A Changing Industry: Motion Picture Special Effects

7 Pages 1649 Words

“Special visual effects have added to the allure of motion pictures since the early days of cinema. French director Georges Méliès is considered the most influential pioneer of special effects. His film in 1902 “A Trip to the Moon” combined live action with animation, demonstrating to audiences that cinema could create worlds, objects, and events that did not exist in real life” (Work cited). Through examples of the new techniques and the movies where they were presented, this paper will detail the changes that special effects have seen over the last twenty-five years.

Special effects have been used ever since the film industry became popular. Three-dimensional film technology became popular in the1950s, when it enjoyed a brief period of use (Work Cited). Although motion-picture film, like still photography, normally yields two-dimensional images, the illusion of a third dimension can be achieved by projecting two separate movies. Members of the audience wear 3-D eyeglasses so that the right eye sees one picture and the left eye sees the other, producing the effect of three dimensions.

Three-dimensional film technology is still being used today at Universal Studios in Hollywood. When my family visited the amusement park there was a feature 3D film that was rendition of “The Terminator.” Three-dimensional film has changed, because now the members of the audience no longer have to wear glasses with one red and one blue lens.
Now the glasses are clear, but still allow the user to get the same three-dimensional effect that they would the red and blue glasses.

Another example of the lasting power of early techniques is stop-motion photography. The original “King Kong” used this technique, in which the King Kong figurine was repeatedly filmed for very brief segments and then moved, so that when the film was projected at normal speed, King Kong appeared to move. King Kong cost $650,000 and premiered March,...