Tim Dirks' Visual and Special Effects Milestones
Created by johnnyg.
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From even its earliest days, films have used visual magic ("smoke and mirrors") to produce illusions and trick effects that have startled audiences. In fact, the phenomenon of persistence of vision (it was first described to some degree in 1824 by British physician Peter Mark Roget) is the reason why the human eye sees individual frames of a movie as smooth, flowing action when projected.
The earliest effects were produced within the camera (in-camera effects), such as simple jump-cuts or superimpositions, or were created by using miniatures, back projection, or matte paintings. Optical effects came slightly later, using film, light, shadow, lenses and/or chemical processes to produce the film effects. Film titles, fades, dissolves, wipes, blow ups, skip frames, bluescreen, compositing, double exposures, and zooms/pans are examples of various optical effects.
Cel animation, scale modeling, claymation, digital compositing, animatronics, use of prosthetic makeup, morphing, and modern computer-generated or computer graphics imagery (CGI) are just some of the more modern techniques that are widely used for creating incredible special or visual effects.
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14 new
A Railway Collision
1900 — a.k.a. A Railroad Wreck (Imitation), in 0 top lists Check -
15 new
Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost
1901, in 0 top lists Check -
30 new
Cabiria
1914, in 12 top lists Check -
32 new
The Miser's Reversion
1914, in 0 top lists Check -
33 new
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
1916, in 24 top lists Check -
34 new
The Gulf Between
1917, in 0 top lists Check -
37 new
The Toll of the Sea
1922, in 1 top list Check -
38 new
The Power of Love
1922, in 0 top lists Check -
39 new
The Ten Commandments
1923, in 5 top lists Check -
40 new
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried
1924, in 13 top lists Check -
44 new
Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ
1925 — a.k.a. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, in 6 top lists Check -
48 new
The Jazz Singer
1927, in 6 top lists Check -
49 new
Metropolis
1927, in 36 top lists Check -
50 new
Napoléon vu par Abel Gance
1927 — a.k.a. Napoleon, in 24 top lists Check -
51 new
Noah's Ark
1928, in 0 top lists Check -
53 new
Applause
1929, in 4 top lists Check -
57 new
City Streets
1931, in 3 top lists Check -
58 new
M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
1931 — a.k.a. M, in 35 top lists Check -
61 new
Deluge
1933, in 0 top lists Check -
62 new
The Invisible Man
1933, in 8 top lists Check -
68 new
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1939, in 4 top lists Check -
69 new
The Rains Came
1939, in 1 top list Check -
74 new
Citizen Kane
1941, in 39 top lists Check -
77 new
A Matter of Life and Death
1946, in 22 top lists Check -
78 new
Mighty Joe Young
1949, in 0 top lists Check -
79 new
Destination Moon
1950, in 1 top list Check -
80 new
The Day the Earth Stood Still
1951, in 12 top lists Check -
85 new
The Robe
1953, in 4 top lists Check -
90 new
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954, in 1 top list Check -
95 new
The Ten Commandments
1956, in 12 top lists Check -
106 new
A Clockwork Orange
1971, in 37 top lists Check -
109 new
Earthquake
1974, in 1 top list Check -
110 new
The Hindenburg
1975, in 0 top lists Check -
116 new
Barry Lyndon
1975, in 24 top lists Check -
118 new
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977, in 23 top lists Check -
129 new
Looker
1981, in 0 top lists Check -
135 new
Pink Floyd: The Wall
1982, in 8 top lists Check -
136 new
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1982, in 6 top lists Check -
163 new
Willow
1988, in 2 top lists Check -
164 new
The Abyss
1989, in 3 top lists Check -
172 new
Backdraft
1991, in 1 top list Check
Last updated on May 23, 2013; source