Whedon has kept ambivalent on whether to shoot on film or digital video, saying that he has "no allegiance to film as film. If the story is in front of me, I'm fine". In terms of visual aesthetics, he prefers to incorporate as many practical effects as possible when using computer-generated imagery, so people "really don't know where one begins and the other ends". On working with high or low budgets, he remarked that both offer "the exact same job" and whether one has $100 million or $100,000, "you're trying to hit someone in the gut with an emotional moment." Whedon determines that, although giving actors notes for guidance, he also aims to assuage their concerns when communicating the reasons and outcomes of a scene.