By: Izzy Kelly

The Live Stages Of special effects and the

movies

special effects The history of special effects begins even before the invention of the camera itself.

During the 1700s, magicians utilized many techniques to perform optical illusions and astound their audiences. These techniques formed the foundations of special effects. One of the most used effects in magic shows during this period was the summoning of the dead - spiritism. A small box with a light source and a semi-transparent slide was used to project images of historical figures onto columns of smoke or billowing cloth. This gave a ghostly motion to the image, frightening audiences to the point that several magicians were jailed for their satanic work.

The ancestor to the film projector, magic lanterns became very popular to illusionists during the 1790s.

See example below.

 In 1895, the first paid motion picture show was staged. Thirty-two years later, sound entered the picture, and as we headed through the mid-point of the 20th century, color and added

special effects found their way onto movie screens.

Cinématographe Lumière Poster from 1895

The invention of limelight (also known as the incandescent calcium oxide light) around 1820 provided a way to project much brighter images

from greater distances. This led to the use of magic lanterns for presentations and educational purposes. This changed the magic lantern

from a secret tool of specialists to a well-known instrument

The first theatrical spotlight invented by Thomas Drummond in 1816. Drummond’s light, which consisted of a block of calcium oxide heated to incandescence in jets of burning oxygen and hydrogen, provided a soft,

very brilliant light that could be directed and focused. It was first employed in a theatre in 1837 and was in wide use by the 1860s. Its intensity made it

useful for spotlighting and for the realistic simulation of effects such as sunlight and moonlight.

THOMAS DRUMMOND AND THE FIRST SPOTLIGHT

LIMELIGHT

PEPPER'S GHOSTAnother technique of early illusionists was the use of glass sheets as two-way mirrors. In an illusion that came to be known as "Pepper's Ghost", after John Henry Pepper, a member of the audience was turned into a skeleton and back. This was done by placing a large glass

sheet at a 45 degree angle between the audience and the stage, and adjusting the lighting so that that audience would either see THROUGH the glass to the person, or the REFLECTION

in the glass of a skeleton off stage. The lighting was faded in and out to make the transformation. This technique was adopted later in early films, and a horde of "ghost" movies

were created using two-way mirror techniques.

Robert W. Paul With a background in mechanical engineering and building

equipment, Robert W. Paul was commissioned to copy Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. Although he originally refused, he was convinced to undertake the project because Edison had failed to obtain an international patent. This gave Paul a legal market for his work. In 1896, he had devised and built a film projector, which he sold in large numbers due to the Lumieres' restricted sales. In 1897 he built Europe's first film studio, complete with trap doors, a hanging bridge and dolly track on which to move his cameras. In 1905, he shot the short film The Motorist, which pioneered several special effects techniques. The film was about a couple that drove so fast that they escaped the Earth's gravity and travelled through the solar system before returning home. Despite his short-lived success, he dropped all cinema activities in 1910, sold his studio, and burnt all of his film stock.

The 2011 film HUGO portrays this story as well

SPECIAL EFFECTS IN THE 20TH CENTURY

The greatest changes in the revolution of Special Effects happened in the 20th century, with computers. Computers helped revolutionized the world of Special Effects in movies. Now with computers we are able to create sceneries we would never think possible. With the help of computers we can create people, buildings, animals, monsters, aliens, and many other creations. Our creations in the computers can come out to life with a touch of a button. Special Effects have gone to the extreme with the use of computers. We could even build and re-sink the "Titanic" with the use of computers.

Some of the early pioneers for special effects, or "tricks" as they were originally called, were also magicians, machinists,

inventors, and prop builders. Their multiple talents were brought together to find new and interesting ways to use the motion picture

camera. Because the mere sight of moving pictures on a wall seemed like magic to those first audiences, it is not surprising that the first films were magical, whimsical and absurd. The magicians first viewed the cameras as another tool for their illusions, using the magic of film to enhance their own magic tricks. Audiences

quickly caught on to the methods of trick films, however, and film makers had to push harder and harder to find amazing visions for

their films. The magician/filmmakers were shortly made extinct by their own creations, however, as the magic of film held little need for actual illusionist talent. The illusions that required such talent

on stage could be produced by anyone on film. Only those magicians that could adapt to the new art form and make the shift

into special effects survived.

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• taitran.vn

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• http://utminers.utep.edu/lacarrera/history.htm

• http://articles.cnn.com/1998-07-10/entertainment/9807_10_ultimate.theater_1_movie-screens-movie-house-plush-stadium-seating?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ

• http://www.precinemahistory.net/1895.htm

• "Thomas Drummond". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 27 Jun. 2012<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/172097/Thomas-Drummond>.

• www1.chem.leeds.ac.uk

• http://entertainmentdesigner.com/history-of-theme-parks/the-enduring-illusion-of-peppers-ghost/