Resident Evil Zombies

You know, I know that the zombies in Resident Evil are CGI. Well, rather the BIG zombies. The "normal people zombies" are  clearly just people in makeup. But I've always wondered about the CGI zombies.

There isn't a lot of information online about the making of these things, but I can do my best to try and describe it as best as I can.

Being a fan of all of the Resident Evil movies, I have been able to see the evolution of the CGI from the first film to the last, and when I tell you how much it's actually changed, it is honestly crazy. In the span of 10 years, the technology has obviously become more and more advanced; so being able to create more intricate and more "gruesome"zombies was becoming more and more possible.

Watching the first movie, the CGI for 2002 was honestly not too bad. But watching the last (2012), oh man was it so much better. The way they were able to improve it to make it look so much more... well.. as real as they can without getting cheesy.

But relating this post to my previous posts, with great detail comes great render time. I was unable to find how much time it took for the render times, however, you can probably guess that it wasn't a short time. But all in all... they made a great movie.

After Effects? What about good ol' Practical Effects?

 

What did we do before the wonders of After Effects and post production possibilities? Directors and film-makers alike used what's known as Practical Effects! Practical effects are basically special effects done in real life. So what that means is, if you want a head to explode, you need to find a way to make something look like a head, stuff it with blood and guts, and actually explode it in front of a camera.

It takes a certain amount of creativity and know-how to get some of these special effects done, but when they're done, man do they look good. There's something about practical effects that just leaves viewers with a lasting impression. After watching the stomach teeth scene from The Thing (#1 in the top 10 video above), I don't think it would look as disgusting and horrifying if it were done in post-production. While practical effects are becoming less and less common, I think they should still have a place in movies today.