Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX , SPFX , or just FX ) are visual illusions or tricks used in film, television, theater, video games and simulator industry to simulate the events imagined in the story or virtual world.
Special effects are traditionally divided into categories of optical effects and mechanical effects . With the advent of digital filmmaking, the distinction between special effects and visual effects has grown, with the latter referring to digital post-production while "special effects" refer to mechanical and optical effects.
Mechanical effects (also called practical or physical effects) are usually achieved during live action shooting. These include the use of mechanical props, scenery, scale models, animatronics, fireworks and atmospheric effects: creating physical winds, rain, fog, snow, clouds, making cars seem to drive by themselves and blow up buildings, etc. Mechanical effects are also often incorporated into design and cosmetology. For example, a set can be built with a door or dividing wall to enhance a fight scene, or a prosthetic makeup can be used to make the actor look like a non-human being.
The optical effect (also called photographic effect) is a technique in which a picture or frame of a film is made in photography, either "in camera" using multiple exposures, mattes or SchÃÆ'¼fftan or post-production processes using optical printers. Optical effects may be used to place actors or sets with different backgrounds.
Since the 1990s, computer-generated imagery (CGI) has been at the forefront of special effects technologies. This gives filmmakers greater control, and allows many effects to be achieved more safely and reliably and - along with technological improvements - at a lower cost. As a result, many optical and mechanical effects techniques have been replaced by CGI.
Video Special effect
History of development
Initial development
In 1857, Oscar Rejlander created the world's first "special effects film" by incorporating different sections of 30 negatives into a single image, creating a montage-in-mold combination. In 1895, Alfred Clark created what was generally accepted as the special effects of the first film ever. While filming the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, Clark instructs an actor to step into the block in Mary's costume. When the executioner carried an ax on his head, Clark stopped the camera, made all the actors frozen, and told the person who plays Mary down from the scene. He put Mary's doll in the actor's place, started the shoot again, and let the executioner carry his ax down, cut off the doll's head. Such a technique will dominate the production of special effects for a century.
It was not just the first use of the craze in the cinema, it was also the first photography typography that was only possible in a movie, the "stop trick". Georges MÃÆ'Ã… © liÃÆ'¨s accidentally found the same "stop trick". According to MÃÆ'Ã… © liÃÆ'¨s, his camera stalled while filming a street scene in Paris. When he filters the film, he finds that "stop the trick" has caused a truck to turn into a hearse, a pedestrian to change direction, and a man to turn into a woman. MÃÆ'Â Â © liÃÆ'¨s, stage manager at Robert-Houdin Theater, was inspired to develop a series of over 500 short films, between 1914, in the process of developing or inventing techniques such as multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, soluble, and painted colors with hand. Because of its ability to manipulate and alter reality with cinematography, productive MÃÆ'Â Â © liÃÆ'¨s is sometimes referred to as "Cinemagician." His most famous film, Le Voyage dans la lune (1902), a strange parody of Jules Verne From Earth to the Moon , features a combination of action and animation, and also combines the work large miniature and matte paintings.
From 1910 to 1920, a major innovation in special effects was an improvement on matte shooting by Norman Dawn. With original matte images, pieces of cardboard are placed to block the exposure of the film, which will be exposed later. Dawn combines this technique with "glass shots." Instead of using cardboard to block certain areas of film exposure, Dawn only painted certain areas of black to prevent the light from exposing the film. From the partially exposed film, one frame is then projected onto the horses, where the matte is then drawn. By creating a matte from a direct image of the film, it becomes very easy to paint a picture with the right respect for scale and perspective (the main flaw of a glass shot). Dawn's technique became a textbook for matte images because of the natural images he made.
During the 1920s and 1930s, special effects techniques were enhanced and perfected by the film industry. Many techniques - such as the SchÃÆ'¼fftan process - are the illusory modifications of the theater (such as ghost pepper) and still photography (such as double exposure and matte composition). Rear projection is a refinement of the use of painted backgrounds in the theater, replacing moving images to create a moving background. Lifecasting faces imported from traditional mask mask. Along with the progress of makeup, fantastic masks can be made that match the actors perfectly. As advanced materials science, the horror movie maskmaking followed closely.
Some techniques soon developed, such as "stop trick", completely original for the film. Animation, creating the illusion of motion, is achieved by drawing (especially by Winsor McCay in Gertie the Dinosaur ) and with a three-dimensional model (mainly by Willis O'Brien at The Lost World and King Kong ). Many studios set up special "special effects" departments at home, which are responsible for almost all aspects of optical and mechanical hoax of moving images.
Also, the challenge of simulating spectacle in the movement encourages the development of miniature usage. Navy battles can be described with models in the studio. Tanks and aircraft can be flown (and fall) without risk of life and limbs. The most impressive, miniature and matte paintings can be used to describe a world that never existed. The film Fritz Lang Metropolis is a spectacular early special effect, with the use of innovative miniature, matte painting, SchÃÆ'¼fftan process, and complex composites.
An important innovation in special effects photography is the development of optical printers. Basically, an optical printer is a projector that leads to a camera lens, and was developed to make a copy of the film for distribution. Until Linwood G. Dunn refines the design and use of optical printers, the shooting effect is done as an effect in the camera. Dunn points out that it can be used to combine images in new ways and create new illusions. One of the earliest works for Dunn was Orson Welles' Citizen Kane , where locations like Xanadu (and some of Gregg Toland's deep focus focus) were originally created by Dunn's optical printer.
Color Era
The development of color photography requires the refinement of better effect techniques. Color allows the development of traveling matte techniques such as bluescreen and sodium vapor processes. Many films become markers in the achievement of special effects: The Forbidden Planet uses matte, animated, and miniature paintings to create a spectacular alien environment. In The Ten Commandments, Paramount John P. Fulton, ASC, doubled the extra crowds in the Exodus scene with his meticulous compositions, illustrating the massive construction of Rameses by model, and splitting the Red Sea in silence. an impressive combination of trip triples and a water tank. Ray Harryhausen extends the art of stop-motion animation with special compositing techniques to create spectacular fantasy adventures such as Jason and Argonauts (climax, sword battles with seven skeletons of animation, considered to be a landmark in special effects). Science fiction boom
Despite the 1950s and 1960s many newly developed special effects that would dramatically increase the level of realism that can be achieved in science fiction films.
If a film can be said to have set a new high-bench mark for a special effect, it would be 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey , directed by Stanley Kubrick, who assembled his own influence team (Douglas Trumbull). , Tom Howard, Con Pederson and Wally Veevers) rather than using in-house effect units. In this film, the miniature spacecraft is very detailed and photographed carefully for realistic depth of field. Shots from the spacecraft are combined through hand-drawn rotoscoping and careful motion control work, ensuring that the elements are incorporated precisely in the camera - a startling deterioration into the silent era, but with spectacular results. Background African scenery in the "Dawn of Man" sequence combined with soundstage photography through new front projection techniques. Scenes placed in a no-gravity environment are staged with hidden cables, shooting mirrors, and large-scale rotating devices. End, the voyage through the hallucinogenic scenery, invented by Douglas Trumbull using a new technique called slit-scan.
The 1970s gave two major changes in special securities trading. The first is the economy: during the industrial recession of the late 1960s and early 1970s, many studios closed their securities houses. Many technicians become freelancers or set up their own securities companies, sometimes specializing in certain techniques (optics, animations, etc.).
The second was precipitated by the success of the blockbuster of two science fiction and fantasy movies in 1977. George Lucas's Star Wars delivered in the era of a science fiction movie with expensive and impressive special effects. The watchdog of John Dykstra, U.S.C. and the crew developed many improvements in existing effects technologies. They developed a computer-controlled camera rig called "Dykstraflex" that allows repetition of the right camera movement, greatly facilitating the composition of a matte-trip. Film image degradation during composition is minimized by other innovations: Dykstraflex uses a VistaVision camera that shoots widescreen images horizontally along stock, uses far more movies per frame, and thin-emulsion films are used in the composition process. The effects crew assembled by Lucas and Dykstra dubbed Industrial Light & amp; Magic, and since 1977 has pioneered most of the effects innovations.
That same year, Steven Spielberg's movie Encicsters of the Third Kind proudly ends with an impressive special effect by veteran 2001 Douglas Trumbull's 2001 . In addition to developing his own motion control system, Trumbull also developed a technique to create a deliberate "beacon lens" (a form created by the reflection of light on the camera lens) to provide a flying saucer shape unimaginable by the film.
The success of these films, and others since then, has prompted massive studio investment in heavily impacted science fiction films. This has triggered the creation of many independent effects houses, remarkable levels of refinement of existing techniques, and the development of new techniques such as CGI. It is also encouraging in the industry a greater distinction between special effects and visual effects; the latter used to characterize post-production and optical work, while special effects are more often referring to regulated and mechanical effects.
Introduction of computer generated images (CGI)
The latest and deepest innovation in special effects is the development of computer-generated imagery, or CGI that has transformed almost every aspect of the movie's special effects. Digital composites allow for far more control and creative freedom than optical composites, and do not degrade images like analog (optical) processes. Digital imagery has enabled technicians to create detailed models, "paintings" matte, and even characters that are fully embodied by the flexibility of computer software.
Arguably the greatest and most spectacular use of CGI is in the creation of fictional images and fantasy characters, settings, and realistic objects. Images can be created on the computer using animated cartoon and animated models. The Last Starfighter (1984) uses a computer-generated spacecraft instead of a physical scale model. In 1993, stop-motion animators working on realistic dinosaurs from Steven Spielberg Jurassic Park have been retrained in the use of computer input devices. In 1995, films like Toy Story underscored that the distinction between live-action movies and animated films is no longer clear. Other notable examples include a character consisting of glass-stained glass splinters in Young Sherlock Holmes , a character changing shape in Willow , a water tentacle on The Abyss , Terminator T-1000 at Terminator 2: Judgment Day, robot troopers and fantastic creatures in Star Wars prequel trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Pandora's planet at Avatar .
Maps Special effect
Planning and using
Although most visual effects are successfully completed during postproduction, it should be carefully planned and choreographed in pre-production and production. A visual effects inspector usually engages with production from an early stage to work with the Director and all related personnel to achieve the desired effect.
Practical effects also require significant planning and coordination with players and production teams. The nature of the effects may result in situations where repeated due to errors, errors, or security issues incur significant costs, or is unlikely due to the destructive nature of their effects.
Direct special effects
Live special effects are effects used in front of a live audience, such as in the theater, sporting events, concerts and corporate events. Commonly used effect types include: fly effects, laser lighting, smoke and theatrical fog, CO 2 effects, and fireworks. Other atmospheric effects can be flame, confetti, bubbles, and snow.
Visual special effects techniques
Leading special securities company
Special special effects director
- Douglas Trumbull
- Tom Howard
- John Dykstra
- Ken Pepiot
Note
References
External links
- Video (03:04) - Evolution of Special Effects since 1878.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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