The Early Years
The birth of visual special effects could be dated back to the mid 19th century with the increased development of permanent stills photography. During the 1850s, the discovery of photo-montages, which can possibly be accredited to french photography pioneer Hippolyte Bayard, allowed photographers to overlay several images through combining multiple negatives to create one final image. One of the most noted examples was Oscar Rejlander's 'Two Ways of Life', where over 30 negatives were combined to make one image.
However it wasn't until the 1890s, with the invention of moving pictures, that a modernised interpretation of visual effects became a realisation. The 1895 reenactment of the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots by filmmaker Alfred Clark is widely regarded as the first example of moving special effects. The scene in question shows Mary stepping up to the block and then being beheaded. Clark stopped the camera at the point of contact between the executioners axe and the actress playing Mary, had the cast freeze in position and then replace the actress with a dummy. When the camera was started again the executioner beheaded the dummy, this technique created an almost seamless shot and so movie special effects were born.
One year later, renowned filmmaker Georges Méliès accidentally discovered the technique of double exposure. Méliès was filming a scene when his camera jammed and upon resuming filming he discovered that the two clips had been overlapped. He developed this technique and discovered that, using filters, he could expose specific parts of the film at different times to create some interesting and ground breaking effects.
Introduction of Moving Pictures
During these early years of film special effects, the leading pioneers were often individual filmmakers such as Méliès. But, as the film industry expanded during the early 20th century, special effects techniques were developed further and with the introduction and utilisation of stop-frame animation in addition to the use of miniatures as well as matte painted sets and backgrounds; the larger studios began establishing their own in-house special effects departments.
The 1920s and 30s saw a massive boom in the film industry and the development of special effects. The 1927 film 'Metropolis' was acclaimed as a pioneering vision of science fiction and contained special effects that might even impress today. Vastly detailed miniature sets and vehicles, painted backgrounds and the innovative use of mirrors to "place" actors into the miniature sets were all a major part of this film.
Colour Film
The development of colour photography demanded a refinement in special effects techniques and the use of colour matte paintings as well as stop-frame animation and miniatures helped many directors such as Fred Wilcox to create spectacular scenes and environments, as in his 1956 film Forbidden Planet, for which the special effects artists received an Academy Award nomination.
In 1968 Stanley Kubrick assembled his own special effects team for his film '2001: A Space Odyssey' rather than rely on an established in-house effects unit. For the film his team created highly detailed miniatures and used delicate rotoscoping and motion control techniques to ensure that the scenes were precision perfect. The team also used hidden wire rigs and constructed full-scale rotating sets to create zero gravity effects.
Industry Recession and Star Wars
The late 60s and early 70s saw the establishment of new dedicated special effects studios as film studios were forced, due to economic recession, to close down their in-house effects departments.
Many of those involved in the effects industry saw the opportunity to become freelance workers, whilst others established their own studios which often specialised in key areas of special effects such as optics or animation, set creation, miniatures and so on and so came the birth of the modern special effects studio.
The continuing success of science fiction films helped the industry through the tough economic period and the tremendous success of the 1977 blockbuster 'Star Wars', by George Lucas, signaled the introduction of elaborately spectacular and expensive special effects. The special effects team developed improvements in techniques and even created and used one of the first ever computer controlled camera rig, which allowed the crew to make precise multiple camera passes. The special effects team assembled by George Lucas and effects supervisor John Dykstra were then labeled 'Industrial Light And Magic', a team who have gone on to develop amazing and ground breaking special effects for films such as The Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, E.T., Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park and just about every major film that has featured some kind of special effects over the past 40 years.
ILM & CGI
Industrial Light & Magic or ILM, set the benchmark for dedicated special effects studios for years to come and pioneered the use of computer generated imagery (CGI) with their award winning work in the 1991 James Cameron film 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day'.
ILM used CGI to create the very realistic morphing, molding and liquid effects of Robert Patrick's T-1000 character and their work was rewarded with an Academy award for best visual effects as well as a BAFTA for the same nomination.
Since then, the special effects industry has continued to grow and evolve, constantly updating and establishing new techniques it is hard to name a modern blockbuster that doesn't use some elements of special effects.
