Talk:Special effect

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Contents 1 Organization 2 Merger Complete 3 Expansion 4 Removed HDV section 5 Search term 6 "Landmark" movies 7 Types of SFX & CGI 8 List of special effects houses

[edit] Organization

We need to organize articles related to this one to make them more consistent in titling, wording, and structure, and maybe consolidate some (like practical effect and physical effect). --Tysto 20:58, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

• special effect
• visual effects
• front projection effect
• rear projection effect
• physical effects
• practical effect
• in-camera effect
• bluescreen effect
• miniature effect
• computer-generated imagery
• stunt

[edit] Merger Complete

A Brief History of Special effects was merged with this page. Judgesurreal777 22:22, 4 March 2006 (UTC) Special Effects Animation was also merged with this article Judgesurreal777 22:36, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

I am not very happy with the mergers because it is merging two subjects that are not necessarily related. Also being redirected from a search on "trick photography" to this entry on hollywood SPFX, or SFX or whatever the author thinks its supposed to be called, is not very helpful if I want to know some specific history about 19centruy photography techniques. sorry but I dont have any positive suggestions.

[edit] Expansion

In my free time I can add to this article. I have spent years studying special effects. I was the one who wrote the developmental history, (or BRIEF history, as I titled it) and many additions. I can expand it when given time. -Mountnbiker310

To clarify the Star Wars effects, Spaceship shots were done using a motion control gimble, not stop motion. Stop motion was used in most of the creature and land-based model effects, but motion control and blue/green screen was used for 99% of the 'in space' shots. The two techniques are completely different. Bigpinkthing 15:24, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I just did a fairly extensive rewrite of the entry. It needed it: frankly, any history of effects that doesn't mention Georges Melies isn't worth considering. I can't say that my version's perfect, but I think it's an improvement.

I would _strongly_ suggest that y'all seek out John Brosnan's history _Movie Magic_. It was published in 1974, just before the new wave created by Lucas and friends, and it is _the_ definitive history of effects up to that point. I'll be glad to come back and see what I can contribute.

(August 2006)Brian Siano (brian@briansiano.com)

[edit] Removed HDV section

Here is the removed section. I found it to be confusing, poorly written and not particularly relevant. Audiodude 17:43, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

The era of high-definition The newest film format on the rise, High Def (or HD) is a way of watching flm/tv that is much better quality, due to the fact that it utilizes hundreds of thousands more pixles than standard DV. This format is well on its way to achieving the holy grail of film making (making digital video look like film) and with HDDVD and Blu-Ray formats of HD soon to be on the market, it seems unstoppable. It is now commercially avalible for under $3,000. As new as HD is, a new format has spawned off of it, "HDV." This format, although much less expensive (avalible for about $1,000), has several problems. Many major brands use different subdivisons of HDV (HDV1, HDV2.) HDV2 cameras are not compatible with footage shot in HDV1, and conversions are not possible. Low-budget filmmakers are having to confine themselves to shooting, editing, and printing to tape all on one type of camera.

[edit] Search term

Can a search on "vfx" be redirected to the Visual effects page, instead of the Special effects page?

Thanks, --JT 19:19, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Landmark" movies

The oldest "landmark" movie listed is The Birds, from 1963. Special effects have been around for a long time, though. The list focuses mainly on advances in animatronics and CG, and ignores movies like The Invisible Man (1933 film), The Ten Commandments (1956 film), the original King Kong, and The Lost World (for the matte process and for stop motion animation developments). In fact, I'm not even sure why they bothered listing the new King Kong for "Motion Capture". Hadn't that already been done in Lord of the Rings with the Gollum character?

Also, how come no one here mentions Fritz Lang's Metropolis?! His use of extremely detailed drawings and models and camera manipulation was extraordinary for the time. I wish I knew enough to really do it justice in this article--anyone else know more than me? --Torie

[edit] Types of SFX & CGI

I recently clarified the definitions on the two types of SFX: optical and mechanical. I added "(also called visual or photographic effects)" after optical effects and "(also called physical or practical effects)" after mechanical effects. (See Special Effects: Titanic and Beyonds online glossary) I've been working on a school research project over SFX and, judging from my research, these terms do indeed seem to be synonymous.

Also, I pretty much entirely reversed the "CGI versus SFX" section (now called "CGI and SFX"). Before, the article stated that CGI effects were NOT special effects because they are not produced on-set during filming. This was inconsistent with the definition of SFX both within and outside of the article. It did establish that CGI effects are not mechanical effects, but they are indeed SFX because they fit into the category of optical effects - which involves altering a photographic image.

Oh, and lastly, sorry about not filling in the Edit Summary field on some of my changes. I'm kind of a Wikipedia editing newbie. Jedimatt 05:17, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of special effects houses

Does Wikipedia have any kind of list of the major special effects houses? If so, can it be linked to from this article? Robert K S 05:20, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

There is a list of visual effects houses in the visual effects article. Jedimatt 21:46, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Robert K S 04:10, 9 October 2006 (UTC)