How were special effects in movies done in the 1950s?
How were special effects in movies done in the 1950s?“In ye olde way.”Here are some examples:Rotoscoping: An artist traces the action of live film. This can be used to add effects like laser shots or lightning, or to create a matte that can be used to extract a character from the scene and add it to another background. Or use roto to make a matte for adding stuff, like a big display on a starship bridge. Roto and mattes are essential to compositing pre-greenscreen and digital compositing.Split screen: Use the left half of the frame from one film, and the right half of the frame from another film, prefereably of the same background. That way you can film the actor to the left saying things, and then to the right saying other things, creating the effect that he’s talking to himself or a double.Double exposure: Project two images at a piece of film before developing. This way, you can add ghostly images of something.Pepper’s ghost: A kind of double exposure done live on set. Project an image on a slanted sheet of glass. The image appears in front of the actors, and they can react to the image live. Essentially, this is old theatre special effects used for film.Model work: Make models. You can add giant monsters, i.e. people in suits, stomping models too. It’s great fun!Stop motion: Make a model of a character or thing that has moving parts, for instance a skeleton. Painstakingly move its limbs a little and shoot one frame of film. Repeat for the entire motion.Matte paintings: Make a big painting of a scene on glass, with holes in it. Make sure to line up the painting perfectly with the scenery behind. Place it between the camera and the actors and scenery.Back projection: This technique was often used in car scenes. Place the actors in the car. Project the road whizzing by on a screen behind them from a projector somewhere behind the screen. Add a fan if you have a cab, to make ruffles in the hair. Laugh at how the actor never turns the wheel when the road turns. The opposite is front projection, but it often means that the projector also projects its image on the actors if not done carefully, which would ruin the effect.Many of these techniques are still in use today, although often digitally rather than optically in cameras or projectors.
In film, what are practical effects?
Practical effects are for example, when traditionally certain scenes were needed which were unrealistic to expect an actor to do in reality, for example one of the scenes in ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’. There is a scene where the Nazis have released the spirits from the Ark Of The Covenant. Indy tells Marion who are both tied up not to open her eyes. We then see these spirits floating around then killing off the Nazis present at the grounds. One memorable scene is one of the Nazi characters looking at one of the spirts who appears as a beautiful female in one frame then a demonic ghost the next, consumed by the power of this spirit we see the characters face and body literally melting like butter and disintegrating. You would not expect that to happen to a real actor so a model cast was created from the actors own face and body then set up with all its gubbins to them melt on cue, with a bit of ILM just to add some fiery effects on green screen. These type of effects were widely used in the industry prior to the rise of digital effects in the early 90’s and not used so much now due to costs. However genres like Star Wars will still employ these type of effects as it can add an element of realism at times for the audience and actors doing the scene.
Why do we need special effects?
They make movies more ineresting/exciting. Examples are in every movie ever made. One famous one is offcourse Avatar, most of te movie was not real. They created a "real" World using special effects. Movies without special effects will be boring.
In the film, "Glory", how are the effects of the Emancipation Declaration shown?
Freed slaves fled to the North to fight for the Union. By the end of the war, more than 180,000 black troops fought for the Union, and more black troops fought for the Union than did any other single group. The 54th Massachusetts Regiment was one of these first all-black regiments. A staff of white officers led these regiments. Untested in battle, the 54th was among the first to see combat, although they were not the first. Based on their performance in battle, the go ahead was given to allow black troops to fight in the war.
Are all visual effects seen in movies done on the computer? If so do they cost anything?
The term “visual effects” (as opposed to “special effects”) actually means something… it’s any effects that are not done ‘in-camera’ so to speak, and these days it is pretty much synonymous with computer generated imagery (or anything done digitally).So for recent movies - yes, basically all visual effects are done on the computer because that is what visual effects are. There are still special effects in movies, stuff that’s done on set, but that’s a different thing with a different word to describe it.Do visual effects cost.. money.I have to say I’m genuinely shocked ☉_☉Not only do they cost money, they are usually the most expensive thing on the majority of movies that use them.Have a read of this article to get a sense of quite how ridiculously expensive they can be:'Black Panther' is amazing. Why are its CG models so terrible?They’re so expensive that movie studios are struggling to actually pay the money that’s due to the VFX houses who create the visual effects for their movies.The short version why is that it takes hundreds upon thousands of people working hundreds upon thousands of hours to create CGI, and those people, along with the facilities they work at, need to be paid for.
How are the special effects in superhero movies done?
The short answer these days is most likely by heavy use of CGI however there's numerous ways that various elements are combined to create a good effect.Look at Superman Returns for example. For wide shots of Superman they did a full detailed body scan of Brandon Routh and could reproduce him down the details of the texture of his tongue, using CGI. For close up shots they had Brandon on a especially designed rig where he would strike the flying pose against a green screen with fans blowing his hair. In some of these scenes he wouldn't be wearing the cape element of his costume, these would be added in post production digitally.However in one scene in particular when Superman slowly descents outside Louis' house they wanted his cape to slowly flutter and achieved this by again having him against a green screen with his cape attached and a series of puppeteers attached to his cape in green suits and they would use green wires to manipulate the cape. This would again be removed in post production.Old fashioned effects like the old "Bend an iron bar" and "Smash through a brick wall" are achieved by using foam rubber or balsa wood replicas which look exactly like the real thing.
What is the importance of visual effects in the movie?
The real problem with the importance of visual effects in a movie is that, when it is at its best, you don't seem to notice it at all…!!! It combines incredible artistry and technical skills. Artists work on shots for countless hours to showcase those few fancy scenes…The visual effects are very important, they serve both the story and the character.How anyone can forget the Hravey Dent's “Two Face” in The Dark Knight..??Or, 100% VFX of Old Benjemin in Brad Pitt's : Curious Case Of Benjemin Button… Did you think it was makeup..??It helps a director to efficiently achive what is practically impossible, or too damn expensive to achieve, while a movie is being shot.I mean, how else the EPIC Dawn Of Justice scenes vs. Doomsday would have been possible..?? Unless Warner Bros. were okay with bankrupting themselves up.. :D..Even instead of hiring an insane amount of extras, large crowds can be animated and built inside computers..And not to forget, they are getting good with each passing day…A perfect example is : While VFX in Matrix Reloaded appear to look artificial now a days,The same technology clearly got a lot better by the third Matrix movie, which was released in the same year..!!!.So long story short… Yeah, VFX is a boon to both the film makers and the audience. And without a doubt, It has become an inseperable part of the film industry now a days.
Did special effects from old films look cheesy back then?
Yes, they did look cheesy, at least the low budget things. However, if the story was good you would get into it and forgive it. I remember watching Star Wars on VHS and at that time you could see these hexagonal patches surrounding every fighter in space. I still just got lost in the story. Just like today, the effects are nice but what is important is the basic foundation. Pretty much everything was like that, so you didn't think about it, especially if you were a kid. There are many things today that we accept without a thought that will seem strange thirty years from now. I'm sure CGI from today will look dated someday. Really, you still need to use your "suspension of disbelief" today just as much as ever. But I can remember being enthralled by Superman, although it looks quite fake. The music and the wonderful story just swept me away. It has been this way for thousands of years in the theater, where the actors are so obviously pretending. Somehow we just let ourselves forget all that is so fake and get involved in the characters.