August 24, 2021

From silent films to ‘The Mandalorian,’ 7 classic movie tricks that led to modern CGI


Before the widespread use of CGI, filmmakers used surprising in-camera tricks and optical illusions to fool audiences. Early filmmakers like Georges Méliès could add a hidden cut to film a wide array of illusions. Creative composites allowed for an invisible character in 1933's “The Invisible Man” and for Moses to part the sea in “The Ten Commandments.” Artists literally painted on top of shots to extend sets in “Citizen Kane” and create fantasy worlds in “The Wizard of Oz.” While most of these methods are obsolete today, new technologies like the LED projection used in “The Mandalorian” and the motion-control cameras in 2020's “The Invisible Man” build off these past methods.

1 comment:

  1. "Since then the cinema is in reality a sort of object lesson which, for good or for evil, teaches the majority of men more effectively than abstract reasoning, it must be elevated to conformity with the aims of a Christian conscience and saved from depraving and demoralizing effects.

    Everyone knows what damage is done to the soul by bad motion pictures. They are occasions of sin; they seduce young people along the ways of evil by glorifying the passions; they show life under a false light; they cloud ideals; they destroy pure love, respect for marriage, affection for the family. They are capable also of creating prejudices among individuals and misunderstandings among nations, among social classes, among entire races.

    On the other hand, good motion pictures are capable of exercising a profoundly moral influence upon those who see them. In addition to affording recreation, they are able to arouse noble ideals of life, to communicate valuable conceptions, to impart a better knowledge of the history and the beauties of the Fatherland and of other countries, to present truth and virtue under attractive forms, to create, or at least to favour understanding among nations, social classes, and races, to champion the cause of justice, to give new life to the claims of virtue, and to contribute positively to the genesis of a just social order in the world.

    ...

    In particular, you, Venerable Brethren of the United States, will be able to insist with justice that the industry of your country has recognized and accepted its responsibility before society."

    Out of «Vigilanti cura» signed by Pp. Pius XI, of happy memory, XXIX June Anno Domini MCMXXXVI (https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_29061936_vigilanti-cura.html)

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