Adam's Den

Hi, I'm Adam. Welcome to my Den!
➤ Escapism Artist: Movies | Music | Games | Books
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[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

Modern CGI sucks a$$. Mate painting and practical visual effects remain the GOAT.

[Wolf of X @WolfofX]

When Return of the Jedi reached theaters in 1983, audiences were introduced to one of the film's most memorable moments.

Emperor Palpatine's Imperial Shuttle descends into the unfinished Death Star. Thousands of stormtroopers stand in perfect formation inside what appears to be an enormous military hangar.

It looked like one of the biggest sets ever built.

It wasn't.

Only a small section of that hangar actually existed. The foreground where the actors walked was real, along with a limited number of stormtrooper extras. Everything beyond that was an illusion.

Industrial Light & Magic turned to one of cinema's oldest visual effects techniques, the matte painting.

Artist Chris Evans spent countless hours painting the massive hangar by hand. Every wall, platform, distant corridor, and most of the endless rows of stormtroopers were carefully created with paint on a large sheet of glass. Transparent areas were left so live action footage could later be combined with the artwork through optical compositing.

The perspective had to be perfect.

The lighting had to match exactly.

One mistake could ruin the illusion.

When the final shot was assembled, audiences believed they were looking at a colossal Imperial facility filled with thousands of soldiers. Few realized they were actually looking at one of the greatest paintings ever created for a Hollywood film.

The original Star Wars trilogy relied on dozens of matte paintings to bring impossible worlds to life. Cloud City, Dagobah, Jabba's Palace, Death Star interiors, and many other iconic locations owed their scale to artists with brushes rather than computers.

Decades later, this scene still holds up remarkably well.

Long before CGI could create entire worlds with a few clicks, filmmakers built galaxies with imagination, craftsmanship, and paint

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@YellowFlashGuy Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. Same guy responsible for Animal Farm (2025); credibility down the drain. Hollywood is going the way of the woolly mammoth. Good video, as usual.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@GoodBadFlicks Binged both, awesome stuff. After all, 1983 is the best year ever, period 😎 I can only imagine the amount of mentions you must've left on the cutting room floor.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@GoodBadFlicks @TheMeleeJames It's for when the "Surf's up!"

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@SuperSisi Pretty sure that's Rufio (Dante Basco).

1991 - Hook (dir. Steven Spielberg)
1993 - Jurassic Park (dir. Steven Spielberg)

(Apologies if there were multiple replies, kept getting the "Failed to send" error. Hope this one goes through.)

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@GoodBadFlicks Now, there's a statement you don't hear everyday 😂 Can't wait 👊🏼

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@thealexrossart Dear Mr. Ross, you've been a great source of inspiration for my own coal drawings and watercolor paintings of superheroes since I was a kid in the 90s. 30 years later you continuously show why that was—and still is. Thank you for your incredible dedication to a wondrous artform.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@Nerdrotics @DrClownPhD Heck yeah

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@TheMekon_Venus

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@BillyM2k AMD

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@GeeksGamersCom The damage is done.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@ImKingGinger @chrispavlovski Agreed! I've been trying...
https://t.co/AiA5nrTleU

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@TubeBuddy You fixing your broken app.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@GoodBadFlicks True. I played the first GreedFall and it was surprisingly rich and ambitious, no to mention original and fun. It had been a while since I felt I entered a world that felt new and interesting.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@GoodBadFlicks @ScottApogee Oh yeah, almost forgot: for added 'member berries on top, they even have a web version of Winamp (!) with a full playlist of Art Bell ready to go!

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@GoodBadFlicks @ScottApogee I hear you. Art Bell's entire archive is Archived (IYKYK) and a frequent destination for me. Check it out, it's good ol days nostalgia galore.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@ofctimallen Dear Tim, I've been binging all of Home Improvement, currently on season 7, episode 6. TV was great when you were on it! That includes the magnificent Galaxy Quest. And Hail Mary is a welcomed breath of fresh air.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@ksorbs Just came out of the movie theater after seeing him in yet another great performance. Hail Mary is a breath of fresh air in such ab insipid film landscape. Great actor!

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@YellowFlashGuy @AdrianneCurry Flash... this is THE best Unplugged in recorded history.

[Adam's Den @theadamsden]

@doffcocker Ain't that the truth! I often use the example of the cloud roll around Devil's Peak during thr arrival of the mothership in Close Encounters. Done with a few drops of paint on water, shot from below, through a transparent container. Brilliantly simple, elegant, timeless.