While the blurry quality of “Rebel Moon” can be chalked up to an artistic choice by Zack Snyder, it’s clear from critical reviews and general online buzz that not everyone is a fan of the effect. In fact, the technique even frustrated some of the people working on the movie for making their jobs far more complex.
Snyder explained to TechRadar that the “Rebel Moon” visual effects team had to put in extra work to make the movie’s CGI fit in with the image produced by the special camera lens. That’s quite the intensive post-production task, considering that the film extensively employs CGI to craft its fantastical sci-fi world, with some shots being almost entirely composed of VFX. “They had to add aberration to their full CG shots,” Snyder said.
Despite the complexity of the task, Snyder was intent on achieving a unique effect that permeates all of “Rebel Moon” — from its live-action elements to its CGI creations. “They’d mapped all the lenses, so they asked me, ‘If this was on a 24mm film reel, the CGI would be out of focus. How do you feel about that?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s amazing,'” the director said. “Then they’d say, ‘You know, we don’t have to do that’ and I’d reply, ‘No, I really want it,’ so it’s really fun to see all of that come together, and incredibly satisfying to create this retro feeling I was trying to get with the overall look.”
