Questions tagged [effects]
Artificial visual or mechanical effects introduced into a movie or television show.
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What's the meaning of this effect?
In The Departed (2006), before meeting Dignam and Queenan in the Special Investigation Unit building, Sullivan is
framed in a small circle as he stands near a traffic signal, which enlarges to full ...
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How was the Burandan Airlines plane made?
This is a "Burandan Airlines" flight shown on Minister Jim Hacker's TV on Yes, Minister (season 1, episode 2), from the fictional African country of Buranda. The joke is that many "tin ...
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Which scenes of Top Gun: Maverick included actual aerial footage and which are VFX?
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I am looking to learn which scenes (starting from when through when) included footage of airplane physics that were not actually shot, but done in VFX including CGI.
Even more so, I am ...
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What is this video effect where there's a square on the left side of the frame?
I see this effect all the time used in music videos, and I always ask myself:
What is this effect?
What is the square on the left?
Is it the same effect?
I know it is a vintage camera effect but I ...
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How are Star Trek medical devices attached to the neck?
In Star Trek Voyager, it happens a few times that a medical device is attached to the neck. For example, in S03E02 "Flashback" at 8:28, the doctor attaches a device to Tuvok's neck. ...
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Machine Gun Use in Rambo IV
Rambo IV (2008) (titled Rambo in the US) has a scene towards the end of the film in which Rambo uses a powerful 0.50 caliber machine gun (it is the turret of a car).
My question is: How do the ...
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Is it actually Mickey Rourke typing in Iron Man 2?
In Iron Man 2, Mickey Rourke plays the villain, Ivan Vanko. In several scenes, Vanko is seen to be a consummate hacker, typing away at the keyboard in a blizzard of keystrokes. Rourke's fingers look ...
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What is the name of a dry plant in circular shape which bounces off the ground from side to side to symbolize abandoned city (i.e. in Wild West)?
It's pretty much all in the title: What is the name of a dry plant in circular shape which bounces off the ground from side to side of the screen to symbolize abandoned city/place (i.e. in Wild West)?
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How do they film scenes with storms?
In some movies, such as Equalizer 2, for example, there are scenes that take place in storms or hurricanes. How do they create such scenes? It would seem to be difficult to fake whole streets being ...
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How are Star Trek ship explosions produced?
I always wondered how older ship explosions in Star Trek were created. In Star Trek Generations, there's a Bird of Prey exploding (YouTube). It does not look like CGI but more like they blew up an ...
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Was aged Ryan a CGI or it was different actor? [closed]
In the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, when an old Ryan is at the cemetery, was this Matt Damon with makeup, CGI etc, or was it some other actor altogether?
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How is this style of cartoon animation produced?
Back in the early 1990s, America's Funniest Home Videos briefly featured an animated sidekick called Stretchy McGillicuddy:
As you can see from the clip, the human ...
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What's the significance of "Shallow Depth of Field" effect?
I have marked the blurry portions in below images:
click for larger
This effect is used in lot of scenes.
What's the significance of "Shallow Depth of Field" effect in Army of the Dead (...
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How realistic are the bending effects in The Last Airbender? [closed]
One of the most common criticism of M.Night Shaymalan’s The Last Airbender is the bending visuals, both SFX and VFX.
In his extremely critical review of the movie, the great Robert Ebert had this to ...
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How do they get blowing steam (like a steam vent) in a movie?
When someone shoots a pipe, often there'll be steam coming out of it. I'm sure they could do it with CGI, but was this ever done with practical effects as well?
If so, how?
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How do movies like The Poseidon Adventure (1972) do floods and rogue waves?
In The Poseidon Adventure (1972) when the gigantic rogue wave hits the ship, the interior of the ship is violently flooded. How do they do that effect?
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How was the antimatter effect achieved?
In Angels & Demons, there are small canisters holding antimatter. It appears very realistic, including when it's shown in closeup at some point:
How was this effect achieved? Doesn't look like ...
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How do movies make small places fog up
When somebody is burned and gets put out, you will usually see smoke in small places where you can't get a fog machine in. Or in a Airplane! With the smoking ticket, how do they do that effect?
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What powder is used for explosions in movies? [closed]
When there are explosions in movies they use a powder, but what is the name of the powder that is used for the explosions? What is the chemical name?
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How did Charlie Chaplin accomplish the gear stunts in Modern Times?
How was the famous scene in which Chaplin goes into the machine accomplished? Did they actually build gears for Chaplin to rotate around?
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Why were two people — a body double and a stunt double — used for a character who barely appears in “The Mandalorian?”
Season 2, episode 8 of The Mandalorian features a brief — but significant — cameo from a character well known in the Star Wars universe.
While CGI technology was used to change the face of this ...
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Showing old TV programs in modern films, is this a special effect?
I am watching The Crown, and in the newer seasons, the royal family is shown watching TV in several episodes. Especially Season 3, Episode 7 is about the first moon landing, and there are multiple ...
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What would you call this specific war scene effect?
Sorry I am not native so it's difficult to find information about it and I can't put a name on that special effect.
In movies sometimes you have an explosion and the soldier is lost in his own ...
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How is this powerful vomit effect scene achieved?
At the beginning of the movie Hubie Halloween (2020), the character "Hubie", played by Adam Sandler, has an extremely powerful throw up. How is this effect achieved?
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Do films "buy" special effects parts to avoid all the budget to film those? [closed]
I was watching the making-of of a movie and one of the actors mentioned that they had a very low budget. Then the movie contained a situation where a car was falling down a cliff, exploded and all ...
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Why is number 9 modified on digital clocks in some movies? [closed]
I just found out that in some movies, for some reason the bottom part of number 9 on digital clocks is cut out. An example from Back to the Future (6 gets the same treatment):
I'd just dismiss it as ...
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Why the Pillarbox effect used in this scene?
In the scene of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), where Real Jordan Belfort welcomes reel
actor Jordan Belfort onto the stage. Pillarbox effect is
used.
It comes to normal aspect ratio when he asks ...
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What kind of special effect did Alfred Hitchcock use in this scene for "The Lady Vanishes"?
The shot from The Lady Vanishes I am talking about is when Iris looks back to say goodbye to her friends after getting clonk on the head. She was feeling dizzy when she got on the train.
Can you let ...
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What do all of the "god-rays" in Umbrella Academy Season 2 symbolize?
I don't think it's an overstatement to say that in season 2 of the Umbrella Academy, there are about 50 scenes in which there are prominent "god-rays" in the background. For reference, "...
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How were the video screens in Chaplin's Modern Times filmed?
The factory scenes in Modern Times feature huge futuristic screens used to make video calls. They obviously didn't use real television screens, as technology was not advanced enough to do it. The ...
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Did they torture and kill a monkey during the filming of Andromeda Strain?
I was quite young when I saw the 1971 film Andromeda Strain in the theatre, and the image of the monkey dying when exposed to the organism still bothers me.
It certainly looked traumatic and the ...
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How Was The Superimposed Billboard Effect Achieved In Michael Jackson's Billie Jean Music Video?
In the music video for Billie Jean by Michael Jackson one interesting effect I noticed is on a billboard which show three different pictures of two women. It looks like the pictures were added in post ...
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Would Hollywood have been able to fake the moon landing of Apollo 11 in 1969?
So could Hollywood, with a 100 million dollar budget, have had the ability to produce the film of the Apollo 11 moon landing that was seen on TV in 1969 without it being debunked with our current ...
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Real-world elements used to portray the fictional computer in Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) [closed]
The opening sequence of "Colossus: The Forbin Project" (1970) starts with close-ups of electronics, progressing up to a console of an IBM 1620, and eventually to a giant hall where "...
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Does the 3D sculpting machine in Mission Impossible III exist?
In Mission Impossible III at 48 minutes in there is a scene in which they make one of the signature Mission Impossible latex face masks using a portable sculpting machine to create the pattern. Does ...
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Do actors get paid if their digital image is used in a movie?
These day we more often see actors in their younger ages.
Do they get paid for that or can companies just model whatever they want with no need to pay to the model's prototype?
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How do production crews film people running down corridors in Star Trek?
In Star Trek, especially the newer series, the camera follows Captain Kirk, Spock, Michael Burnham, etc. running down corridors, turning left or right, and flying by people. It would be convenient if ...
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What is the name of this technique?
I saw this in two japanese movies (as I remember), and they were not from the same directors.
First was Kagemusha, and the other one was Kwaidan.
And they both used the same background style.
It's ...
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Why is the dog in The Call of the Wild done with CGI?
In the new The Call of the Wild film, the dog is done with CGI which makes him look very cartoonish. I noticed throughout the film that other animals are also CGI, such as a rabbit and a dog team. It ...
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Wounded Men in War Films
In a war film, sometimes a soldier will be thrown up into the air by an explosion, or a grenade will go off, and when it is over, they will be missing arms or legs. How do they make the soldiers with ...
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How do movies make explosions?
In just about every war film, there is always an explosion of some sort.
What do film makers use to make an explosion that looks real and is completely harmless?
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Psycho (1960) Sandwich Scene [closed]
When most people think of Psycho they think of the shower scene. Admittedly it is one of the all scariest scenes in the history of movies. Today I recently re-watched Psycho and I'm convinced there is ...
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How did they get the entrapped testicles shot in Something About Mary?
In the 1998 comedy "There's Something About Mary" there is a scene in which the prom date gets his testicles entrapped in his zipper and this mess is briefly shown as an inserted still frame. How did ...
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Was the location of the big showdown real or CG?
Was the location shown here in the finale of Sherlock Holmes, especially at 0:10 - 0:25, actually a real location? Or was it created with CG in post production? I don't know if it's just because of ...
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How was 1917 filmed as a continuous shot?
I just saw the new Sam Mendes film 1917 and was really impressed with the continuous shot approach, especially given the setting in the trenches of WW1. I've seen this effect done before and know ...
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Are Top Gun 2 dogfights & airplane maneuvers real?
In the 2nd trailer of Top Gun 2, a plethora of swift airplane maneuvers and at least one dogfight take place. Are those scenes real, captured by a chase airplane?
Or they're just simulation (Computer ...
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How was the three-breast effect done for the prostitute?
In the first Total Recall movie, the main cast visits a bar, and one of the patrons was a woman that had three breasts (instead of the usual two for non-injured adult human women). Did the actress (...
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Is lens flare shot organically, or added in post-production?
The Star Trek series and movies really love their lens flare.
Does the organic picture actually taken by the camera have this lens flare in it? Or is it added to the image in post-production?
Are ...
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Is Yoda made using CGI in the original Star Wars or is it practical effects?
In the original Star Wars trilogy, was Yoda made using CGI available at that time or was he made using practical effects (like a puppet)?
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How do special effects experts reproduce hidden objects that are covered up by green screen suits?
I was watching the SFX clips from Hollow Man (2000) and I noticed that in the scene where the invisible soldier washes his hands the faucet handle turns. In the green suit scene, the actor comes to ...
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