Special Effects Answers

Rotoscoping is a process which creates animation using live footage as guides. A actual person is filmed, and then essentially that film is traced over using CGI or traditional animation techniques to create a more realistic animation.

Opinions will vary, but should provide to examples, descriptions of the movies and special effects used, and why the students thinks they were effective (ex: realistic, frightening, etc.).

Makeup is important for creating mystical or unrealistic creatures. Injuries can also be made very realistically using makeup. Makeup is needed for all actors to help control coloring and shine from the lights hitting the actors’ faces.

This screenshot comes from The Matrix. The Matrix used a combination of stunts, CGI, slow motion, and compositing helps to create movie sequences like this one.

Two special effects in the X-Men image are CGI lightning and altered eye effects. The lightning shooting from her hands was created digitally, and her glowing white eyes were also enhanced with computer effects to make her powers look supernatural.

Compositing is the process of layering images together. The live actions shots are usually done in front of a green screen. Star Wars was filmed using this technique. The creators filmed the actors in front of a green screen and then were able to add together scenes and images placing cels on top of one another cels, add in light savers with computer imagery, or add in miniature creatures or scenes to real-life footage.

Motion capture is a technique that transfers an actor’s motions into a computerized character. The actor wears a tight suit covered with tiny sensors called markers, that read and record each movement, and those recordings are put together to create a realistic computerized image. The character of Gollum was created using motion capture in The Lord of the Rings.

Special effects are techniques used to create illusions in movies that cannot be filmed normally. They can make things look more dangerous, magical, futuristic, or realistic. Alfred Hitchcock created early special effects by using clever camera angles, editing, miniatures, rear projection, and lighting instead of computers. His creativity showed that filmmakers could produce suspenseful and dramatic scenes even without modern technology.

Stop motion is created by moving an object a little at a time and photographing each frame so it appears to move on its own. Go motion is similar, but the model is moved during the exposure, which creates realistic motion blur and smoother action. Slow motion is a technique in which action is filmed at a faster frame rate and then played back at normal speed. This makes the movement appear slower and more dramatic.