


The Abyss (1989) – Encountering the Pseudopod
ACTION MOVIE EFFECTS STAR WARS FULL
Speed, drama, a full 3D graphics world, what’s not to love? I think the light cycle battle scene is the most iconic of the lot. Take any still from this movie and you know exactly what it is, nothing has even attempted to steal its classic look. One of the first films inspired by video games entering the mainstream, TRON is Iconic not just for it’s pioneering CGI, but in its individuality. This sequence is a triumph of art design, modelling and compositing coming together to create some of the most memorable and impressive landscape visuals in film history. Harrison Ford’s flying police car zips through a dark, smoky vision of LA in the distant year of… 2019?! Motion control filming, model making, and green-screen compositing were all pushed to never before levels of quality here.īlade Runner (1982) – Flying Through Future LA A chase, an imbalance of power on such magnitude, from the very first scene, you’re hooked.įor those of you lucky enough to have seen in in theatres, the sound and visuals make you want to duck down in your seat when that huge thing is roaring overhead. Not only that, but it does the same job as the jogging scene above – it immediately sets up the narrative. The Imperial Star Destroyer flyover gives you an impressive sense of scale right off the bat. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) – Pursued by the Star Destroyer It wordlessly begins setting up a story by introducing a recognisable action in an unrecognisable location. Sure, It’s not as flashy as the star gate sequence at the end, but it’s effective at setting the sanitised, isolated deep space tone. Loads of possible scenes to pick from but in my opinion, the most iconic visual effects shot is when Dave is jogging around the centripetal motion compartment of the ship. The process behind creating this iconic movie moment to blend live action and animation was a precursor to the green screen, achieved with a technique called sodium screen compositing.Ģ001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Jogging in the Centripetal Force Chamber Our favourite VFX scene here is almost as bonkers as Van Dyke’s accent: The sequence where Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke are dancing about with the animated penguins. Mary Poppins (1964) – Dancing with the Penguins Some days I was producing less than one second of screen time in the end the whole sequence took a record four and a half months.” “This meant at least 35 animation movements, each synchronised to the actors’ movements. According to Ray Harryhausen, VFX artist: Each 8-10 inches high, these 7 skeletons burst from the ground and attack Jason and his men. The fight itself involved each skeleton having 5 appendages to move in each frame. Let’s kick things off with a classic moment of stop motion model work. Jason and the Argonauts (1963) – The Skeleton Duel This week, grab the popcorn and join us as we take a chronological romp through what we think are the most iconic visual effects scenes in movie history.Īlthough stuff like the melting faces in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the werewolf transformation in American Werewolf in London are incredible, we’re going to be sticking a little more to animation-related VFX. The most iconic CGI and VFX scenes in movies
