How to Sink a Ship on Purpose

Perhaps one of the most thrilling aspects of watching James Cameron’s 1997 “Titanic” is that it’s real. There’s no green screen, no CGI sinking. It’s all real. If you’ve ever seen photos like the one below, you should be just as amazed as I am. While watching and subsequently reviewing “Titanic” you can truly feel the realness of the movie.

Of course, I could spurt off a bunch of facts about how they did it. How the people running were bits of data, how Jack’s death scene was actually filmed in a lukewarm pool, or how they only built the port side of the ship and scenes on the starboard side the film was literally flipped. No, instead I want to look at the benefits of doing the real thing.

While filming for one of the Hobbit prequels, it was reported that Ian McKellen broke down crying amidst a sea of green screens, upset that this is not how he had envisioned acting. And it’s true. Have you ever seen a play? Have you ever paid attention to how much the actors feel their way on stage, how they are able to connect so well with the set and their cast? It’s because things are actually happening.

Now, yes, there are times when CGI becomes necessary. We can’t shoot space battles, we can’t have an 8-foot tall purple giant, and we can’t teleport. But those are all minor things. While there isn’t a Thanos-sized person, Josh Brolin wore a special setup to both capture his movement and give the other actors a sense of where to look. And Star Wars, at its core, still exists without space battles. Sure it’d be different, but the space scenes are more of a filler.

Now, are there benefits to CGI? Well, of course. You can travel to far off worlds, under the sea, and produce movies for a lot less money. But it becomes a risk analysis, which I am not too familiar with so won’t bore you with it. CGI is like the frosting on a cake.

Your plot is the flour and eggs.

Your characters are the baking powder.

Your setting is the flavoring.

All the other aspects are the little bits-chocolate chips, spices, etc.

CGI is the frosting.

If you have a good cake, a lack of frosting is no problem. Yes, frosting is great and adds to it, but it does not constitute the entirety of the cake. And cake with too much frosting doesn’t taste good.

The next time you watch a movie or play, pay attention to how the actors engage with their surroundings. See them fill the space and bring the performance to life. Yes, building the Titanic was a huge job, but it made the movie so much more realistic.

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