8. Practical Sets
Alright, now, I'm not expecting Duncan Jones to have his set decorators build a giant warehouse the size of New York City and make an actual World of Warcraft in there, but the prevaling point is that CGI should be a garnish that accentuates practical crafts rather than having an overwhelming presence in its own right. Build some smaller sets in soundstages, and use green-screen to accentuate the scope - the mountains in the background, and creatures flying around overhead - that is, unless, the location scouts can actually find an African savannah or something that looks anything like the above screenshot. It would be too easy to pull a Peter Jackson and just have everyone standing in front of green-screens for a lot of the location work (though he did shoot a certain amount in New Zealand, to be fair to him), or even worse, a George Lucas, and shoot pretty much the whole thing with blue and green screens. However, one cannot discount the benefit of a practical set; it looks more natural, which compensates for the fact it might not seem as "slick" or "grand" as an artificial CGI location. Of course, CGI can be used to great effect when implemented sparingly, and with the right execution, a combination of CG and sets will make this world truly come alive.