Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl – 2003
The visual effects for this film were actually incredibly well done, and here’s why. This was a fast-paced action/adventure film, and I’m not just talking about the pacing of the film. The pacing of the action was also fast, and the special effects did a fantastic job of keeping up. In fact, that was probably why this movie earned its Best Visual Effects nomination.
So, we’ve all seen living skeletons in other films, but here, they were the main event. But there was so much more than just that to see. With a story that takes place in the early 1700s, there were sea battles between massive galleons, cannon fire, sword fights, and general pirate-like town pillaging. Clearly the movie and its visuals were pretty popular, because this movie is the first movie in a franchise that has had four sequels with a sixth installment on the way, and so far, all of them have been pretty heavy on the special effects. Who knew a movie based on an amusement park ride would do so well?
I’ll start with the big one. The skeletons were not your garden variety collection of bones. They were fully mobile and, according to the story, could only be seen in moonlight. In other light, they appeared to be live human beings. To take advantage of this, many of the scenes took place at night under a full moon. And let me say, they were amazing. They moved as quickly as live actors, with plenty of agility, as they engaged in swashbuckling fencing. During the film’s climactic sword fight between Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbosa, Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush were sparring all around a cavern with shafts of moonlight shining down. They deftly moved in and out of the light, causing their appearances to constantly change back and forth between the actors and the CGI skeletons.
According to Wikipedia, “Each scene featuring the skeletons was shot twice: a reference plate with the actors, and then without them to add in the skeletons, an aesthetic complicated by director Gore Verbinski’s decision to shoot the battles with handheld cameras. The actors also had to perform their scenes again on the motion capture stage.” Somehow, they got them to match up perfectly.
Another cool effect that I really liked was an effect that was so inconsequential, but for me, was pretty memorable. These were the underwater shots that looked up at the underbellies of the giant ships. So cool! One saw a gigantic galleon from this unique perspective through the debris of previously sunken ships, and the other was when a ship was being attacked and boarded by the skeletons walking on the ocean floor, and climbing up the rope that held the anchor. The visuals in the movie really did a great job representing the popular Disneyland ride, so much so that based on the success of the film franchise, the actual ride at the park was updated to incorporate elements of the films.