Visual and Special Effects Film Milestones

Milestones in Film History:
Greatest Visual and Special Effects and Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI)

Part 16

Introduction: From even its earliest days, films have used visual magic ("smoke and mirrors") to produce illusions and trick effects that have startled audiences. In fact, the phenomenon of persistence of vision is the reason why the human eye sees individual frames of a movie as smooth, flowing action when projected.

Cel animation, scale modeling, claymation, digital compositing, animatronics, use of prosthetic makeup, morphing, and modern computer-generated or computer graphics imagery (CGI) are just some of the more modern techniques that are widely used for creating incredible special or visual effects.

(See this site's film terms glossary for definitions and examples, the History of Film by Decade, and an extensive timeline of other Milestones and Turning Points in Film History.)

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star

are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.

Film Title and Description of Visual-Special Effects

Example

Jumanji (1995)

This movie featured an amazing stampede scene with dozens of elephants, rhinos, zebras and pelicans - all computer-generated by ILM, during a rampage through town. The special-effects company also created the first computer-generated, synthetic, photo-realistic hair and fur for the digital lion and monkeys in this film.

Toy Story (1995)

This was the first feature-length film made entirely by computer animation, also fully 3-D, with a collaboration between Pixar (its debut film) and Disney Studios.

Followed by an equally-successful sequel Toy Story 2 in 1999.

Waterworld (1995)

First realistic CG water.

Dragonheart (1996)

This 10th century fantasy fable featured state-of-the-art digital animation to create a very complex CG film character - a talking dragon (with realistic facial animation, and voice provided by Sean Connery) named Draco, an 18 ft. tall, 43 foot long creature, that helped knight Bowen (Dennis Quaid) to defeat an evil tyrant. The dragon was expertly produced by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM's Phil Tippett) as a 3D digital character.

Independence Day (1996)

This blockbuster disaster film was the winner in the Academy Award race for Best Achievement in Visual Effects (defeating Twister (1996) and Dragonheart (1996)).

A remake, unofficially, of the original The War of the Worlds (1953), this world doomsday film displayed a monstrous, asteroid-sized UFO that entered Earth's atmosphere, and a spectacular, well-publicized scene of the destruction of the White House (a 1/12th model), filmed with 9 cameras. $75 million was spent on models and miniatures (the film had more miniature model work than any other film up to its time).

CGI work included the depiction of F-18 Hornets, debris, alien attackers, missiles, and light balls.

Space Jam (1996)

This Warner Bros.' film combined traditionally-animated Looney Tunes characters (such as Daffy Duck) within a live-action film. The film was inspired by a series of Nike commercials featuring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. [The iconic characters would later star with Brendan Fraser in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).]

Twister (1996)

This was a phenomenal special-effects film with incredible atmospheric FX (digital tornadoes, such as the film's 200 foot tower of wind) produced by ILM, including many hand-held camera shots taken through windshields at composited CGI animated tornadoes. Although nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, along with Dragonheart (1996), both were defeated by Independence Day (1996).

Contact (1997)

Robert Zemeckis' film contained, reportedly, the longest single digital effects shot ever created - the opening shot (Powers of Ten). It began with an image of the Earth, and then the camera slowly pulled back to reveal the Moon, the rest of the solar system, various layers of nebula and stellar debris, and the Milky Way. The shot moved deeper into space to reveal hundreds of other galaxies...and then pulled back to reveal that the light from all of these stars was actually the highlight in a young girl's eye.

Conceiving Ada (1997)

This was the first film with 2D all-CGI backgrounds (virtual sets) before which live actors performed. The filmmakers used a new bluescreen filming process in which a number of photographs, taken in Victorian bed and breakfasts in the San Francisco Bay area, were placed into the main protagonist's world as backgrounds - they were composited or inserted into the film in real time (not in post-production), so that the actors could see their interactions with the background on set.

The Fifth Element (1997)

There were an extra-ordinary amount of individual FXs in this film, including a futuristic New York City skyline, a regeneration sequence during the creation of Leeloo (Mila Jovovich) in which a sophisticated machine built her skeleton, and strapped muscle tissue onto the bones, and its most celebrated sequence - the cab chase with flying cars. The cars were created both as motion-control models and CGI versions. The immense 2000 foot long pleasure cruiser - the Fhlostin Paradise - was a motion-control model.

[The film also referenced Heavy Metal (1981).]

Red Corner (1997)

Digital visual effects allowed the production to appear to have been completely shot in actual Chinese locations, but that was in fact disallowed by the Chinese government. Many of the landscape and Beijing city shots were comprised of 2D and 3D matte paintings based on still photographs of the Chinese city.

Film Title and Description of Visual-Special Effects	Example
*Jumanji (1995)* This movie featured an amazing stampede scene with dozens of elephants, rhinos, zebras and pelicans - all computer-generated by ILM, during a rampage through town. The special-effects company also created the first computer-generated, synthetic, photo-realistic hair and fur for the digital lion and monkeys in this film.
*Toy Story (1995)* This was the first feature-length film made entirely by computer animation, also fully 3-D, with a collaboration between Pixar (its debut film) and Disney Studios. Followed by an equally-successful sequel Toy Story 2 in 1999.
*Waterworld (1995)* First realistic CG water.
*Dragonheart (1996)* This 10th century fantasy fable featured state-of-the-art digital animation to create a very complex CG film character - a talking dragon (with realistic facial animation, and voice provided by Sean Connery) named Draco, an 18 ft. tall, 43 foot long creature, that helped knight Bowen (Dennis Quaid) to defeat an evil tyrant. The dragon was expertly produced by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM's Phil Tippett) as a 3D digital character.
*Independence Day (1996)* This blockbuster disaster film was the winner in the Academy Award race for Best Achievement in Visual Effects (defeating Twister (1996) and Dragonheart (1996)). A remake, unofficially, of the original The War of the Worlds (1953), this world doomsday film displayed a monstrous, asteroid-sized UFO that entered Earth's atmosphere, and a spectacular, well-publicized scene of the destruction of the White House (a 1/12th model), filmed with 9 cameras. $75 million was spent on models and miniatures (the film had more miniature model work than any other film up to its time). CGI work included the depiction of F-18 Hornets, debris, alien attackers, missiles, and light balls.
*Space Jam (1996)* This Warner Bros.' film combined traditionally-animated Looney Tunes characters (such as Daffy Duck) within a live-action film. The film was inspired by a series of Nike commercials featuring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. [The iconic characters would later star with Brendan Fraser in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).]
*Twister (1996)* This was a phenomenal special-effects film with incredible atmospheric FX (digital tornadoes, such as the film's 200 foot tower of wind) produced by ILM, including many hand-held camera shots taken through windshields at composited CGI animated tornadoes. Although nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, along with Dragonheart (1996), both were defeated by Independence Day (1996).
*Contact (1997)* Robert Zemeckis' film contained, reportedly, the longest single digital effects shot ever created - the opening shot (Powers of Ten). It began with an image of the Earth, and then the camera slowly pulled back to reveal the Moon, the rest of the solar system, various layers of nebula and stellar debris, and the Milky Way. The shot moved deeper into space to reveal hundreds of other galaxies...and then pulled back to reveal that the light from all of these stars was actually the highlight in a young girl's eye.
*Conceiving Ada (1997)* This was the first film with 2D all-CGI backgrounds (virtual sets) before which live actors performed. The filmmakers used a new bluescreen filming process in which a number of photographs, taken in Victorian bed and breakfasts in the San Francisco Bay area, were placed into the main protagonist's world as backgrounds - they were composited or inserted into the film in real time (not in post-production), so that the actors could see their interactions with the background on set.
*The Fifth Element (1997)* There were an extra-ordinary amount of individual FXs in this film, including a futuristic New York City skyline, a regeneration sequence during the creation of Leeloo (Mila Jovovich) in which a sophisticated machine built her skeleton, and strapped muscle tissue onto the bones, and its most celebrated sequence - the cab chase with flying cars. The cars were created both as motion-control models and CGI versions. The immense 2000 foot long pleasure cruiser - the Fhlostin Paradise - was a motion-control model. [The film also referenced Heavy Metal (1981).]
*Red Corner (1997)* Digital visual effects allowed the production to appear to have been completely shot in actual Chinese locations, but that was in fact disallowed by the Chinese government. Many of the landscape and Beijing city shots were comprised of 2D and 3D matte paintings based on still photographs of the Chinese city.