History of Visual Effects - Essay Example

?History of Visual Effects Modern Hollywood movies have become heavily reliant on telling their stories through the heavy use and manipulation of visual effects. From the planet shattering explosions in Star Wars to the robotic Iron Man suits that fight off other technologically creatures above the city skies, all of these movies have one thing in common visual effects. Nothing that we have seen is real. None of those effects can take place in the real world. Yet these events that unfold on film look so realistic, so believable that sometimes one can no longer tell the difference between the computer generated effect and real life. That is the mystery and beauty of visual effects. Even though visual effects have had such a huge impact on our movie and television viewing habits, most people do not know the first thing about the history of this art form. This paper will serve as a historical look into the history of visual effects from the time of silent films, all the way to the most recent success of visual effects in The Life of Pi. The purpose of this paper is to allow people an inside look into the history of visual effects and how the pioneers had to struggle to create the art form that has almost been perfected in the 21st century thanks to computer graphic imaging. While previous generations may think that visual effects started with the Star Wars Prequel, in reality, these visual effects have a history that goes far back deeper than 1970's Hollywood. It was actually in 1856 when Oscar Rejlander became the first person to successfully use trick photography to create a single image. His special effects breakthrough was done through the use of 30 different sections of negatives, spliced together to create one image. Then in 1985 Alfred Clarke built upon the success of Rejlander by creating the first motion picture special effect for the movie Mary, Queen of Scots. With Clarke instructing an actor to step up and block Mary's costume, an executioner was shown preparing to let his ax fall on her neck. At that point, Clarke ordered all the actors to stop moving while the actor playing Mary was taken off the set. A dummy was placed in her stead and when filming restarted, the ax severed the dummy's head. Thus, the love affair of the cinema with special effects began (“A Brief History of Movie Special Effects”). However, it was not until 1896 when the stop trick method was accidentally discovered by French magician Georges Melies. It was an effect that was created when while filming a street scene in Paris his camera jammed. Upon review, he found that the “stop trick” turned a truck into a hearse, his pedestrians walked in an alternate direction, and men somehow became women. Now being the stage manager at the local Theatre Robert - Houdin, he discovered an inspiration that led him to create more than 500 short films until 1914. He developed the now considered ancient effects techniques of multiple exposure, time lapse, dissolves, and hand painted color. His uncanny ability to create visual effects earned him the nickname “Cinemagician”. When he created his ode to Jule's Vern’s From the Earth to the Moon as Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902), he used a combination of live action, animation, and miniature with matte painting work (“The Grand Illusion: A Century of Special Effects”). Movie masters of this era concede that their special effects were highly influenced by magician stage tricks. Perspective exploitation and forced perspective were but a few of the old stage magic that worked quite well on film. The years from 1910 to 1920 saw the rapid growth of visual effects, particularly the Matte Shots done by Norman Dawn. While the Schuftan Process -- considered modifications of theater illusions, and still photography began to influence the craft in the 1920's and 1930's. This development led to the use of rear projection in cinemas which substituted moving pictures to create moving backgrounds. Visual effects also began to develop facial masks to help along the illusion of visual effects. Eventually, movie studios began to create separate visual effects studios within their system in order to ensure the quality of special effects being applied to the films. However, the most important innovation of this era would have to be the optical printer which allowed for special effects photography. The system worked by using the optical printer as a projector aimed into a camera lens, the film was then developed for distribution. A clear example of the effectiveness of this technology can be seen in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. But the visual effects boom did not really start until the advent of the colored film. Colored film allowed visual effects creators to use what was then known as traveling matte techniques which became the basis for blue and green screen shooting for later laying of the visual effects. This was the era when big Hollywood mega productions with state of the art (for that era) visual effects came blasting through the cinemas. The Ten Commandments, Forbidden Planet, Jason and the Argonauts -- were all but a few of the trailblazing visual effects films of the time. It was, however, the highly imaginative visual effects mind of Stanley Kubrick that would come to redefine visual effects with his 2001: A Space Odyssey film release. Using an in house visual effects team, the noted director used an expertly crafted miniature set for depth of field shots, new front projection techniques were also utilized alongside slit-scan imagery to create an unforgettable cinematic masterpiece (“A Brief History of Movie Special Effects”). When one speaks of the history of visual effects, the notable movies of the 1980's and 1990's cannot be omitted from the discussion. What with the rapid advancement of in house visual effects and the growing increase in the use of blue and green screens, movies were rapidly changing the taste of the audience when it came to adventure flicks. Movies like Honey I Blew Up the Kids utilized what can now be considered to be common illusions plus excellent use of blue-screen and split-screen compositing in order to create the illusion that a child grew from a toddler to a giant in plain view of the audience (“The Grand Illusion: A Century of Special Effects”). Indeed, Hollywood has come a very long way from the stop trick photography and matte finish for backgrounds. The surprising evolution in computer technologies have actually helped to propel movie visual effects to levels that one could never have imagined when the art form was still in its infancy stage. Computer animation is now a vital part of live action visual effects alongside the traditional visual effects methods. The seamless integration of old school technology and new school ideas have created some of the most memorable films of the 1990's such as Jurassic Park and Jumanji. Although this type of film making was first seen in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968, it was not until George Lucas produced the Star Wars movies in the 70's that computer aided graphics actually came to the attention of Hollywood as the future of film making. Computerized motion-control cameras were used to take the viewer deeper into the onscreen action. The much fabled space battle sequence would never have become a reality had the complex battle scenes not been properly composited with the actors, accurately shot by the motion-control cameras during the green screen shot battle sequences (“The Grand Illusion: A Century of Special Effects”). Known as digital compositing, this highly versatile editing tool allows the effects team to add elements at the stroke of a pen, alter a set to fully gain an impact, or even move the actors around all within the computerized setting before the final special effects are added. Visual effects teams have helped lower the cost of production in movies that already have million dollar budgets when they are green lighted by the studio. As George Lucas proved in his Star Wars prequel series, whole locations can be composited in the computer screen, the actors then added alongside the animations and other computer graphic renderings necessary to create the look and feel of the film. Visual effects have actually been elevated to a new art form because of the complexity of the work, and the artistry that is rendered once the effects have been completed. As an art form, visual effects has developed to such a degree that one can no longer tell if the events unfolding before him onscreen are based on reality, or if they were simply added in the visual effects stage of the movie processing. Even simple romance movies such as Down with Love and The Proposal used green and blue screen technology respectively in order to create the illusion of an early era America being pulled out of chilly waters onto a boat respectively. Speaking of boats, in the 21st century, it is the imagination of Ang Lee that elevated computerized visual effects to a totally new level of cinematic art work. The Oscar award winning film Life of Pi was brought to life using solely blue screen technology. The whole movie was shot on dry land. Even the tiger did not truly exist except in the form of a blue pillow for marking purposes. The ocean and sky that glistened so brilliantly in the film are both products of the special effects team that took great pains to ensure that their work would be pristine and could not be faulted even under the strongest scrutiny (Squires, Scott “The Miracle of Visual Effects, Will it Continue?”). Visual effects are now part and parcel of movie making. There is no big budgeted visual effects film anymore. Even the television commercial that catches our eye while watching Friday night football has some sort of visual effect involved in it. The technology has taken over Hollywood and shows no signs of slowing down. Rather, it is showing signs of revitalizing a business that could have easily been killed by television competition. People crave the smooth visual effects applied to any given movie. It shows the care and pride that the production takes in its work. Visual effects represent the best that movie making has to offer these days. It is the future of film making, and it will continue to flourish for as long as the imaginative minds in the studios require them to deliver unique and realistic effects, set locations, and the like. Visual effects technology is not going anywhere. Rather, it is going to fully cement its place in the movie making process in the days and years to come. Works Cited “A Brief History of Movie Special Effects”. Photos. Time. n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. Squires. Scott. “The Miracle of Visual Effects, Will It Continue?”. Effects Corner. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. “The Grand Illusion: A Century of Special Effects”. Special Effects. Nova. 1996. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. Read More