As someone pointed out over at MetaFilter, a big part of the realism of that scene is thanks to a solid understanding of how cameras, lighting, and film work an

As someone pointed out over at MetaFilter, a big part of the realism of that scene is thanks to a solid understanding of how cameras, lighting, and film work and interact, rather than super-detailed modelling. Trumbull is a photographic effects wizard, but he also had 80 years of earlier work to build on. I'm not sure we're quite there yet when it comes to CGI.