CGI is a common practice in cinema today, used in countless movies and series. Nowadays, excessive use is criticized. But did you know which film first used these computer effects over 50 years ago?
Which film is it about? Michael Crichton is an important name in the film world. He is best known as the author of the novel Jurassic Park, for which he also wrote the screenplay for the adaptation by Steven Spielberg.
But he also worked as a director. In 1973, he directed the sci-fi western Westworld, which he also wrote. The film is still captivating not only for its theme but also because it was the first film to use CGI, even though it was produced quite differently back then.
To show the perspective of a machine, you should use a machine
What kind of film is Westworld? Similar to Jurassic Park, Westworld presents viewers with a type of amusement park brought to life by robots. The film is about 2 vacationers who go to the Wild West paradise. However, a malfunction occurs, and a robot starts hunting the vacationers.
What was CGI used for? The rampaging robot is played by Yul Brynner, and at certain points in the film, we see his perspective. It is depicted as pixelated. To represent this accurately, Crichton wanted to use CGI, as he explains on his own website: I suggested a rather simple solution: To show the perspective of a machine, one should use a machine. I wanted to shoot the scenes and then edit the film with a computer.
This technique had not been used in Hollywood before, but it was in aerospace, as the YouTube channel Vox explains. To take images of the moon, cameras were used that did not produce a classic image but sent back a code with numbers, from which a picture could be generated. Essentially paint by numbers
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Crichton wanted to do this for Westworld as well and initially approached the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a NASA institute, because the special effects studios had no idea about it. However, there was a problem at JPL too. Previously, the technique had only been used for individual images because immense computing power was needed. They could have done it for Westworld, but for 2 minutes of film, it would have cost $200,000 (about €168,000). For a film that ultimately cost an estimated $1,250,000 (about €1,054,000) (Source: IMDb), that was too much. The production time would have been too long as well.
Therefore, they turned to John Whitney Jr., who managed to do it as a special effects artist in 4 months for $20,000 (about €17,000). But that took a lot of overtime since he could only produce a few seconds per week.
On paper, it was not 3D CGI as we know it today but 2D CGI. 2D images were generated and turned into short scenes. Ironically, the sequel Futureworld from 1976 was the first film to use 3D CGI (Source: historyofinformation.com).
Where can I watch Westworld? If you want to see the film yourself, you can either rent or buy it on various platforms, or watch it with a subscription on HBO Max. Tron was another milestone for CGI in 1982: This film revolutionized CGI in movies, yet it did not win an Oscar because computer effects were considered a “cheat”
