Why Were Doctor Octopus's Arms So Realistic?

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The visual effects (VFX) of Doctor Octopus in the 2004 film: Spiderman 2 struck an impeccable harmony between CGI and practical effects. This was achieved by animating his lethal tentacles with actual practical puppets, which were then seamlessly augmented with CGI overlays. This fusion resulted in a consistent visual quality and comic book effects that have seldom been matched by other superhero movies.

The film’s director, Sam Raimi, aimed to break the mold with Doc Ock, steering clear of the clichéd ‘villain of the week’ trope. Instead, he envisioned the character as a vehicle for conveying a story that is both timeless and universal.

In this video, we’ll explore the reasons behind the practical realization of the tentacles, how it was pivotal to the storytelling of Spider-Man 2, and ponder why, despite nearly two decades of VFX advancements since Doc Ock’s return in ‘No Way Home’, his tentacles appear surprisingly similar, or perhaps even less impressive.

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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
1:11 - The Idea Behind Them
1:50 - Personified Arms
2:55 - How Practical Effects Can Create Character
4:56 - The Struggles of Practical Effects
6:58 - Film-making Freedom
8:46 - There's Still Alot More CGI Than You Think
9:41 - Ground News
11:52 - Why Did This CGI Look *So* Good?
13:17 - The Power Of Reference
15:20 - The Genius Way This Film is Constructed
17:23 - You Still Need CGI
16:28 - Spiderman 2 Perfect Use Of VFX
18:24 - Why Other Films Can't Live Up To Spiderman 2
22:25 - How Good Direction Made Alot of this Work
23:36 - Otto the "Problem"
24:50 - Concluding Spiderman 2's VFX
25:50 - No Way Home
30:10 - Outro
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#spiderman #doctoroctopus #mcu #vfx #filmmaking

[CGWHY]

Hey everyone, thanks for watching - This video really was a massive research project, and there was so much to talk about that originally it was gonna be 50 minutes long!

So I’ve chopped it down a little just for the pacing, and because I think the No Way Home stuff in the last third really ties all of this together in a very interesting way, and i wanted to get to that point sooner rather than later 😅

So yea, I hope you guys liked this video and please let me know what you think!

[Malachi_Risinger]

Otto's weight distribution was such an important aspect NWH was missing. He was clearly just on a dolly, while SM2 really made it feel like the arms were carrying him.

[TheRealQuartz]

Ok, Doc ock smoking a cigar by using his mech arms goes hard asf

[franklangleycreative]

I was one of the puppeteers on the Doc Ock tentacles and I’m grateful for this look back to one of the most satisfying film experiences I’ve ever had. Well presented and happily received.

[kucingnumpakalphardasli]

Those Doc Oc's mechanical hands has better emotional depth compared to recently released marvel superheroes

[fatalvenomX]

The saddest part about the lack of practical effects in modern times is how 3D printing can make the creation of said props so much easier and quicker even if it can only be used as far as prototyping for the design in mind. Say you had some fancy sci-fi weapon but need to have multiple people on screen using it, you can just print simplified versions for them to wield. Say you have some that has forms it transitions between but it’d be to complicated to make a version that operates in reality, you can print it in different stages at the same time to at as reference points for a cgi transition.

[AliothAncalagon]

I think what helped the recent return of Doctor Octopus a ton is also the fact that Alfred Molina, despite not being able to work with the props anymore, still knows how it feels to work with them. The entire kinaesthetics of those arms is familiar to him which automatically makes it much easier for him to sell them to the point of being believable once again.

[cjkalandek]

The mix of CG and practical arms was certainly amazing, but what really sold the effect for me was Alfred Molina's body language. The way he carried himself made me believe the effects. Because, realistically speaking, if you had something like that fused to your body, those things would be pretty damn heavy, don't you think? And it's not just how he carries himself; it's how he lunges and thrusts himself in a specific direction to offset the weight of one or more of his mechanical arms going in a specific direction.

Doing stuff like that helps keeps the effects grounded in reality.

[filipvadas]

The arms just felt like they actually had *weight* in Spiderman 2. When you saw Otto using them to walk you really got the sense that they were actually carrying him.

The lack of smoothness in places I feel also helps. It gives off the impression of machinery going from point A to B, with no wasted movement, while also being just fluent enough to make them feel like tentacles.

[dirtydan]

That’s probably why Sam Raimi wanted to have a mask on green goblin (not the mask in the movie the one they didn’t use for the movie) he probably wanted to enhance the mask with cgi.

[mattb]

Man the hospital scene in Spider-Man 2 was just such a perfect 90's \ Frankenstein style "monster coming to life" moment it was my favorite. It really showed the arms having a perverse symbiosis with their host, protecting him from the doctors and on coming cars, wanting the same things as him just not caring how they did so, they had the duo acting perfectly down to the last minute details.

[Luke]

The first 3 Pirates movies are also perfect balances of practical effects and CGI. Those movies are absolutely stunning to this day. They are movie magic at its finest. The undead skeleton pirates still look fantastic and that CGI is from 2003… and then in the following two you have Davy Jones who literally looks real. I never for a second feel like I’m watching a fake character. My dad thought Jones and his crew were all makeup effects back in 2006. His mind was blown. Still the best looking CGI character I’ve ever seen. Then you have the real pirate ship sets, the real filming locations, the flawless blue screen, all blended with top of the line CGI.

[obsidiansands]

Molina's off-the-cuff blooper of him suddenly breaking out into song - while the arm operators just going along with his spontaneousness made him VERY special. I kind of wished they put that blooper in, it would make him even more scary and sympathetic because it would show him literally LOSING it.

[klein]

2000s CGI just goes insanely hard. Spider Man, Transformers, Iron Man, Avatar, all just had insane CGI, especially Iron Man. It looked so real.

[bjarkisteinnpetursson]

This mix of practical effects and CGI was actually quite common in the 90s and early 00s. The limitations of CGI at the time forced filmmakers to be more creative and do things practically.

While today CGI can do pretty much anything, audiences can still feel when what they’re seeing has no basis in reality, even when they can’t quite put their finger on why.

Practical effects and sets still have a place in cinema, even if they’re only going to be used as reference.

[emanwe]

Ock's tentacles in Spiderman 2 were a beautiful demonstration of why CGI and practical effects so often work better in concert than just CGI on its own.

[MarkZallen]

The 2000s are such an underappreciated era in visual effects, there's movies that have held up like fine win in 24 years. Lord of the Rings, Star Wars prequels( especially General Grevious and Mustafar) and the Raimi Spider-Man sequels.

[Sound]

The CGI in NWH made me wince because I couldn’t stop comparing it to the originals in my head. It’s no contest.

[AaronLitz]

I think anyone who knows what they're talking about understands that a mix of practical and CGI is usually the best way to go.

[jakefoxx]

I haven't looked at clips of Spider-man 2 in a bit, but I will always remember as a kid just how MENACING Doc's arms were and that their tendency to twitch and have that mechanical "flinch" made them all the more terrifying whenever they'd suddenly lunge at people super fast. Their design language was always cool to me as well, being this mix of rusted old looking machinery with a hint of "futuristic" having all of those folds and crevices, not to mention the way the claws looked opened or closed. Crazy design and effects, and the shot of Doc Oc and Spider-man punching at each other on the side of a building is still my favorite fight scene in that movie.