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Special effects in the 1920's

            In today's movies it isn't uncommon to see some sort of digital effect or C. (computer generated image(s)) in almost every movie. This is today's most common special effects method especially with movies like "The Matrix" and "The Lord of the Rings" where the objective of the special effects is to bend and redefine what is possible in these new worlds. Where did it all start though? What did cinematographers and directors do before we had computers to alter images and create effects? .
             Since there are hundreds of different kinds of special effects used in movies, which tend to be mostly different kinds of camera shots, I will only go over three that made a large impact on the special effects industry and that were used in films we saw in class, specifically "The Gold Rush" staring Charlie Chaplin. .
             Double exposure was one of the first special effects ever conceived. It is a very simple and primitive way of creating the effect of transformation from one object to another or to make an object vanish into thin air. This effect is very simply executed. Placing your camera on a tripod is easiest. Film your first shot. Then rewind your film to where you want the transformation to occur and film your second shot without moving the camera from its original place. Continue filming until you finish the shot with the transformed object. A very good example of the double exposure effect being used is in "The Gold Rush" with Charlie Chaplin. In one scene the lone prospector and Big Jim are trapped in an old house in the mountains. The problem is they have no food. What you see is the camera filming from the point of view of Big Jim, watching the lone prospector standing around the stove, then all of sudden he slowly fades out and transforms into an enormous chicken. They use the double exposure effect in this shot to give the idea to the audience that Big Jim is really hungry and starting to take the lone prospector for a big juicy chicken.


Essays Related to Special effects in the 1920's

1. Mass Communication

In the 1920s, almost overnight, the movie industry dramatically grew and plunged into the lives of almost everyone in the United States. Since, this occurrence came so sudden, not much information was available causing some to worry about its effects on children. ... This new field of social sciences focused on the two main trends: (1) social sciences maturation or more quantitative research techniqueswas controversial because it dehumanizes human behavioral studies; and (2) American movies took over the film market and by 1920s, Hollywood became the glamour capital over the world. ... Its ...

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2. City Of Big Shoulders: Chicago Governance Shaping City Geography

Alcohol created a booming business in the 1920s, and men such as Al Capone and "Big Jim" Colosimo were the kings of bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling orders in Chicago. ... Thus the corrupt mafias shaped Chicago because people of the same ethnicities occupy most of those neighborhoods as they did in the 1920s. Another way that corruption shaped Chicago is that today some of the 1920s speakeasies and notorious places of mafia business are deemed historical. ... The corruption that took place from 1975 to now looks much different to that of the 1920s. ... The mayor received the kickbac...

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3. Comparison of Two Gatsby Films

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5. Movies and VFX Digital Technology

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6. The Arts In Context, History of

From the 1920s through the 1940s, if a movie was to be made, you can bet that a Hollywood studio made it. ... Ensuing bidding wars for top talent and expenditures on bigger and better special effects have skyrocketed the costs of studio production, such as the massive blockbuster The Matrix which used a new idea of computer generating which looked visually stunning but cost big bucks to do. ... Spectacular visual tricks and effects, often combined with rather formulaic plots and characters, have given American films a special reputation as some of the most entertaining, yet intellectually vapi...

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7. Gun Control in America

Author Richard Gardiner has his own viewpoint on gun control saying "The erosion of rights must be avoided by recognizing that the keeping of arms in the home must be given special protection [also]," (115). ... Alcohol was banned in the 1920s to the 1930s. ... Society must not let anything like Prohibition happen again, as we saw the effects it had on the 1920s and 1930s. ...

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8. Red Dwarf the sitcmo in space

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9. Montage styles of Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov

Moreover, this formalistic expression shaped the remarkable developments in film theory and provided a new norm for distinctive and creative production of films by Russian producers during the 1920s. ... In conclusion, Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov both firmly believed that cinema is given a special function as the medium that alone is capable of producing the knowledge of motion and the identity of structures. ... With thought-provoking themes, spectacular montages and visual effects, "The man with the movie camera" and "The battleship Potemkin" both carry remarkable significance in the ...

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