Even in trailers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the prequel looks notably different from 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. While the deep orange hues of the outback-turned-wasteland persist, Furiosa’s overall use of CGI is much more apparent — and somewhat jarring. Initially, director George Miller had intended to shoot Furiosa and Fury Road back-to-back in order to keep his wild universe as cohesive as possible. In fact, Theron was even provided with the backstory that would become Furiosa’s narrative. Unfortunately, the prequel landed in development hell for years.
Although Fury Road production VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson returned for Furiosa, the Taylor-Joy-starring prequel boasts some jarring use of CGI throughout. In some of the film’s most chaotic scenes, like one that’s set in Mad Max’s Citadel, the CGI stands out — and not in a good way. For a series that’s always boasted impressive practical effects, choreography, and stunt work, the glaring CGI is a bit of a letdown in certain moments. At the same time, there’s so much happening on screen that Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga needs to rely on CGI-heavy post-production.
While Mad Max: Fury Road contains 2,000 visual effects shots, the post-apocalyptic smash hit relied on practical effects and singular editing techniques in order to capture its distinct feel. Film Editor Margaret Sixel combed through 480 hours of footage, with the final film boasting roughly 2,700 cuts. Moreover, Fury Road does not run at the traditional frame rate of 24 frames per second for the duration of the film, which gives it that almost cartoonish, bombastic feel. Furiosa definitely uses some of the same tricks, but it also relies more heavily on green screens.
In Mad Max: Fury Road, a lot was shot on camera, but then tweaked in post-production. For example, visual effects artists added in dramatic backdrops or altered lighting, textures, and weather in certain shots in order to capture Mad Max’s distinct Wasteland world. In Furiosa’s ending (and throughout), things look more studio-controlled. That is, the CGI isn’t used to enhance certain sequences in Furiosa. Instead, the prequel’s go-to approach was to rely on CGI for certain elements. While there’s no harm in doing so, it’s definitely a different approach from Fury Road.
There actual CGI background bits look about the same, but like with the animals your brain just knows that what you’re looking at can’t be real. The anti-CGI purists miss so much subtle CGI in films and TV it’s actually kind of laughable, but will give themselves a big slap on the back for noticing a tentacle creature in a Sam Raimi movie that’s really obviously textured to look like a rubber prop monster from one of his old films.