Modern cinema is impossible to imagine without spectacular scenes that are created using special effects. This is what makes it possible to transfer the viewer to fantastic worlds, to transform the scenery and characters of films beyond recognition. Let's find out how special effects are created in the movies. Photos that reflect the implementation of advanced technologies when shooting films are also considered in the material.
A brief excursion into history
The starting point for creating stunning special effects is 1977. It was at this time that the first part of the extremely successful Star Wars franchise came out on the screens. Thanks to the innovative ideas of the talented director George Lucas, the viewer was able to see realistic battles in outer space for the first time, get acquainted with uncharted worlds, bizarre inhabitants of distant planets, and enjoy the battles on legendary lightsabers. The breathtaking backgrounds were created by the creators of the film through the imposition of hand-drawn images on blue screens. Huge spaceships and other large-scale objects were created by shooting miniature models.
The overwhelming success of the film "Star Wars" prompted George Lucas to create an entire studio called Industrial Light and Magic, whose staff was involved in the development and implementation of innovative effects. Later, the company's achievements were involved in the filming of such blockbusters as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Animatronics
How do special effects in movies make fantastic creatures seem real to the viewer? This is achieved through the use of animatronics. The essence of technology is the preparation of robotic models of moving objects. The idea was first implemented by Steven Spielberg during the filming of the picture "Jurassic Park" back in 1993. Here, only a small part of the scenes with the participation of dinosaurs was created through the use of computer graphics. The director emphasized the use of animatronics and the shooting of people in animal costumes.
Painted scenery
At the beginning of the last century, cinema began to resort widely to a technique known as matte painting. At that time, computer graphics did not yet exist. Therefore, the background, which was used when shooting films, artists had to draw by hand. The task of the animators was to prepare the backgrounds, which organically combined with props and did not come into dissonance with the images of the actors.
The technology for creating hand-drawn decorations was actively used until the end of the 90s. Today, such a method is resorted to less and less. Indeed, matte painting was replaced by digital special effects.
Motion capture
How do special effects in the movies? Today, motion capture is one of the most popular techniques for filming movies. The essence of technology is as follows. The performer of the role wears a special costume, covered with numerous sensors. The latter enter information about the movements of a person into a computer. Thanks to the received data, a moving three-dimensional model is created on the screen.
For the first time, motion capture technology was successfully implemented when filming the first part of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The character Golum, in the role of the famous British actor Andy Serkis, actively interacted with the environment and other heroes precisely thanks to motion capture. Each scene with the participation of the artist was simultaneously filmed by more than a dozen cameras. Further, on the basis of the resulting image, a single three-dimensional model was created that realistically conveyed not only the actor’s body movements, but also live facial expressions.
A new breakthrough in the development of technology took place during the filming of the blockbuster "Avatar" directed by James Cameron. To create the most believable characters, facial expressions of the actors' faces, the movements of their bodies and sound were recorded simultaneously. Thus, the creators of the picture managed for the first time in the history of cinema to create truly realistic computer characters. An example of how such special effects were implemented in the movie, before and after, can be seen in the photo below.
Bullet time
At one time, the truly unique, innovative special effects in the cinema were realized by the Wachowski brothers - directors of the cult blockbuster Matrix. Among the dozens of original decisions that the creators of the picture turned to during filming, the technique known as Bullet Time (bullet time) deserves special attention. The film's directors installed dozens of cameras on the site. The latter simultaneously shot a person in motion from a variety of angles. Thus, the viewer had the impression that the operator was moving around the actor while he was trying to evade the bullet in the fall. Later, similar special effects in the movie were repeatedly used by other directors.
Computer graphics
The first absolutely computer character appeared on the screen in 1985 in the movie “Young Sherlock Holmes”. The creators of the painting took more than six months to prepare the model of the ghostly knight, which consisted of fragments of church stained glass.
Modern software allows you to implement sophisticated computer images of absolutely any character. Many decorations are created thanks to chromakey - filming episodes on a green background. Such special effects in the movie make it possible to finish all kinds of backgrounds behind the actors already at the stage of editing and post-processing of the tape.
A vivid example of the use of the "green screen" is the picture "Sin City". In the presented film, absolutely all scenes were shot against such a background, and the scenery is the result of the implementation of modern computer graphics.