“Think of special effects as magic tricks, as illusion,” (Tom Savini). This quote shows how fascinating special effects truly are. In looking at the history of special effects in movies, it is important to understand what special effects are, how they have changed over time, and what people have been involved in order to truly appreciate this art. Special effects are illusions created for movies and television by props, camerawork, or computer graphics. Celluloid animation, scale modeling, claymation, digital compositing, animatronics, use of prosthetic makeup, morphing, and modern computer-generated or computer graphics imagery are just some techniques that are widely used for creating incredible special effects. (“Film Milestones in Visual/Special
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The thaumatrope was one of the very first types of special effects where string was tied to two ends of a painted plank and were moved very quickly in order to make a moving picture (“The History of Film The Pre-1920s”). The next great advancement was called the Kinetophone. It was a projector that was connected to a phonograph with a pulley system, but it didn't work very well and was difficult to to match the sound up with the video and soon proved to be unsuccessful since competitive, better synchronized devices were beginning to appear at the time (“The History of Film The Pre-1920s”). These were both the cornerstones for cinema and special effects alike. Moving into a newer era of special effects we find things like CGI and visual effects. It is to be noted that visual effects and special effects are not the same thing. Visual effects are a “subcategory of special effects in which images or film frames are created or manipulated for film and video,” (“Special effects”), while special effects, as stated earlier, are illusions created for movies and television by props, camerawork, or computer graphics. CGI was first used in 1973 in the movie Westworld and has been used in countless well-known movies since then, like Forrest Gump, Toy Story, and the Terminator series (“Special effects”). CGI is one of the most well known types of special effects because it is used so often in the
The thaumatrope was one of the very first types of special effects where string was tied to two ends of a painted plank and were moved very quickly in order to make a moving picture (“The History of Film The Pre-1920s”). The next great advancement was called the Kinetophone. It was a projector that was connected to a phonograph with a pulley system, but it didn't work very well and was difficult to to match the sound up with the video and soon proved to be unsuccessful since competitive, better synchronized devices were beginning to appear at the time (“The History of Film The Pre-1920s”). These were both the cornerstones for cinema and special effects alike. Moving into a newer era of special effects we find things like CGI and visual effects. It is to be noted that visual effects and special effects are not the same thing. Visual effects are a “subcategory of special effects in which images or film frames are created or manipulated for film and video,” (“Special effects”), while special effects, as stated earlier, are illusions created for movies and television by props, camerawork, or computer graphics. CGI was first used in 1973 in the movie Westworld and has been used in countless well-known movies since then, like Forrest Gump, Toy Story, and the Terminator series (“Special effects”). CGI is one of the most well known types of special effects because it is used so often in the