With any type of film or TV show in modern media, there is always the use of either computer-generated imagery (CGI) or practical effects. Both of these elements are crucial to creating a show or movie. These elements hold the work of media together and work to create new and exciting worlds that can draw readers into the story. However, among Hollywood and film directors there is a divide in which medium people consider to be better, and what can really bring the fictional worlds to life. Some directors like Christopher Nolan loudly advocate for the use of practical effects while someone like Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, uses more CGI when compared to practical effects. If both mediums are regarded as useful then why is the film industry at such odds?

Practical effects are visual effects like paint, 3-dimensional figures, and large set pieces, and those tools are used to create backgrounds and interactive pieces on the set. For many actors, it helps them fully embrace the character they’re playing as the interactive set gives them the feeling of actually being in the fictional world they are bringing to life. British-American filmmaker and director Christopher Nolan is a major advocate for practical effects. Nolan is known for using practical effects and very little CGI in his film as he simply doesn’t like using CGI. He wants the movies that he creates to be realistic, and if there is something in a movie that can be done practically he will use it to his advantage. Nolan has also stated that CGI does not look as realistic as possible and he believes that practical effects can create realism better than CGI. Recently for Nolan’s upcoming movie Oppenheimer, he refused to use CGI to show a dropping of a nuke, instead of CGI he used real practical effects to demonstrate how the nuke would be dropped. Nolan had to get access from the United States Government in order to recreate the Trinity Test, Nolan hasn’t released a ton of details surrounding the recreation but he did confirm that it did happen. He did however open up to the fact that he only used a small amount of CGI to clean up the shot, but other than that it was purely practical effects. Alongside Nolan, popular director Quentin Tarantino prefers to not use CGI unless he absolutely needs to. Despite not wanting to touch CGI or any  visual effects (VFX) work both of these directors use it when they edit their respective movies. Practical effects are a useful tool to help recreate the larger elements of the movie, but CGI is also a useful tool when it comes to editing and creating worlds that are impossible to create practically.

CGI or computer-generated-imagery and VFX or visual effects are tools used in film making to recreate worlds we’ve never seen before. CGI is preferred by director and Marvel President Kevin Feige, when director and executive producer/director Eric Kripke uses both CGI and practical effects. With large blockbusters like the Marvel movies, CGI is preferred due to the large cast and elements that cannot be recreated with practical effects. CGI is also used for creating costumes like the iconic Iron Man suit and the Spider-Man suit. With the use of CGI it can reduce the amount of money spent to create large action set pieces, and it is also helpful because it can help reduce the amount of takes a scene requires. Despite the process of filming on CGI and green screens can take away the immersion for the actors, it has proved useful and effective for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eric Kripke is known to use both practical effects and CGI. For the Amazon Prime Series The Boys Kripke uses a mix of practical and visual effects to create his world of superheroes. Him and his team has recently won a visual effects award based on their hyper realistic visual effects on their most recent season 3. One of the largest practical effect set pieces used in The Boys Kripke season 2 was a large whale set piece they built to show some of their appreciation for horror and gore used on a film set. They also use a lot of visual effects on the show, from the ionic Seven tower from The Boys  to bringing super powers to life. Kripke uses both practical and visual effects to his advantage in order to bring his dreams to life on the big screen. 

Practical and visual effects can both have their strengths and weaknesses in the world of filmmaking. Despite their differences, it does not make them unusable in certain projects or that one is better than the other. It depends on the film being created and the vision of the director or directors involved in bringing the fiction worlds to life. When both elements are used together or even on their own they can create beautiful pieces of art that everyone can enjoy.