Response to Photography and Special Effects in Early Film

Effects in old films are very obvious, the older a film the more obvious the effects are. For the time period the effects were well done and some are even considered iconic (moon landing). These days we’re use to not even telling special effects apart from reality (for the most part) one good example from a recent film that blew my mind was the extensive amount of CGI used in The Avengers film. The way photography was made in a studio and the way this film was made seem similar. It gives this feeling that the makers had to come up with elaborate ways to do these effects just like photographers had to. The photographic camera and film camera have a lot in common, both are invented with the same concept of capturing light and saving that image for later viewing. Both are built similar and user many of the same parts, these days its hard to find a camera that does one but not the other. Of course the big difference between a photographic camera and film camera was motion. The only way to “catch” motion with a camera was by having multiple cameras set up to capture image after image then presenting them fast enough to show the motion. Film cameras work the same way but much more smoother.