This week in class we watched two films that display a lot of special effects. Special effects are defined as illusions or visual tricks used in film, television, theatre, video games, and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world. Special effects are then broken into two categories — visual effects and practical effects. Visual effects are generally added in post-production, while practical effects are effects actors can interact with and are generally performed in front of the camera. In the two films, A Trip to the Moon and Star Wars, there were many special effects techniques used.

 

A Trip to the Moon was made in 1902, at the very beginning of film and special effects. There were many visual effects and a few practical effects present in this film. The main visual effect in this film is rotoscoping. Color films didn’t exist at this time, so this movie would have been in black and white, but the scenes were painted over so that it would appear in color. Another effect used was hidden cuts. These hidden cuts occurred in the scene when the umbrella hits and the scene with the poofs of dust. They also used map paintings in the backgrounds. There was a particular background with the sailboat and when the moon was spinning. Miniatures, double exposure, and dissolves were also used often in this film. There were a few visual effects missing from this film. One being chroma key. Chroma key did not exist at the time that this film was made. Instead, compositing was used which means that one piece of footage is layered over another piece of footage. Close ups also did not exist at this time. Another effect missing was intertitles. Because this is a silent film, intertitles would have been effective. Because there were none, there’s no way to tell what is actually happening, or where we are at in the story. We know that characters were speaking and interacting with each other, but again, we can’t tell what they are saying to each other. The practical effects of this film include pyrotechnics, when the bullet is shot and also old age makeup for the characters and alien makeup. The film A Trip to the Moon was way ahead of its time because it appeared in color. No films at this time were in color.

Star Wars also contained many visual effects and a few practical effects. Chroma key was a major special effect used in this film. Green screens are used a lot because this film mainly takes place in space. For the stars in space, map paintings were used instead of particle effects. 3D modeling was also used to show us the Millennium Falcon, which was also a big part of this film. Miniatures were used for the other ships that are in the film. Rotoscoping was used to display the lights of the light sabers and lasers used by the characters. Compositing, hidden cuts, and dissolves were other visual effects used. These were used to display holograms and ghost-like effects, such as when Obi Wan Kenobi dies and turns into nothing. Practical effects like pyrotechnics were used. Pyrotechnics were present in explosions of the ships and the explosion of the Death Star. Makeup was also clearly present because there are aliens in the film.

Since the films release in 1977, Star Wars creator George Lucas has made a few special editions of this film along with the other two movies in the original trilogy that kind of enhances some things and changes some things in the film. I have researched this topic before because I am actually very passionate about Star Wars. It was said that Lucas created these special editions to appeal more to the younger generation and to the children of the fans of the original film. It was to show a fresh take on the story with newer and improved technology of the time, as the special edition came 20 years after the original. With these special editions also came changes to some scenes of the movie. The biggest scene change has caused a heated debate over the years between fans of the original film and fans of the special edition. In the original version of the film, after Luke and Obi Wan Kenobi meet Han Solo and Chewbacca at Mos Eisley Cantina, there is a scene where Han is confronted by a bounty hunter named Greedo. Han owes money to Jabba the Hutt and Greedo has come to collect. They sit down and talk and originally, Han pulls his blaster on Greedo and shoots him, killing him. In the special edition the same thing happens, however it is Greedo that shoots at Han first and Han responds with a shot, still killing Greedo. Also, in the original film we never see Jabba the Hutt, we just hear of him. In the special edition, there is a scene where Jabba and Han are talking to each other in front of the Millennium Falcon. With the special edition, CGI has added additional characters and creatures. They also added a slight censorship on the shootings. The lightsabers, lasers, and explosions were also enhanced and redone. Out of these, I of course prefer the original. When I was younger I had only seen these special editions, and I’ll occasionally watch them if they appear on tv. My dad has been a Star Wars fan from the beginning so I’ve grown up on it and all I’ve ever heard is him gripe about how they ruined the films by making these special editions. Quite a few years ago, he found the original theatrical versions online and bought them so now in my house all we watch are those versions, unless of course they are on tv and we happen to turn them on. The originals are much better.

With these special editions existing instead of the original films, there are many problems. Yes, the special edition is an enhanced version of the film, but it’s different. Many people prefer the original to the special edition because there were changes made to the story in the special edition. The special edition changed the character of Han Solo. Han Solo is supposed to be this cocky smuggler, who doesn’t care about anything and in the special edition the scene change with Greedo, in a way, makes Han seem a little kinder. Another problem with this is that Star Wars won a lot of awards. These awards were for special effects and art direction. But because the negatives of the original film were destroyed and now only these special editions exist, the work of the people of the original film was just destroyed and then it was all redone. I believe that the originals should exist somewhere solely just because the hard work of the people on the film was just destroyed. It’s almost as if they didn’t do anything with the original film because that work is gone. It’s fine that there are special editions, but I think that the originals should be available somewhere.