These days, it’s all about that post-credits scene or going gaga over some fun behind the scenes photos. Movies have expanded into an all-access lane that has fans screaming for more, more, more! This is precisely why ‘backstage’ photos are trending all over the internet, because they give fans so much more to think about. Granted, they are often deal breakers, coming like unwanted spoilers to destroy any sense of awe and magic that we might have nurtured before that moment. Behind-the-scenes photographs are notorious for giving away the trick, but at the same time, they also give us a peek into how it was all done.
These photos range from awe-inspiring to hilarious. It’s just so interesting to see the way that these movies come to life, and the things that filmmakers go through to make movie magic.
Movie tech geeks out there, take note: the comments section is open if you want to share details on the points in this article. Be sure to include the picture you’re sharing some of your wisdom on. For everyone else, go crazy and tell us how you felt when you saw some of the images in this TheGamer post. We are about to embark on a brief trip into the unknown, which is now visible to all and sundry. There is no magic in show business, just cartloads of tricks, cunning, budget-conscious props, and CG-centered tools. This article might well be proof that excellence is not pretty, but it sure is talented.
26 The Man Behind The Racoon
If you ever wondered if Rocket Racoon’s only human element was a voice artist behind the CG image, you would be wrong. Since Andy Serkis wasn’t available, the brilliant physical performance of James Gunn’s younger brother, Sean, wonderfully complimented Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper’s voice talent for this MCU character.
Sean’s the man in the green suit beside Batista.
Sean Gunn certainly didn’t foresee being cast at the age of forty in a role that would capture so many superhero-crazed hearts. The supporting cast, even a rodent in CG, is crucial to defining superhero-based storylines. Talk about less being more! This raccoon has proved that sentiment times ten.
25 Senses Are Jarring
This jaw-dropping picture wasn’t taken from atop the sheer height of the Washington Monument. This scene featuring Spidey was shot much closer to the ground, so our friendly neighborhood insect won’t go kersplat in case he slips off and his web-shooters stop working. If there’s one motto worth upholding in the halls of Hollywood CG perfection, it’s “The Green Screen Is God.” Looking at what they can achieve with this technique, fans are left wondering if all the magic really does happen on-screen. However, it takes a special kind of genius to handle the digital chaos in the realms of logic and construction, all to capture and create that perfect final output.
24 Wonder This!
She’s given us some of the finest recent portrayals of integrity, grace, beauty, and power among fictional characters. Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, has truly inspired the world ten ways to Sunday, but the movie-making phase, aka behind-the-scenes, could make you feel like you’re looking at a fine piece of deception.
In this image, we see a battle-moment and Gal Gadot going head to head, or sword to arm rather, with Doomsday.
The film is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Goes to show how much emotion, expression, and imagination came from the actors to make such scenes convincing and mind-boggling on the silver screen.
23 Cue Blast Scene
Visual effects have attained almost divine powers in show business. You find it being used in movies with all sorts of budgets. not just big ones. The amount of extra-artistic detail that has gone into some superhero movie scenes came not from the actors alone but from editors and graphic creators who worked their CG magic behind the scenes in dimly lit studios, and ensured that audiences everywhere received first-class entertainment and realism when they went to the cinema to catch their favorite heroes. In this scene from The Avengers, we find Black Widow shielding herself from a blast, and Captain America shielding her in turn. The thrill and cinematic value of this moment truly took fans by shock and awe, but it was CG-perfection all the way.
22 The Brothers Not-So-Grim
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has amusing things to say to his screen-brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) on Avengers: Age of Ultron. The in-flight scene packed thrills and chills in the actual completed shot. There’s that can’t-do-without green screen again, making movie magic possible ever since it was applied in 1940 for the movie The Thief of Bagdad, which went on to win an Oscar for special effects.
What were Loki and Thor so amused about minutes before they were going to swing on high-powered steel cables out the back of a plane?
We have a feeling Thor was planning to pull a ‘Get Help!’ prank. This image is proof that no matter how crazy the stunts an actor is about to perform, re-create, or re-do, it is not a bad idea to take a moment, laugh, and be merry.
21 Geronimo!
Doubtless, Captain America has given Daredevil a run for his antics. The breath-taking spectacle of the train zip-line scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron gave fans another stunning movie-moment. The silver screen may have had a nice snow-white setting but the behind-the-scenes was all green. What might seem funny in this image took hard work to realize. The weight and size proportions for Chris Evans (playing Captain America) had to be keenly measured. The thin metal ‘prop’ in the image required minute constructive detail to help render this scene as realistic as possible. So much paperwork had to happen, and then so much practical work during a master rehearsal to perfect this scene, and that’s even before the CG department got hold of the footage.
20 One For All And…
All for one green screen… here we have the gang itself from Captain America: Civil War. We vividly remember this heroic moment where all our favourites were rushing the enemy in what seemed like a final bid to end their tyranny.
What may look like a Black Friday rush was in reality the legendary airport hangar scene.
Looks like so much ended up relying on the green mat to make that ultra-real scene convincing. This image is a remarkable testament to actors and their craft, to say nothing of the technical crew’s. Look how serious the team appears; it’s as if they don’t even know they’re acting.
19 Kaboom!
Alright, the director might not have yelled that exact phrase to cue the blast, but any comic book fan will sympathize with our word choice. The Battle of New York scene in The Avengers is here summed up to best effect. There were explosions, but most of all there was CG. While many of us are sat wondering if the production team rented a block for their shoot session, here’s the truth of the matter, they rented a set studio. The blast was pyrotechnic skill but the laser weapon that caused it is CG, to say nothing of Captain America’s ‘copy-paste’ moment on-screen. We love it!
18 Why So Horrendous?
Let’s deviate a bit and check out what went down in the DCU, especially in relation to a certain District Attorney turned terrifying. The Dark Knight gave us some astounding scenes to look forward to and appreciate on the release day. But they rarely tell you how much went on behind the scenes. That is, until they release said footage.
Here’s Harvey Dent, handsome in real but frightful in CG.
He has some makeup done already, a smudge of blood-work on the forehead, almost as if he walked in from another scene to do this one. We believe it’s safe to state that it’s all about those dots, about those dots, no question.
17 To Fly Or Not To Fly…
The spaceship scenes in The Avengers gave fans some fine extra-terrestrial action to look forward to. Most fans even assumed the ships were actual props or sets, and that the actors performed their script-ordained roles while inside them. Not entirely true. Space ship parts were the need of the hour while the rest was filled in using CG technology relying on a sister-technique called, um, the blue screen. Images like this one help corroborate our claim. We can only wonder whether Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) is worried about aliens or the pilot’s heart-stopping flight manoeuvring. We bet Thor or the Hulk will have had something to say about this picture. Speaking of…
16 Wrestle Mania
One could say that CG is so heavily relied upon that some actors prefer not to waste time on the set when a dupe or stunt double will suffice. Then again, that Hulk over-suit looks awfully heavy, too hefty for the likes of Mark Ruffalo perhaps.
Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) doesn’t seem to be complaining, though.
Several portions involving the Hulk in movies like this one, namely The Avengers, surely came under the CG banner, but that doesn’t mean the actor’s expressions and voices didn’t contribute crucial parts to beloved MCU characters. That stunt double had better get an A for effort, though.
15 Is It A Plane, Is It A Bird…?
No, It’s CG-man! As we turn another page in the DC universe, we seem to have come across Superman (played by Henry Cavill) pulling off a rather convincing flight scene in Man of Steel. Man of steel cables is more like it, but hey if human beings could really fly we would have an entirely different write-up. Looks like the cape too made it on-screen thanks to CG technology, and those dots seem specifically placed for reasons known only to the tech-savvy among us. The movie did give some of the finest super-flight sequences around, so colour us impressed. Dat expression, though.
14 Aqua-CG
With the new ‘first-look’ trailer for the upcoming movie Aquaman (2018) making waves at Comic Con, we thought it best to share a behind-the-scenes moment of the first time we got to see this brilliant character. Here’s Jason Momoa (who plays the iconic superhero) underwater, in a manner of speaking. Looks like this ocean is green, in the CG sense of the word. From his speed-swimming skills to an outstanding underwater grace, we can see how it was all rendered possible. This image has given fans a peek into the magic that is Hollywood. Aquaman is sure to have relied on similar technology in the upcoming movie, more so if the rumor of its stunning visuals is anything to go by.
13 The Incredible Tennis Ball
CG application definitely has some strange moments, like the time they stuck a tennis ball at the end of a pole attached to Mark Ruffalo, who played the Hulk. As mentioned earlier, the character got his signature expressions from the actor in question. But the Hulk’s height is definitely not something Ruffalo can pull off.
CG to the rescue, with a marker that is all kinds of resourceful, helping the guys in the studio better model the character and bulk it up Hulk-style.
We’re sure Ruffalo had a few questions to ask about his getup, and we’re extra-certain that Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) were laughing it up backstage. Don’t make him too angry, fellers.
12 Run, Silver, Run!
Quicksilver may be fast, but CG is faster. Just like every superhero on the spectrum, his powers too have been realized on the silver screen (curious word match, there) thanks to visual effects excellence. What you’re looking at in this image is the unforgettable scene in X-Men: Apocalypse where Quicksilver (played by Evan Peters) makes his breathtaking slow-motion zip through enemy lines, and converts an otherwise grim scene into a rib-tickling one. His expressions were as real as the wind-force applied against his face to create the impression of super-speed. However, almost everything else was CG-touched, no holds barred.
11 Invisible Assault
We have here a nice close up of Captain America and Ant-Man on the sets of Captain America: Civil War. It’s another brilliant battle-moment in the MCU, and while the scene played out rather well on the big screen it appears quite drab and spartan behind the scenes.
One can’t really expect too much from a moment in which more than eighty percent of the visuals are in the minds of programmers and technicians in the CG department. That signature serious look is hard to summon when you know full well that you’re standing inside a studio surrounded by green screens, but actors do what actors do, and they do it well.
10 I’m So Upset!
Avengers: Age of Ultron gave us some bone-jarring moments and plenty of thrills besides. The Hulk was in form in the film, and was disappointing fans with peek-a-boo sessions in Infinity War, enough to make some fans join a few rare dots and think that Loki was really Thor in the movie, which was why he kept failing (intentionally) to transform.
Be that as it may, here’s the Angry Green Monster all riled up for his close-up.
We can see where the fictional character gets his rage issues from. Mark Ruffalo is giving it his very best despite being dressed in what looks like a cheesy alien suit from the 60s.
9 The Last Laugh
Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker in The Dark Knight was, admittedly and still by popular vote, the very best rendition of the super-popular DC villain. While doubt has been cast on Jared Leto’s idea to play the character in an expanded script all for him, other fandoms are rooting for Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the Clown Prince of Crime. The former is definitely nerve-racking and the latter is probably a rumor. But one thing is certain. The image you’re looking at here is Ledger doing his own stunt in the film and supposedly hanging from a great height. How he managed to appear blasé and pull off that psychotic attitude with laughs thrown in is beyond us. Dangling upside down does not make for a comfortable ‘get into character’ position, but Ledger made it work.
8 Teenage CG Mutant Turtles
Whatever radioactive diet went into rendering four ordinary baby turtles into the cult classic that these superheroes came to attain, we know that CG had its own way with them. There were indeed actors in costumes, though not ones you might think. This image says it all, graying and abstracting your childhood favourite until it looks like a soldier in camo. That is, until you see them on the big screen where they put the ‘C’ in Cowabunga. Pay special attention to the red and green stripes along the sides of the actor’s costume, those cameras looking back at their faces attached to a lightweight helmet, those dots on their faces… It’s all part of the foundation magic that gave us the most convincingly authentic versions of the Turtles.
7 What A Real Spiderman Needs
Spider-Man is known for his reality-defying feats, including the way he saves people or takes down enemies using his special skills. But there are other skills being applied behind the scenes to ensure that Spider-Man (recently played by Tom Holland) comes out on top. Here’s an image from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, specifically the heart-stopping saving-scene involving Gwen Stacy, a character also renowned for her roles in the American comic books versions of Spider-Man. Apparently a lot went into the making of this scene, a lot involving cables, timing, angles, weight measures, and probably even a stunt double. There are, so to speak, ten hard-work moments for every smart-moment on camera.
