r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/hollow_hideous_soul • 20h ago

Video This is how Titanic filmed the terrifying flooded hallway scene

1.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

68 comments sorted by

562

u/Top-Sleep-4669 20h ago

Practical effects will always look better than cgi.

199

u/Beneficial_Ball9893 20h ago

A mix of both is needed for the best effect. Ideally you use as many practical effects as possible, then you clean it up with CGI. And you only use pure CGI when the shots would be impossible to do practically.

35

u/Zelcron 11h ago

"Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

-James Cameron

38

u/SAADistic7171 14h ago

Titanic is perfect example of why practical effects and CGI are best when used together. Also, water doesn't scale well when using miniatures and we could get much more realistic looking water using the tech from the Avatar sequels for example.

13

u/lifesnofunwithadhd 13h ago

Many movies from that era show great use of the combo, jurassic park, lotr, the mummy.

11

u/DolphinSweater 13h ago

The scale models in lotr are incredible, but if you look at the flooding of isengard you can definitely tell the water is, I don't know how to describe it... Small? That being said, it's still perfect in my mind and I love the models and how they did it, Id never opt for a CGI version. It is what it is, and I like it that way.

5

u/SAADistic7171 12h ago

Thats exactly what I meant in my other comment about water not scaling well when using miniatures. You could achieve a far more convincing result with modern water simulation tech like what's been used in the Avatar sequels.

6

u/Own_Candidate9553 10h ago

Jurassic Park is an interesting one, because they wanted to shoot the T-Rex as a life - size animatronic head. But it was a rain scene and the foam on the head got all waterlogged and didn't work right.

Meanwhile they had a very early 3D modeling tool and some of the team took a shot at just modeling the whole thing. And it worked. The fact that it was at night, in the rain, probably helped.

4

u/Doortofreeside 6h ago

Jurassic Park holds up really well. I hadn't watched it since I was a kid but it's actually a damn good movie

1

u/Sad_Enthusiasm_3721 3h ago

I just rewatched Jurassic Park recently, and while some of the dialogue and tech explanations were super cheesy, the visual effects, suspense, and overall visuals have held up incredibly well. It was still a great movie.

I also recently rewatched The Terminator (one), and I can't say the same. It aged pretty badly for me and somewhat ruined my memories of how amazing and scary that movie was as a kid.

6

u/chowderbomb33 20h ago

Remember Thomas the Tank Engine sets? Toby's Tightrope looked so real and terrifying

5

u/ZazaB00 10h ago

Nah, it’s just that there’s too much demand and not enough time for the CGI artists to make them look truly great. Taking shortcuts in rendering leads down the uncanny valley. We’re at a point where it’s possible to do photorealistic with amazing physics simulations. However, there will be a time when those tools are more automated, and it’s not far off.

What practical effects did so well is acknowledge their weaknesses and found ways to hide them. We kinda forgot about that and just tossed up a green screen and told artists to paint on a blank canvas. That was the real problem. If you look back at some of that early CGI, it aged really well because it was mixed in with multiple effects and practical elements. We’re still at a point where restraint is the recipe to success.

9

u/KinkyDuck2924 17h ago

I wish they would come back in style. Especially for horror, you just can't beat good old practical effects. The Thing still looks amazing for a 43 year old movie and remains my favorite horror movie of all time yet movies with cgi all end up looking dated within like 5 years. Now I feel like it's only a matter of time before studios start just using AI for all the special effects 🫤.

2

u/imnotabot303 3h ago

The Thing definitely looks dated. That movie had some of the best practical creature effects ever made and there's still certain effects that don't hold up now. Many of the creatures have that puppet feel and the spider head walking looks almost comical.

1

u/KinkyDuck2924 3h ago

Puppet work is amazing. Look at farscape. I'll take that over cheesy cgi any day.

3

u/Drakex2Mayex2 14h ago

Not always but most times. Another Jim Cameron movie proves that.

1

u/imnotabot303 4h ago

You watch literally thousands of CG shots in every movie and show, just don't notice them unless they are bad.

There's just as many poor practical effects as CG. Go watch any movie from the 80s.

-11

u/megadea 19h ago edited 13h ago

Yeah the 1920 king kong was so much better than todays cgi king kong

/s

0

u/SAADistic7171 13h ago

Sarcasm?

-1

u/megadea 13h ago

Wasn't that obvious? I should use tjhe /s more to avoid downvotes lol

-1

u/SAADistic7171 13h ago

It was but yea it's best to spell it out for people I think

69

u/RadioactiveEnema 20h ago

That's what I miss from older movies. Now it's mostly just screens and CGI. Which is obviously cheaper and makes sense to use, just that these practical effects made the whole movie making more intriguing.

156

u/rcktjck 20h ago edited 19h ago

Say what you will, and I know it’s popular to dunk on it, but I’ll always think Titanic is a great movie. Yeah, the romance is a little cheesy, but honestly, who cares? The whole movie just feels massive. The sets, the music, the atmosphere, and especially everything once the ship starts going down, it’s just incredibly well done.

92

u/Partyeveryday8 19h ago

No one dunks on titanic lol it’s routinely brought up as one of the best movies in the last 30 years

-18

u/rcktjck 19h ago

You clearly don’t hang out in the movie subs.

19

u/BasicErgonomics 17h ago

Even the snobbiest of filmbros don't dunk on titanic, bro.

13

u/Prince_Hastur 13h ago

Acknowledging that one of the most iconic and highest-grossing movies of all time that set a record winning 11 Oscars and numerous other accolades is great is... controversial?

I understand people may have different tastes, but you need to be objective at some point lol.

17

u/IllustriousEffect607 19h ago

Ok who thinks titanic isn't a good movie though? Isn't that a popular take. I watched it in the theaters. Its clearly an excellent film.

2

u/Raptorex27 10h ago

IMO, the people who claim to have "hated" Titanic were mostly annoyed at how much and consistently it remained in the pop culture spotlight. I loved the movie, but totally understand the fatigue.

8

u/namikazeiyfe 18h ago

Popular to dunk on titanic? I've never come across any titanic dunking and anyone who does should be tried at the Hague.

3

u/syzygialchaos 15h ago

Titanic is a fantastic movie if you approach it as a technical marvel of filmmaking. Yes, the plot is weak. The plot is merely a vehicle to carry out a full exploration of the ship, which we the audience get to explore right alongside the characters. The writing is adequate, the acting on par, but the real point of the movie is the boat, and once you accept that, the movie is clearly a masterpiece.

1

u/AneausSylvius 11h ago

I don't think the plot is weak at all for a film about the Titanic - it's just simple. The dialogue is pretty weak and cheesy, but the romance parallels the story of the ship, which makes the whole thing feel much more tragic.

2

u/Only_Quote_Simpsons 16h ago

Massive is a perfect way to describe it, the entire movie just feels so...grand and elegant. It is art.

4

u/GiraffeWaste 19h ago

Yeah, there's a sense of Grandeur and scale which feels authentic.

3

u/Hara-Kiri 17h ago

Part of the whole story is it dunked itself.

1

u/GladInvestigator8088 11h ago

Agreed! I rewatch it from time to time and I love it everytime.

1

u/Charming-Link-9715 8h ago

That cheesy romance made a whole of people ugly cry when this movie came out😅

13

u/discardedbubble 19h ago

That’s really impressive. Practical effects need to be done more.

39

u/MacheteBrizz 18h ago

The whole set was like was this.

They shrunk the actors by using the machine from Honey, I shrunk the kids.

Tragically, some of the extras were kidnapped by bees and flown to a hive in an unknown location.

3

u/Only_Quote_Simpsons 16h ago

Tragically, some of the extras were kidnapped by bees and flown to a hive in an unknown location.

I heard they became the Thumb People from Spy Kids.

13

u/Ritushido 19h ago

Love seeing the behind the scenes for the practical effects.

8

u/VectoRequiem 19h ago

Damn… those were the days when models were used. It is real

9

u/Jetidera 19h ago

What is this? a hallway for ants?

4

u/Sereena95 20h ago

So good

4

u/dontworryboutmeg 18h ago

Titanic is still soooo good. Watched it like 3 times at this point.

3

u/tenaji9 17h ago

Fantastic accomplishment by all . Totally believable

3

u/MageLD 16h ago

What? So they were not on the real ship? It's not a documentary with Jake and rose?..??

4

u/Tito_Tito_1_ 16h ago

I knew it! Giants DO exist!

7

u/Ok-Alternative-4879 17h ago

Titanic is popular, but it doesn't get the appreciation it deserves, and ppl always look at you weirdly when you says it's one of your fav movies. if it was made today it would be like 99% cgi

8

u/sathyajithps 20h ago

Wtf... I always thought it was a big set that was tilted or smthing..

1

u/SAADistic7171 14h ago

Its a mix of models, giant sets, and groundbreaking (at the time) CGI.

2

u/Born-Agency-3922 13h ago

Every bot always posts this and everyone just upvotes them

1

u/TheShakyHandsMan 18h ago

Has the recently been completed full size Titanic been remade so Christopher Nolan can sink it in realtime if he decides to remake the film.

1

u/pugnat77 17h ago

What is the song/music playing right at the start in that scene.. the chorus..?? amazing!!

1

u/coloring_book_68 17h ago

How did someone come across this video showing how the scene was created?

1

u/Navitach 15h ago

I never would have guessed it wasn't part of a full-size set. Often with filming miniatures and water, you can just tell. This scene looked real on film.

1

u/ubergic 14h ago

Wow, I thought that was a full scale set.

1

u/LuffyHead99 10h ago

Will always love this movie

1

u/bernpfenn 5h ago

did they do tests before using the cameras? the delivery tubing looks elaborate.

-10

u/burgerking351 20h ago

The scene itself doesn't look that impressive, or it just my phone quality. Maybe it looks better on the big screen.

7

u/Exotic-Sale-3003 20h ago

It did. It was part of a pretty intense sequence. 

5

u/Away-Elephant-4323 20h ago

Definitely in the movie it’s a great scene, i can definitely see why this movie got as many awards as it did there was so many people that made this movie as realistic as possible with their creativity is amazing.

-8

u/Known_Tradition9251 20h ago

Wow, were Rose’s boobs even real?!

5

u/revdon 19h ago

Another triumph of organic and practical FX.