Spider-Man

The Amazing (special effects in) Spider-Man

This scene shows Spider-Man fighting with The Lizard. It is a very action packed scene that includes Spider-Man being thrown through a wall, hanging from the ceiling, and The Lizard losing his tail and growing a new one. The Lizard is one of Spider-Man’s enemies. Dr. Curt Connors was a character in the movie that had lost one of his arms. While doing research on reptilian limb regeneration in hopes of regrowing his arm, he “developed an experimental serum taken from reptilian DNA” and “was subsequently transformed into a reptilian humanoid monster” (IMDb).

Watching Spider-Man fight this giant reptile monster was exciting. Being able to see Spider-Man’s web wrapping around The Lizard and seeing them crash through walls and bookcases brings intensity to the scene. The beginning of the movie does a good job of introducing Peter Parker and sharing his story. Viewers become emotionally attached and are rooting for Spider-Man throughout the movie.

Before doing some research on this scene, I thought that everything was filmed normally, and The Lizard was the only part done digitally. However, this scene was entirely done digitally: the high school hallways and classrooms, the props, the characters.  The creators paid attention to tiny details such as the weight of the characters, gravity, and muscle movements. The angle of the camera changed throughout the scene, adding to the action. Lighting and sound effects were also used to add to the intensity.

Computer generated imagery has the ability to “create fantastic, brave new worlds, where the magical is commonplace” (Gianetti). All of the work and attention to details paid off. The scene looked very realistic, and I doubt many people know that it was actually done digitally. This video clip briefly explains the technological process used to create the high school setting and explains how they use the program to move the characters and still make the scene look realistic.

The Amazing Spider-Man became a popular movie, which gave the special effect artists credibility. Future movies that want to have similar scenes will know to work with them. Before this movie, the lead actor, Andrew Garfield, had mainly been in small television series. Now, he has been in several well-known movies.

Overall, I believe this scene successfully used digital technology to portray a fight scene between Spider-Man and The Lizard. Therefore, I give the special effects used in this scene a 3 out of 3.