Even in trailers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the prequel looks notably different from 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. While the deep orange hues of the outback-turned-wasteland persist, Furiosa’s overall use of CGI is much more apparent — and somewhat jarring. Initially, director George Miller had intended to shoot Furiosa and Fury Road back-to-back in order to keep his wild universe as cohesive as possible. In fact, Theron was even provided with the backstory that would become Furiosa’s narrative. Unfortunately, the prequel landed in development hell for years.
Although Fury Road production VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson returned for Furiosa, the Taylor-Joy-starring prequel boasts some jarring use of CGI throughout. In some of the film’s most chaotic scenes, like one that’s set in Mad Max’s Citadel, the CGI stands out — and not in a good way. For a series that’s always boasted impressive practical effects, choreography, and stunt work, the glaring CGI is a bit of a letdown in certain moments. At the same time, there’s so much happening on screen that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga needs to rely on CGI-heavy post-production.
While Mad Max: Fury Road contains 2,000 visual effects shots, the post-apocalyptic smash hit relied on practical effects and singular editing techniques in order to capture its distinct feel. Film Editor Margaret Sixel combed through 480 hours of footage, with the final film boasting roughly 2,700 cuts. Moreover, Fury Road does not run at the traditional frame rate of 24 frames per second for the duration of the film, which gives it that almost cartoonish, bombastic feel. Furiosa definitely uses some of the same tricks, but it also relies more heavily on green screens.
In Mad Max: Fury Road, a lot was shot on camera, but then tweaked in post-production. For example, visual effects artists added in dramatic backdrops or altered lighting, textures, and weather in certain shots in order to capture Mad Max’s distinct Wasteland world. In Furiosa’s ending (and throughout), things look more studio-controlled. That is, the CGI isn’t used to enhance certain sequences in Furiosa. Instead, the prequel’s go-to approach was to rely on CGI for certain elements. While there’s no harm in doing so, it’s definitely a different approach from Fury Road.
I was interested in the “non-traditional” fps of Fury Road so here’s the relevant part from wikipedia, they actually used less than 24 for most of the movie.
It’s things like this that make me unconcerned about this new movies CGI. This guy has a vision for his films and will do what he can to see it through. Is everything 100% perfect? No of course not. But you know the man gave it well over 100% in effort.
I watched it and the CGI was way way way more noticable. There’s a scene at the beginning of the movie of someone getting on a horse, and it looks like when Legolas very obviously CGI’d his way onto the horse in LotR. Lots of other shots with bad CGI, too.
That’s really weird. Did you see a release version?
Edit. Oh yeah its probably been out all weekend. Do’h
I was rewatching fury road on the weekend and this was something I picked up on I hadn’t noticed before. it’s quite apparent in scenes where a sense of urgency is required, such as when Max is trying to escape from the warboys in the citadel near the start of the movie
What does a change in frame rate look like?
it kind of looks like scenes are being sped up, but when you pay attention you can see the action is moving at a normal pace, but looks faster. it’s a clever effect used in the right places
That sounds distracting if you are capable of noticing it! I’ll keep an untrained eye out.
its not so bad but something you will notice now you know about it!