How Special Effects Bring Movies to Life

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Fighting Zombie Sharks
3. Uncharted: High Octane Fall from a Cargo Plane
4. Spider-Man: Death-Defying Aerial Stunts
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past - Quicksilver's Faster Than Sound Sequence
6. John Wick 3: Fighting Off Attackers in Slow Motion
7. Supergirl: The Importance of Post-Effects
8. Jumanji: Creating a Jungle Adventure with CGI
9. Avengers End Game: A Masterpiece in Visual Effects
10. Aquaman: Bringing Atlantis to Life
11. Man of Steel: The Secret to Superman's Flight Ability
12. Jurassic World: The Truth Behind the Dinosaurs
13. World War Z: Using Special Effects to Create an Epic Scene
14. Aladdin: The Magic of Blue Screens and Motion Capture
15. Alice in Wonderland: Creating Whimsical Characters with CGI
16. Maze Runner: The Power of Realistic CGI
17. Beauty and the Beast: The Beastly Quads of a Motion Capture Suit
18. The Hobbit: Creating an Indoor River Rapid Adventure
19. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Four Ninjas Underneath It All
20. Kingsman Golden Circle: The Use of a CGI Droid
21. Planet of the Apes: The Exhausting Process of Motion Capture
22. The Matrix: The Bullet Time Shot
23. Captain Marvel: Bringing Every Superpower to Life
24. Everest: Climbing the World's Highest Mountain with Green Screens
25. Captain America: The Use of Practical and Visual Effects
26. The Jungle Book: The Use of Extras and Blue Morph Suits
27. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol: Getting the Camera in the Right Places
28. Mulan: Creating Classic Scenes with Post-Production
29. The Call of the Wild: Using Motion Tracking Suits to Map Behaviors
30. Conclusion

How Special Effects Bring Movies to Life

Movies have come a long way since their inception, and special effects have played a significant role in their evolution. From fighting zombie sharks to creating an indoor river rapid adventure, special effects have allowed filmmakers to bring their wildest imaginations to life. In this article, we'll take a closer look at how special effects have been used in some of the most iconic movies of all time.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Fighting Zombie Sharks

Long before Johnny Depp's live-action courtroom drama, he and Orlando Bloom were busy fighting off zombie sharks on a sinking boat. The only problem is zombie sharks are a little hard to come by, so the Pirates of the Caribbean VFX team made do with a massive blue screen set, a hydraulic-powered boat, and plenty of imagination.

Uncharted: High Octane Fall from a Cargo Plane

Tom Holland starred in the video game remake Uncharted, whose opening scene is a high octane fall from a cargo plane without a parachute. You'd think Spider-Man would be okay doing his own aerial stunts, but they've brought in wires, a giant hydraulic arm, and a blue set to help producers pull off the death-defying scenes. Despite all the help, some of Tom's acrobatics are actually quite impressive.

Spider-Man: Death-Defying Aerial Stunts

Speaking of Spider-Man, ever wondered how they make your friendly neighborhood Spidey look so good? It's mostly blue screens and a whole lot of fighting that only really looks good from a certain angle. This scene in Supergirl looks a little different without the post-effects added in. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, superheroes without their powers just look like mimes in fancy leotards.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Quicksilver's Faster Than Sound Sequence

In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Quicksilver rushes in to save his colleagues from an explosion at 2,000 miles per Second. To create this faster than sound sequence, filmmakers filmed Evan Peters running on a treadmill and blended it with a rotating shot that had been slowed down tastefully. The result was this slo-mo masterpiece.

John Wick 3: Fighting Off Attackers in Slow Motion

This scene in John Wick 3 just couldn't have been filmed on a real street. Instead, fake motorbikes, green carts, a complex winch system, and a whole bunch of dudes in green morph suits all helped Keanu Reeves fight off his attackers in slow motion. They even had a guy blowing wind on Keanu's hair to make it look like the bike was moving.

Supergirl: The Importance of Post-Effects

As we Mentioned earlier, post-effects are crucial in bringing superheroes to life. This scene in Supergirl looks a little different without the post-effects added in. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, superheroes without their powers just look like mimes in fancy leotards.

Jumanji: Creating a Jungle Adventure with CGI

When the cast returned to Jumanji, the majority of their jungle adventures were way too dangerous to film for real. Plus, where are you gonna find a herd of angry ostriches at short Notice? The film and effects crew utilized some inventive blue screen sets and high-end CGI to create a visual masterpiece.

Avengers End Game: A Masterpiece in Visual Effects

One of the biggest movies of all time, Avengers End Game, was an absolute masterpiece in terms of visual effects and computer-generated backdrops. Not only did teams have to render special abilities and costumes onto hundreds of superheroes, but all this with an apocalyptic wasteland as the backdrop. I have to say though, I thought Thanos would have been taller.

Aquaman: Bringing Atlantis to Life

Rather than trying to teach Jason Mamoa how to breathe underwater, the team behind Aquaman used some pretty inventive visual effects to bring the DC superhero comic to life. Lighting wires and motion capture were all employed to take this above ground set straight to Atlantis.

Man of Steel: The Secret to Superman's Flight Ability

Superman's Man of Steel makes every kid want to fly, but the secret to this superhero's flight ability all comes down to wires, pulleys, and a team of people pulling the strings. He's not really faster than a speeding bullet, it just looks like it when you speed up the tape. The powers might be fake, but the Man of Steel's abs are 100% real.

Jurassic World: The Truth Behind the Dinosaurs

You're probably not shocked to find out that the dinosaurs in Jurassic World aren't real. That's right, they're almost completely CGI. Wait, almost? We hate to ruin the mystery behind these fierce velociraptors, but they're actually just guys in grey leotards and raptor helmets. For the most part, Chris Pratt just has to pretend there's a vicious predator standing in front of him.

World War Z: Using Special Effects to Create an Epic Scene

In this scene from World War Z, Brad Pitt's character throws a live grenade inside an airplane to save himself from a frenzied zombie herd. Rather than sacrifice 100 extras at 30,000 feet, the special effects team used a prop plane, wind cannons, wires, and a giant green screen set to create the epic scene.

Aladdin: The Magic of Blue Screens and Motion Capture

In the live-action reboot of the Disney classic Aladdin, it was always going to be a challenge to bring all the magical elements to life. From flying the magic carpet to running through the Cave of Wonders, producers used blue screens, Hidden supports, and specially designed motion capture suits for Will Smith's (that's Genie if you wanted me to describe the plot of Alice in Wonderland, I'd probably say it's two parts fever dream mixed with three parts of whatever the caterpillar's got).

Alice in Wonderland: Creating Whimsical Characters with CGI

True to the surreal nature of the Novel, the 2010 remake of Alice in Wonderland relied on whimsical CGI, green suits, and stilts to create characters of all sizes and perspectives.

Maze Runner: The Power of Realistic CGI

The logistics of building a massive wall are way beyond most film companies. It's even beyond most presidents. That's the reason why producers working on Maze Runner used incredibly realistic CGI to render these massive maze walls. There's only small constructions used for reference, the rest is a complete fabrication.

Beauty and the Beast: The Beastly Quads of a Motion Capture Suit

In Disney's Beauty and the Beast remake, the fearsome prince turned monster is a terribly intimidating creature. In reality, it's just a guy in a motion capture suit. I'm not sure if that's padding he's got there or if the guy only does leg day, but those are some beastly quads.

The Hobbit: Creating an Indoor River Rapid Adventure

This river rapid scene in The Hobbit had so much going on all at once. There's a raging river, orcs firing arrows and swinging swords, as well as making sure all the dwarves stay in their barrels. Swap out weapons for green pool noodles, add in some well-timed splashes of Water, and you've got yourself an authentic indoor river rapid adventure.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Four Ninjas Underneath It All

Behind the silky smooth animation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who knew there were actually four ninjas underneath it all? Wearing motion capture suits and fake shell backpacks made out of foam, cowabunga!

Kingsman Golden Circle: The Use of a CGI Droid

We're still a few years away from the android servants used in the Kingsman Golden Circle, but the special effects team used an actress in a green morph suit to render a fairly convincing CGI droid. The robot stand-in even wore roller skates to give the movement some authenticity for the final shot.

Planet of the Apes: The Exhausting Process of Motion Capture

A movie full of sentient apes is a VFX team's worst nightmare. Even though finding extras that act like monkeys sounds easy enough, adding the computer rendering to a dozen motion capture suits is an exhausting process. But the end result is all worth it. While watching Planet of the Apes, it's hard to tell it's just some guys in grey costumes monkeying around.

The Matrix: The Bullet Time Shot

The Matrix was one of the first movies to really use mind-bending VFX and innovative cinema techniques in a way people hadn't seen before. They coined the bullet time shot to create this bullet dodging scene on the rooftop using green screens, multiple moving cameras, and wires to keep Neo from hitting the ground.

Captain Marvel: Bringing Every Superpower to Life

When it comes to superheroes, there's one you'd definitely call overpowered. With almost every superpower in the book in her arsenal, making Captain Marvel come to life on the big screen was any VFX animator's dream.

Everest: Climbing the World's Highest Mountain with Green Screens

If climbing Mount Everest is one of life's hardest achievements, it makes Sense that a film crew wouldn't be up at the peak of the world's highest mountain. Instead, teams built base camps under a giant green screen backdrop. Treacherous walks across icy caverns and climbs up rock peaks are all done in the comfort of an air-conditioned set.

Captain America: The Use of Practical and Visual Effects

America's favorite superhero, Captain America, needed a little help pulling off the Superhuman feats on display during Civil War. And help came courtesy of some cool practical and visual effects. When he's not manhandling helicopters, he's leaping two stories into an open window.

The Jungle Book: The Use of Extras and Blue Morph Suits

When doing a live-action remake of a story that has only one human character, your VFX team is going to have their work cut out for them. In Disney's 2016 Jungle Book remake, extras and blue morph suits take the place of monkeys, only to be edited in later. Baloo is just John Favreau sitting in a pool, and Mowgli has to pretend those HAND puppets are actually wild animals.

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol: Getting the Camera in the Right Places

Tom Cruise is famous for doing all his own stunts and insisting on cinematography as opposed to CGI where possible. In Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, the trick wasn't adding in computer rendering to make these shots look more impressive. It's about getting the camera in the right places as Tom runs impossible lines on the outside of the wall's tallest skyscraper.

Mulan: Creating Classic Scenes with Post-Production

Back in the old days of cinema, teams would have to wait until snowfall to shoot classic scenes like this one in Mulan. Now it's all done in post-production. Even the horse is fake. Likewise, any of the scenes involving any of the aerial acrobatics are all done at half speed with wires to help the actors jump and spin through the air.

The Call of the Wild: Using Motion Tracking Suits to Map Behaviors

To perfectly map the behaviors, movement, and actions of a friendly dog in The Call of the Wild, the VFX team used an actor in a motion tracking suit instead of training an actual dog. Good boy!

Conclusion

Special effects have come a long way since the early days of cinema. From fighting zombie sharks to creating an indoor river rapid adventure, special effects have allowed filmmakers to bring their wildest imaginations to life. With the help of blue screens, motion capture suits, and CGI, movies have become more immersive and visually stunning than ever before.