Is CGI cheaper than hiring an actor?

[Alpo]

I'm sure it's cheaper than Dwayne Johnson or Eddie Murphy or somebody else that is famous. But I'm thinking more like some newbie that just made it out to California and joined the screen actors guild.

 

Was watching an Amazon commercial the other night.

 

Woman sees a sweater on the ad, and says WOO!

 

When the box comes she looks at the door and sees it and says WOO!

 

Then she opens the box and sees the sweater and says WOO!

 

Then she puts the sweater on and looks at herself in the mirror. WOO!

 

Then she's walking down the street and she passes a statue, and the statue turns his head as she walks by and the statue says WOO!

 

Now the statue might have been three or four seconds of that 30 second commercial. Not a difficult part. Stand there in your statue makeup, then turn your head as she walks by and say WOO!

 

But I'm pretty sure the statue was CGI. And that made me wonder if CGI was that much cheaper than hiring an unknown for a 5 second bit.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

It’s not just hiring for five seconds. It’s a little change for each time the ad is used.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

Nowadays, if they already have the equipment, it's a matter of spending a couple hours at the computer. Kind of like reloading, once you have the gear, it's cheaper than buying factory.

[Dr. Zook]

If I may tag onto your question, in the beginning sequences of the 6th888 movie on NetFlix by Tyler Perry about the segregated woman's Army Postal Unit, did it not look like the combat sequence was CGI generated?  Obviously cheaper and faster to shoot than the sequences in Saving Private Ryan (since CGI was in its infancy if even existed then)...

Edited December 28, 2024 by Dr. Zook

[Cypress Sun]

22 minutes ago, Dr. Zook said:

If I may tag onto your question, in the beginning sequences of the 6888 movie on NetFlix by Tyler Perry, did it not look like the combat sequence was CGI generated?  Obviously cheaper and faster to shoot than the sequences in Saving Private Ryan (since CGI was in its infancy if even existed then)...

 

The scenes in SPR look real because they are filmed in real time, with real special effects, with real people, from various angles of view. I'm sure that all of that costs A LOT more money than some people sitting at a computer. If they tried to remake SPR today with CGI, even now, it would look so fake...it would be impossible for me to watch.

 

One of the reasons that we (my lady and I) haven't been to see a movie for a while is the proliferation of CGI movies...if I have to pay to see a movie, I don't want to watch badly made cartoonish looking characters or events.

 

I admit that I haven't seen the commercial in question.

 

 

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Cypress Sun said:

I admit that I haven't seen the commercial in question

Here 'tis

 

 

[Cypress Sun]

46 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Here 'tis

 

 

 

Okay, now I've seen it. 

 

The WOO on every WOO looks out of time with the actor's lips and/or CGI character's lips. Cheaply done IMO.

I guess it was cheaper than hiring whomever the statue was supposed to be.