DISCLAIMER: This article may trigger some readers. Please proceed with caution.
I watched RRR again today in the theatre (for the fourth time) and I am still in awe as to how much they were able to achieve in terms of VFX. The people that are complaining about the VFX in this movie don’t understand how much VFX is in the movie and what VFX even is. They think the only VFX is the obvious i.e. explosions and animals. But what they ignore/even lack to comprehend* is all the invisible FX involved in almost every shot.
If these so called “critics” can’t even see how much of work the vendors put into the movie, the artists have done their job. Even the criticism stems because they think they have to criticize something so they hook onto this. They are not criticizing because it looks fake particularly but because they know it couldn’t have been done for real. And if a Hollywood movie’s FX are sub par, they don’t mind that at all (ahem MCU).
Also, when someone says “the CGI is bad” or “the FX are terrible,” what does that even mean? There are so many aspects as to why something would look not right. The lighting for one, the choice of focal length and focus, the cinematographer filming without knowing how the final image would be, just bad shot design, the production design (I’ve seen movies where the computer generated imagery looked more natural than the actual sets), the sound design (if the Foley or any other diegetic sounds do not fit well with the imagery being shown and if we know they couldn’t have done it for real), or the motion of the animation (CG doubles moving unnaturally, animals, simulations etc.). At least be specific as to why you think it looks bad, please. Put some effort into your writing. Let me give you an example, “Some production designers are not good at making trees, they look like stage props.” See that wasn’t that hard, was it.
Now that the rant is over, if you ask me, the visual effects is nothing short of a marvel. This is the first Indian movie I have seen where most of the fx are seamless and of the same quality. In RRR, I know where they used set extensions, crowd sims etc. But it is done so well that I cannot spot the seams. Never once was it distracting except the constant title cards and the pre interval roof top parkour sequence (which is a topic for its own article).
I am going to focus on the invisible set extensions for this article. So what is a set extension? A set extension could involve everything from adding background details like mountains, sky replacements, extending a set that has partly been built physically, an entire 3d environment or even a matte painting. A set extension is usually used when the set/location is expensive or impossible to film. Usually….
Here are some examples of set extensions from RRR.
Not all of the shots have before and afters because the film is not out to grab stills from and once the fx vendors drop their breakdown reels, I will be covering them as well in more detail and interviews if any of them are willing. Thank you.
*[In a way I am glad they don’t but I cannot stand the ignorant comments. Just cannot.]