Special Effects

In 1856, Oscar Rejlander created the world's first "trick photograph" by combining different sections of 32 negatives into a single image. In 1895, Alfred Clark created what is commonly accepted as the first-ever motion picture special effect. While filming a reenactment of the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, Clark instructed an actor to step up to the block in Mary's costume. As the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clarke stopped the camera, had all of the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the actor's place, restarted filming, and allowed the executioner to bring the axe down, severing the dummy's head. Such… techniques would remain at the heart of special effects production for the next century. Color enabled the development of such travelling matte techniques as blue-screen and thesodium vapor process.Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the Third Kind boasted a finale with impressive special effects by 2001 veteran Douglas Trumbull. In addition to developing his own motion-control system, Trumbull also developed techniques for creating intentional "lens flare" (the shapes created by light reflecting in camera lenses) to provide the film's undefinable shapes of flying saucers. Live special effects are effects that are used in front of a live audience, mostly during sporting events, concerts and corporate shows. Types of effects that are commonly used include:flying effects, laser lighting, Theatrical smoke and fog, CO2 effects, pyrotechnics, confetti and other atmospheric effects such as bubbles and snow.