Closing questions that can be easily researched

Question

So, I want to vote to close this question which asks about special effects, as it seems to me that this is something that could easily be researched with just a couple of Google/Wiki clicks. The same could be said for the slew of 'stunt' questions this past week.

However, I don't see anyone else down voting it - and I wonder if I am being too harsh.

In fact, seeing as I answered one myself about crying techniques, perhaps I am being a bit hypocritical - but I would be interested to get my fellow users' views on these types of queries.

Do they really have a place here? Especially if they are easily found answers? Should we allow all types of questions, just to keep our numbers up?

Just thinking out loud here :)

Answer 1

The question is a bit vague, and could be answered by presumably a whole slew of techniques - but I didn't have much of a problem with it. What techniques do they use to make someone thinner, more muscular, bigger etc..... I can see that as a useful question.

I don't see it in the same category as a general reference such as material that can be trivially found out about an actor or a movie on IMDB or Wikipedia.

I struggled with the stunt question too, particularly:

How is it decided whether to use a stunt in a scene? Are there official rules for that?

To my initial reading this seemed rather a non question - if the script calls for a dangerous thing to be performed - isn't this automatically a stunt? Other questions like this have cropped up with a 'is there a rule for that' which seems a little naive to me. However on reading the answer I reappraised the question as perhaps asking how do they decide what sort of stunts are performed, who performs them, or how much CGI is used instead to mitigate cost or danger. The question could do with editing to clarify this point perhaps.

So, to sum up - I don't think they are closable, but perhaps people should be more willing to use downvotes or to suggest edits if they think they are not good questions.

Answer 2

I always thought that this question is too broad (and therefore not a real question), each example has a very special explanation, which can or should be explained in its own question.

LOTR works with camera tricks, Captain America looks like green-screening and the "one person playing twins" in the social network is something very special too.

There is general name for all these thing: Special Effects, but I don't think that here is any science that explains all 3 Effects.