Category "effects"

Why do professional green screens look so much better?

Why does the average green screen, such as one on the local news station, or some video on YouTube, leave an outline and is obviously fake, but in some movies t

"Fast forward effect" in Mad Max

In Mad Max and Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior), there are several scenes (often fast scenes, like car chases), where the film seems to be running on "fast forward"

Why the different effects when Sirius Black appears in a fireplace?

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Sirius Black appears in a fireplace to talk to Harry. It looks as if his head was made of embers: In Harry Pot

How do TV shows with live audience manage special effect scenes?

Many sitcoms are recorded in front of a live audience who provide the laughter track. Now this is simple enough in most scenes. But some scenes require added sp

Slowing down the frame rate vs. using a slow-motion camera

Why do even some of the big budget films slow down the frame rate to give slow motion effect rather than use a slow-motion camera? The point is that the first t

How did they make Captain America so tiny and skinny in the first half?

How did they make Chris Evans so tiny and skinny in the first half? He lost weight + green screen all along I suppose? Or is there something more interesting.

What is the difference between USD 38M and USD 120M CGI?

Watching Vin Diesel's Riddick (2013) was a jarring experience in many ways not least because of the quality of the CGI used. It could be best described as havin

Transformers 3 Computer Graphics Production

I recently read an article about "Transformers 3 Computer Graphics Production" which states: For a last push on the final weekend of work, ILM’s entir

How did they film Patsey being whipped?

A Sequence in 12 Years A Slave shows Patsey, a plantation worker, being tied to a pole and whipped. The shot is horrifying, and shows her flesh being torn an

What was the virtual reality research that was used to produce the movie A.I.?

Years ago, I watched a documentary / behind the scenes on the movie A.I. (2001). It explained that the scenes in town were generated by putting markers on the c

What software was used to make the LEGO Movie?

So I've just seen The LEGO Movie and I was amazed at the intricate details of all the minifigures and sets. I was wondering if anyone knows what software was u

Was the sword forging scene at the beginning of season 4 CGI or real?

My friend thinks the sword forging scene at the beginning of the 4th season of Game of Thrones was CGI (it certainly was picturesque with the flames dancing alo

Total Recall (1990) nail color change effect

In the first Total Recall, there's an unimportant shot where the receptioninst at Recall is changing the color of her nails. She taps one with a stylus, and it

The Invisible Man (TV Series) Eye Special Effect

In the 2000-2002 Sci-Fi channel TV Series, "The Invisible Man": The central character Darien has a side-effect of invisibility called "Quicksilver Madness." In

What do sitcom car rigs look like without effects?

Typically seen in shows with a live audience, there's a very noticeable type of shot where the characters are in a car with what's presumably a blue screen back

How do they shoot long underwater scenes (especially the even longer stylistic ones)?

How do they shoot the music videos where people are singing inside water? What confuses me if that is plain special effects is their clothes, they behave exactl

How are the face-in-suit segments of Iron Man filmed?

This question deals with the actors in a full-body shot of the suits, however I am wondering how the face-inside-the-suit segments are filmed, for example: Iro

What is the most time-consuming makeup to apply to a single actor in film or television?

There have been some famously elaborate make-up in film and television which take enormous amounts of times to apply to the actors, for example Michael Scofield

How was the effect of David Walliams finger being cut off achieved

In the movie "Dinner for Schmucks", the actor David Walliams (who plays Mueller) has his index finger (with the famous ring of the family) cut by the blind "foo

How did they make Hitler disappear in "Your Job in Germany"?

In "Your Job in Germany", at approximately 1:22, Hitler, who was standing behind a podium giving a speech, fades into blackness, but the podium itself remains.