Another Movie Guide

Changing and Moving Forward

Anyone that is a fan of movies has seen movies evolve over the years and has seen the techniques used to make movies change and move forward at a very fast pace. It is not a coincidence that as computer technology advances then so does the technology used to make movies as the two technologies are usually one and the same. Movies are made more on digital processes now than film and the final result is transferred to film for mass consumption by the movie going public. One thing that has changed dramatically over the years in the movie business is the field of special effects. Things that were once thought to be impossible to put on film are now done on a regular basis in Hollywood and the technology continues to improve and evolve.

One of the first movies to get noticed for its special effects was the original 1933 version of King Kong. When we watch this movie today it does not have the same impact on us as it did on audiences over 75 years ago because we see much better special effects on a daily basis in today’s movies. But back in 1933 audiences marveled at how a 40 foot tall gorilla could be brought to life and interact with the beautiful Fay Wray almost as if Hollywood had found a real oversized gorilla for the movie. Kong battled giant prehistoric creatures and tore through the streets of New York City as if he was really there and audiences were both terrified and entranced at the same time. Even in a time of economic depression King Kong was a huge box office success and remains a critical hit.

After King Kong and the success Hollywood realized with the special effects in the movie other movie makers suddenly started to pursue amazing special effects for their films as well. Special effects budgets were doubled and tripled and the race was on to see who could make the next great special effects movie. For many years movie makers applied their special effects to monster movies and it did not take very long for the effects to become tiresome and less convincing. The movie world needed a pioneer to take special effects to that next level and move special effects out of the monster movie genre and it got that pioneer with a 1976 movie release that was never expected to be a hit.

George Lucas was a movie maker who had just directed the hit movie American Graffiti and he had decided that his next project would be a story he wrote based on an outer space soap opera. The finished film was titled Star Wars and in order to make the film he wanted to make Lucas had to take special effects to an entirely different level. He created effects that had nothing to do with giant lizards or gorillas and the result was an international sensation that is still considered one of the greatest movies of all time and a movie commonly referred to as the turning point for special effects in Hollywood.

For more information on special effects, visit http://moviemicroblog.com and http://fxmicroblog.com