Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action Paper

Technology, it has taken over every aspects of our everyday life. Technologies purpose is to help people preform a task in an efficient way and in a timely manner. It's amazing to think that technology has improve how films are made today, so drastically that it is hard to be amazed by how realistic the special effects that a movie can show to it's audiences. But lets not forget about older movies that has taken advantage of the new technology that are offered to them during there time. Two of these remarkable movies are, 1933 King Kong and Jurassic Park. The 1933 King Kong black and white film was an innovative film that may seem like a joke today. But with its use of miniature rear projection and stop motion to create the whole entire movie it is something to really awe about. Also there is Jurassic Park that introduced the 90s children to dinosaurs with the help of computer generated images of dinosaurs and some robotic life sized dinosaurs. Both movies has pushed boundaries of movie making during their time that might not be comparable to todays special effects, but nevertheless the production of both movies are remarkable in their own rights.

Stop motion is a process of taking photos of an inanimate object and on each photo taken, one can move the objects little by little and when these images are played in sequence it will look like the object is moving on its own. All of movie sequence that included the giant Kong of the 1933 King Kong was filmed this way. Each movement of King Kong was shoot frame by frame to create this hour and half long movie. With the use of a miniature set and a doll size King Kong was made possible by Willis O'Brien to bring the giant to life. During that time this film was shot is was such a such feat in special effects technology to create this movie because there was nothing like it during its time. Many believed during that time that Kong was a man on a suite. To add to the creative special effects of O'Brien he was able to combine both his stop motion sequence of his miniature model with real life actors in the scene with Kong. This technology of special effects is called miniature rear projection. This special effects is projecting the sequence of the film reels of the live action of the actors onto the miniature set. O'Brien while shooting his stop motion was also projecting frame by frame shots of the acted sequence of the real life actors shows a believable interaction with the real life actors with Kong. O'Brien also had to deal with a problem with this technique because during that time projecting film and exposing it to the projection light for a long period of time could melt the film. O'Brien was one of the first to use a projector with fans to help keep the projection cool and prevent the film from melting. These special effects that O'brien has establish has pushed the ways of technology in special effects today.

Originally Steven Spielberg's film Jurassic Park was going to take the same special effects of King Kong by using models of dinosaurs and stop motion to animate the creatures of Jurassic Park. But a new technology in special effects has caught Spielberg's eyes and that was computer generated images or also known as CGI. CGI is highly used in todays movies that transports viewers into the world that they are watching. During the release of the movie Jurassic Park many knew what dinosaurs looked like. But they have not seen them in a way that Jurassic Park presented it for movie goers. Jurassic Park was able t make them believable because they where able to create the textures, size, sound, movements of dinosaurs and have them interact with humans For the CGI to happened they had to use many computers to run the program to create these dinosaurs. Spielberg also had the task to shoot the movie without seeing the CGI dinosaurs because they had to edit down the film before they are able to put in the CGI effects. The animators also had to study different animal and they had to work with paleontologist to create realistic movements. They also had to combine different sounds to create the sound of each dinosaurs for them to be believable.

For the movie to work not only did they use CGI but they also had to make real life size robotic dinosaurs like the Trex and Triceratops. Some of these scenes that used robotic dinosaurs was the scene when Trex first attacked the people in the car as well as, when they encounter a sick Triceratops during the tour of the facility. With the combination of both the use of robotics and CGI they were able to make dinosaurs come to life and make it believable.

In todays technology these movies may seem a bit goofy and corny with the outdated special effects. But during there time of release these movies where using new technologies in special effects. It is hard to appreciate these movies because movies like Avatar, Gravity, Marvel movies, and many other sci- fi films has taken advantage of the advancements in CGI, that it is hard to appreciate the movies of the past. But looking at these movies in depth will one learn to appreciate the time and effort that someone put into making a movie to a close realism. With King Kong's innovative stop motion and miniature rear projection it shows that there is a way to bring life to inanimate objects and interact with real life actors. Jurassic Park was one of the many movies that pushed the idea of bringing creatures of mass scales to life side by side with actors with the use of CGI and robotics. These movies had challenge the way we make movies of today. Which is why it is important to appreciate them.

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Work Cited

Miniature Rear Projection in 1933's King Kong. Warner Brothers, 2005. Film.

The Making of Jurassic Park. MCA Universal Home Video, 1995. Film.

How O'brien shoot the projected film reels of the actors in the miniature set also known as the miniature rear projection.

A scene in King Kong when the doll size Kong was interacting with the projected image of one of the actors. 

Trex life size robotics, a scene when Trex was attacking the people inside the car.

In the early 90s dozens of computer where needed to create CGI effects. This was one of three computer rooms dedicated to making the CGI for Jurassic Park.

how the CGI looked like during production. A series of lined images and lines planes to map out where the CGI will go on the camera angle of the landscape in the sequence of the film.