Special and Visual Effects | Forum profile

I've just started writing a script and have questions on some special effects that would be needed... Guns - I'd be willing to make these guns out of cheap materials, but what would i do to make them look like they are firing? Maybe spending a couple hundred on blank firing guns would be a good investment? Squibs - I've experimented with tying a weight lifting belt (very thick leather), strapping a condom filled with fake blood,...

The movie itself may very well be great, but the special effects to me are in no way "the future of movies." Based upon the trailer and clips I've seen, it's the same synthetic looking CGI that has plagued movies for fifteen years. The characters have more realistic facial and eye movements. Whoopee. Does it make the movie any better? I really wish Hollywood would return to concentrating on good stories and...

It's unfair to judge it from trailers, I love the art of CG but despise its almost criminal overuse and it's frequent band-aid application to fix lazy film making. But Avatar is something different, it's a unique animal. Cameron set out to create a whole new, totally implausible world of fantasy and adventure, and he succeeds. Personally, I hate films that drop a few actors in front of green screen and say "there you...