3 – The compulsion to make everything unfeasibly shiny

Everything looks better in chrome

Ever since James Cameron made ‘The Abyss’ and ‘Terminator 2,’ the film industry tries to find at least one place in every effects film where something can be made of liquid metal, or some magic, blemish-free metal that’s more reflective than Stephen Fry at his most particularly self-absorbed. The difference is that the shiny effects were relevant to the plot in James Cameron’s films. In fact, they were actually crucial plot devices. In just about everything else, they’re not.

Shiny things do look nice, but no-one in real life has the time to polish up an entire airship with Duraglit twice a day, let alone a whole spaceship. In fact, these stupidly shiny things just look out of place and silly in most films, where they’re usually surrounded by the dirt and scum of the real world. Keep shiny things away from films unless they’re truly necessary – the first few seconds of the Star Wars Episode 2 ‘making of’ below demonstrate exactly what we’re talking about.

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