Identifying films from shots
A trip to the moon (1902)
Director – George Melies
- One of the first films with visual effects and special effects
- Stop motion animation
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Director – Stanley Kubrick
- Kubrick various visual effect techniques to create the illusion of space
- Became famous for its effects
Luxo Jr
Director – John Lasseter
- Movie regarded as a breakthrough in the computer animation industry
- first 3d rendered animation film
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Director – Don Chaffey
- Made using stop motion animation and was very advanced for its age
Tron Legacy (2010)
Director – Joseph Kosinski
- Young animator named Steve Lisberger first pitched this film by creating a 32 second preview with abstract blocky computer generated vehicles
Terminator 2 (1991)
Director – James Cameron
Favorite Special Effects Shot
h Jurassic Park
- Animatronic no CGI used
- In the entire duration of the film only 6 minutes of CGI was used.
Invisible VFX VS Spectacular VFX
Invisible Effects used in Maze Runner
Here, Invisible effects are used to turn something plain and simple into something with more depth. In this case the ‘maze’ in Maze Runner was merely just a wall with green screen and then later edited using CGI to create the maze. This is an invisible VFX as it is not so obvious that its computer generated and its not an immediate guess since a fairly realistic background.
Spectacular Effects used in Maze Runner
A good example of Spectacular Effects being used is the digital creation of the ‘griever’ from Maze Runner. The creature only exists in this world and has been completely imagined by the creators of the story to create the antagonist of the film.
The difference between these two examples is merely that one effect is a lot more obvious than the other in terms of acknowledging reality
Spectacular VFX are evidently easier for viewers to spot and acknowledge the fantasy which can be used to the advantage of the creators as this allows for feelings of excitement from the viewers
The Seduction of Reality Interpretation
The introduction of digital visual effects in cinema marked a revolutionary shift in the film industry, forever altering the way we experience movies and the boundaries of cinematic storytelling. This transformation was akin to a seduction of reality, as it blurred the lines between what was real and what was computer-generated, captivating audiences with its immersive allure. This encourages viewers to see fictitious events that, as humans, we will never be able to see but that are rendered scientifically accurate by using real-life principles, producing an all-around realistic impression.
Jurassic Park, being one of the most commonly noted films for its unique digital effect technologies, used a combination of animatronics and digital animation which shocked yet interested film lovers and opened up the chapter to fictional creatures acting realistically alongside real-life actors. This was a breakthrough as viewers got the chance to see the impossible in such a realistic manner for the first time in film history.
Before the digital era, practical effects and traditional methods limited filmmakers’ ability to create fantastical worlds and surreal experiences. However, digital visual effects unleashed a new realm of possibilities, inviting viewers into the imagination of the film makers. From epic battles in Middle-earth to the dystopian landscapes of Blade Runner, digital effects allowed filmmakers to craft intricate and visually stunning narratives that would have been impossible to achieve otherwise.
Film researcher Tom Gunning wrote an influential essay titled “The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde” in 1986. This paper established the notion of the “cinema of attractions” and has since grown to be a key reference for those studying avant-garde and early cinema.
Avant Garde is a genre of art – an experimental way of creating art – which usually are ideologically unacceptable to the society the artist was from. Avant garde artists promoted progressive and radical politics and advocate for societal reform with and through their works of art. Futurism was an avant-garde movement that involved innovation, technology. A well known artist in the futursit movement is Fillipo Tommaso. He expressed a philosphy that was a rejection of the past and a celebration of sp3eed, machinery and industry. He also advocated for the modernization of Italy
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The story of computer graphics
Computer generated imagery didnt just have an effect on film-makers but also scientists as it was used as a tool to be able to visualize their studies .Computer Graphics was, in fact, first created not for films but for government and research centers such as Boeing in the 1950s. These tools were then later modified into major motion pictures in the 70s.
Early developments. In 1857, Oscar Rejlander created the world’s first “special effects” image by combining different sections of 32 negatives into a single image, making a montaged combination print. In 1895, Alfred Clark created what is commonly accepted as the first-ever motion picture special effect
The first creation of visual effects began in 1857 when Oscar Rejlander combined different sections of 32 negatives into a single image resulting in a montage print. This led him to creating what we call nowadays the first- ever motion picture special effect.
George Lucas and His Influence on VFX
George Lucas was fond of adventure stories and through this his interest for film making grew. He had a significant impact on the history of visual effects in the film industry. Her is best known for creating the Star Wars franchise, which is revolutionized the use of special effects.
In the 70s, when Lucas was working on the original Star Wars film, visual effects in Hollywood was somewhat different to what we see today. In ILM, Lucas and his team were the ones who made the advancements in the field.
In conclusion, George Lucas has had a significant influence on the development of visual effects, encouraging the use of cutting-edge tools and methods to provide visually spectacular and engrossing motion picture experiences.
Lucas pushed the boundaries of technology and through this was able to introduced new techniques to create the iconic visuals in Star Wars. One example was the development of the motion control camera system , used to film complex space battles. Motion control cameras are used to capture precise camera movements. It is a camera programmed to repeat the same movement repeatedly to produce the illusion of continuous motion. The first time this was ever used was in Star Wars 1977
Principles of VFX – Noor Achour
Annotations of 6 Readings
Reading 1 – Through the Looking Glass
Through the Looking Glass: Philosophical Toys and Digital Visual Effects by Stephen Prince
Harvard Reference: Prince, S. (2010) Through the Looking Glass: Philosophical Toys and Digital Visual Effects. Projections, 4(2), pp. 19-40.
True realism cannot be achieved without a scientific foundation for visual effects. This is called perceptual realism, as described by Stephen Prince, the ability to create a perceptual experience that closely aligns with our real-world perception. This means that in order to create a realistic world through the art of visual effects, one must have a scientific grasp of, for example, the behaviour of light, sound, or the physics that accompany the movement of water, fire, or even humans. By doing so, you a a film producer, are able to simulate or evoke sensations and perceptions akin to those we experience in reality, enhancing the audience’s immersion and connection with the story and achieveing full captivation. An interesting example of this, which Prince explains is Jurassic World. Evidently, dinosaurs are not beings that human are familiar with livng amongst making them creatures that are overall unrealistic and inaccurately depicted. But this is where perceptual realism comes in. According to Prince, the realism of dinosaurs can be achieved by applying their scientific characteristics to the real world. The fact that these scientifically accurate creatures can act so convincingly around real-life actors gives the show a sense of realism and gives viewers confidence that, despite the fact that what they are seeing is fictitious and unrealistic, it still follows the laws of physics, making it much more convincing.
Reading 2 – Seduction Of Reality
Prince, S. (2012) Digital Visual Effects in Cinema : The Seduction of Reality. London: Rutgers University Press.
The introduction of digital visual effects in cinema marked a revolutionary shift in the film industry, forever altering the way we experience movies and the boundaries of cinematic storytelling. This transformation was akin to a seduction of reality, as it blurred the lines between what was real and what was computer-generated, captivating audiences with its immersive allure. This encourages viewers to see fictitious events that, as humans, we will never be able to see but that are rendered scientifically accurate by using real-life principles, producing an all-around realistic impression. Jurassic Park, being one of the most commonly noted films for its unique digital effect technologies, used a combination of animatronics and digital animation which shocked yet interested film lovers and opened up the chapter to fictional creatures acting realistically alongside real-life actors. This was a breakthrough as viewers got the chance to see the impossible in such a realistic manner for the first time in film history. Before the digital era, practical effects and traditional methods limited filmmakers’ ability to create fantastical worlds and surreal experiences. However, digital visual effects unleashed a new realm of possibilities, inviting viewers into the imagination of the film makers. From epic battles in Middle-earth to the dystopian landscapes of Blade Runner, digital effects allowed filmmakers to craft intricate and visually stunning narratives that would have been impossible to achieve otherwise.
Reading 3 The Cinema Of Attractions – Tom Gunning
Gunning, T. (2006). The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded. Amsterdam University Press. (pp. 381-388).
The excerpt “The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde” delves into the essence of early cinema, focusing on the concept of “cinema of attractions” coined by film sholar Tom Gunning. Gunning redefines early films from the late 19th and early 20th centuries as “cinema of attractions” to emphasize their primary goal of captivating audiences through spectacle and novelty rather than narrative storytelling.
The text highlights that these early films prioritized direct engagement with the audience, relying on visual thrills, special effects, and novelty acts to create an immediate and visceral impact. Unlike later narrative-driven cinema, the primary goal of these early films was to astonish and engage viewers through visual stimulation and spectacle.The reading explores how this approach transformed the relationship between the viewer and the screen. Instead of passive consumption, audiences actively engaged with these films, experiencing a sense of wonder and excitement through the direct presentation of images and illusions.
Furthermore, the avant-garde movement embraced and expanded upon this concept, experimenting with unconventional techniques, abstraction, and artistic expressions. Avant-garde filmmakers sought to push the boundaries of traditional cinema by challenging perceptions and provoking emotional and intellectual responses from audiences. Overall, this excerpt lays the foundation for understanding early cinema as a platform that prioritized visual spectacle, engagement, and the immediate impact on the viewer, ultimately shaping the evolution of filmmaking and spectatorship.
Reading 4 Lev Manovich What is Digital Cinema
Cinema and animation historically use techniques key for the progression of today’s media and its shift to digital media. Though both forms of media differ in some ways, the key distinction is the photographic notion of cinema creation by capturing reality on film, whereas animation is more discrete with a focus on a graphic visual language. The shift to digital media nonetheless affects ‘filmmaking as a whole’ with the increased use of special effects and replacement with digital technology in recent years, therefore redefining the logical process of filmmaking. With digital filmmaking comes various key principles. Initially, live-action was considered as the only role with possible material in filmmaking, though with the introduction of 3-D animation, it has been ‘displaced from its role.’ Secondly, the alteration of pixels enables the reduction of live-action footage to be of the same level of any other graphic, due to its digitisation permitting the loss of ‘its privileged indexical relationship’ as it lacks distinction between images. Thirdly, live-action footage has become raw material that can be manipulated and composited and authorises filmmakers to work with ‘elastic reality’ as evident in Forest Gump’s feather scene.
Regarding the tools of editing and special effects, both have morphed into one activity, as there lacks a sensitivity towards the distinctions of time and scale thus granting an easier processing of the images. With the construction of the final images and footage from a range of elements, this allows us to define digital cinema as ‘animation which uses live action footage as one of its many elements’. Intervention in production through film manipulation becomes the next foreseen stages of post-production, as final footage is not just where it ends, hence straying away from the traditional norm of filmmaking. To conceptualise further, key movie examples include Apollo 13 and Zabriskie Point. A key analogy to further portray digital media is paintings and photographs. As films are a transformed series of photographs, the digitalisation of films somewhat creates it to be a series of paintings, as described as ‘inherent mutability of a digital image’ by William J. Mitchell. This sophistication prompts the ‘painting’ of thousands of frames by hand, as evident by the alteration of President Kennedy’s lips in Forest Gump. It is key to note that this is ‘indistinguishable in appearance from live photography’. Furthermore, the various techniques such as composition and 3-D animation are radical but not in terms of being able to alter the preservation of traditional cinematic language where the classic realistic style of cinema is still clung onto its ‘unique cinema-effect’. Metz describes there to be dependency ‘upon narrative form, the reality effect, and cinema’s architectural arrangement all working together’ for this effect. Metz thus expects an abandoning of the manufactured reality effect, portrayed by the electronic media transformation of the 1980s and the introduction of music videos, thus abandoning cinematic realism for a non-linear narrative. Conclusively, a shift to digital media is transformational, whereby composition and manipulation to frames has enabled a multifaceted approach.
Reading 5 – George Lucas discovers computer graphics , Alvy Ray Smith
This reading talked about the significant moment when the legendary filmmamker George Lucas recognised the potential of computer graphics in revolutionising the field of film making. Written by Alvy Ray Smith, an important figure in computer graphics and co founder of Pixar, he provides a first hand narrative that explains to us the important connection the film industry has with computer technology.
The author begins to speak about how George Lucas hired him to build three specific pieces of equipment : A digital film printer( which was later known as a ‘Pixar’ , a digital audio synthesizer and a digitally controlled video editor. He states throughout that he belived that George in fact did not understand raster graphics.
He then goes on to speak about ILM and how the idea of wanting to implement computer graphics was introduced. Athough the request was completely alien to ILM as they’ve never used it worked with it before, fortunately there was an employee who happened to have used an Apple computer and understood computer graphics to an extent. He spent all night coming up with ideas for a 60 second shot using computer graphic in Star trek 2 and luckily for him they accepted his ideas.After this, he states things only progressed and he was finally able to achieve his goal and produce a completetly generated film after 20 years.
Reading 6 Uncanny Valley
Mori, M. (2012). ‘The Uncanny Valley’. IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE. (pp. 98-100).
I learned an intriguing statistic when reading Masihiro Mori’s The Uncanny Valley: people are more likely to develop a connection to a robot or toy that resembles them, however this emotion can be swiftly replaced by terror if something is deemed to be of and a strange but common experience accompanies it widely known as “the uncanny valley”. This is a bizarre phenomenon that describes the uneasy feeling that is felt when one comes across a humanoid or computer generated figure that almost exactly resembles a human being but isnt quite there yet.
Similar experiences arise when someone sees a prosthetic of any kind and initially believes it to be real, only to quickly understand that it is only a prosthetic, causes a sense of discomfort. As we recognise that the fake human is not a human being and is not one of us, Mori explains, we lose our sense of familiarity and comfort with them, which causes feelings of anxiety.
Following Mori’s explanation of the uncanny valley’s fundamentals to his readers, he then interprets the connection between the uncanny valley and movement. He states the importance of realistic movement and how the realism of the robot is dependant on this. He discusses the importance of smooth, natural movement to bridge the gap between artificial entities and humans, minimising the uncanny valley effect.
The more significant and inexplicable query is: Why were we endowed with this particular feeling as humans? Both Mori and I predict that it is a natural defence mechanism for people to defend themselves against threats that we, as humans, are unable to detect since they are not like us.
DISNEY AND THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION
SQUASH AND STRETCH
Squash and stretch is essential in making the animation look somewhat real, this is done by applying the basic laws of physics to the characters and objects that are being animated. It gives the character/object a sense of weight and flexibility. For example, when animating a bouncing ball, as it hits the ground the ball will be squashed flat and then widened.
ANTICIPATION
When a person is about to do something they do some sort of action in preparation like for example when someone is about to speak they usually take a breath or do some sort of facial expression. In roder to give the animation a sense of realism the same thing will be applied there.
STAGING
Placement of the characters, background and foreground elements, the camera angle. Staging is very important when it comes to grabbing the viewers attention. If you place something directly in front of the camera in the middle, evidently it is more likely to intrigue the viewer.
STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE
FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION
SLOW IN, SLOW OUT
This is about gaining momentum and then speeding up using more frames at the beginning and end of the action sequence. This is seen, for example, when a car starts up and stops. It begins moving slowly and then gets faster. The more frames in a sequence the slower the movement and less frames equals faster movement.
ARCS
When creating the effect of limbs moving or kicking a ball, there are movements that follow natural arcs that create fluidity and realism to avoid unnatural animation.
SECONDARY ACTION
TIMING
Timing is about assessing your characters size and weight to relation to its surroundings. This is very important in terms of creating realism. If the character is lightweight then their movements are going to be a comparatively lighter than a heavier one.
EXAGGERATION
Its important for animation to be realistic in terms of aligning with the laws of physics but when it comes to the character themselves it doesn’t always have to be realistic. For example, its helpful to apply some exaggeration of
SOLID DRAWING
When animating, its essential to get your drawings precise and looking 3d by giving them weight and volume. A good understanding of weight, balance, gravity, light and shadows is crucial to making them feel more 3d.
APPEAL
The relatability and charisma of a character is important in order to create an intriguing memorable character when animating.
12 Principles of Animation | Basic Animation Principles | Adobe
Understand Disney’s 12 principles of animation | Creative Bloq
Week 8 Compositing
Digital Compositing
The digital process of putting together multiple images to make a final image.
Physical Compositing
The process of separating individual parts of an image to place them with partial models, glass paintings, or other partial elements to create the appearance of a single image.
This is one of the earliest techniques.
Matte Painting
A piece of artwork used to fill in a part of a scene that cannot be photographed. This allows filmmaker to create the illusion of an background that is not actually there.Matte paintings are composited info film using a variety of techniques, but they are typically used to produce larger areas.
What are the Different Types of Compositing Techniques in Film? (beverlyboy.com)
Maze Runner Compositing Example
This scene is one of the opening scenes of Maze Runner Death Cure and involves the characters taking part in a car/train chas. As seen in the images, not much of the scene is actually real apart from the character climbing something that looks like a side of the train. Filming a stunt like this is evidently dangerous, risky and expensive and is more convenient and efficient to be made using composites and matte paintings. The car is CG along with the environment.
This is another scene of the
- What different elements of the composite can you spot?
- Why has the shot been built in this way?
- Why are those decisions being made?
ASSESSMENT 2
