During the 1920s and 1930s, special effects techniques were improved and refined by the motion picture industry. Many techniques were modifications of illusions from the theater and still photography. several techniques soon developed, like the "stop trick," Animation, creating the illusion of motion, was accomplished with drawings for example by Winsor McCay in Gertie the Dinosaur and with three-dimensional models by Willis O'Brien in The Lost World and King Kong.
The Golden Age of Hollywood
The 1930s decade (and most of the 1940s as well) has been labeled "The Golden Age of Hollywood" . The 30s was also the decade of the sound and color revolutions and the advance of the 'talkies' It was the era in which the silent period ended, with many silent film stars not making the transition to sound (e.g., Vilmy Banky, John Gilbert, and Norma Talmadge). By 1933, the economic effects of the Depression were being strongly felt, especially in decreased movie theatre attendance.
Special-effects processes were advanced by the late 1930s, making it possible for many more films to be shot on sets rather than on-location (e.g., The Hurricane (1937) One of the first 'color' films was by Thomas Edison's Annabell's Butterfly Dance. Two-color (red and green) The first short film in three-color Technicolor was Walt Disney's animated talkie Flowers and Trees (1932) in the Silly
As the industry progressed, special effects techniques kept pace. The development of color photography required greater modification of effects techniques. Also, color enabled the development of such travelling matte techniques as bluescreen and the sodium vapor process. Many films include landmark scenes in special-effects accomplishments: Forbidden Planet used matte paintings, animation, and miniature work to create spectacular alien worlds. In The Ten Commandments, Paramount's John P. Fulton, A.S.C., multiplied the crowds of extras in the Exodus scenes, depicted the massive constructions of Rameses, and split the Red Sea in a still-impressive combination of travelling mattes and water tanks.
Visual effects (vfx)
is the term given to a sub-category of special effects in which images or film frames are created or manipulated for film and video. Visual effects usually involve the combination of live-action footage with CGI ‘Computer-generated imagery’ or other elements (such as explosive or model work) in order to create environments or scenarios which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture on film. They have become increasingly common in big-budget films, and have also recently become accessible to the amateur filmmaker with the introduction of affordable animation and compositing software.
Visual effects may be divided into at least four categories:
- Models: miniature sets and models, animatronics
- Matte paintings and stills: digital or traditional paintings or photographs which serve as background plates for keyed or rotoscoped elements
- Live-action effects: keying actors or models through bluescreening and greenscreening
- Digital animation: modeling, Computer graphics lighting, texturing, rigging, animating, and rendering computer generated 3D characters, particle effects, digital sets, backgrounds, etc.
Optical Printer
An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re-photograph one or more strips of film. The optical printer is used for making special effects for motion pictures, or for copying and restoring old film material.
Common optical effects include fade-outs and fade-ins, dissolves, slow motion, fast motion, and matte work. More complicated work can involve dozens of elements, all combined into a single scene. Ideally, the audience in a theater should not be able to notice any optical printers work, but this is not always the case. For economical reasons, especially in the 1950s, and later in TV series produced on film, printer work was limited to only the actual parts of a scene needing the effect, so there is a clear change in the image quality when the transition occurs.
The first, simple optical printers were constructed early in the 1920s. Linwood G. Dunn expanded the concept in the 1930s, and the development continued well into the 1980s, when the printers were controlled with minicomputers.
In the late 1980s, digital compositing began to supplant optical effects. Since the mid nineties the conversion to digital effects has been virtually total. Consequently, optical printing today is used most widely by individual artists working exclusively with film. As a technique, it proves particularly useful for making copies of hand painted or physically manipulated film.
Clip of Special Effect Movies
Clip information of Special Effect Movies
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of the field of computer graphics (or more specifically, 3D computer graphics) to special effects. CGI is used in films, television programs and commercials, and print media.
Video games most often use real-time computer graphics (rarely referred to as CGI), but may also include pre-rendered "cut scenes" and intro movies that would be typical CGI applications. These are referred to as FMV.
CGI is used for visual effects because the quality is often higher and effects are more controllable than other more physically based processes, such as constructing miniatures for effects shots or hiring extras for crowd scenes, and because it allows the creation of images that would not be feasible using any other technology. It can also allow a single artist to produce content without the use of actors, expensive set pieces, or props.
Recent accessibility of CGI software and increased computer speeds has allowed individual artists and small companies to produce professional grade films, games, and fine art from their home computers. This has brought about an Internet subculture with its own set of global celebrities, clichés, and technical vocabulary.
Between 1995 and 2005, the average effects budget for a wide-release feature film skyrocketed from $5 million to $40 million. According to one studio executive, as of 2005, more than half of feature films have significant effects.
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