Disney's 'Prom Pact' Features A Ridiculous Use Of CGI. Why Are People Mad About It Now?

Likely very few who tuned into the Disney channel original movie Prom Pact, a teen-focused romantic comedy centered around the most important moment of a high schooler's life (getting a date for prom), were expecting a masterclass in cinematography, but a specific moment from the film was too much for even the most forgiving of Disney fans to let slide. In one scene at a basketball game, the camera shows a team sitting on a bench during a cheerleading interlude. Behind them are what appear to be models from The Sims.

The film's bizarre use of CGI led to some goofy tweets and light-hearted coverage at the time of the movie's spring 2023 release, but it came back with a vengeance this month, as suddenly the scene was used to discuss some much more serious issues. Here's what's going on with the Prom Pact Digital Extras Controversy.

What's Up With The Digital Extras In Prom Pact?

In Disney's Prom Pact, released on March 30th, 2023, there's a clear shot where 3D models of people instead of, you know, actual people are used to fill out the crowd at a high school basketball game. At the time, it was mostly a funny gaffe. The Independent covered reaction to the clip in mid-April and focused mostly on funny tweets making fun of the scene. At first, some users thought the digital models were created with AI, but it appears that that isn't accurate, and the "extras" are just poorly implemented CGI.

It's unknown why Disney utilized CGI for this shot, as they have not commented on the bizarre choice. Many social media users have noted that using digital models to fill out shots of crowds is pretty common practice in filmmaking — just think of the armies in Lord of the Rings, for example — but they're usually "filmed" at a great distance so an audience member can't tell they're not real people. It's possible Disney filmed the scene and felt the gap between the players and the human extras filling out the crowd was too large and simply threw some CGI folks in there, but that's entirely speculation.

Why Is The Clip Controversial?

On October 12th, Twitter user @caiden_reed reposted the clip with the caption, "Reminder this is what SAG-AFTRA is fighting against."

This is a little bit misleading. SAG-AFTRA is indeed fighting to ensure Hollywood studios don't push forth with a cost-cutting idea that would have actors scan their faces into a database for studios to use whenever and however they like without giving the actors proper monetary compensation. Such practice would greatly harm background actors and extras, who would see their jobs on a set greatly dwindle or vanish completely if a studio were to slap their face on an AI model and stick that model in the background of a scene.

However, there's nothing to suggest what happened with Prom Pact is an example of Disney throwing the real digital likenesses of people into their scene to fill a crowd. Nevertheless, it has become a lightning rod of controversy, as people discuss the necessity of "extras" jobs to break into the industry and call Disney cruel for using digital models instead of paying actors to fill in the scene.

Furthermore, several publications have said that the extras are the product of AI when again, there's nothing to suggest AI is at play here. While AI usage in Hollywood is a real issue that threatens actors and is a major component of SAG-AFTRA's strike, it seems more likely that, in the case of Prom Pact's digital extras, this was just CGI used in the way Hollywood has used CGI in crowd shots for years, albeit very awkwardly.

For more information, check out the 'Prom Pact' digital extras controversy entry on Know Your Meme.