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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t

By:: Cracked Writers; Timon DJ Spajic

November 22, 2023

42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t

These days, it’s hard to believe that any major action sequence isn’t the product of CGI. But alas, reality does still exist in Hollywood — that is, at least Hollywood’s version of reality. Case in point: All of the visual effects below, which might appear to be CGI, but are actually the real deal…

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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In 28 Days Later, Murphy wanders through a totally empty London. That wasn't a set. It was actually London. The filmmakers got the scene by shooting in the early morning when the streets were less busy, and politely asking commuters either to wait or take alternate routes while they were filming. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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The raptors in Jurassic Park weren't CGI. Those were men in costumes. John Rosengrant was the main raptor suit performer. To make his movements convincing, he had to squat inside of the suit like a downhill skiier. It took work with a personal trainer to condition his body to hold the pose for long periods of time. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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In Iron Man 3, several people get sucked out of Air Force One. The scene was shot in midair with skydivers. The travelers freefalling in midair are actually the Red Bull Skydiving Team. The film crew rigged up special costumes that would hide parachutes underneath their clothing for the scene, which took eight days and 600 jumps to perfect. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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The Lord of the Rings trilogy mixed hobbits, dwarves, and humans. With forced perspective. Making normal-sized actors look vastly different in size wasn't just a matter of swapping out children for the long shots. Filmmakers built special rigs that separated the actors so that small characters would look tiny compared to human-sized ones. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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Remember how digital the original Tron looked? That was achieved with practical effects. It was 1982, and the CGI it would take to render the high-tech look filmmakers wanted just didn't exist. So they used old-school methods, like shooting in black and white and then hand-painting individual film cells to get the glowing suit effect. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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You'd think Dejarik would be CG by The Force Awakens. It's not. It's still stop-action animation. The original props had deteriorated, though, so special effects workers used scenes from the original trilogy and a 3D printer to painstakingly sculpt new Dejaric pieces. Then they hired original animator Phil Tippett. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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The characters got thrown around in 2012. And so did the actors. Not only did filmmakers create a sinking ship scene by rotating the whole set, they flooded sets with water and created an 8,000 square foot earthquake rig. They'd build entire sets, including houses, cars, airplanes, etc., on the 500,00 pound rig, then use its hydraulics to shake them to the ground. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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Quentin Tarantino wanted to recreate the past for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. So his team rebuilt it, using miniatures. Tarantino's not a fan of CGI, so he had visual effects legend John Dykstra re-create a drive-in that was there in 1969, but isn't there now. All for a a blink-and-you'll- miss-it scene where Brad Pitt crosses through the drive-i to get to his trailer CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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The crew of First Man created an outdoor lunar surface set in a quarry. Complete with fake sunlight that gave them sunburn. Light bulbs that can re-create the look of the sun on the moon don't exist, SO filmmakers had to commission a new type that was twice as bright as the brightest one made for film shots. The first time they used it, it blew up after an hour. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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MAD MAX: FURY ROAD'S DOOF WARRIOR STOLE OUR HEARTS WITH HIS BADASS FLAME GUITAR. 00000 Everything about him is 100% real. According to production designer Colin Gibson, George Miller doesn't like props that don't actually work. So everything from the sound system to the flame-throwing guitar had to be real and operational. CRACKED.COM — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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Doctor Sleep takes us back to the Overlook hotel from Kubrick's The Shining. Literally. They rebuilt it using Stanley Kubrick's blueprints. Instead of digitally recreating the set, director Mike Flanagan decided they'd just build everything, and placed pictures on the wall and books on the shelves by studying the original film. Incidentally, the hotel doesn't appear in the book at all. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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Midsommar included a cull-smashing scene that took a few takes. POW! So the team created a self- imploding mechanical skull. The crew needed a solution that would last longer than just one hammering, so they built a head that would implode, then un-smash itself with pneumatic cylinders. And to get the sound right, the foley dude smashed a severed pig's head. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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Remember the wormhole scene in Interstellar? That was a physical set. The Tesseract, an artificial construct that depicts time as a physical dimension, was an actual three-story set made out of hi-res laser prints, wall projections, and some good old fashioned perspective tricks. Filmmakers swung Matthew McConaughey through the set on a wire. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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2019 Dafoe vehicle The Lighthouse was shot, unsurprisingly, in a lighthouse. Not a real one. A full-sized fake built from scratch. It was 70 feet tall and made of plywood wrapped in a covering that looked like brick. It had a working lantern, an interior spiral staircase, and was anchored to the bedrock with iron bars. Then, to the residents' disappointment, it was torn down. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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IN EVAN ALMIGHTY, EVAN HAS TO BUILD AN ARK BEFORE THE GREAT FLOOD COMES. The filmmakers actually built a giant ark and used thousands of real animals. This probably explains why the movie ended up being one of the most expensive comedies ever made, with a budget of around $200 million. CRACKED.COM — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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Escape From New York showed a wireframe view of the city. NOSE L'EEW And it was done with tape and a black light. The filmmakers wanted to create a high-tech computer readout but didn't have the budget. So they grabbed the model they'd been using for high angle shots and striped it with green tape. It glowed under black light. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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Charlie And The Chocolate Factory has nut-sorting squirrels. Those are real, live, trained squirrels. It took months to train the squirrels to sort nuts, and the nuts had to be made of metal so they wouldn't get chewed up. The squirrels were also trained to attack Veruca's stunt double. Her Veruca mask protected her face from pointy little claws. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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Cabin In The Woods featured some truly frightening monsters. And they weren't CGI. Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard decided they wanted a sequence where pretty much every type of horror movie creature ever would make a cameo. So they had the special effects people make real versions of all of them. Even if it meant a nine-year-old spending hours in the makeup chair. CRACKED.COM — 26 Movie Effects That Look Like CGI, But Nope

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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42 Stunning Visual Effects That Look Like CGI, But Aren’t — 17 Effects That Seem Like CGI (But Aren't)

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