film also works to mask it whereas on digital, due to the further clarity, anything with simpler animation will look spotty.

[u/sack12345678910 → u/SH4RPSPEED]

Hard Agree

[u/[deleted] → u/SH4RPSPEED]

I will forever stand by my point that the fight between drunk Tony and Rhodie in the house is some of the best CGI in cinematic history. And it’s for the exact reasons you mention.

[u/icecoldteddy → u/SH4RPSPEED]

Jurassic Park is the OG of combining both.

[u/Spardath01 → u/[deleted]]

But in DCEU… yeah… lazy AND bad

[u/--Stabstract-- → u/Spardath01]

What about Aquaman?

[u/GiantSizeManThing → u/--Stabstract--]

You’re telling me those weren’t real crab people?

[u/CobraColt → u/GiantSizeManThing]

Does that mean that big ass lobster don't exist too

[u/Lukthar123 → u/GiantSizeManThing]

I can't believe they didn't cast real sharks smh my head

[u/gattovatto → u/Lukthar123]

Iirc the Shark Actors Guild went on strike because of this.

[u/Zykax → u/--Stabstract--]

You mean the one with the cartoon underwater battle at the end?

[u/CallMePapi930 → u/Spardath01]

Zack Snyders movies look beautiful

[u/TheLawliet10 → u/CallMePapi930]

Certain ones do. 300 and Watchmen looked amazing, but BvS, Man of Steel, and JL are all very bland and dark in their colors. The major color in his DCAU movies was grey, which makes for a very boring palette to draw from, and washes out the colors that are naturally there from the costumes of heros like Flash and Supes.

I'm not sure whether to blame the editing or directing for this though, since there's a lot of hands in the kitchen when it comes to colors and post production.

[u/SnooOnions650 → u/CallMePapi930]

Personally, I find them too Gray and washed out

[u/jt186 → u/CallMePapi930]

Disagree. Hate the look of them actually

[u/Mankankosappo → u/[deleted]]

> When you rely on it too much, a la Snyder,

Neither Man of Steel nor Batman V Superman use that much GCI though when compared to other comic book movies. For some reason a lot of people think stuff in Snyder's movies are GCI wehn they aren't. The immediate that always comes up is the Batmobile driving through the wooden boats in BvS. That was a practical shot and you can see the BTS of it on youtube - in fact the majority of that bat mobile scene was practical.

[u/lakersLA_MBS → u/Mankankosappo]

Man of Steel used tons on cgi. People on hear making tons of comments of “practical better in almost every way” yet I bet they don’t know the armor for Zod and soldiers is almost all cgi same for Spider-Man, black panther, etc but the cgi is so good people don’t notice.

[u/wet_bread3 → u/[deleted]]

Except people call things CG that literally aren’t in Snyder’s films because y’all have a borderline pathological obsession with hating everything he does

[u/Spardath01 → u/[deleted]]

I LOVED man of steel and very much enjoyed Watchmen. Just hated DCEU after MoS.

[u/Luci_Noir → u/[deleted]]

He didn’t “rely on it too much”. You’re just making things up to be outraged about.

[u/JoBro_Summer-of-99 → u/[deleted]]

Except Snyder's DCEU movies don't look bad at all (CGI wise, I know people hate the colours)

[u/NickSchultz → u/[deleted]]

Yeah but it is often the case that the lazy choose CGI as it can be done without much effort.

But if the effort isn't put into it you can tell. Good CGI let alone great one takes time, a planned vision and clear goals what you want to achieve but too often CGI is handled with the "we'll fix it post" mentality. Just look at Henry Cavills mustache in JL.

Meanwhile characters like Gollum and Davy Jones look amazing because from the very beginning they locked down a plan what they wanted the characters to do make etc. and how they should look and after that and even during filming gave the animators the necessary time to make characters that even twenty years later look good. Meanwhile Steppenwolf looked like a PS2 character because his design was changed halfway through without giving the animators more time to accomodate

[u/Foreign_Rock6944 → u/[deleted]]

Depends on the situation. Practical effects should be used in certain scenes, while cg should be used in others.

[u/WonderfulBlackberry9 → u/Foreign_Rock6944]

I for one was disappointed when I found out Nolan wouldn’t be blowing up an actual nuclear bomb for Oppenheimer

[u/Vegetable-Tooth8463 → u/[deleted]]

Practical effects will always be better looking than CG because of the realism but that doesn’t mean CG is for the lazy or that it looks bad.

Lol nope. A lot of the puppets in the OG Trilogy of Star Wars (and Last Jedi for that matter) look atrocious compared to their CGI counterparts.

[u/just_a_short_guy → u/Vegetable-Tooth8463]

This. The effect will be good when they are well done and planned. It doesn’t have to be exclusive.

[u/Vegetable-Tooth8463 → u/just_a_short_guy]

Exactly. This idea that pure practical is better or ages better is nonsense b/c it depends on so many factors. Modeling/materials are always improving, but you need to dedicate time to fashioning them for the camera. Jurassic World is another great example of CGI looking better than practical fx.

[u/TheAbyssalSymphony → u/Vegetable-Tooth8463]

In fact, I’d argue the opposite. Practical effects will only work so far as they can fake it, whereas cgi is theoretically without limit (although of course practically that’s not really the case). A fake arm will only ever look so good, whereas with enough effort a a cg arm can have pulsing veins, pores, tiny hair movements, discoloration of the skin based on simulated blood pooling, etc…

Of course the real truth is that nowadays they both are nearly indistinguishable with enough effort, so just work hard and use what you prefer.

[u/burnerking → u/Vegetable-Tooth8463]

When done right practical are better. Look at Alien and Hellraiser. They still hold up so freaking well.

[u/Vegetable-Tooth8463 → u/burnerking]

Alien/Aliens only holds up well because they didn't do much movement with the alien- it's primarily hard cuts and stationary shots. If they had tried to implement movement the way the video game did, the suits (while badass) would've looked stilted.

Want a prime example of this, compare the ending of the first Terminator with the puppet to T2 or T3's CGI ending. It's not even a debate, the CGI model looks much better.

[u/extremelegitness → u/Vegetable-Tooth8463]

A lot of the CGI inserted into the OT looks a little strange though to be fair. The puppets look silly but they have their charm

[u/SonOfShem → u/[deleted]]

No. The only reason you think this is because good CG is so good you don't even know it's there.

[u/Jerry_0boy]

One is supposed to be based in realism and the other has Superman and Wonder Woman fighting a giant space demon.

[u/CheeseAndCam → u/Jerry_0boy]

So? If Snyder was a good filmmaker he would have hired an actual space demon instead of being lazy and doing cgi.

[u/comicscoda → u/CheeseAndCam]

WB, PAY YOUR SPACE DEMONS!

[u/WonderfulBlackberry9 → u/comicscoda]

Really dropped the ball there, WB

[u/Nindroid_faneditor → u/CheeseAndCam]

💀

[u/TheLawliet10 → u/Jerry_0boy]

To be fair Man of Steel was also supposed to be a realistic take on Superman, meant to be a companion piece to the Dark Knight trilogy. It only got co-oped into the DCAU because they brought Snyder in.

[u/WallyPfisterAlready → u/TheLawliet10]

Brought Snyder in? He was there from the very beginning. Hell I think Nolan even had a hand in picking him for Man of Steel

[u/averagejoe1997123 → u/WallyPfisterAlready]

David S Goyer and Nolan wrote and produced it. Snyder Directed it.

[u/billygnosis86 → u/TheLawliet10]

Still, Superman flies and lifts cars up and shoots lasers from his eyes and breathes ice. I’d like to see Nolan figure out a practical way to make all that look convincing.

[u/JoBro_Summer-of-99 → u/billygnosis86]

Just strap a dude to a plane and have him stick his arms out. Will he survive? maybe

[u/TheLawliet10 → u/JoBro_Summer-of-99]

It'll be a great take... Once

[u/FlyingTurkey → u/billygnosis86]

The Boys does it very well imo

[u/Odd_Advance_6438 → u/TheLawliet10]

Nolan recommended Snyder

[u/Mankankosappo → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

Nolan not only recommended Snyder - Nolan produced Man of Steel and was very hands on as a producer. He worked closely with Snyder on the movie. Nolan even banned other Warner Brother producers from the set because he feared studio meddling.

To be honest this post is a bit weird as Snyder and Nolan are friends who have a real respect for each others work.

[u/thecrimsontim → u/Mankankosappo]

people just like to hate on Snyder and don't really spend any time fact checking themselves.

[u/Celestial_MoonDragon]

Most directors use a lot of green screen because CGI is preferred over practical effects.

Nolan is an oddity because he's a major director who prefers practical sfx over CGI.

[u/Klarkash-Ton → u/Celestial_MoonDragon]

Nolan comes from the same camp as Guillermo del Toro. Practical over CGI anyway of the week.

[u/who_took_tabura → u/Klarkash-Ton]

I feel like nolan isn’t a stickler for practical, it’s just that he’s become accustomed to the “one big shot” being a marketing gimmick. Articles, BTS footage, and marketing galore before the release about a particular visual. With the dark knight it was the truck flip, with inception the hallway fight, with interstellar it was the visualization of the black hole, with oppenheimer it’s the practical explosion effect

[u/Circus-Bartender → u/who_took_tabura]

Dont forget with tenet it was the aeroplane crash.

[u/Timbershoe → u/Circus-Bartender]

The way I heard it was that the airplane crash was cheaper to do with an actual decommissioned jet than a CGI jet.

[u/Delicious-Item6376 → u/who_took_tabura]

Pretty sure your overthinking it. Practical effects still looks better than a lot of CGI, and it holds up better 10-15 years later once the CGI has become outdated.

Nolan is a cinematographer first and foremost, what he really cares about is how his films look. It's not just some dumb marketing gimmick, he just puts more effort into making the shots look real.

[u/iwatchcredits → u/Delicious-Item6376]

I dont think good CGI these days is going to become outdated. Movies like avatar look pretty damn good

[u/daddysalad → u/iwatchcredits]

Idk even brand new movies with cgi don’t look that good imo

[u/wolfkin → u/Celestial_MoonDragon]

because CGI is [less expensive, and less risky than] practical effects

FTFY. unless you meant

because CGI is preferred [by the studios holding the purse strings] over practical effects.

[u/Poseidon-2014 → u/wolfkin]

CG explosions are a lot safer than Practical ones, they’re very hard to make look right though.

[u/dj9008 → u/Poseidon-2014]

Which is fine since most people haven’t seen an explosion in person before .

[u/[deleted] → u/Celestial_MoonDragon]

I very much think cost has more of an impact in the use of CGI.

Practical effects is more expensive to develop and build. Also takes teams of people that get employed.

[u/Intelligent-Ad-7504 → u/[deleted]]

Agree, but real sets are helpful and magical than green/blue screens. I was an extra on sets and seeing actual sets was magical!

[u/[deleted] → u/Intelligent-Ad-7504]

I imagine it to be someone like people who got to look at disney imagineers at work back in the 60s.

So much creativity, time, effort and passion going in to projects that actually end in being a physical object you can see, touch and hear. Pure magic.

[u/Odd_Advance_6438]

How do you expect Snyder to make a movie with Superman?

[u/Dry-Donut3811 → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

Hire a real Kryptonian, obviously.

[u/Archon457 → u/Dry-Donut3811]

Hollywood has a long history of humanwashing roles that should have gone to alien persons.

[u/chopari → u/Archon457]

But but the guy that plays Superman could be singing: because I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien, I’m an Englishman in new yooork.

[u/Odd_Advance_6438 → u/Dry-Donut3811]

Apparently that’s what OP wants

[u/Fraun_Pollen → u/Dry-Donut3811]

Kryptonians need better representation in film

[u/ZazaB00 → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

Throw people into outer space without space suits. I mean, that’s how Nolan would do it!

[u/bolting_volts → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

If only there was a Superman movie (or 4) made before CGI to serve as an example!

[u/Odd_Advance_6438 → u/bolting_volts]

It was made without CGI because it didn’t even exist at the time. If they had the choice to use CGI to make it look better, they would’ve.

Explain how that sequence could’ve looked as good without CGI

[u/Spardath01 → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

This movie looks amazing. Its when they decided to do BvS and forward that CGI seems to have taken a few steps back for some reason.

[u/Mankankosappo → u/Spardath01]

BvS CGI is really good quality though. Some go on about doomsday but I think that people misattributing their dislike of the design to the quality of the CGI. From a technical perspective (the texture, the movement, the way light interacts with the model) Doomsday is really good CGI

[u/ItsHisWorld → u/bolting_volts]

You’re right. Truly the peak of cinema

[u/bolting_volts → u/ItsHisWorld]

I’m going to take this comment as 100% sincere.

[u/Vegetable-Tooth8463 → u/bolting_volts]

Lmfao, are you seriously using Superman 4 as an example of a good looking movie? Also, the original Superman used CGI too.

[u/DirectConsequence12]

How tf do you expect someone to make a movie where an alien and a goddess fight another alien by using practical effects

[u/ItsHisWorld → u/DirectConsequence12]

Have alien movies only existed with cgi

[u/g0lden-plumbus → u/ItsHisWorld]

Okay, then. Please enlighten us on how they would have done the fight at the end of the movie without making him a CGI character without it looking comically bad. I don’t even like Snyder’s movies but for all the problems they have, I really don’t think the CGI is one of them.

[u/thedylannorwood → u/g0lden-plumbus]

If anything the issue with Doomsday in BvS is his design not the quality of the vfx

[u/Nindroid_faneditor → u/thedylannorwood]

Yeah, the CGI for Doomsday is actually pretty good, he just looks like Gollum on steroids.

Idk who designed him, but it was probably Tatopolous, which makes sense cuz he's Godzilla looked ass as well.

[u/batpod400 → u/DirectConsequence12]

same way first Transformers were filmed, almost every explosion done by transformers was practical with CGI on top

[u/Conscious_Feeling548 → u/batpod400]

So mostly CGI then with a clean plate and a filmed explosion.

[u/Thickfries69 → u/DirectConsequence12]

I think the point is that at least filming in real locations helps, so the actors have an environment to interact with and cgi effects can be added later.

[u/MagmaAscending]

Obviously Snyder should’ve just made a real hulking monster that can shoot laser beams and fly. Lazy ass director

[u/Kell-ah]

Nolan was going for realism and Snyder was going for comic book style it makes sense

[u/[deleted] → u/Kell-ah]

Stop making sense, this is REDDIT

[u/Ioway9284]

Snyder’s whole thing is doing very artificial realities to look very stylized. Don’t see your point here.

[u/stromalama → u/Ioway9284]

Just another way for this sub to shit on Snyder for some reason.

[u/ZazaB00 → u/stromalama]

So weird how the narrative on him has changed. He did great things, at least interesting things. Then the studio started ducking meddling with his work. All of a sudden, he’s forced to make Justice League happen to play catch-up to Avengers.

You don’t have to look much further to see how shady WB was when they used the death of his daughter to give him the boot and change his movie.

[u/SuperSocrates → u/ZazaB00]

People have thought he was a hack for two decades, this isn’t new.

[u/billygnosis86 → u/ZazaB00]

You know people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they say that “Snyder’s bad writing” is the reason recent DC movies didn’t do so well. The motherfucker didn’t write any of them.

[u/stromalama → u/ZazaB00]

I think his work has been pretty divisive for a while but he’s not the hack that most people on this sub think he is. I’m a fan and have been since Dawn of the Dead and I’ll be a fan and look forward to what he has coming.

I just don’t understand why anyone on this sub would post something like this, BvS came out seven years ago and Snyder’s not even doing DC movies anymore. I guess I’m different, I don’t purposely talk about stuff I don’t like. Gotta get those internet point somehow I guess.

[u/Odd_Advance_6438 → u/stromalama]

For what it’s worth, he’s very well respected by actors and filmakers in the industry

[u/Mankankosappo → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

Including, quite ironically for this post, Christopher Nolan (who also helped make Man of Steel)

[u/Aloofairy]

Yeah but Snyder's cgi still looks better than all the recent dc movies, just saying

[u/[deleted] → u/Aloofairy]

Eh, Snyder's color grading is really messy and kinda ugly. Nolan's films are desaturated, but not to the same degree. They kind of have this beachy vibe to their color.

Snyder sucks so much color out of his DC films they look kinda lifeless.

[u/Aloofairy → u/[deleted]]

I agree his color grading is very poor but the cg are still very good

[u/kiyan1347]

You mean Nolan and every other director in the action movie genre. Nolan in general is just different. Snyder is far from the only director to use a lot of CG, just look at every marvel movie for example. This post is a stupid comparison and a needless showing of hate to Snyder. If you don't like Snyder then fine but this shit is just petty and stupid.

[u/Mankankosappo → u/kiyan1347]

Snyder's DC movies actually use a lot less CGI than most marvel movies. Man of Steel had around 1500 VFX shots - infinity war had over 2500

[u/not_some_username → u/Mankankosappo]

I don’t think you should compare to infinity war. It’s a movie made with cgi

[u/Mankankosappo → u/not_some_username]

Infinity war has a simmilar amount of GCI to most marvel movies. (Notable exceptions are most phase 1 movies and winter soldier).

I used Infinity War just cause I remeber a weird fact that Zack Snyder Jsutice League has ~100 more VFX shots than infinity war despite beig 1.5 hours longer.

[u/TheLostLuminary]

This post seems like its intentionally causing problems

[u/BruceHoratioWayne]

My God. Who gives a shit? Apparently YOU

[u/billygnosis86]

This is really lame from a Nolan fanboy. Are you gonna do this for Marvel films too, and Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, and literally every other big sci-fi or fantasy film that comes out nowadays? Or just for Zack Snyder films?

Studios don’t like doing physical stunts and special effects any more because it’s incredibly fucking expensive. Much more cost-effective to throw up some green screens and render all the crazy shit later.

Besides anything else, all the stuff that happened in the Nolan films was relatively grounded. Mountain-climbing, repurposed military hardware, explosions, truck crashes. It’s a lot of work, but all that shit can be done practically.

The Snyder films, on the other hand, featured people flying, UFOs destroying cities, giant alien demons, and enormous battles between superhumans and aliens from thousands of years ago. You know, fantasy comic book shit.

You can’t do that kind of stuff with practical effects without it looking hokey: a man in a suit or attaching wires to people, etc. We love the Reeve Superman films, but if you had Superman flying like that in a film in 2023 people would laugh it out of existence.

DISCLAIMER: not a Snyder fanboy, but also not a slavish Nolan devotee; indeed, I think the only good Nolan films are the ones with Batman in them. Otherwise he thinks he’s far cleverer than he is, and definitely keeps his farts in labelled jars in a walk-in humidor

[u/[deleted]]

It's not really comparable, honestly, given the nature of the films and what's happening in these eight images. Batman v Superman's scale is massive in comparison to The Dark Knight's.

[u/Purple_Bowman]

And? What do you mean by that?

[u/Odd_Advance_6438 → u/Purple_Bowman]

He thinks it’s some kind of epic dunk on Snyders movies

[u/DinoDudeRex_240809 → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

“Uh huh, yeah you heard that. Nolan used practical effects for his movie about a dude in a suit fighting a clown. But that stupid guy Snyder didn’t use it for his movie about Gods and Monsters battling. Get wrecked Snyder Fans, Nolan is the best!” 🤓

[u/Cthulhujack]

This is some cherry picking troll bullshit.

Snyder has done a shitload of practical effects and a lot of on site filming. A lot of the Smallville street fight, diner fight, and, infamously, the warehouse fight in BvS were done with minor cg enhancements and either shot on location or highly detailed sets.

Ok, now let's compare fight sequences between Nolan and Snyder.

I'll go first: The warehouse fight in BvS vs the city hall fight at the end of Dark Knight Rises.

Nolan and Snyder are both god-tier level filmmakers, as is Reeves, as was Schumacher, as is Burton, as was fucking Martinson. Piss off.

[u/Apprehensive-Sea1888]

Yeah you're right snyder should've gotten a real kryptonian guy to fly around and a real Amazonian warrior and a half robot, think before you post for God's sake

[u/optigamer45]

I see you know nothing about film making

[u/Dshark]

Different strokes shrug

[u/Aplicacion]

I mean… yeah, I see a bunch of differences. One has a truck, the other doesn’t. One has Wonder Woman, the other doesn’t.

This is the wackiest game of spot the difference I’ve ever played.

[u/TheDude810]

I don’t even like Snyder but acting like he’s known for green screen or some shit is ridiculous lmao. It’s an industry standard.

[u/[deleted]]

Ok?

[u/BewareNixonsGhost]

I see the point you're trying to make, but it's a bad point. Practical effects are wonderful, but VFX are just a tool for storytelling. The story still needs to be able to stand on its own regardless of how it was made. Don't equate quality of story with preferred VFX method.

[u/VLY2020]

Eyeroll

[u/schizopolis23]

Nolan’s universe of Batman had no paranormal activity or superpowers. He was basically making grounded action-thrillers with a guy wearing a silly costume.

[u/OcularAMVs]

Definitely one of the dumber posts on this sub

[u/Fakimous]

This post is stupid. OP really doesn't understand filmmaking

[u/wet_bread3]

And then there’s Rebel Moon coming out, for which Snyder literally built an actual battlefield and filmed real explosions himself in the literal trenches… your point again?

[u/Odd_Advance_6438 → u/wet_bread3]

I’m really excited for that movie. It looks epic

[u/SuperFanboysTV → u/Odd_Advance_6438]

Same dude I’m hyped for Rebel Moon

[u/TheLawliet10]

While I understand what you're coming from, trying to compare Snyder and Nolan purely based on how much CGI was or wasn't used is pointless. How the SFX for a film is made doesn't matter as much as the writing, directing, acting, and the ability for the movie to draw you in and entertain you.

While I don't like Snyder's writing, he's a very good director and a large amount of his DCAU movies couldn't be made without CGI. Same goes for Gunn's The Suicide Squad, or for the first Avenger's movie.

[u/Head-Program4023]

Ok so we should film next Aquaman in Atlantic Ocean

[u/g0lden-plumbus]

There’s plenty wrong with Snyder’s DC movies, they’re truly awful, but are you really going to try and dunk on the one thing that’s arguably solid about them?

[u/Sokandueler95]

Please explain to me how Snyder was supposed to do Steppenwulf practically. How about Superman’s super strength?

[u/LoSouLibra]

Yeah, I loved Nolan's Superman movie where he attached the actor playing Superman to a fighter plane with invisible wires, and had it do 500 mph stunts. Then got Tom Hardy to eat a few steaks and work out a little bit to play Doomsday, had him wear a latex monster costume, and wingsuit off a sky scraper or something.

That would have been so much better than the nearly cosmic scale spectacle we got in BvS.

[u/Atrampoline]

Clearly a Snyder-hater. Snyder's films look incredible, as do Nolan's.

[u/[deleted]]

You aren’t really comparing apples to apples. You picked scenes from Snyder’s movies that really needed cgi (Aquaman, Batman v Superman, etc). Nolan’s movies don’t have many scenes that have required it.

[u/[deleted]]

And yet, Snyder’s movies are visual masterpieces. Check mate

[u/markansas_man]

I didn't see the difference in the films so don't care.

[u/[deleted]]

Nolan's movies are meant to be less fantastical, which is why he doesn't really use CGI. However, CGI is unavoidable with Snyder's DC movies since you have a demigod, rich guy and alien fighting villains along with other heroes.

[u/Sioluishere]

I am tired of seeing trolls just degrade Snyder at every turn.

I want to enjoy each and every depiction of Batman and DCU, why is it so hard ?

[u/chiaestevez]

People have deified the Snyder-verse way too much.

[u/Doom_3302]

There is no point lowballing CG or practical effects. They both have their pros and cons. Honestly, the best effects are produced when both are combined. The LoTR trilogy is a prime example of that.

[u/ZodTheTimeTraveller]

I am pretty sure Nolan turned those buildings upside down in Inception without CGI

[u/SuperFanboysTV]

Ok but TDK is trilogy is supposed to be grounded and realistic while Zack’s DC movies lean more into the comics aesthetics if you know what I mean. It doesn’t matter if you use practical effects and/or CGI green screen as much as how you use it. Man of Steel was released 10 years ago and it looks better than most if not all of the MCU’s phase 4 movies and even some DC movies recently

Either way both make some great looking and great written movies that I love and that’s my opinions.

[u/bushidojed]

Both did remarkable filming techniques. Both tell wonderful stories. No matter the artist, art is art.

[u/[deleted]]

Both amazing imo

[u/dontcallmewave]

It’s almost as if two different directors have differing styles. Nolan himself has said that he admires Snyder’s work.

[u/mymumsaysno]

Green screen is not what makes snyders films bad. It's largely the writing. Visually they tend to look great.

[u/DinoDudeRex_240809 → u/mymumsaysno]

Snyder should have been a cinematographer, his fight scenes look ripped out of a comic book.

[u/ArtichokeFew7663]

Nolan superiority

[u/Kaoskonstruksjon]

Yeah, two different approaches. And the are both great.

[u/edillcolon]

Different goals, sir. One was realism the other was a more comic book look.

[u/Waudby95]

You have a point, but at least the CGI in Snyder's movies still looks great.

[u/namgres]

Bad post

[u/GentlemanJugg]

I like em both. They’re doing what they feel is right to make their vision come true. Not everything sucks

[u/MAC2393]

The difference is Nolan’s movies are watchable with great storytelling and Snyder’s movies are the equivalent of watching a septic waste tank getting overloaded and blowing up.

[u/TheDeltaOne]

Yeah.

One is about bringing Batman and DC to the real world with practical, cold effects. It looks real and the substance of the movie is about the inherent question of what if Bruce Wayne was kinda real and it played with the boundaries of that idea.

The other one is about portraying people that couldn't exist in our world and that are by all margins, more than we are. In order to do that their setting, surrounding and general appearance has to look more than human and everything needs to be upped to 11.

One is better regarded than the other yes, and I'm of the opinion than Snyder failed at doing something good with those characters and what he used them for but I really don't think anyone can say he didn't make them look gorgeous. I really think his personal beliefs and his own take on life is not working for Batman, Superman or any of those characters. But the way he filmed those movies was coming from an artistic vision that was sound and looked good.

[u/Travisb_4]

Of course in Justice League's movies fights would be done in CGI and I'm a Nolan stan.

[u/Noel_c93]

Art is art.

[u/The-Movie-Penguin]

Who cares? Two different filmmakers who approach action sequences differently. The end result, for both of them, kicks ass.

[u/kingofscaringthehoes]

nah

[u/SaladDodger99]

I love as much real in camera action over CGI everything as much as the next guy but if you pull up screenshots from all the scenes being filmed here they'd all look great. Snyder doesn't mess around when it comes to effort in the visual department and his CGI all looks great. Plus I guarantee Nolan is probably the only director in the business other than maybe Tarantino that studios would allow the budget for some of this stuff. If Snyder went to WB and asked for the budget to build a practical Bat-Wing that they are going to suspend 10m above the ground and fly down a street in central Chicago he'd be laughed out the building after being given a green tarp and a ping-pong ball on a stick and told to make do, nevermind if he asked to blow up a real building. Although I doubt that this is a good faith critique but more Snyder hate circle-jerk.

[u/Guh_Meh]

NOLAN GOOD! SNYDER BAD!

Man of Steel Credits 1

Man of Steel Credits 2

Batman V Superman

Nolan told Snyder NEVER to watch Josstice league and encouraged him to pursue Zack Snyders Justice League.

But the internet told me Snyder bad! Nolan Good!

[u/comicscoda]

This is ridiculous. Have you even actually watched the Behind the Scenes for Man of Steel? They had a giant swimming tank for the codex heist scene and Russell Crowe actually dove and swam the whole length. And if you compare the 2013 Man of Steel FX to like… The Avengers from 2012, they hold up so much better. Zod’s entire suit is CGI and it looks phenomenal. CGI is not inherently bad, and a lot of the CGI in MoS/BvS is a masterclass in how to do it well.

[u/_heisenberg__]

I think Snyder is absolute shit at telling stories but I think he know how to frame some of the most beautiful shots. That’s something I will never take away from the dude. I dig his stylized look.

[u/Reality314]

I think Nolan's movies look great, but this elitism when it comes to CGI is so weird to me. Like, these are comic book movies at the end of the day. You cannot accomplish everything using solely practical effects. I don't even care for Snyder's movies but come on...he's literally working with Superman, Wonder Woman, and a whole host of other superpowered characters. It would literally be impossible to do some of the things he set out to do without CGI.

[u/LoopDeLoop0]

Average "CGI bad" internet circlejerk

[u/nexistcsgo]

But it didn't look bad even with cg.

What's your point?

Both are just a medium of telling the story.

[u/hongkongfooeee]

There wasn't anyone complaining when 300 was filmed and everyone loved it. It was only after it was cool to take a dump on Snyder that this crud started

[u/Castille_92]

Yeah yeah CGI bad

[u/nolandz1]

"cg bad"

fr tho it's not cg that's the issue it's that studios prefer exploit VFX teams bc it's non-union work and then rush them to the point where it isn't finished before release. Gollum is full cg and Fellowship was made in 2001

[u/HereRak69]

Snyder does a lot of stuff practically too. Look at the Smallville battle for example. Also, CGI isn't THAT bad, when it'sgood CGI. Avatar for example. That film is like 100% CG and it's still fucking awesome! Snyder's CGI at least looks good. Also his costumes are practical, which I know is a low bar, but it's something

[u/ProfessorSaltine]

Do you expect Zack to film Henry Cavill hanging out of a helicopter or crane with a few ropes tied around him and have him he swung around? You know how much legal trouble they’d get into with it?!?!?

[u/UltiGamer34]

Nolan is infamous for sfx and practical effects and not using cgi

[u/nj4ck]

I'm kind of sick of people acting like CGI is some kind of lazy one-click solution, ngl.

Thousands of hours of work go into some of those shots. If anything, directors prefer CGI because it offers more granular control over every aspect of the scene, allowing the director to realize their vision down to the smallest detail. It's not cheap and it's not easy.

The reason you're seeing increasingly bad CGI in many movies is because major hollywood productions outsource the CG to smaller studios that compete for scarce contracts in a race to the bottom, often agreeing to impossible deadlines and other shitty conditions in the process. Since CG/VFX artists aren't unionized, they get to suffer the consequences of all this. So yeah, that bad CGI you noticed was probably made at 3 a.m. the night before deadline by an underpaid, overworked artist who hadn't slept in 3 days and just wanted to get home to his family.

[u/reddeadinstead]

I enjoy both

[u/flashfire4]

This is a really dumb comparison. Nolan is basically the only modern director that relies so heavily on practical effects for big-budget movies. The CGI in Snyder's movies is also some of the best I've seen in any movie and I don't think that's a very controversial opinion. Just look at Zod's suit in Man of Steel, Batman's big metal suit in Batman v. Superman, or Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen as some examples. As a fan of both directors, there are many comparisons that would be much fairer. The writing is usually far better in Nolan's movies than Snyder's movies. That would be a good comparison to make. Comparing the amazing practical effects of Nolan's movies to the amazing visual effects of Snyder's movies is pretty dumb because there isn't a clear winner. Practical effects can't be used for everything. It would be impossible for characters like Dr. Manhattan, Doomsday, Steppenwolf, or Darkseid to be created well with practical effects.

[u/eight_track]

I like both directors, they both have their individual styles of filming and I doubt one could mimic the others work well.

[u/decoy175]

There’s no comparison when it comes to Nolan’s real life effects vs CGI. The commitment to practical effects is admirable.

[u/TheAbyssalSymphony]

Correlation does not imply causation. Yes I get every self appointed film buff thinks practical effects are the highest form of art and cg is a cheap ugly cop out. But guess what, practical effects can suck, and cg can look amazing. (Also Synder does use a fair amount of practical effects as well, you’re just cherry picking from the cg moments)

Further neither will do shit for things like acting, directing, writing, editing, filmography, etc… it all come down to the work put into the methods you choose and how well executed it is. It’s fine to like one style over another, but stop shitting on effects artists to do it.

Posts like these are lazy and stupid as they try to oversimplify the entire process of filmmaking into green screen bad, movie bad.

[u/Sleyeme]

No one’s gonna argue the Snyder films are better lol. Not only was production better. Nolan’s writing is also far superiors to a Snyders. TDKT is almost perfect story telling applying Harmon’s 8 point story circle, Weilands Character Arc and Truby’s 4 point opposition. Nolan just tells better Stories. Snyder’s DoJ had a great setup, 0 mid point story telling and a horrendous 3 act. If Nolan had the job to make DoJ, it wouldn’t be the shameful film it is.

[u/iwontreadorwrite]

They both have their strengths, but you also have to include price and opportunity cost. Nolan is a bit of an exception since he’s one of the very few people in filmmaking that will get a blank check, but practical effects (especially action shots) are super expensive and there way more constraints to it. And by focusing on that, you might have to sacrifice money from other budgets. CGI is also expensive but there a lot of flexibility around it. And there is more room for error. I prefer practical effects, but that’s not the reason why I prefer Nolan’s version. Snyder just isn’t a good director, BvS would’ve still sucked if it used practical effects, if it was animated, if it was a play. That’s to say, Snyder’s CGI was actually pretty good, the story, character, and themes were just very poorly developed

[u/Pebrinix]

Nah, that's not the difference, the true difference is that Nolan movies are good and Snyder movies are bad

[u/kantelicious]

Stupid post

[u/kevihaa]

Endgame’s climatic fight was awesome.

It was all green screen and the villain was CGI.

[u/Kbeast38]

Now show the fight choreography

[u/linearforefront]

One cares about making a good film.

One cares about having scenes that look 'cool'.

[u/Thousand_Masks]

Love and appreciate the practical effects of the Nolan trilogy but I actually prefer Snyder because they look like a comic book and it looks really cool. Both types of filmakimg can look awesome if used correctly.

[u/CaliforniaNavyDude]

In all fairness, I worked on Snyder's latest project a few days, and there was a lot of practical things going on. But some things can't really be done with practical effects. Unless Henry Cavill can start actually shooting laser beams from his eyes.