‘He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor Macleod. He is immortal.’
Despite tanking at the majority of global box offices and bringing in only approximately $13 million, Russell Mulcahy’s Sci-Fi/Fantasy film Highlander (1986) soon developed a cult following. This lead to the production of five reboots, two TV series, an animated series, movie and flash movie series, along with ten original novels and 19 comic book issues (IMDb, 2017). However, according to critics and fans, none of these reboots or remakes lived up to the original 1986 version; “Nowhere is it more obvious that Highlander is immortal than in Hollywood. The town …show more content…
Highlander was made using Guerrilla style filmmaking due to its approximated budget of $13 million (Muir, 2010). Guerrilla style is a form of independent filmmaking often characterised by filming without location permits (Hoyt, 2014). Due to its low budget, Highlander also had the inability to experiment with much CGI, meaning most special effects in the film were primarily practical. Mulcahy stated in an interview, “There was very little CGI in those days. But because I grew up in theatre, I knew a lot about tricking the eye.” (Hoad, 2016). New versions of the film will undoubtedly incorporate contemporary filming techniques including extensive CGI such as in Thor (2011) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). For 21st century audiences, these contemporary effects are often preferable and frankly more believable, as some argue the now dated SFX used in Highlander detracts from the realism of the films …show more content…
In the fight scene at the Scottish castle, crew members held fishing wires attached to each foam stone and pulled them when the character hit them, revealing a matte painted backdrop. In theory, this method sounds efficient, however in the film it is highly unrealistic: “The stones flying around the combatants look so fake you can actually feel the Styrofoam.”(Taylor, 2016). When an immortals head is cut off in the film, stop motion is used quite obviously to switch out the character for a dummy, and rather than using CGI to add sparks when swords hit each other, the actors had car batteries strapped to them so the effect was more real. In a modern day production, it would be expected that many of these scenes will have incorporated computer generated effects in modern versions (Hoad, 2016). CGI has now become the panacea of the mainstream film industry by replacing physical effects and augmenting scenes in post-production. While this may be the easy solution in creating movie scenes now, replacing the physical effects in the fight scenes of Highlander with digital sparks would only detract from its realism.
SFX makeup is also used in the film on characters the Kurgan and Heather. Heather is transformed from young to old using purely makeup, and while its effect is present, it could benefit from modern skills. An example of how
Despite tanking at the majority of global box offices and bringing in only approximately $13 million, Russell Mulcahy’s Sci-Fi/Fantasy film Highlander (1986) soon developed a cult following. This lead to the production of five reboots, two TV series, an animated series, movie and flash movie series, along with ten original novels and 19 comic book issues (IMDb, 2017). However, according to critics and fans, none of these reboots or remakes lived up to the original 1986 version; “Nowhere is it more obvious that Highlander is immortal than in Hollywood. The town …show more content…
Highlander was made using Guerrilla style filmmaking due to its approximated budget of $13 million (Muir, 2010). Guerrilla style is a form of independent filmmaking often characterised by filming without location permits (Hoyt, 2014). Due to its low budget, Highlander also had the inability to experiment with much CGI, meaning most special effects in the film were primarily practical. Mulcahy stated in an interview, “There was very little CGI in those days. But because I grew up in theatre, I knew a lot about tricking the eye.” (Hoad, 2016). New versions of the film will undoubtedly incorporate contemporary filming techniques including extensive CGI such as in Thor (2011) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). For 21st century audiences, these contemporary effects are often preferable and frankly more believable, as some argue the now dated SFX used in Highlander detracts from the realism of the films …show more content…
In the fight scene at the Scottish castle, crew members held fishing wires attached to each foam stone and pulled them when the character hit them, revealing a matte painted backdrop. In theory, this method sounds efficient, however in the film it is highly unrealistic: “The stones flying around the combatants look so fake you can actually feel the Styrofoam.”(Taylor, 2016). When an immortals head is cut off in the film, stop motion is used quite obviously to switch out the character for a dummy, and rather than using CGI to add sparks when swords hit each other, the actors had car batteries strapped to them so the effect was more real. In a modern day production, it would be expected that many of these scenes will have incorporated computer generated effects in modern versions (Hoad, 2016). CGI has now become the panacea of the mainstream film industry by replacing physical effects and augmenting scenes in post-production. While this may be the easy solution in creating movie scenes now, replacing the physical effects in the fight scenes of Highlander with digital sparks would only detract from its realism.
SFX makeup is also used in the film on characters the Kurgan and Heather. Heather is transformed from young to old using purely makeup, and while its effect is present, it could benefit from modern skills. An example of how