Bill Murray is having a Mini-Puft problem. Rivian has released another Ghostbusters spot following its phenomenal commercial featuring Murray back […]
Meanwhile, there’s a reason Slimer looks so fucking amazing in the original commercial, and Ghostbusters News did the legwork to find out why.
Creature effects designer Arjen Tuiten told the site that the production reused the Slimer puppet his team built for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. This time, however, they filmed him against a black backdrop, returning to the approach used by Boss Film Studios on the original Ghostbusters.
According to Tuiten, it was the first time Slimer had been filmed that way since 1984. Commercial director Gil Kenan made sure the crew knew it.
“It resembles the Photo Optical Print feel from that era more, and the performance of the puppet in the ad is 100% practical. Except for it being caught,” Tuiten explained.
He also told Ghostbusters News that he wished Frozen Empire had used that approach instead of filming Slimer against bluescreen and then “polished” him in post-production. Asked about the commercial’s vibrant appearance, he explained: “Exactly. Due to him being exposed against black, only he glows.”
Even Slimer’s food was real.
“We used real food, something I pushed for as well; it was very messy… believe me, but it just looks better as it’s real!”
This says so much about the choices being made in Hollywood. I’m not against CGI as a tool, but the proof is in the pudding. There’s a reason the original Ghostbusters still looks so good, and here we have a commercial returning to those techniques with results you can immediately see.
Honestly, it makes the newer movies look worse by comparison. They were chasing nostalgia, and they had this puppet, but they didn’t use the approach that gives him that wonderful original-film look. What a mistake.
With another live-action Ghostbusters movie reportedly in development, fingers crossed they take something from this. Bring these old-school techniques into the modern films. Give the creatures texture and a physical presence that grounds all this supernatural insanity in some kind of reality.
Bad computer graphics pull me right out of a movie. This Slimer makes me believe he’s there, eating everything in sight. That’s what I want from Ghostbusters.