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Despite its cripplingly low budget of only 30 million dollars, District 9 was the first film of its kind - Having mind blowing visual effects - which ranged from full CG characters to dynamic weapon effects.
However, with District 9 coming out in 2009 - it meant that the film always existed in the shadow of another major CGI film release that Year: 2009’s Avatar, by James Camereon.
With Avatar being a Goliath success; District 9’s incredible CG and VFX achievements were largely passed over and the film was never given the praise it deserved for changing the way Hollywood approaches its VFX production.
So, with the release of Avatar 2, I thought it was time that we cast a light back on District 9 and explored exactly why this film looks so good, how it did it on such a limited budget, and how it influenced the next decade of VFX.
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Sources:
The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: amzn.to/3Xtg6mW
www.studiodaily.com/2009/09/h...
www.animatrik.com/blog/behind...
www.digitalmediaworld.tv/in-d...
archive.boston.com/ae/movies/a...
www.wired.com/2010/10/art-of-...
• Image Engine use of Nu...
• Image Engine Use Of Nu...
• Special Effects Add to...
www.wetafx.co.nz/films/filmog...
theembassyvfx.com/portfolio/d...
image-engine.com/case-studies...
wiki-fx.net/project/district-9/
www.upcomingvfxmovies.com/svf...
www.maxon.net/en/article/dist...
www.ilm.com/vfx/transformers-...
www.ilm.com/vfx/transformers-...
blendswap.com/blend/24175
www.cgtrader.com/3d-print-mod...
After all these years, this is still the film I'm most proud to have worked on (I worked on the model and texturing for the mothership, helicopters, prawn eyes). It was such a well told story, and the approaches to the VFX were really clever in part because Image Engine hadn't done much in the way of film VFX prior to this -so novel approaches were being created because we didn't know any better. The practical effects were also really great, benefitting so much from Neill Blonkamp's VFX background.
so that's why Chappie looks so similar to District 9, and by that I mean natural- because animations looks absolutely the same as real characters👍👍. Can you please share which 3D software was used, and what was really real in those two movies, like were houses, barracks and weapons real? it's very hard to distinguish differences between CGI and reality within those two movies as they are flawless.
That's amazing!!
@@MegaZidzid The renderer we used was called 3Delight which was like a generic brand of Renderman. As I recall, most of the lighting/rendering software was built in house (Image Engine evolves more quickly than any studio I've worked for though and they change their software regularly). Any of the weapons that are being handled by both digital and live action characters would have had both a practical prop as well as a matching digital prop. For District9 Weta workshop made the practical props (I believe they did for Chappie and Elisium as well).
@@egronfeldt1234 thank you very much for detailed insight. Being part of such professional crew must be an amazing experience.
Thank you. This is one of my all time favorite movies of all time and makes up for the fact that Halo got taken away.
This movie looks even better than most movies right now
Rip marvel
I don't why I was reminded by that scene on Netflix's One Piece with the bent sword, 17.28M per Episode, 138M for the whole season... hahaha lol.
if any anime costed 17 milion a episode that anime would not exist. @@thomasjosephhenrydelacruz1769
Lol alita gits the list goes on avatar no one will save you etc
That's like comparing a Rembrandt painting to the scratches that a toddler makes on a piece of paper. I even prefer the cgi of the Dune miniseries over anything that Marvel belches out these days, but that's not crazy if you look at how cgi companies need to work for them: "Well we want a cgi battle of 100,000 monsters in alien-Egyptian armor and do make sure that they all have something that sets them apart from each other; we need representation in their army! They're fighting this huge army of bird-lizard hybrids who all have a silly walk. The setting is the stellar castle of teh galactic emporer so it must look epic and impressive. It has to show the strength and the wealth of his empire and him as a person. The deadline is next week friday at noon." The wednesday before the deadline: "Yeah hey, about that battle? We decoded to go with wolf-mantis hybrids fighting poor suppressed people of color in a cotton field and these people need to defeat the enemy with the tools that they have there. The deadline stays!"
District 9 is one of my top favorite films, because the story felt so grounded, so realistic, the FX visuals perfectly added to cinematography, and the aliens themselves were masterfully animated to induce empathy and compassion from the audience. Seriously, what an amazing movie.
I really loved how the camera work is done like a live documentary, like the camera man is right in the action
Drawing the parallels of how refugees are treated in other nations is also a huge aspect of this movie, the aliens forced to live in ghettos and basically eat only cat food, this is more extreme but it makes a good point.
its still looks better than anything marvel has done recently, dune was also pretty good with their cgi.
yeah loved it too. Would love a good sequel
I watched District 9 on a rip that didn't have the subtitles for the Roaches. I thought it was an overall directorial decision for the film and to be honest I still pretty much understood 80-90% of the whole experience without Subtitles. Which I think shows you just how well they managed to portray the story.
I lived in South Korea in 2009 and the three biggest movies of the year (for me) were Avatar, Inglorious Basterds, and District 9 and all three employed subtitles to varying degrees and I was fully expecting to see all of them with Korean subtitles for the foreign/alien languages; sure enough they had Korean AND English subtitles - thank god Inglorious Basterds did because like 80% of that movie was in German and French lol
Yo seriously I had the exact same experience. Parents would never have let me see this movie so I found a rip online without subs. All I had was the body language and expressions of the prawns and I still felt like I was following everything going on. It’s so cool to hear that other people got to experience it the same way at some point.
Same experience, same thoughts.
It's been almost a decade since I've seen this movie and I'm just now learning it had subtitles for the roaches :/ gonna have to rewatch this now
same!
This film shouldn’t have happened. But it did. And it’s the best aliens come to earth film ever. I’d love to see a sequel. I need to know if Christopher keeps his promise. He’s 11 years late
Agreed! This movie is fantastic all around!
No doubt if it gets a sequal, we won't get the same CGI. I bet they will use another director and create budget cuts as if they couldn't afford it. 😂
Why shouldn't have happened?
@@josuemartinez9688 bc it's CGI looks ahead of it's time.
@John Smith If they did another. It would be great if they started it with the 2 prawns on their home planet arguing with their council leaders to go and invade our planet for mistreating them. And BAM! We get humped... the end 😂
Also don't forget that money doesn't always buy talent. Sometimes a VFX team is just made up of extremely competent management and individual artists who haven't yet made a name for themselves. Hell, having good top to bottom communications compared to the large studios of bloated egos might also be a factor. This movie had a clear vision and no-one on the team phoned it in.
Your comment reminds me of the six digital artists that make up the VFX team for the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'
Epic insight and thought there.. Very well put indeed, and couldn't agree more!.. Talent and passion on a budget should and most likely will always trump bottomless pockets and incompetence, or the heartless mediocrity that comes with just making film/product because have been paid to, and/or often just being overly focused on money/profit etc!.. What work of genius is ever born in those situations!?? Lol.. Respect bro.. 👊👊👍
🥱 planning, communication, hard work and attention to detail are so yesterday 😂
Think of Clover Field, based on the actions, of real people , in the wrong place, and the wrong time. The plot, developed organically. We all knew the ending. I have always been a fan, of HAND -Hand perspectives. Low budgets, big results.
Absolutely right! Toxic corporation-ethics can burn through the biggest stashes of cash without achieving anything. Just look at Star Wars...
District 9 was an absolute masterpiece of a movie. The staggering amount of things that had to line up for this to be made on the budget it had will probably not be replicated for years to come. I watched this when I was in high school on a "decent" tv for the time. Watched it again recently on a 4k TV: still holds up.
Strange Blomkamp hasn't made a good movie since.
With the main character turning into a “prawn” as things progress, I always wondered if all of the others were actually born prawns or whether many were other species who were transformed by their oppressors. Did a certain species become transformed who retained enough of their intelligence to orchestrate their escape?
I’ve put a lot of thought into this and read a lot of theories. Admittedly probably more than I should. (There’s some rabbit holes to go down if you’re interested). But I don’t think all of them were born the prawns we see on screen. The most blaring reason for this is the fact that they supposedly have the machines to fix Wikus back on their homeworld. It’s clear that they can be born prawns (evident by the child and the illegal nests found in some shacks) but ive come to the conclusion it’s more like a disease/mutation of the dna. The prawns can seemingly breathe and function fine on earth which leads me to believe they come from an earth like planet and are probably carbon based. We know that Wikus’ transformation begins after he’s sprayed with the liquid. They were collecting the liquid as a fuel source (or at least something like that) to get back home. I want to believe that similarly to how exposure to radiation can cause cancer and mutations within dna, whatever this chemical/fuel is can do the same. We know so little about the prawns we don’t even know why they came. But we know that when we finally cut into the ship they were wildly unhealthy and malnourished. Which I suppose could possibly support my idea of it being more of a condition, but I don’t really think so.
@@chasefox4602 I always thought along the lines of the fuel source being very specific and linked to their DNA similar to how their weapons work. Im guessing the fuel source being an extreme concentrate of some fluid that comes from them so since it got into him it could overpower his dna. I never once thought that humans were at one point prawns or vice versa but honestly i want to dig into the rabbit holes after hearing that
roanoke gaming did a video on that exact question.
This is EXACTLY how I interpreted this film when I first watched it!@@chasefox4602
This is pretty clearly explained. It's part of the main plot. Christopher says that he's been collecting the stuff for years and years. If it was squirting all over the place, the aliens wouldn't be stuck on earth. Maybe a rewatch could have saved you all that wondering.
This film was amazing. No one around me liked it and I was so confused. I was heartbroken that a sequel never came to light.
It means you have at least half a brain.
Apparently district 10 is in production
@@shawn3d oh cool yeah I googled that and right. Next year they say. Stoked.
Just forced the girl I'm dating to watch it the other day. Told her I still have hope that one day we will see a sequel. It's such a good movie and with the budget they had? Unbelievable.
@@Jonathan-bu7iv I’m sure your girlfriend loved it, if she didn’t then she might need to hit the road :) Kidding Actually on a side note, my sister was best friends with Neil BlomKamp’s sister and she used to see him animating in his bedroom all the time. Apparently I have met him before when I used to fetch her from their house. I also have 2 original artworks from Neils Dad in my place
My friend said he watched this movie for the first time and this is in 2023 and he was amazed at how good the film is. This actually shows that this is really a great film with great VFX.
They got the details right (light source shadow etc.) and most important the creatures always match the ambient light of the surroundings
Yeah, great lighting - and also great physics of interaction with their environment. Plus keeping things to a scale that makes sense, even in the film's most dramatic moments! I feel like a lot of today's CG-heavy productions fail to really connect emotionally because the physics of their creatures' interactions aren't believable, they put spectacle above story, AND they stuff way too many flashy effects into their big dramatic scenes? It reduces the 'bang for buck' of each element, makes the effects feel non-integrated into the world (rather like that pedestal CGY was talking about), and IMO just ends up with a big distracting visual mess. Most superhero films fall into that category for me, even though I know they're very popular?
One of my favorite movies! When other people didn't like it and I asked why, they said it made them feel weird. That is how powerful this sci-fi is.
"made them feel weird..." Sounds more like your asking dingbats
@@cowmath77it's that anything-goes feeling that unnerves me, too, but of course I love it
The movie is a masterpiece, and the scenes with the mech suit are still the best ever to this day. No other film has done mech suits as good
It wasn't perfect but it was super cool to see that thing reacting so emotionally with the untrained and wounded pilot.
Completely agree, this movie kicked my ass and was a masterpiece, it was a perfect mix of sci-fi, technology, emotion, explosions, thought and shock.
Not a masterpiece clown
@@stefanb8526it wasn’t lil bro
@@noth7ing 😂 folks are entitled to their opinion dawg, it's all subjective. What's a movie that floats your boat? I'm just curious, no hate.
I loved this movie, I remember being totally blown away at the time by every piece. Was so surprised when I learned other people didn’t like it. The Directing, acting, and visuals are all incredible at a level you rarely see in movies.
I didn't like it the first time I watched it, I was still a kid more into family movies/ comedy's. But after I re-watched it thru matured eyes , yeah it's a master piece, and I feel the best was yet to come... if the sequel will ever come out.
how can this film be absolutely disliked is beyond my understanding. it is a 10/10 for me.
I definitely liked it the first time I watched it but I felt like shit afterwords
@@Ok_Butterscotch1549 why did you feel like shit?
Same. I love the movie. was fascinated by it. But then I showed it to my wife and she totally hated it.
Not only is it visually stunning and ahead of its time in many ways but the topic and themes are also powerful that affected me as much as the visuals.
The topics were good to tackle but they really heavily blundered by representing reprehensible gang members and witch doctors and calling them only "the Nigerians", and naming the gang leader after the Nigerian president at the time.
@@glowerwormthe interviews featured were actually real, not about aliens, but about nigerians. worth looking into.
As someone who primarily only likes practical effects, District 9 was the first film to make me think maybe, just maybe CGI could become truly an asset to film... If more films went this direction it'd be incredible, but then the Avengers was released and everything changed forever.
you know what, thats a great way to put it. every modern use of vfx is just avengers level of shit. it could be so much more, its really upsetting.
@@Ceaugo "WOOOOOOOOOAH THANOS THREW THE MOOOOOOON NO FRIGGIN WAYYYYYYYYY EPIC"
I think CGI is a huge asset. For example, did you notice the CGI work in Parasite? Doesn't look like there is any, but the featured house has only a single story, and the second story was added with CGI for external shots. Similarly, in GoT, plenty of backgrounds shot on location have CGI work done that you wouldn't notice eg. an extra tower in the castle, an extension to a stone wall.
CGI's been an asset to film long before District 9 was even conceived as an idea lol
@@Mrxander93 Idk why you're loling, he's basically same everything else is pretty shit some to District 9, and they're following Avenger's bad example.
This film came out at the perfect time as those riots you mentioned was a big thing here in SA, had major xenophobic attacks on foreigners, not just Zimbabweans in 2008. It was so bad that people that were locals were mistaken for foreigners and killed. The one line in this film hit me big time when I saw it, "if they were from another country, it would be fine, but they're not even from this planet" and I was like suuuuuuuuuure. The other thing is what you said about the mech suit. it also showed what a real person would do with tech he has never used before in a life or death situation. You wouldn't be cool in it or even strategic, you would just go and hope to live through it. I loved how real this film felt and as a Saffa, the commentary was spot on.
I’ve lived in Joburg almost my whole life, and the obvious parallels with our history was startling, on an emotional level. So, so good
Huh, never realized how good the CGI in this movie was. Truly ahead of its time.
Hell yea, fantastic movie :D
Same. My mom got me this movie as a Christmas gift. She nor I knew a single thing about it just for it to be absolutely fantastic. I never thought about how good the CGI is in it!
That's how you know it was excellent. It was so smooth, it didn't seem special at all. Stealth FX. Children of Men did this, too but not on the sheer scale as District 9.
i was blown away the second i saw the first trailer. it looked ultra real
it's not ahead of it's time, it's STILL ahead, in fact we're going backwards. we're back at 2002 CGI these days
Starship troopers is another movie with mind blowing effects that mostly holds up today. Very few movies achieve that.
Starship Troopers is epic... I remember being a kid and seeing the trailer in theatres and being genuinely afraid of the bugs.
. . . and acting so hard and slick that it would survive contact with the surface of the sun.
that practical + vfx so welldone
To me, Blomkamp has the same sensibilities as Verhoeven had with regards to the tone and violence. Blomkamp just needed better writers after District 9, but District 9 Blomkamp could have done a legitimately good Robocop remake I think with the right writer.
Starship Troopers is garbage lol
So basically, the reason the CGI looks so good is because the animators were masochistic.
Im so glad that you've specified how much work animators put in to make vfx look as good as they are. I work in 2D, but I still encounter a ton of people saying "well they'll just CG it" or how "the actor did all that" in terms of mocap. Vfx/animation/video production is an insane feat that takes teamwork, careful planning, and a whole lot of attention to detail. My first encounter with this movie was in college when my friend livestreamed it to me from her place in NYC to my place in LA. I remember being SHOCKED at how good it looked, and even now it still holds up.
District 9 is a classic example of working with what you have to the maximum. We probably wouldn’t be talking about it if it weren’t for one crucial element that wasn’t discussed in the video… that is was just a damn good movie.
I only saw the first like twenty minutes of this movie and thought it wasn't for me. A few years later, my brother convinced me to give it another try, and I am so glad I did. This movie is fucking incredible.
Could also be considered an example of Hollywood overspending. I know many films have a lot of people to pay and feed for years, but _could_ they save tons of money along the way? Probably
@@Shmandalf It's kinda baffling that there's so much CG these days. It's very expensive. It's very expensive and a lot of the time you can get much better and more realistic results with some experts and real props for a much lower cost.
Fun Fact: My friends dad acted as a partial extra soldier for this movie, he acted as 11 different soldiers. (Dan finally have a comment to reach 100 likes)
thats so sick
@@cypher_2259 each of them die pretty quickly. lol
@@arycholgate9674 thats so terrible
The lighting matches the scenery real well, and the surface materials are not overly saturated with color or overly shiny. They really nailed it.
District 9 has to be one of my favourite movies of all time because of well done and immersed I was when watching. The acting, plot, CGI everything was done perfectly.
I was blown away by the alien weapons design. They figure not much in film, but screen and sound performance they do is just shoking. That moment when vacuum shotgun shoots - that was something.
Fun fact is they were repurposed from a halo series that didn't happen
Exactly right! Most alien movies would simply settle on "lasers"; aliens = lasers. But these weapons use heat, pressure/shockwaves, atmospheric effects. Viscerally satisfying effects.
I was completely taken off guard with this movie first time I watched it. How you slowly became befriended with the prawns through the movie. The visuals, the gritty locations, the hovering spaceship above the city, the music, the, to me, new and wierd feeling of small drops of comedy and hidden slapstick within the melancholic drama, the subtile message and... yes, the amazingly good VFX and CGI blended so cleverly and casually with a perfect cast of actors. Still my all time favorite movie. I'm surprised and disappointed of how many people who doesn't get to understand this masterpiece. I have told so many people to give it a second chance after my informative guidelines on how to perceive, feel and understand 🙃🙂.
The hand-held shaky "fly on the wall" documentary style is called "Cinema Verité". A big proponent of it is Ken Loach. It's worth noting that to avoid massive tracking issues, you can film fairly steady, track your markers, and then add artificial camera shake and motion blur, that way your CG is also blurred identically to the foreground and plates,
I saw it in theatre the first time soon after it’s release. I really enjoyed it. The main revelation as a viewer was how I felt empathy for the prawns (a slur given to them for their similar appearance to the ocean creatures of the same name) as the movie progressed, and their mistreatment was revealed, as embodied by Ficus. It was surprising for me as they were cgi and did not actually exist. It was a strange feeling I’d not experienced before in a film.
So you never experienced an animated movie before? 💀cause that’s literally what they mainly do
It's like they read "Black Like Me" and decided to apply that idea to aliens
when I was young (I was little when it came out and the first time I saw it) I was conflicted about if it was real or not. I could hardly decipher it, so i totally agree
This is a film I remember my dad really enjoying when we watched it together back in the day. He and I both loved classics of the action sci-fi genre like Predator, Aliens, and Total Recall, and he ranked District 9 among the best of them. I am a huge fan of how the mech moved and operated in this film.
Yeah. I really liked Transcendence and especially Ex-Machina as well. And Inception. It is because the premise is interesting in every case.
Wait, it was made in 2008? I watched it last year and I didn’t even think twice about any of the cgi, but I guess that was the directors intent. So well done district 9, you did so well making the your visual effects fit in we all overlooked them, and how crazy they are.
Same!!!!!!!
I'm a film snob, you think this is nuts? It was awesome on the big screen like the sky shots make you feel insignificant. But go back and watch 2001 A Space Odyssey. Not remastered. That movie looks better than the Star Trek movie that came out around this. Star Trek looks laughable compared to 2001
@@MrArtVein 2001 accomplished most of its visuals with the usage of clever filming techniques and practical sets though, so it doesn't quite fit into this CGI discussion.
you a Child! I remember when it was released. Was a huge deal
@@blueazure9658 nah 99 kid who grew up poor and sheltered. I was at the time though.
Saw district 9 in the theaters and I was so blown away by the effects that I made it a point to see it again on the big screen. There's only a handful of movies that I've seen more than once in the theaters and district 9 is one of them.
I agree. First watched this upon Blu-Ray release and had the same sort of "shock from clarity", the ripple of finely detailed textures blasts through your eyes. The lighting is incredible as well.
i watched your video because i saw the plagiarised nerdstalgic one and thought it was unfair to not watch yours as well. I have to say that your version is much more interesting and in deph especialy when you spoke about weapons and the aliens design
Yeah being able to compare reveals how cookie cutter generic the other content farm style was.
I'm here for the same reason!
FYI, Nerdstalgic took down their vid.
Here for the same reason. Commenting for the algorithm :)
Same here!
I put this movie on one random day as a “background movie” while I slept because I was incredibly sick. I ended up watching the movie three times in a row, despite my state. I cried so hard every damn time the guy tried reaching his wife, ugh. Legit one of my favorite films.
One of my favorite films of all time. Took me COMPLETELY off-guard when I watched it the first time. I have no idea why there haven’t been multiple sequels and spin-off series’s. Seriously a damn shame….
For those that liked District 9, I encourage you to watch “Elysium”. Same director. Not the same story but kinda the same feel. Great watch for sure.
@@bryanfukingfoxI agree, it feels like it's almost in the same world just many years in the future. The equipment, weapons and vehicles have the same tactile and grounded feel that district 9 has.
I think what I enjoy the most about rewatching D9 is to contextualize what you are seeing based on how the scene is being shot and who the audience for that shot is. When it is cinematically following Wickus we clearly are the audience so set that aside. Consider the documentary segments initially. Wickus is documenting the MNU actions for presumably a public relations piece or history channel type venue. Then there are the interrogation moments with other MNU employees and Wickus' family which seems timeline-wise to be an after-the-fact expose on MNU's horrors and poor cover-up. But also the scene where they are showcasing the weapons is shot as both documentation for science on the functional limitations and effects of the weapons but also for the benefactors of MNU so they know what they are getting out of their operations. You, the viewer, are taking the roles of multiple audience types which is why there are so many different styles of documentation being employed in the movie and it changes frequently. It is fun to try and keep track of it all when watching.
One of my favorite movies of all time. Probably one of the best films ever made. I was working at a movie theater when it came out and I saw it 10+ times on the big screen.
Same, I was there too. The sky shots made you feel so insignificant. Crazy how this looked better than Star Trek
@@MrArtVein I actually didn't like the movie that much, especially not better than Star Wars, but not these new crappy movies, but the original three. To each their own, i guess.
This movie absolutely changed special effects in cinema. The artbook of it is fantastic, highly recommended to any designer and illustrator.
This is one of the most incredibly made videos I've ever seen. Props!
I have 'The Art of District 9 Weta Workshop' book and it's something to behold. This movie is amazing and will stand the test of time for sure. This KZhead essay is spot on and should be a real eye-opener for anyone (not just fans). Bravo
Great video essay! I've noticed a similar thing, where especially novice filmmakers hold the shot too long on their special effect because they want you to see the thing they put so much effort into. It destroy the pacing and cheapens the effect.
Yes! Exactly! It was so present in the early 2000s lol. probably another reason they looked so bad, they were just so front and centre. But i supposed thats the case whenever a new technology comes out, not everyone knows how best to use it.
@@CGWHY they are professionals and should know about picture and storytelling and colors and all... that's lowering the bar. degradation. conspirological or (indeed) natural. f-in' postmodern. btw. have you heard about Loudness War ? // Thank you for this great video! Grow big!
@@Ritefita all that is, is a problem of over-compression and the standardized use of it in the mastering process + the streaming sites. Compress when needed only and you should be fine.
Wow, stumbled on this. How do you only have 366 subs... keep up the good work and that'll change quickly!
Ahaha! Thats really nice of you to say :D Thank you!
I thought this was going to be some video essay gushing about the CGI but it turned out to be the perfect level of gushing backed up with lightly technical insight about why it’s warranted. Great video!
Probably one of the most informative and interesting videos on vfx post production I’ve seen ever. I usually cannot stand this new wave of video essays hyper analyzing films, but this felt very passion driven and it was a topic that deserved more attention and focus. Thank you.
It's crazy how the film's effects still hold up to this very day. Amazing achievement. Wasn't a fan of Neil's other movies but whatever he does in the future, District 9 will always be a true gem, a masterpiece.
I cannot believe a small channel would just steal a video from the hard working team at Nerdstalgic. Really, you should be ashamed of yourself. /s This is great work and really makes me appreciate the thoughtfulness of the movie's direction as well as the work of the VFX team. I hope you receive the algorithmic boost you deserve!
😂😂😂 Amazing comment - 😅 But thank you so much!
I remember watching this movie, and being the one movie I really wanted to see a sequel to. It's super well executed, and it's a really good approach on how I think a first alien contact would look like if it were to really happen.
This is the only sci-fi movie that I wish had a sequel. I think it would be amazing if they even turned it into a TV series. The VFX and animation in this film are the best I've ever seen! I was blown away by how smoothly the VFX were animated, making everything look incredibly realistic.
District 10 is supposedly coming out sometime next year.
I felt so connected to this film when I was younger and I was a little upset when it seemed like my friends didn't take to it as much, this video fills that void of co-enjoying this movie!! Thanks
You like prawns yeah
I hope Neil Blomkamp makes more sci fi movies. I really liked Elysium and District 9. And the Anthem cinematic was just very good it needs a whole story.
Also Chappie was goated
i think the number 1 factor on why it did so well is passion, the film makers wanted to make sure it felt realistic and in-depth, not something for cash, but something to make you feel and understand a believable like situation, and few movies manage to nail it well like that.
It still looks like practical effects to this day. It blows my mind still.
This is such a fantastic in-depth look at VFX and I always love when you realize how certain methods of using VFX comes down to budget or time constraints
Thank you! Yea I love how these kinda constraints cause some really out of the box thinking to be necessary
All this shows me is that films should be insanely difficult to make and should require painstaking processes and dedication to create a masterpiece. Something a lot of modern films lack.
Completely agree! Hey, if you have not seen it already check out "A scanner darkly" too , oldish movie taking painstaking work to another level too. The making of is an eye opener :)
District 9 has hands down the most photorealistic CG effects ever in cinema.
Neill enters chat again > Chappie
Can’t forget the og transformer movie
@@legobob5139 Hard agree I remember being blown away seeing the first time
Best CGI I've ever seen was District 9/Chappie, Rango, and Avatar 2. Honestly Rango gets the trophy for best CGI ever in my opinion.
this is such a good analysis and breakdown, i cant believe u dont already have thousands of subscribers!!! im glad to see ppl like u who also appreciate the film so much, thank u for making this awesome video!! hoping for district 10 soon🤞
Wow! Thank you so much man - that a really nice comment :D. Im really glad you enjoyed this video because it was a blast to make! Its certainly my favourite video to make so far! And yea - fingers crossed for the sequel!
CGY, thank you - for putting into brief and clear terms what's been itching the back of my brain for too long. Well done.
This was such a great in-depth breakdown of one of my favorite movies. Great Job!!
This movie was BEYOND fantastic. The VFX were absolutely insane 💯💪🏻
This was a great video man! Yeah I saw the Nerdstalgic video and frankly for all their plagiarism, they were foolish for cutting so much of what you bring up. There’s so much more value in this video and shows why we should more heavily respect the work that went into making District 9.
District 9 was awesome. You described the use of weapons very well, the grounded approach made it feel so real and actually made them seem more powerful than dramatized shots focusing on them would have. The weapons and the test sequence reminded me of Half-Life 2 in the best possible way.
D9 is one of the most depressing alien stories that it is stuck in my mind after all this time. The ending was really brutal for the hero
Great video :) I'm a 3D sculptor myself so I do have a a basic understandig of SFX work but you summed it up perfectly. You should definitely have more subs than you do! Keep up the good work, I hope youget many more subs in the future :)
Aw thank mate! I just checked out your work and it looks great! I always really wanted to get into sculpting because it seems so artistic, but i could never crack it lol - eventually FX became my passion once I got my hands on Houdini and I really enjoy that :D
@@CGWHY Thank you, I appreciate it. You probably made the right call, technical artist are always super sought after :) every 3d artist and their mom is a character artist. Anyway if you ever have a question or request concerning sculpting don't hesitate to DM me and once again, fantastic work on your video. You haven't been around for too long judging by your channel info so I can't wait what your sub numbers look like in a year or two :)
Totally explains why I loved this film so much. The vfx felt so real compared to the other films.
Still on one of my favorite projects to have worked on. When we were doing the work on this all of us felt like we were apart of something special. Proud, honored and humbled by the opportunity. Niell was great, he worked with the VFX and not against the process, maybe because he comes from that world himself. Either way its rare in my experience. But the results certainly hold up. Thanks for the video and a lovely walk down memory lane. :)
One of my favorite films of all time. So well done.
imagine if they made a half life movie using the same methods but with more modern tech and rendering software. would look immaculate.
Neill did actually make a live action trailer for Halo 3 found here: kzhead.info/sun/ht2Icciqr56Gias/bejne.html We were very close to getting a Halo movie directed by him. I'm still mad we never did. That trailer is but a tasting of what it could've been like, and I want more. I don't think anyone has ever done scifi vfx as well has he has. Neill has that magic touch that makes it all feel very real and gritty. Half-Life would definitely be interesting as well. The Combine already have a sort of grit to them that works well in the games.
Isn't the point that District 9 doesn't need current tech to hold up to our modern standards? It would still look the same.
This is one of the most increíble movies that never got enough recognition by the industry...but the ones who know about awesome visual effects and a good story love it.
This had the best take on VFX, and more studios should be going this route instead of the other way around.
One of my all-time favourite sci fi movies/films and as you describe it was ground breaking in so many ways. It deserves more recognition than it gets and totally outclasses all the 'superhero' stuff I am aware of.
Still one of my favorite movies to date. Everything just clicks right in it from VFX to storytelling. I was blown away at the time how well Sharlto acted in the film, still am. The disgust, shock and glee all looked so natural in the environment. It's a bit of a shame that the performance didn't carry on that well to Elysium though. I really wish modern filmmakers would take a step back from today's CGI vomit to reassess the purpose of vfx. Star Wars or any Marvel movie are just a competition of who has the most bombastic setpieces and effects that ultimately undermine the whole punch of the effect since they're so overused. It's so tiring to be bombarded with pointless effects.
Very informative! Really appreciate since I was just wondering how they got the fx looking so well on such a low budget.
Thank you! I'm glad it was helpful 😁
Thank you very much for this fantastic evaluation of one of the greatest movies in the last 20 years or so. this is way underrated. And you gave us so much detail insights into the processes involved I learned so much stuff from you today. You did an amazing job. Subscribed...
Very cool! I loved District 9 when it came out. I remember it got fairly lackluster reviews and apparently a lot of people didn't like it. I couldn't understand why, it was such a unique film, and very well done. Knowing that they went to THIS level of dedication to get it made just makes it that much cooler.
CGY, this was one of if not the best videos I’ve ever seen on KZhead, no exaggeration. You are out here making excellent content that has sparked curiosity in a subject I’d otherwise rarely think twice about. I’m absolutely loving your content and find my self taking twice the length of the video to finish to because I’m so busy reading about the topics discussed every 2-4 minutes. Just amazing and fun at the same time. Never stop!
Glad I didn't bother with that other video YT was pushing on me until I learned about this one. Great stuff! That mech combat scene was just the best such thing in any movie ever and I agree it was infuriating that he just wasted it like that. I hope we get more like it some day...
dude this is such a fantastic insight, when talking about CGI being benal and not quite the center of attention. Which leads to CGI being out of frame, out of focus, or just not the center of attention for every shot is involved in. That is in fact what allows it to blend in so well.
Dude, District 9 is massively underrated. It’s one of my favorite movies. If you haven’t done a video on Dredd. You should
I think Forest Gump was the first film to put its massive amount of CG effects in the background. So much so that you don't even notice them. District-9 was a visceral, realistic, stressful movie that always makes me feel queasy when I watch it... But it's still one of the most amazing cinematic experiences that has been, to date, unrivaled. Blomkamp is a complete genius in my opinion.
Excelente análisis mi amigo, me impresiona que tengas tan poquitos subs. District 9 es una de mis películas preferidas y te agradezco mucho por el video. +1 Sub
Muchas gracias! Thanks for watching :D I'm reallu glad you enjoyed it!
This is one of my favorite movies. Thank you for this unique observation about it.
This movie has stayed with me since the first time I saw it in the theater. Thank you for this video!
Thanks for all the detail mate ! And yes, D9 is in my mind pretty important movie, not only from technical aspect but also from story telling where aliens are not slick techno lords, but more grounded and realistic affair.
absolute masterpiece. i watch this when i was young and i cant understand why this movie looks so natural
What a thorough and intelligent presentation. I subscribed on the strength of this one video.
One of my favorite movies of all time, always will be. So good
According to me, one thing made these VFX stand out and it wasn't discussed in the video: the way they nailed the lighting. The lights on the aliens were so matching the real shots. They didn't feel layered as they do in most if not all other movies. They felt so integrated.
This definitely feels more coherent than the clone nerdstalgic made that I saw first. Thanks for calling them out - its thanks to your callout that I now came across this one and can give credit where it's due!
It's an awesome work, not very often we see CGI characters interacting with real stuff (like in Jurassik Park, or here the scene of the alien chopping the bunch of meat, etc), shows a lot of work and dedication.
I remember first seeing this movie in theatres when I was 10 years old, first rated R-movie experience. To this day District 9 remains one of my all time favorite movies
Awesome video. Can't believe they actually managed to pull this off so long ago. Was the first movie I snuck into at the cinema underage lol.
This is really informative and concise, thank you!
Part of the convincing quality of the effects is due to the visual imperfection suggested in the shots around them - the messy and dirty settings (the prawns' shantytown setting), the quick shots and erratic movements, the documentary-style blurriness that often occurs in parts of the frame in various shots, all along with the casual approach to the CGI effects in the shots/frames as noted in this video. The imperfections and randomness of the shots overall, plus the documentary style for much of the film, adds to the sense of hyper-realism in it.
I remember how close I was to give up watching the first 5 min, that would have been a massive mistake, this movie is a master piece! Nothing to do with but Neil wrote to me on IG to congrats me about my work, much honored.
9:00 You don't always have to paint like that. In fact most of the time you can track the shot/resolve the camera and replace multiple things in the background in 3d or even just in your compositing software. I also suspect that often the large aliens were simply positioned in a way that obscured the stand-in.
I suspect that 95% of the time you are inserting a slightly larger character. Anything else just wouldn't make sense.
District 9 is one of my favorite movies ever, because of everything you said in your video. I love Alien and Alien Invasion movies. And I absolutely loved how they approached this topic in this movie. It was something I've never seen before in this genre and therefore very refreshing. What really shocked me, was that they just had a budged of 30 million dollars. I did not know that. The movie looks and feels like a 100 million dollar movie. This is, what an Alien movie should be like. In contrast, Battle of Los Angeles (2011) to me is everything an Alien Movie should not be like. Every shot with aliens is hectic and blurry. When I was watching the movie I was constantly trying to get a better picture of the Aliens and their technology, but the movie was the entire time just like: "Nope!" (The landings on the beach were impressing tbh)
the story line is written by his wife. crazzy duo!
"!District 9" blew my mind, technically amazingly done movie! Crazy good production from the South African cinema industry. Kudos.
You not only learn how filmmaking works, but also how the world and we humans work. Very cool video
This movie was alot of things, but for me it will allways be my first time seeing the amazing acting career of Sharlto Copley just blowing up, and the start of my journey in falling in love with this man's talent.
Gotta agree...'Hardcore Henry's musical number. Movies just don't get better. Genius script and acting.
Awesome analysis: Thanks for such usefull and interesting insight!