tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post7716773899456116870..comments2023-11-03T11:37:13.579-04:00Comments on Something Old, Nothing New: Special Effects That Hold Up and Those That Don'tJaime J. Weinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15128500411119962998noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-18059994431105905132009-10-21T15:50:50.934-04:002009-10-21T15:50:50.934-04:00It seems every Hitchcock film must have an obligat...It seems every Hitchcock film must have an obligatory bad FX shot. In 39 Steps, it's that damn helicoptor/gyrocopter/autogyro thing.<br /><br />This may not qualify as a special effect, but nobody has ever, ever been able to justify to me the armadillos substituting for rats in the 1931 Dracula.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12098471743485897147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-57069410723533868952009-10-20T00:36:54.334-04:002009-10-20T00:36:54.334-04:00The best special effect I've seen in an Ingmar...The best special effect I've seen in an Ingmar Bergman film is the puppet theater in Hour of the Wolf.Peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-75511478018955634502009-10-17T21:00:44.173-04:002009-10-17T21:00:44.173-04:00The fakeness of the helicopter and train in Melvil...The fakeness of the helicopter and train in Melville's "Un Flic" is always jarring.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-73557670351467033392009-10-17T16:19:08.663-04:002009-10-17T16:19:08.663-04:00Sorry, you were talking about Atlantis. Yeah, I th...Sorry, you were talking about Atlantis. Yeah, I think the exterior shots don't hold up too well.Ricardo Cantoralhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00518171797365794688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-52636641877178856312009-10-17T09:35:01.797-04:002009-10-17T09:35:01.797-04:00I have to disagree Tom. I think The Liparus still ...I have to disagree Tom. I think The Liparus still looks pretty good after over 30 years. You can tell it's a model, most movies you can, but what counts in the craftsmanship. However some special effects don't hold up too well in Spy like the obvious optical illustion of Atlantis being much bigger then it is and when it sunk.Ricardo Cantoralhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00518171797365794688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-5076127803031189922009-10-17T02:15:43.293-04:002009-10-17T02:15:43.293-04:00I think some of the models in the 1970s James Bond...I think some of the models in the 1970s James Bond films look terrible. One in particular always gets me: every time I see the villain's lair in The Spy Who Loved Me, it looks like a toy floating in someone's bathtub. When the dam breaks in Force 10 From Navarone, it looks like someone's playroom sprung a leak.Tom K Masonhttp://comics.gearlive.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-53564226749126907002009-10-17T02:05:06.494-04:002009-10-17T02:05:06.494-04:00My favorite "unseen" effect is from the ...My favorite "unseen" effect is from the climax to keaton's "Sherlock jr"-- when the motorcycle goes over the bridge precisely as the trucks pass beneath and fill the gap. A very clever and nearly seamless split screen that I missed until it was pointed out to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-68113177388511009652009-10-15T21:11:01.785-04:002009-10-15T21:11:01.785-04:00That 1981 NASA pre-shuttle animation was farmed ou...That 1981 NASA pre-shuttle animation was farmed out to Universal-Hartland, the special effects unit of Universal Studios at the time. These were the same people who did the majority of spaceship/effects shots on the original "Battlestar Gallactica" series and they were used to working with scale model rockets and such. Plenty of old school optical matte and model work was used on the NASA shuttle simulation footage. Here's a link to a memorial website dedicated to that division:<br />http://www.universalhartland.com/code/hart01or.shtmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-67165299927009509282009-10-15T14:56:27.058-04:002009-10-15T14:56:27.058-04:00I have an old tape of news coverage getting ready ...I have an old tape of news coverage getting ready for the first shuttle launch, and they show some "NASA animation" of what the shuttle mission will look like. It was done the old-fashioned way with models and mattes, and I was astonished at how realistic it looked. Even the launch sequence in broad daylight was pretty decent... much more realistic than NASA's contemporary computer animations.Andy Rosenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-1831910893764300222009-10-15T13:05:48.525-04:002009-10-15T13:05:48.525-04:00Hitchcock's special effects could be particula...Hitchcock's special effects could be particularly terrible. Jimmy Stewart falling from the window in "Rear Window" (and the sped-up reaction shots of the neighbors); the process shots in "Marnie," much of the Mt. Rushmore sequence in "North by Northwest." I'm always amused by the obvious studio cornfield that Cary Grant falls into in closeup.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956070.post-70171342533178502162009-10-15T00:24:17.787-04:002009-10-15T00:24:17.787-04:00Thanks for the heads-up on the Bringing Up Baby sp...Thanks for the heads-up on the Bringing Up Baby special effects video, it's great! Didn't catch almost any of that stuff when I saw it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com