Special effects and Graphics
The age of special effects has changed entirely across the century, from Cgi, to Model animation, we have seen various different graphics not just to meet the genre, but to attracts the eyes of all cultures.
So How did it all start off then?
During the middle 19th century a guy called Oscar invented a form of special effects called the "trick photograph" by combing photographs from different cultures in order to create some sort of illusion.
In the the Late 19th century, a director called Alfred Clark created what is now known as the first-ever stop-motion picture special effect. While filming a re-enactment of the beheading of Queen Mary, Clark instructed an actor to step up to the block in Mary's costume. As the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clarke stopped the camera, had all of the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the actor's place, restarted filming, and allowed the executioner to bring the axe down, slicing the dummy's head. This was the first ever piece of dramatic special affects that enhanced the narrative.
A year later "1896" This then became a Visual Phenomenon, as a French Magician discovered the same technique, and realised that it could be used to change the locations and character styles entirely for example ; a truck to turn into a hearse, pedestrians to change direction, and men turn into women.
In the early 19th century (1914) this technique called "Stop Trick", was in popular demand as a French director was inspired by these techniques, as he created over 500 films, his most famous one called Le Voyage dans la lune which included techniques such as live action, animation and miniature painting work.
Moving across the years, film exposure was invented to change the colours of the slides in order to contrast the image from black to white or vice versa.
During early 1920, the special effects were the improved by Norman Dawn who installed the Matte shot. The original matte shot had pieces of cardboard that were used block the exposure of the slides, which would be exposed later. Dawn mixed this technique with the "glass shot". Rather than using cardboard to block the film exposure, Dawn just painted it black to prevent any light from entering the film. From the a single frame is then projected onto an easel, where the matte is then drawn. By creating an image on to the film it made it easier to create an accurate shape and perspective.
Around the mid 1920's this technique was improved bu the film industry in order to make it more successful. Rear Projection was a technique used to alter the theme of backgrounds and the characters itself ;instituting moving pictures to create moving backgrounds. Life-casting of faces was imported from traditional mask-making. Fantastic masks could be created which fit the actor perfectly. horror film mask-making followed closely. For the first time, we being able to distinguish different genres by just analysing the special effects.
Later were finally seeing the stop motion being introduced through animation, creating the illusion of motion as this was accomplished through drawing and with three-dimensional miniatures.
If one film could be said to have established a new high-bench mark for special effects, it would be 1968's : A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, who assembled his own effects team (Douglas Trumbull, Tom Howard, Con Pedersen and Wally Veevers) rather than use an in-house effects unit. In this film, the small objects were highly detailed and carefully framed for a sense of realism.
Star wars continued this phenomenon in 1977, with amazing special effects, it was the first film with a computer-controlled camera rig called the "Dykstraflex" that allowed precise fluid camera motion, improving travelling-matte compositing.
In 1993, The introduction of computer generated technology changed the movie industry for every, this new change sparked off the cross bewteen live action and animation, which proved award winning success, films like Toy Story, Lord of the rings and the Star wars prequel trilogy also the award winning matrix.
The film Happy Feet, had a major impact on the graphics and special effects of that time, the film appeared to be mainly cgi or animation, however certain dramatic scenes saw the introduction. Such as weather( background) or when the penguins are kept in captive by the humans. This enhanced the themes of the film and genre has well, also it bring a sense of verisimilitude.
Technological convergence has had a big impact on the way we view and also on the way we manipulate media, for example different sound affects have merged within visual effects to accurately adjust the theme and how the specific piece of media (usually a film) is represented. It also helps industrys to gain more credibility and also makes it easier for company to portray their ideology.
This therefore affects their audience, before companies could only target certain audiences, but now the new media technologies such as 3D or fluid tape can enhance realism and cancel out flashes and blurring. In affect It turns target audiences from Niche to mainstream.
So How did it all start off then?
During the middle 19th century a guy called Oscar invented a form of special effects called the "trick photograph" by combing photographs from different cultures in order to create some sort of illusion.
In the the Late 19th century, a director called Alfred Clark created what is now known as the first-ever stop-motion picture special effect. While filming a re-enactment of the beheading of Queen Mary, Clark instructed an actor to step up to the block in Mary's costume. As the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clarke stopped the camera, had all of the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the actor's place, restarted filming, and allowed the executioner to bring the axe down, slicing the dummy's head. This was the first ever piece of dramatic special affects that enhanced the narrative.
A year later "1896" This then became a Visual Phenomenon, as a French Magician discovered the same technique, and realised that it could be used to change the locations and character styles entirely for example ; a truck to turn into a hearse, pedestrians to change direction, and men turn into women.
In the early 19th century (1914) this technique called "Stop Trick", was in popular demand as a French director was inspired by these techniques, as he created over 500 films, his most famous one called Le Voyage dans la lune which included techniques such as live action, animation and miniature painting work.
Moving across the years, film exposure was invented to change the colours of the slides in order to contrast the image from black to white or vice versa.
During early 1920, the special effects were the improved by Norman Dawn who installed the Matte shot. The original matte shot had pieces of cardboard that were used block the exposure of the slides, which would be exposed later. Dawn mixed this technique with the "glass shot". Rather than using cardboard to block the film exposure, Dawn just painted it black to prevent any light from entering the film. From the a single frame is then projected onto an easel, where the matte is then drawn. By creating an image on to the film it made it easier to create an accurate shape and perspective.
Around the mid 1920's this technique was improved bu the film industry in order to make it more successful. Rear Projection was a technique used to alter the theme of backgrounds and the characters itself ;instituting moving pictures to create moving backgrounds. Life-casting of faces was imported from traditional mask-making. Fantastic masks could be created which fit the actor perfectly. horror film mask-making followed closely. For the first time, we being able to distinguish different genres by just analysing the special effects.
Later were finally seeing the stop motion being introduced through animation, creating the illusion of motion as this was accomplished through drawing and with three-dimensional miniatures.
If one film could be said to have established a new high-bench mark for special effects, it would be 1968's : A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, who assembled his own effects team (Douglas Trumbull, Tom Howard, Con Pedersen and Wally Veevers) rather than use an in-house effects unit. In this film, the small objects were highly detailed and carefully framed for a sense of realism.
Star wars continued this phenomenon in 1977, with amazing special effects, it was the first film with a computer-controlled camera rig called the "Dykstraflex" that allowed precise fluid camera motion, improving travelling-matte compositing.
In 1993, The introduction of computer generated technology changed the movie industry for every, this new change sparked off the cross bewteen live action and animation, which proved award winning success, films like Toy Story, Lord of the rings and the Star wars prequel trilogy also the award winning matrix.
The film Happy Feet, had a major impact on the graphics and special effects of that time, the film appeared to be mainly cgi or animation, however certain dramatic scenes saw the introduction. Such as weather( background) or when the penguins are kept in captive by the humans. This enhanced the themes of the film and genre has well, also it bring a sense of verisimilitude.
Technological convergence has had a big impact on the way we view and also on the way we manipulate media, for example different sound affects have merged within visual effects to accurately adjust the theme and how the specific piece of media (usually a film) is represented. It also helps industrys to gain more credibility and also makes it easier for company to portray their ideology.
This therefore affects their audience, before companies could only target certain audiences, but now the new media technologies such as 3D or fluid tape can enhance realism and cancel out flashes and blurring. In affect It turns target audiences from Niche to mainstream.
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