A miracle for cinema — CGI

Aabis Ali
3 min readDec 24, 2022
Characters crafted using CGI

CGI, or computer-generated imagery, has come a long way in the film industry over the past few decades. From its humble beginnings in the 1970s, CGI has evolved into a tool that is used in virtually every film to create stunning visual effects and bring fantastical worlds to life. In this review, we will take a look at the evolution of CGI in cinema and how it has changed the way we experience movies.

Tron (1982)

One of the early pioneers of CGI in cinema was the 1982 film Tron, which featured ground-breaking computer-generated visuals that were ahead of their time. The film was one of the first to use CGI to create digital environments and characters, paving the way for future films to use the technology in more ambitious ways. At the time, the use of CGI was relatively limited and was mostly used to enhance practical effects or create simple animations. However, Tron showed the potential of the technology and opened the door for more ambitious uses of CGI in future films.

Jurassic Park (1993)

Another film that pushed the boundaries of CGI was Jurassic Park, which was released in 1993. The film used CGI to create realistic and lifelike dinosaurs, which had never been seen before on the big screen. The use of CGI in Jurassic Park helped to make the film a groundbreaking success and set a new standard for visual effects in movies. The dinosaurs in the film were so realistic and convincing that many people believed they were real, which was a testament to the power of CGI.

CGI Jake Sully, from Avatar (2009)

More recently, CGI has been used to create entire worlds and characters that are entirely digital. One example of this is the 2009 film Avatar, which featured a fully-realized digital world called Pandora and a cast of digital characters. The use of CGI in Avatar was ground-breaking and helped to make the film a box office hit. The world of Pandora was so detailed and immersive that it felt like a real place, and the digital characters were so well-designed and lifelike that it was easy to forget they were not real.

Star Wars (1977)

In addition to creating digital worlds and characters, CGI has also been used to enhance practical effects and create more realistic special effects. One example of this is the Star Wars films, which have used CGI to create complex space battles and other special effects. The use of CGI in the Star Wars films has helped to make them more visually impressive and immersive, and has contributed to their popularity and success.

Overall, the evolution of CGI in cinema has had a major impact on the way we experience movies. From its humble beginnings in the 1970s, CGI has evolved into a powerful tool that is used to create stunning visual effects and bring fantastical worlds to life. The use of CGI has allowed filmmakers to create movies that would have been impossible to make without it, and has helped to push the boundaries of what is possible in the film industry. As technology continues to evolve, it is likely that CGI will continue to be an important part of the film industry and will be used in more and more ambitious ways in the future.

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Aabis Ali
Aabis Ali

Written by Aabis Ali

Pop Culture and Technology Enthusiast/ Journalist

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