Quote Quoting Russ (view post)
I noticed how the vast majority of these are much older films. Nowadays, is it a cost-prohibitive environment that's responsible for the CGI stand-in we might see in really large crowd shots? Part of the huge thrill of seeing something like that on-screen was in the knowledge that someone had to supervise the logistical nightmare of such an assemblage -- and it frequently culminated in a shot that was marveled at from both a technical perspective and an emotional one. I hate the disconnect that we get now on so many of the manufactured shots.
Agreed. Surely The Lord of the Rings has some dizzying crowd scenes, but so much is animation...