Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Awesome 'Batman v Superman' video shows a breakdown of the visual effects

By

·

December 22, 2016

Scanline VFX is a visual effects company that worked on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. They released a highlight reel of their work this week and it's pretty amazing.

In the video above, we can just what was real and what was computer generated, and the cool part is when they blend all of it together. The best kind of visual effects are the ones that you don't even know are there, and there are a lot of scenes here that I didn't realize were visually enhanced. Check it out!

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Batman v Superman: before and after visual effects (photos)

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83 comments

ken
December 22, 2016
Ugh the visuals and score in that movie were so fucking good. One of the big reason I watched it so many times besides the countless layers of the movie is the cinematography. I mean 9/10 shoots in that movie can be paused then framed as a piece of art. I still get chills with that stunning opening or that electric African scenes or that heart racing bombing scenes or that masterful day of the dead scenes or that orgasmic Lex/Superman confrontation or that... Yeah who am I kidding here I can't sleep anyway so I may as well watch the movie for the hundredth time.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is by far the most rewatchable movie of the year
1. Ábhi
  December 22, 2016
  Speaking of score, Zimmer never disappoints. The Dark Knight trilogy and now Dunkirk, trailer has bone chilling score.
  1. ken
    December 22, 2016
    I'm obsessed with That Dunkirk trailer score so subtle but so powerful and dark at the same time
2. Jackson Pollock Painting
  December 22, 2016
  https://vimeo.com/189876347
  1. Eingoluq
    December 22, 2016
    Too bad Zack isn't a great storyteller. He's a great visual storyteller, but the plot is often weak or convoluted in his films. Additionally, the weak plot is often in service to his visual style, where what happens in the story is an excuse for the perfect shot to occur, where it should be the other way around. You can tell he though about these allegories first and found a way to put them in the film instead of creating a script then finding the artistry in it. Until Snyder humbles himself and take criticisms seriously, he'll always have films where half the audience hates it (people who hates the weak plot) and the other half loves it (blinded or distracted by the visual). For instance I loved MOS but hated BvS. The plot in BvS didn't come together properly, but MOS the motivations of everyone was easily understood and clear. Unlike BvS even the ultimate edition didn't help much.
    If only Nolan could direct the story and Snyder create the visual scenes and fight scenes, we'd have the perfect film.
    1. jrvc
      December 22, 2016
      I respectfully disagree here. Snyder is a good film-maker. People tend to blame him for "story-telling", but actually he isn't the writer. The only one he wrote is Sucker Punch, and yeah I don't like that movie, BUT what about the rest? All his movies have been liked, UNTIL this year. This year has seen the doors opened for the haters (not saying you are one), and with haters I refer to the ones that want to trash his movies just because they didn't like BvS (something like that is happening to Singer because of Apocalypse). They say he is not the one to take this type of movies, but actually, because of how he treats action pieces and visuals, he is perfect for these! For all I like Marvel movies, Snyder (and his DP) bring epic comicbook panels to life!
      You see, before this year his movies were considered good to great. Dawn of the Dead is still considered one of the finest remakes ever made. 300 was a masively popular movie, it was talked about for years, lots tried to copy its style (from a perspective, you can even say it created school). Likable characters and epic in scope, the vast majority liked the movie.
      The same for Watchmen. It's true it wasn't as popular as 300, but its popularity has grown through the years (quite a cult movie) with great characters and acting. You talk about convoluted plots, but in this case the plot SHOULD be convoluted. >It is a mistery movie after all. And even if it is convoluted, so it is the graphic novel, and even though the book is better than the movie, everybody said that the ending in Snyder's movie was better thought than the one in the book, and he was praised for filming a movie which was deemed unfilmable.
      Now the case with Man of Steel. Was it perceived as bad in its release as it is today? Back in the day, I swear there wasn't as any hate as it is today, and the movie pages I visit (and I visit a lot) gave it good scores. Even IGN, which is nowadays a Marvel's butt-licking, DCEU hate cesspool, gave it a 9. A 9! And this is talking about webpages, word of mouth was good too. Of course there were people who disliked it. But it was the minority.
      Now I'm not going to talk about Guardians because I didn't see it, and I already said I disliked Sucker Punch. That I agree it is convoluted, although I have seen people saying they like its Extended Edition, but I didn't see it.
      Now, let's see BvS. You say the Ultimate Edition didn't help fill the gaps in the plot. I disagree. We saw the motivations behind each action, we saw why Superman wanted to go against Batman, we saw deeper layers in Batman, we saw how Luthor's plan panned out, and it was a very Luthory plan even though I admit I didn't like his quirkiness.
      Now, you can dislike this movie for whatever motive, of course, but objectively speaking, lots of the "flaws" in the movie were actually solved in the movie if people (not pointing this at you) just paid attention or weren't looking for things to dislike.
      It wasn't perfect, but it was damn good!
      1. John Johnson
        December 22, 2016
        Well said!
        In regards to Lex, I see BvS as an origin story for him. This was actually a unique spin on him, and I really liked it. He's young and quite dastardly, but still struggling real hard with his abusive dad, and the mental scars he has from that.
        I hope they keep him around for MoS 2 or a JL movie later on, because Eisenberg can really turn him into something special (not saying he is already special, because to me he is, but it's such a different kind of Lex than we're used to).
      2. jrvc
        December 22, 2016
        Well he is just confirmed for JL ;)
  2. Lex Radu
    December 22, 2016
    Conclusion: V has some to
    V...Vandal Savage is coming!
3. jrvc
  December 22, 2016
  totally agree!
4. Ezee23
  December 22, 2016
  Hear Hear!!!!
5. Danny Neiba
  December 22, 2016
  Your my new best friend.
6. John Johnson
  December 22, 2016
  I'm actually toying with the idea of doing just what you said: turning various screenshots of the movie into framed prints.
  1. ken
    December 22, 2016
    Dude go for it. "Batman V Superman The Expo" you could get some attention especially if you're in the artistic sphere hell you may sell one of two. I know I would love to have that Superman V Doomsday shoot in my living room.
Schuyler Finley
December 22, 2016
Every time I hear the song "Do you Bleed?", I think of the God of War 1 intro where Kratos says "The gods of Olympus have abandoned me".
Jesse Hernandez
December 22, 2016
Zack Snyder's vision is amazing, with the icon superman image looming among people during a flood and plus the score, you can't find this anywhere else when the score and the scene and this god like being is among us
1. Ábhi
  December 22, 2016
  You mean where he was showed as Jesus? I didn't like that tbh.
  1. Mark
    December 22, 2016
    I think the biggest surprise of all might have been how religious the film actually is. Not just the "Superman as Jesus" part, but really the whole film is about the relationship between God and Man.
    1. Ábhi
      December 22, 2016
      It's fascinating, but I would probably not prefer to explore it. Not a big religious guy.
    2. John Johnson
      December 22, 2016
      I'm not religious, but one line that really struck me was from Lex: "If god is all-powerful, then he cannot be all-good. And if he is all-good, then he cannot be all-powerful." Lex's struggle with "god" was really well done, in my opinion. That whole first confrontation on the helipad with Superman was great.
      This was another good line, and I feel it addresses the Jesus comparisons very well: "We have always created icons in our own image. What we've done is we project ourselves onto him. The fact is, maybe he's not some sort of devil or Jesus character. Maybe he's just a guy trying to do the right thing."
      1. Schuyler Finley
        December 22, 2016
        I'm a Christian, but even I was agreeing with Lex. He is kinda right.
      2. AquaCthulhu
        December 24, 2016
        That dialogue from Lex had me applauding for Chris Terrio!
2. Dumb Cunt
  December 22, 2016
  It's a good image, but I feel like it detracts from the character of Superman. Instead of just saving them he has to loom over them first?
  1. jrvc
    December 22, 2016
    well there was several people to save there, so maybe he just took a moment to see how to proceed?
    Outside of the movie, that scene was reminiscent of a panel in Superman: Peace on Earth
  2. Rust
    December 22, 2016
    He's got to think about what to do, and he's still in a state where he has to soak in what he is to people. Regardless, this isn't new. Superman's always shown up, taken a moment to assess what's going on, or paused to show that he's here and everything will be alright.
    Plus, if he never stopped moving, we'd pretty much never see him in these scenes. :P Sometimes storytelling has to show us something to create a point or a feeling, not just demonstrate pure functionality.
    1. Schuyler Finley
      December 22, 2016
      And if Superman tried to fly fast to save those people, then those folks would get:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
  3. Jesse Hernandez
    December 22, 2016
    Must there be a superman ?
3. OGmacrazy
  December 22, 2016
  Yeah, who doesn't love a depressing montage of Superman feeling obligated to save people, while people discuss on the background whether or not Superman should exist?!
  I go to the movies so I can get a reminder on how fucked our world currently is. Fuck escapism!
  Besides, we all know that a good movie is based on good imagery with no good story behind it! I mean, Zack is a fucking cinema god, but he is still not on the levels of Michael Bay, the best director ever!
  1. ken
    December 22, 2016
    If all you took from that scene was "depressing Superman obligated to save people" then with all due respect get lost.
    Go escape in a Marvel movie one that you will forget one week after it release. CIVIL WAR IS THE highest grossing movie of the year. But whose talking about it ? Whose humming one of the tracks ? Whose debating about it?
    I love my comic books movies to be way more than 2 hours of mindless escapism because the actual comics are more than that. Batman as a kid show me that it was okay to have ptsd it was okay to have demons as long your channeling them for something worth it, the X-men and Superman showed me that no matter how different you are YOU ARE worth it. For a black kid that grew up in the country side of Belgium those comics meant way more than mindless escapism and I expect the movies to also.
    So I will forever applaud Snyder and WB for greenlighting a movie like BvS because even If for most it's just a dull pretentious movie that take itself too seriously. For me it was a dream come true to finally see a Comic book movies reach those deep layers that have always been there in the actuals comics.
    1. ArtimusGG
      December 22, 2016
      Couldn't have said it better myself. BvS is very interesting and nuanced, hence why I watched it so many times. You're right, no one is debating about who should have done what in Civil War because it's not an interesting discussion.
      Instead we're talking about what it means to be Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. How they've changed over the years, how they'll change moving forward, and how we've changed as an audience.
      I like Civil War, a lot actually. But even if I didn't I wouldn't trivialize it by saying it's something it isn't like that person you replied to is trying to with BvS.
      No, saving people wouldn't make Superman free from controversy. Yes, being a super hero is complicated and frustrating, at least in a grounded universe like DCEU. It's a nice difference between MCU and DCEU, I appreciate them both.
    2. OGmacrazy
      December 22, 2016
      Not in here, but go to any other fucking geek site and you'll see nerds talking about it. And nice one giving you are talking about it and mentioning how it was the highest grossing film of the year.
      And, jesus fucking christ, get a grip, dude. These are movies made by executives with one thing in mind: MAKE MONEY. Don't get all righteous and fucking weepy about it when you are defending a literal cash grab/product that people made in order to fill their pockets with your money. I love these heroes as much as you do, but I can be critical of what I love. You are just praising something that you would regardless, because of how much of a biased fanboy you are.
      I don't mean to insult, but you are clearly blinded, and you should apply more rationality and thought to things. Not just blindly accept them because it's what you got.
Ábhi
December 22, 2016
It is unbelievable to know how much VFX is used in big fantasy movies.
TheDarkMark
December 22, 2016
It's a little disappointing.....the most part of the movie is post-production vfx. Spectacular but some scenes look like a videogame, no realism. That's one of the many reasons I don't like Zack Snyder's style
1. Mediator
  December 22, 2016
  It's not just Zack Snyder movies, all Superhero movies are like this. They film inside movie studios so that the movie doesn't get spoiled during filming.
2. jrvc
  December 22, 2016
  Watching the BTS documentaries included in the bluray gives you some perspective. Actually there were a lot of practical effects in the movie. Snyder uses CGI, yes, but not sooo much as some people assume.
  1. col42
    December 22, 2016
    Yup, the armored suit specifically is what really impressed me. There were a couple of things that annoyed me about the CG though, the vehicle being disintegrated when the Batmobile ran into it though some stunts in that carchase were fantastic. The scene where Batman is crashing into the warehouse I thought looked way too animated. And driving back into the Batcave just looked silly to me lol.
    1. jrvc
      December 22, 2016
      Yep, I agree the car disintegrating wasn't very good, but I liked what they did with the chase. I liked the entrance to the Batcave though, it was a nod to Arkham Knight. Well, take it as another example of a long list of Batman entering the Batcave :p
3. Mark
  December 22, 2016
  The only scene that took me out of the movie for a moment was the long shot of Doomsday jumping around; that looked very awkward. The rest of it I didn't even notice even as I knew that Doomsday wasn't real. Compared to the incredibly cheesy Hulkbuster armor in the promos for AoU? BvS was far superior.
  1. Dumb Cunt
    December 22, 2016
    Zod and Superman look very rubbery in the beginning of the film as well
Austin_Blueberry
December 22, 2016
https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
1. Mostafa Anwar
  December 22, 2016
  That suit Barry has made himself, he collected rare pieces from abandoned spaceships
2. Ezee23
  December 22, 2016
  The similarities are there but lets see it in motion, that'll be the most telling part.
3. Rust
  December 22, 2016
  I like them. Hilarious coincidence though. lol
4. Foomankru
  December 22, 2016
  Holy crap lol. Don't care.
5. residentgrigo
  December 22, 2016
  Both are top notch designs. The costume designers need a raise but Flash will like get an "upgrade" in the film itself. His Knightmare suit looks differently too.
  1. John Johnson
    December 22, 2016
    It looks to me like some sort of Speedforce suit that goes over his regular suit for the time-travelling.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
    1. residentgrigo
      December 22, 2016
      Look brah, DC has a bunch of toys to sell. Expect 1 or 2 costume changes per film, for most of them.
The Don
December 22, 2016
90 percent of CGI was great but, I hated the Batmobile "car chase" scene immensely as well as the part when Batman leaps off of the Batwing into the building. The car chase's Batmobile needed more practical driving and was definitely not exciting to watch. The crashing into the cars and boat looked very 90's CGI.
1. jrvc
  December 22, 2016
  If you have the time, take a look at the documentary about the Batmobile. They really used a lot of practical effects there, even the cars that were flipped! ;)
2. Ezee23
  December 22, 2016
  Funny that, because the Batmobile is probably the most practical part of anything Batman actually does. But I do see your point though.
3. Ábhi
  December 22, 2016
  Sometimes, you don't even need CGI. Batmobile chasing the truck scene in TDK is legendary and I don't think there was much use of CGI in that, they used some practical effects and it was done.
  1. jrvc
    December 22, 2016
    Well it had some CGI too. Just like BvS' batmobile had practical effects too. Both formats were blended in both movies
    1. Ábhi
      December 22, 2016
      Not denying the use of CGI in TDK & practical effects in BvS, just saying most of superhero movies these days, including BvS, use a lot of VFX. TDK used practical effects when possible rather than relying on CGI. But, it requires more effort and is more challenging to pull them off, part of the reason why many directors want to go with CGI. Check this video https://www.youtube.com/wat....
      1. jrvc
        December 22, 2016
        Oh don't worry, I know how these were made, I saw the dvd of special contents lots of times. I just thought you were dismissing Snyder's use of practical effects. My bad!
      2. Ezee23
        December 22, 2016
        I dont know if its because its more challenging or because its the ambition of the action set-piece. I love The Dark Knight, I do, but its use of practical effects was because they can do a lot of those scenes practically. All they need is a truck flipped-over, a shot of the Batmobile blowing cars up to clear a path, these aren't that extravagant in ambition or spectacle.
        If we're going to be fair, compare all the Batmobile scenes in Nolan's trilogy and the one scene in this movie. Snyder's Batmobile had to be able to shoot and destroy with both ammo and by ramming into things, go through walls, be able to jump at a moving truck, ram into and out of a boat that proceeds to fall on top of it, fire flares, do sweet burnouts and look like it weighs nothing when a God kicked it aside. And all this must be conveyed to the viewer at high speed.
        My point is, as great as the practical stunts are in Nolan's trilogy, they aren't as ambitious as Snyder's Batman action scenes. A movie where Batman is literally dodging Gods and giant mutant creatures cant be criticised for its reliance on CGI. If the CGI is bad then have at it but we're not being fair by using its existence as a negative.
4. Rick, The
  December 22, 2016
  Bats jumping through the window and the Dark Knight Returns cover homage shot are somehow no better, and may even be worse, than Bats dangling from the helicopter in Forever. I guess 20+ years of tech and a a truckload of money can't engender good taste
Dumb Cunt
December 22, 2016
so why wasn't this on the blu-ray?
1. Ezee23
  December 22, 2016
  That and why didn't we get director commentary. Marvel seem to do it for all their movies, every single one.
Ezee23
December 22, 2016
If you're an ambitious storyteller like Zack Snyder, you basically have no choice but to allow CGI to tell a large chunk of your story. We shouldn't kid ourselves, these comic-book stories have to be CGI heavy. Just look at the all-CGI characters in BvS's Marvel counterpart, Civil War, Black Panther and Spider-Man have to be CG because it's almost impossible to get the same return practically.
These movies are worth it just for the cape-porn alone, just look at the capes from Superman in Man of Steel, Batman in BvS and Vision in Age of Ultron/Civil War.
I dont presume to speak for everyone but if you're going to be critical of the amount of CGI in these movies, be fair. Movies about world-ending abominations (Doomsday), 3 meter-tall vindictive robots (Ultron), shields that defy the laws of physics, men who can run alongside speeding cars and aliens getting shot by nuclear warheads... How else can we get that kind of awesomeness except to rely CGI?
1. residentgrigo
  December 22, 2016
  Watchmen would also be undoable without CG. Unless you want to craft the most extreme crane shots of all time.
2. Schuyler Finley
  December 22, 2016
  Thank you! I don't get why people complain so much about the use of CGI in superhero films. And then there's the complaints about destruction porn in superhero films. I'm like: "You're watching a fucking superhero film. Of course there was gonna be a lot of destruction. Did you expect Doomsday or Ultron to play hide-n-seek with the heroes?"
Reese Evans
December 22, 2016
Snyder relies on digital FX far too much, it creates an uncanny-valley-style artificiality for long periods of his movies. Why should a director need to green screen an actor standing on a roof top at night?
1. Schuyler Finley
  December 22, 2016
  To make a scene for the Bat signal.
  1. Reese Evans
    December 22, 2016
    Indeed. By trying to conjure an imaginative vista, with wind in the actor's hair, Snyder conveys a transplanted quality to the image that is never present in say, Chris Nolan's Batman films. Eisenberg doesn't quite look like he's there.
ryrizzo
December 22, 2016
My main problem with Snyder is he uses CGI in instances where he doesn't need to use CGI. Batman crashing through glass was a perfect example. Use a stunt double and do it real. The CGI/stormy sky Wayne Manor is another one. Find a real location. The CGI was great, don't get me wrong, but still noticeable and it takes me out the movie.
1. dugzino
  December 30, 2016
  You're absolutely right about that. Even though I love Zack Snyder I think he over uses it but I think that's because WB has sick studios and it's to stay consistent with the real lightning you can't re-do in CGI. In Disney's movies, you see the CGI way more and it's as obvious as day and night. You don't see it much in BvS. Like most of these scenes, looked way too real, even tho you know, for some, that it was impossible without CGI. I'm only comparing recent movies here.
krampe1995
December 22, 2016
i dont know why but mos had better cgi than bvs for me. I didnt know zod armour was completely cgi but when you look at doomsday or even at some batman armored scenes, you can totally see it
Sheev Palpatine
December 22, 2016
Looks so fake, the car doesn't have any weight to it in many of those shots.
iAbeLincoln
December 22, 2016
God I love this movie. I was watching it with the in laws last week who had never seen it and a few times her dad would bust out chuckling from being impressed by that shit that is going on in the film. I explained everything that was happening story wise because it's difficult to keep up with it sometimes. So many people who are just part of the general audiences who don't appreciate movies like some of us, you literally have to hold their hand and explain whats going on in the movie. Not just BvS either, there have been several times when I will be watching a movie with people and I have to pause it and explain what is happening. Even if it's my first time watching it too.
1. dugzino
  December 30, 2016
  Now, go try to explain Interstellar to them XD
  I recently went to the same phase about explaining this movie then went on to Interstellar (which is my favourite movie of all time) and that's just way too sick to explain. It's like trying to explain the whole Metal Gear Solid plot under 30 minutes "have fun!". 10 movies wouldn't be enough for MGS's story to fit in.
  2016 brought me the best superhero movie for me which was a title hold by Watchmen before that.
Unn
December 22, 2016
bvs is the best superhero ever, its a movie with depth,
1. John Johnson
  December 22, 2016
  I agree with you 100%. But I think it's one that's so drastically different than anything we've seen before that a lot of people got shell-shock. We weren't used to seeing these characters in such a heavy tone (both visuals and dialogue), and I think it really threw people for a loop; to the point where they were too stunned to see the forest for the trees, and ended up just hating everything about it. I think that's the correct expression. :-)
  It was a very bold move, but one that far exceeded my own expectations and has made me very excited for more.
residentgrigo
December 22, 2016
The film has the 2nd best effects of any 2016 film. Only Rogue One looked better. A movie that literally raised the dead. Hard to compete here.
1. Davor
  December 22, 2016
  BATMAN V SUPERMAN IS ZACK SNYDER's MASTERPIECE!!!!!!!!!
col42
December 22, 2016
One thing that I just realized about this film is how much it would've benefited with a Man of Steel sequel to really set up Superman's idealism involving most of the pieces in this film, apart from Batman. Soon followed by a Batman V Superman film exploring simply both their idealisms clashing. Much cleaner, simpler and more fleshed out films I would assume they would've been.
1. jrvc
  December 22, 2016
  Although you are quite right there, I like what they did too. This way we have a sort of a trilogy with the introductions of the main Trinity (MoS for Superman, BvS for Batman, and WW, well, for WW) before the Justice League.
Rick, The
December 22, 2016
Dude, even Wayne Manor had to be CG? What the hell? A painted flat would have played more convincingly
1. col42
  December 22, 2016
  There are some things that looked pretty CGI in this film but if you're realizing now the Manor was CG, than let's be honest, it worked just fine.
  1. AquaCthulhu
    December 24, 2016
    This is true for most of the VFX-shots. People complaining about how the Batmobile looks fake now presumed it was practical when they saw the movie just because they knew a real Batmobile was built. Smh.
Joker
December 22, 2016
Shows how easy it was to make this piece of garbage. How it took 3 years long to make is beyond me...
1. Ezee23
  December 22, 2016
  Its beyond you...
  1. Joker
    December 26, 2016
    It's* and it should be beyond anyone who has a brain. Took 3 years to produce one of the worst superhero films of all time. What a joke. Only a moron like Hack Snyder can deliver such crap over a long period of time.
    1. Ezee23
      December 27, 2016
      Good catch. Again, it's obviously beyond you.

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