Best type of Creature FX

[diamondwaspvenom]

There are many ways to make a monster on the big screen. Which form of SFX is truly the best at bringing creatures to life?

[Hammock Rider]

At first I thought the title was "Best type of Creature SEX". I'm glad I was wrong.

Stop Motion, BTW.

[diamondwaspvenom]

At first I thought the title was "Best type of Creature SEX". I'm glad I was wrong.

Stop Motion, BTW.

Thanks for making me realise what thoughts the title might unintentionally provoke. It's now been changed to FX.

[venomx]

Was Medusa stop motion or an animatronic puppet from Clash Of The Titans 1983? Maybe a mix of both?

[ulthar]

I voted all 5 since I think they all have their place.

Personally, I think the most creative artists are those that have lots of tools in their toolboxes and know how to apply those tools in various settings.  Shoehorning effects where they look out of place is certainly a problem (and the issue I think most people have with CGI), but making a visual effect look "understated" is a skill that requires (again, in my opinion) the flexibility to use the tool for the job.

I've done (for personal, amateur projects) stop motion animation and CGI, and I know that both are VERY hard to get to look right.  That said, my daughter and I did a stop motion of one of her stuffed animals, a colorful alligator, eating another (a small stuffed elephant) that, though very short, turned out very cool.  We also did a bit of a stuffed sheep like it was talking/telling a story that we could dub over some voice work that turned out nice.

I have extremely limited experience with make-up effects (mostly stuff like Halloween costumes), and again, I hold in very high regard those that can make these look good on film.

So, I guess I see the art of visual effects as a whole with different components, not as competing techniques in an "either - or" dichotomy.

[Flick James]

Was Medusa stop motion or an animatronic puppet from Clash Of The Titans 1983? Maybe a mix of both?

I just watched that scene recently. I am almost certain it's all stop motion.

[Leah]

Stop motion. Animatronics/puppets. Rubber Suits. All work for me.

[Pilgermann]

I'm not totally anti-CGI, but I voted for all the other options 'cause I love all the old techniques.  Effects are far more memorable to me when they have a genuine physical presence.  Even when they're kind of poor and hokey they can retain some charm or at least stimulate the imagination.

[Jack]

It really depends.  With a man sized/shaped creature, makeup and prosthetics can be extremely effective.  If you've got something that's not man sized/shaped, then animatronics and puppets can look really good.  Guys in rubber suits almost always tend to look cheesy, but there's nothing wrong with that.  Even CGI has its place.  I've seen a guy in a rubber suit with CGI legs, which created an interesting and unexpected look.  Normally though it looks fake as all get-out, even if they put a whole lot of money into it.  Stop motion can be pretty cool, at least there's something real in front of the camera.

[JaseSF]

I voted for them all except CGI which to me is just too many cooks in the kitchen and it's just way too overdone. I prefer the the more individualistic expression allowed for in the other forms...I know CGI does have its place and can be done well but to me, I cannot think of too many individual CGI characters who truly left me feeling like that's a character...not the way Godzilla, the Ymir, King Kong, The Wolf Man or Robocop does...

[Joe]

all of the creatures in Clash of the Titans are stop motion. They were created and animated by none other than the legendary Ray Harryhausen.

[WingedSerpent]

Yeah, I had to vote for all five.  The all have their place in movie history and modern films as well. (Even stop motion animation). 

A lot of people bash on CG!, but movies like Jurrasic Park would not have worked as well without it.  And while I may not haver liked the movie Avatar for its story that much, I can certainly appreciate the artistry that went into its creation.  Another fun thing about CGI is now with plenty of animation software avalible, even free ones like Blender or DAZ studio, and movie software on being sold with computers plenty of amaturs can start creating movies.  They won't have to worry about cost and can focus on creating and improving their work.  A digital artist named Steve Stone said that as people got more comfortable with computers, they started giving up the tricks and focused on what really made art good like form and compostion.   

Still puppets and suit make it better when interations with live people are required.  Again Jurrasic Park had some animatroics for cetain senes and the Hellboy movies have some of the best suit work of recent times I can remember.

[Leah]

I didn't vote for CGI because it is now being used and abused like crazy. It really is a cheap way to get noticed. Sure some movies have some good CGI, like Jurassic Park or District 9, or the likes of Wall-E, but, for the most part, It really doesn't work, as in you can see the computer outlines or like a 64-bit computer generated car model (cough Fast and furious 4 cough), but it really depends on the artistic value and the realism of the character interactions.

[Trekkie313]

Animatronics/Suits all the way!

Thank God for Walt Disney and the people who made Godzilla, without them movie making might not be where its at today!

[God the Worms]

My favorite is animatronic/puppet, but I think the best way to achieve great looking creatures is to mix and match them all. A perfect example is the first Jurassic Park, which used animatronic and cgi (to shade and smooth out the rough edges).

That being said, I usually hate when the creature is all cgi, but even those have their gems (SHARKTOPUS!!!).