Original Special Effects

[CharlieH.]

Good show Mr. Sable! I really like that rocket scene.

 

[Twitch]

I think we owe a lot to the 1930s pioneers who used stop action scale models of monsters and such to make King Kong and many others done in the same way. 20+ years later the same technique was still standard fare in sci-fi film making.

 

[Benny Holiday]

The irony is, those guys would've given their right arms to have access to the CGI techniques it's so popular to criticise today! [huh]

 

[Diamondback]

I guess to me, it's all about "balance". CGI should be used as an "effects enhancement", not the end-all/be-all of FX. (Kinda hard to build a fullscale, standalone, walking animatronic tyrannosaur, for one, y'know? And to create a sky full of B-17s for a modern version of The 1000-Plane Raid or Twelve O'Clock High, you'd need CGI to create additional planes in any formation shots...)

Just my two cents. Stop-motion, go-motion, animatronics, and CGI all have valid and different places in the toolbag, and situations where each works best. Refusing to use a technology best for the situation just 'cause it's not the latest big thing is plain foolish. (Says a guy who can frequently recognize a bluescreen shot on sight.)

 

[Twitch]

Benny- so true. I was once fortunate enough to be associated with a little classic movie group that invited Merian Cooper and other principle creative people on King Kong to a showing.

He wanted to make the movie longer and, hold onto your purist B & W butt, he wanted to make it in color. It was all a matter of studio economics and budgeting.[huh]

 

[TM]

Another great "miniature set" is that of downtown Los Angeles at the end of the George Pal version of "War of the Worlds". That was a huge set of model buildings about 3 or 4' tall. What a load of detail. And except for the occasional view of the tiny wires that support the Martian War Machines, it looks so real.

I guess I must be old-fashioned, but the concept of building models - physical real models - seems to require more craftsmanship than clicking a mouse. So I have almost zero appreciation for today's special effects, and great appreciation for the classics.

Tony

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

In the new King Kong, CGI and minitures were both used. In the scene where the crew are climbing through the rocks of Skull Island, and we see a helicopter view of Skull Island, that is a miniature. Pirates of the Carribean used backdrops and miniatures for the pirate ship scenes. Many movies still use those old techniques. I wonder if anyone has invented a new technique, one not requiring a computer.

Claymation is a real art. I once stumbled upon an art channel that was showing Claymation shorts, and the creators must have been close to madness to think of such images using clay.

What are some camera tricks that were used in the past?

I'll give you one. The disappearing act. Where a subject would be standing by another and suddenly "bing!", they disappear. It was nothing more than a cut in the film, but for that time, the audience must have thought, "oh! where'd he go?!".

 

[CharlieH.]

Speaking of classic camera tricks:

And speaking of George Pal and animation:

(One of these days I oughta start a Puppetoon thread...)

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

What model camera is that? The advertisement doesn't say.

 

[CharlieH.]

It's a Ciné-Kodak Special. You can check the manual over here

OT: I just realised I hit 1000 posts, do I get a cookie?

 

[Diamondback]

OT: Check your browser cache, Charlie...Should be plenty of 'em there! lol

 

[Naphtali]

I just paused Disk 2 of the Special Edition of Robin Hood to report that creating special effects that are real apparently was a routine Warner Brothers practice.

In Addition to using live ammunition and machine guns to "simulate" live ammunition and machine guns, Howard Hill, perhaps the most famous archer of the twentieth century, was off camera, shooting at soldiers' shields. In outtakes or behind the scenes sections, Hill shot at the shields, which were held in protective mode in front of the soldiers. The way the arrows were penetrating the shields was impressive as it was total insanity to do the effect.

I gotta tell yuh, everyone connected with these practices was out to lunch.

Or maybe this is Warner Brothers' way of holding down the payroll?

 

[The Captain]

Forced Perspective ~ Hanging Miniature

A friend of mine and I were always fans of Science Fiction films - still are - and we used to take stills like this. He was a model-maker and photographer and his skills are evident in this shot: Abandoned quarry, model ant and tank sitting on a miniature landscape "hung" in front of the camera, me "running" in the background. Primitive, yes, but effective. Circa 1970.

 

[The Captain]

Ray Harryhausen

Here is a shot of Ray Harryhausen (Middle), William R. Stromberg (R), and one of his sons, William T. Stromberg (L), taken at a luncheon last year. W.R. is a film maker and W.T. is an orchestra conductor and film-score restorer. Alas, I was several hundred miles away and couldn't be there.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Very neat Captain. Was this a still taken from a film or was it only a still?

I'd like to see it in motion if it still exits.

 

[Twitch]

We can look at "The Aviator" and see how they still use full size mock ups and scale models. The flying shots of aircraft that no longer exist was done with extremely large scale radio control aircraft not dinky little ones.

 

[The Captain]

Very neat Captain. Was this a still taken from a film or was it only a still?

I'd like to see it in motion if it still exits.

Hap, this was just as I said - a still taken as a test of the "ant and tank" to see if they worked on film. There was a short film made out in the Borrego desert area as a test run for a longer film, but I don't remember if it still exists. I do remember it was hot and windy! We had several hanging miniatures and a full sized cockpit mockup of a jet fighter! Keeping the miniatures on the table/set was a chore because of the wind.

Here is the cover of the fall edition, 1977, of Cinefantastique magazine. It featured an extensive article on Ray Harryhausen and his work on SINBAD and the EYE of the Tiger.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

'Sinbad' star Kerwin Mathews passes

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2750478.ece Looks like Kerwin Mathews led an interesting life.

 

[Twitch]

At shot of the XF-11 used in The Aviator. As we can see this is no toy flying model but a large-scale, detailed mini airplane!

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

"Daddy, can you get me one of those?"

It sure looks like a toy, even if it's powered by gas.