Movie Special Effects

The first thing you need to understand is that a special effects shot doesn't rely on just one single technique but a host of effects techniques working together to create the illusion. There is a wide range of effects techniques used in the industry. You have front / back projection, compositing, cel animation, clay animation, computer animation, motion control, rotoscoping, stop-motion & go-motion animation, puppetry, pyrotechnics, miniature / model making, matte paintings, makeup effects, stunt effects, sound effects and a host of other effects techniques. The list keeps growing as time goes by, and sometimes older techniques give way to newer and more sophisticated ones.

If you want to know more about the different techniques used in the industry, you can get my Free E-Book titled The Top 25 FAQs on Movie Special Effects. It covers the most pertinent questions that deal with the various effects used in Hollywood like...
* What is meant by the term 'Movie Special Effects'?
* What are the various types of movie special effects?
* Which is the most popular and widely used effects technique?
* Which is the best way to learn special effects?
* How does one get into the special effects industry?

There is no particular effect that can be singled out as the most used technique. Every single effects technique has an important role to play in the industry. But the one Fx technique that can come close to being labeled as the 'most widely used' is compositing. Compositing is the technique whereby two shots are superimposed one over the other to form a composite shot. This technique has been used for more than half a century and has survived all technological innovations.

A common example is our everyday weather forecast on TV. The weather map is a separate computer generated shot onto which the announcer is super-imposed, making it look as if he/she is standing in front of a giant TV screen flashing different weather images.

By separating the foreground and the background into distinct layers, we can manage each layer with much more control. In fact this technique gives rise to enormous possibilities in the special effects realm. If a scene has actors in the foreground and some scenery or buildings in the background, the two can be shot separately and then composited together. Now you might wonder why we would want to do that instead of simply shooting them together. You see, if we can separate the two, then we can shoot the actors even inside a studio and then use another real footage for the background. You don't have to transport the actors to the location for the shoot. You can also use pictures or computer generated environments to place your actors in.

Even if the actors are shot on location, a lot of additional detail can be added to the shot using compositing. These days, so much foreground and background details are added to the original shot that it totally transforms the look of the final shot. For instance, actors can be shot in a wilderness setting, but vegetation and lakes or rivers can be digitally added to the scene. It is no longer necessary for location scouts to search high and low for the perfect setting. They just need something vaguely resembling the required background. The rest of the details can always be added using CGI (computer generated imagery) in post production- if the budget can afford it, that is.

Of course, movie special effects have evolved over the years to what they are now. Every small step in the evolution process was an important building block towards adding more realism to the shots. The work of the early pioneers in special effects is as important and impressive as the innovations brought about by the latest computerized techniques used in today's movies.

Outstanding artists like Stuart Blackton and Winsor McCay started improvising on animation techniques and thrilled the world with their short animated films back in the early 1900's. In fact "The Sinking of The Lusitania" by McCay is still an amazing animated short to watch today. Then Earl Hurd invented Cel Animation and took animation to the next level. Some animators, instead of using drawings, used clay models or puppets and photographed them in progressive stages of movement to create their cartoon films. So cel animation and model animation evolved almost simultaneously. This technique was pioneered by Willis O'Brien, who in 1914 made a 1-minute short film about a caveman and a dinosaur, "The Dinousaur and The Missling Link". Ray Harryhausen took off from where O'Brien left and created some of the most memorable stop motion films made by Hollywood. To see the work of these early pioneers, visit this early special effects page.

If you're interested in trying your hand at special effects, there are a number of helpful resources in the form of books, videos and online tutorials. All you need is some dedication and effort on your part to use these materials to hone your skills. You can get started with basic equipment that you might already have at home. To setup a simple home studio where you can both shoot as well as edit your films, all you need is a simple camcorder and a computer. With just these two tools, you can create pretty stunning movies to impress your friends and family.

Once you have the know-how, next you would need the necessary equipment to create awesome special effects movies. Just check out this list of tools that you would need in your own home studio. First you would need a good camcorder to shoot your movies with. Many people need help in choosing the right kind of camcorder for their home studio. The following video give you a few hints to help you get started.