Visual and Special Effects Film Milestones

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

Part 20

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

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

This was the first big-budget movie with very photo-realistic, all-CGI backgrounds and live actors. See also Able Edwards (2004), Immortel (Ad Vitam) (2004), and Sin City (2005) - all 'digital backlot' films produced around the same time.

This meant that human actors were completely filmed in front of a green/blue screen with no background sets at all. Everything except the main characters was computer-generated. [The film also used actor Laurence Olivier, post-humously.]

King Kong (2005)

Peter Jackson's remake of the classic and tragic beauty-and-the-beast love story of the 1933 film featured a computer-generated Kong. Andy Serkis (who performed the role of the CGI character Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) provided both on-set performance reference and motion-capture performance for the title character of King Kong. Its Oscar win defeated The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and War of the Worlds.

Sin City (2005)

This Robert Rodriguez-directed, violent B/W crime-film noir was based on three of the 90s graphic novels by Frank Miller (who co-directed) - including "Sin City", a stylistic comic book adaptation (mostly noirish black and white and containing vibrant splashes of color). It starred Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba, and was shot completely with high-definition digital.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Aardman Studio's second Plasticine stop-motion animated film with clay figures - after Chicken Run (2000) - also featured over 700 examples of digital effects, including CGI effects, such as the captured rabbits floating in circles in the glass chamber of mute canine Gromit's Bun-Vac, and a golden carrot shot like a bullet from a bazooka.

Elephants Dream (2006)

A computer-generated (or CGI) short film made primarily using open source applications, and the first to be released as open source -- meaning that all 3D models, animatics and software included on the DVD are free for anyone's use.

Happy Feet (2006)

Extensive motion capture was used to record the dancing of tap dance virtuoso Savion Glover for the soft-shoeing of young penguin Mumble in the CGI-animated tale. The hoofer wore a black bodysuit with 40 reflective sensors near his joints, to record his movements (as data) from the light reflectors - which was then turned into the bird's final performance by five motion editors and ten computer animators. However, all of the humans in the film were live action, not CGI.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

CGI imagery had reached the point of becoming so convincing that the completely computer-generated Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), a monstrously Octopus-faced-and-tentacled villainous under-sea creature, was so realistic that some critics in their reviews mistakenly thought Nighy was wearing prosthetic makeup. In fact, although the actor wore a "motion capture" suit for the camera to provide a reference point, none of his real face remained in the final film - the animators even used CGI for Jones' eyes. Visual effects artists at ILM used an instant (or on-the-spot) motion-capture-to-CG process, and an inventive technique called sub-surface scattering (to believably mimic the look of semi-translucent skin) to create the effect.

It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects over Poseidon (2006) and Superman Returns (2006).

Superman Returns (2006)

This sequel used realistic, dramatic CGI, such as in the scene of a slow-motion bullet crushing itself against Superman's (Brandon Routh) eyeball, and the recreation of the role of Superman's biological father Jor-El (Marlon Brando) in the Fortress of Solitude sequence; the later used archival film footage from the first two films along with CGI interpolation, modeling and animation to create a three-dimensional image while he delivered new dialogue that existed previously only as vocal tracks; visual effects artists also created a realistic digital double of the title character with a digital cape.

Beowulf (2007)

This Robert Zemeckis-directed film, an adaptation of the Old English epic poem, used advanced motion-capture technology to transform live action into digital animation, resulting in a 100% CGI film. The technique was first used in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) for the character of Gollum (see above), and in Zemeckis' own The Polar Express (2004).

The $150 million budgeted-film was released simultaneously in 2-D and non-IMAX 3D (called REAL D) versions, and had the biggest 3-D rollout of any film in history - opening on almost 1,000 digital 3-D screens and in 90 IMAX theaters.

The Golden Compass (2007)

Remarkable CGI-imagery was employed in this fantasy film in the representation of one's soul - a daemon visualized as an animal. The daemon creatures were computer-created and animated, and incorporated into about 800 camera shots in the film. Two of the most prominent daemons were 12 year-old orphan Lyra Belacqua's (Dakota Blue Richards) shape-shifting Pan (voice of Freddie Highmore) - a ferret (or ermine), a wood mouse, striped cat, a moth, or a bird, and the Golden Monkey daemon of villainess Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman).

In addition, Dust particles in the universe (representing intelligence) were visualized with fluid simulations. When a person was killed (especially in the film's climactic Battle of Bolvangar sequence involving flying witches, an attacking ice-bear, fleeing children, and Samoyeds), a daemon's dust particles disintegrated in a fiery sparkling cloud.

Another phenomenal sequence was the realistic, totally CGI ice-bear fight - a monumental single-combat, vicious fight-to-the-death between armoured warrior ice-bear Iorek Byrnison (voice of Ian McKellen) (the rightful-heir to the throne, but exiled) and king Ragnard Sturlusson (voice of Ian McShane), with authentic-looking polar-bear fur, muscles, paws, and flying ice.

The Golden Compass won the Best Visual Effects Oscar, defeating Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) and Transformers (2007).

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

The DreamWorks sci-fi spoof of 50s monster movies Monsters vs. Aliens was the first computer-animated feature film to be shot directly in stereoscopic 3-D -- dubbed the Ultimate 3-D. Previously, 3-D CGI films were made in a non 3-D version and then dimensionalized. Other 3-D computer animated films would also debut in the new format: 20th Century Fox's and James Cameron's Avatar (2009), Fox's Ice Age 3 (2009), Disney's motion-capture A Christmas Carol (2009), and Pixar's Toy Story 3 (2010).

Film Title and Description of Visual-Special Effects	Example
*Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)* This was the first big-budget movie with very photo-realistic, all-CGI backgrounds and live actors. See also Able Edwards (2004), Immortel (Ad Vitam) (2004), and Sin City (2005) - all 'digital backlot' films produced around the same time. This meant that human actors were completely filmed in front of a green/blue screen with no background sets at all. Everything except the main characters was computer-generated. [The film also used actor Laurence Olivier, post-humously.]
*King Kong (2005)* Peter Jackson's remake of the classic and tragic beauty-and-the-beast love story of the 1933 film featured a computer-generated Kong. Andy Serkis (who performed the role of the CGI character Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) provided both on-set performance reference and motion-capture performance for the title character of King Kong. Its Oscar win defeated The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and War of the Worlds.
*Sin City (2005)* This Robert Rodriguez-directed, violent B/W crime-film noir was based on three of the 90s graphic novels by Frank Miller (who co-directed) - including "Sin City", a stylistic comic book adaptation (mostly noirish black and white and containing vibrant splashes of color). It starred Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba, and was shot completely with high-definition digital.
*Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)* Aardman Studio's second Plasticine stop-motion animated film with clay figures - after Chicken Run (2000) - also featured over 700 examples of digital effects, including CGI effects, such as the captured rabbits floating in circles in the glass chamber of mute canine Gromit's Bun-Vac, and a golden carrot shot like a bullet from a bazooka.
*Elephants Dream (2006)* A computer-generated (or CGI) short film made primarily using open source applications, and the first to be released as open source -- meaning that all 3D models, animatics and software included on the DVD are free for anyone's use.
*Happy Feet (2006)* Extensive motion capture was used to record the dancing of tap dance virtuoso Savion Glover for the soft-shoeing of young penguin Mumble in the CGI-animated tale. The hoofer wore a black bodysuit with 40 reflective sensors near his joints, to record his movements (as data) from the light reflectors - which was then turned into the bird's final performance by five motion editors and ten computer animators. However, all of the humans in the film were live action, not CGI.
*Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)* CGI imagery had reached the point of becoming so convincing that the completely computer-generated Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), a monstrously Octopus-faced-and-tentacled villainous under-sea creature, was so realistic that some critics in their reviews mistakenly thought Nighy was wearing prosthetic makeup. In fact, although the actor wore a "motion capture" suit for the camera to provide a reference point, none of his real face remained in the final film - the animators even used CGI for Jones' eyes. Visual effects artists at ILM used an instant (or on-the-spot) motion-capture-to-CG process, and an inventive technique called sub-surface scattering (to believably mimic the look of semi-translucent skin) to create the effect. It won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects over Poseidon (2006) and Superman Returns (2006).
*Superman Returns (2006)* This sequel used realistic, dramatic CGI, such as in the scene of a slow-motion bullet crushing itself against Superman's (Brandon Routh) eyeball, and the recreation of the role of Superman's biological father Jor-El (Marlon Brando) in the Fortress of Solitude sequence; the later used archival film footage from the first two films along with CGI interpolation, modeling and animation to create a three-dimensional image while he delivered new dialogue that existed previously only as vocal tracks; visual effects artists also created a realistic digital double of the title character with a digital cape.
*Beowulf (2007)* This Robert Zemeckis-directed film, an adaptation of the Old English epic poem, used advanced motion-capture technology to transform live action into digital animation, resulting in a 100% CGI film. The technique was first used in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) for the character of Gollum (see above), and in Zemeckis' own The Polar Express (2004). The $150 million budgeted-film was released simultaneously in 2-D and non-IMAX 3D (called REAL D) versions, and had the biggest 3-D rollout of any film in history - opening on almost 1,000 digital 3-D screens and in 90 IMAX theaters.
The Golden Compass (2007) Remarkable CGI-imagery was employed in this fantasy film in the representation of one's soul - a daemon visualized as an animal. The daemon creatures were computer-created and animated, and incorporated into about 800 camera shots in the film. Two of the most prominent daemons were 12 year-old orphan Lyra Belacqua's (Dakota Blue Richards) shape-shifting Pan (voice of Freddie Highmore) - a ferret (or ermine), a wood mouse, striped cat, a moth, or a bird, and the Golden Monkey daemon of villainess Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman). In addition, Dust particles in the universe (representing intelligence) were visualized with fluid simulations. When a person was killed (especially in the film's climactic Battle of Bolvangar sequence involving flying witches, an attacking ice-bear, fleeing children, and Samoyeds), a daemon's dust particles disintegrated in a fiery sparkling cloud. Another phenomenal sequence was the realistic, totally CGI ice-bear fight - a monumental single-combat, vicious fight-to-the-death between armoured warrior ice-bear Iorek Byrnison (voice of Ian McKellen) (the rightful-heir to the throne, but exiled) and king Ragnard Sturlusson (voice of Ian McShane), with authentic-looking polar-bear fur, muscles, paws, and flying ice. The Golden Compass won the Best Visual Effects Oscar, defeating Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) and Transformers (2007).
*Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)* The DreamWorks sci-fi spoof of 50s monster movies Monsters vs. Aliens was the first computer-animated feature film to be shot directly in stereoscopic 3-D -- dubbed the Ultimate 3-D. Previously, 3-D CGI films were made in a non 3-D version and then dimensionalized. Other 3-D computer animated films would also debut in the new format: 20th Century Fox's and James Cameron's Avatar (2009), Fox's Ice Age 3 (2009), Disney's motion-capture A Christmas Carol (2009), and Pixar's Toy Story 3 (2010).