SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: Special Effects: A Short History | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey everybody, welcome back to the. playlist. It's me, Josh, and this. episode is all about special effects. We. tried to cram as much as we possibly. could into this episode, and there's a. lot to talk about with special effects, and there's all sorts of different kinds. of special effects. Most of the stuff we. think of today is all CGI, but that's. built on things that people used to have. to build with their own hands to make. amazing movies look believable. I hope. you enjoy this episode, and I hope. you've enjoyed this playlist. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a.

production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck. Bryant wearing his Stone Temple Pilots. hat. And there's Jerry over there. She's. not wearing any hat. She's got really. cool hair. It's not Stone Temple Pilots. It is too. I've seen the Stone Temple. Pilots hats before. And that's one. It. is STP because I bought two hats at.

AutoZone yesterday. Oh, I have a. Champion spark plug hat. Yeah, they have. good hats. They really do. I was getting. a battery and I was like, I want these. two hats. It was a Goodyear Akran, Ohio. Goodyear hat. Nice. Which is where. Emily's from. Sure. So, I wanted that. and then I saw this STP hat, the Stone. Temple Pilot. But I would get a Champion. spark plug hat, too. Those are That's. That's great. Okay, I'll let you borrow. mine anytime you want. Just got to give. it back. I don't know if I've ever seen. you in a baseball cap. Uh, it's a weird. jam. Is it not what you want to see?

I've seen you in shorts like twice in 12. years. I keep the legs covered. And I. think one of them was when you came over. to borrow my lawn mower. I remember. that. Yeah. Like nine years ago. Sure. I've got to mow the lawn sometimes. Now. things have changed. You can buy a lawn. mower. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, that's where we're at now. We can. afford lawnmowers. I can wear shorts, too. I actually have one of those. plug-in lawnmowers. I have a battery. powered lawn mower. Do you? Look at us. stupid liberal hippies. Well, mine's. mine's battery powered, too, but you.

have to plug it in to charge it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What What kind do you have? I have the green one. Yeah, I think. they're all green. No, there's a blue. one. Oh, I've got the green one, too. The SunJo? No, but I have a SunJo. pressure washer. Do you really? Is it. battery operated? No, you plug that in. I was going to say I'll bet it just goes. like tinkles out water. But they do make. uh plug-in lawnmowers. Like it's not a. battery. You just like have a cord that. you walk around with and run over with. your lawn mower. I guess they're called. electric. Sure. But yeah, I got the.

battery cuz I have so little grass now. And we may be done period with grass. Oh. yeah, that's right. You're zero. escaping. Well, we're definitely doing. the front, but the back it just got. smaller and smaller. And I my last. lawnmower broke. So I was paying a guy. to come cut it. I was like, "Why am I. paying this guy to cut to do a. sevenminute mow?" There's just that one. blade of gl grass that sees the lawn. mower coming like mother. Yeah. But then. I went and got the battery one because. lawnmowers are terrible for the. environment. Yeah. That's why I got it. They're one of the worst polluters. One,

too. Yeah. We're both also aware that we. are charging our battery powered. lawnmowers with coal fired power. Yes, I. we understand that. We know. I'm just. talking about exhaust fumes. I don't. even need one. I live in a condo, but. I'm so dissatisfied with the landscapers. that take care of the condo that I. bought Yes. I bought a lawn mower just. to do the little patch out in front of. our building so poor Momo doesn't get. lawn grass against her junk when she's. pottying.

This is a great way to start this. episode. So, we're talking special. effects, obviously. This has been lawn. talk. We're talking special effects, Chuck. Yes. movie special effects, which uh. boy, I mean, we could do 10 parts on. this. This is Yeah. kind of a big. summation because movie special effects. can be everything from the movie that. you walk out of saying, "Oh, that movie. had no special effects." When in fact, it did. Yeah. Wrong. Yeah. Just tiny. little things that you may not even. notice to things that are almost whole.

cloth special effects like Sky Captain. and the World of Tomorrow. Yeah. Or Sin. City. Yeah. I like both of those. Yes. Did you know Sin City? Every single bit. of the set was CGI. Yeah. That and that. Sky Captain did it first. Yeah. A year. before, huh? Yep. Every bit of that was. It was a green screen movie. I never saw. it. Was it good? Uh, it was interesting. Like the look of it was amazing and very. much ahead of its time. Like real art. deco, right? Yeah, for sure. I call it. black and white, but it wasn't. It was. just this really washed out color. Yeah.

But it looked awesome and was not bad. Nice. I'll have to check it out. And I. think the dudes that made that kind of. quit making movies after that. It's a. very unique story. Have you ever seen. This has nothing to do with anything, but have you seen The Changeling, George. C. Scott? Sure. Oh my god. Did you just. see that? Yes. And I have to tell you, I. don't think I've ever gotten chills more. frequently from a movie than I did with. that one. Great. Genuinely, it's a. genuinely scary ghost story. Yeah. Like,

it is wonderful. Yeah. I miss George C. Scott, too. Yeah. He's a good actor. And. I I don't remember who the um the late. the female lead was in there, but she. was great, too. It's been a while. I. haven't seen it in many, many years. So, anyway, special effects. Let's try this. again. We're going to get derailed like every. five seconds, aren't we? Uh effects are. divided, and this is by the Grabster. He. helped us out with this. Ed's a big. movie guy and horror movie, sci-fi guy. Sure. So, he probably enjoyed writing.

this one up. Uh they're divided into. three general categories. And this all. has to do with where the effect is. happening, right? Uh it can be practical. uh which is in front of the camera and. that means it's a physical thing that's. happening. I think that's what most. people think of when they think special. effects. You think? Sure. Okay. By most. people I mean me. Uh in camera effects that happen inside. the camera and then post-production. effects. And many times you're using one. or all three of these. Right. Right. So,

with like practical effects, that's. things like um like makeup and. prosthetics like uh Ed uses the example. of David Lynch's The Elephant Man, like. the the prosthetic makeup that was used. to turn John Hurt or John Herd. Which one? Uh Hurt into Joseph Merrick. Yes. Um that's a special effect. An. explosion on set. That's a special. effect. a um a blood packet to make it.

look like somebody just got shot in the. chest. A squib. That's a special effect. All three of those are practical. effects. They're actually happening in. the physical world in front of you on. set being captured on film. That's a. practical special effect. Yeah. And the. other one I wanted to mention there that. you might not think of is stuff like if. there is a uh a fire like a fireplace in. a scene and then you flip the camera. around to show the people and you see. that fire shimmering on the wall. That's. a practical effect too. Little things.

like that. But it's lighting. It's a. lighting effect. Yeah. Or it's a fire. Like you know those aren't real fires. Yeah. I mean it's real fire. Somebody. should put that out. But it's not like. someone lights a bunch of wood. They put. fake wood and they have these uh fire. bars that it's like what you have under. your grill basically, right? Or like and. they hide those and then that's your. fire. Sure. Because it has to look. perfect. You can't just chance somebody. not being able to start a fire or it. looking wonky. That's why movie fires. look perfect. Yeah. Because they're. fake. They are kind of dreamy. They're.

so good. So in camera effects is just basically. messing with the way the film is being. produced inside the camera. What? Not. what's going on in reality that the film. is capturing, but how the film is. actually capturing this stuff. Yeah. Slow motion is a special effect in. camera special effect. Yeah. Or fast. motion, too, which is 10 times more. hilarious than fast motion, if you ask. me. Like where would the monsters be. without fast motion? Yeah. You know, or.

Benny Hill, for God's sakes. Sure. that. that lived and breathed on fast motion. Yeah, it did. Um, what else can you do. there? You can, and we'll see this in. some of the early special effects like. stopping the film, changing something, starting it again, right? Like. Bewitched, appearing out of nowhere. Yeah, that's a special in camera special. effect. Yeah. One thing that struck me. about all this from researching this is. how the the basis the foundation for. special effects was laid immediately.

upon like mo motion pictures being like. created. Yeah. Like the the whole. industry, not even the industry, before. the industry existed, but basically. after the invention of motion pictures. and that it stayed virtually the same. until the '9s. Uh yeah, people refined. it and got better at it and techniques. got more um The same general crafts were. used. Very much so. Which is why craft. service is called craft service. Oh, yeah. Because of each department is. their own craft. Oh, I didn't know that.

And they're there to serve them pizza. rolls. Yeah, man. Or whatever. You can. put on some weight filming something. I'll tell you that for a second. Oh my. god. So, uh, stop motion animation. That. is an in camera effect. You're moving a. little clay figure or whatever. A doll. or a King Kong. A raisin. One a. California raisin. one uh frame at a. time, 24 frames per second. Can you. imagine? Didn't you do that with your. brother with G.I. Joe? I did. And then. years later, I did a little Star Wars. thing when I got a high eight video.

camera and um spent like three days. working on something that ended up being. 9 seconds long and I said, "I'm done.". What's funny is you're going to get a. cease and desist letter from Lucasfilm. after talking about us in the podcast. I. might. Uh, and then we have. post-production effects. And that is, uh, I think that's what a lot of people. think of as special effects these days. Really, because that's all the CGI stuff. that you will see is all happens in. post-production. Okay. All right. Yes. These days, I gotcha. Like almost all. special effects happens in post these.

days, right? Well, no. They still. combine some of the old crafts as well, but yeah, surely a lot of it is CGI. I. mean, computers can do some amazing. stuff. They can. I mean, stuff that used. to take months to do, a computer can do. in hours now and do it a million times. better. Yeah. So, um, depending on your. taste, I should say. That's right. So, those are the big three, practical, in. camera, and post-prouction. And um like. I was saying like the the basis of.

special effects was founded. like in the 19th century and there were. just some people who uh had kind of. followed in a tradition of still. photography. Still photographers by that. time had already figured out some cool. stuff that you could do messing around. with cameras. something like double. exposure where you take a picture of one. thing and then take a picture of another. thing with the previously exposed film. and all of a sudden it looks like. there's a ghost looming behind you. That's right. Stuff like that. So out of.

the gate when motion pictures were um be. started to become a little widespread. and people could afford them and try. messing around with them. They had a. basis of of trickery to begin with, but. there's a lot of stuff you can do with. motion picture cameras that you can't do. with still photo cameras. And they. figured this out right away. Yeah. That. first guy uh who's credited as the first. special effect is Alfred Clark. And in. uh they don't have the year exactly. right. It's either 93, that's 1893.

Yeah. Or 1895. Uh he made a short film. called The Execution of Mary, Queen of. Scots. And he did that little stop trick. like I was saying. You shoot something, you stop the camera, you replace it or. you remove something, and then you start. the camera. And in real time when you go. to play it back, it's seamless, right? And in his case, did you look at it? Did. you watch see that one? It's uh he uses. a stop trick with Mary getting beheaded. and right when the axe is going to fall,

you know, he switches her out for a. dummy, then starts the camera back up. and he chops the dumy's head off, right? And it's it looks pretty good. Like you. can't there's no big weird jump. He did. for 1893 did a really good job. Yeah. And the key to that is just making sure. that no one touches the camera or even. breathes on it. Don't move. And then. getting the dummy in the same position. as the the actor. Yeah. And in fact, as. we'll talk about later with Matt. paintings, it's so crucial that the. camera not move that one technique was.

they used to bury the camera tripod like. a couple of feet into the earth. Makes. sense. Just to make sure like no dumb. dumb PA bumps into it like me. So, um, Alfred Clark is credited with. the first special effect, but a guy. named George Me. Did I get it? Me? We should go ask Casey. Pgram. Oh, yeah. He would know. I think. it's uh Millier. Oh, nice. I think you just nailed it. George Melier.

At any rate, this guy is known as the. father of special effects. Yeah. He was. uh very early on doing stuff that no one. else was doing. You know, granted there. were very few people working in this. field at the time. None of the five. people did. But he was an illusionist. and he said, "Oh man, I can really do. some amazing tricks with this camera.". And he really put it to good use from a. very early um like I mean turn of the. last century. Yeah. He actually stumbled. upon that little stop trick by accident.

uh when he was shooting a street traffic. scene in Paris in 1896. The camera jams. while I think a bus was coming across. frame. He's like mad fixes the camera. Can we say that? Sure. All right. We. don't have any French people listening. to. Yeah, that's true. uh starts the camera back up and of. course there's different things. happening and then when he went back to. look at it it's he kind of just stumbled. upon this weird little substitution.

splice that became part of film making. Yeah. Because by the time the the camera. had started up again the bus was. replaced by a hearse. So it looked like. when he went back and watched it the bus. suddenly transformed into a hearse. And. he said wait till they get a load of. bewitched. 70s something years from now. Yeah. So, um, or no, I guess what was that in the. 50s? 60s. 60s. All right. So, you may. not recognize George Melier's, oh my. god, at that time. I think so. Name. Uh, but you probably have heard of his work.

like a trip to the moon. Yeah. What's. very widely cited is like one of the. first actual movies. I think it was in. the 20s something minute range. But it. was about some explorers in the. Victorian era getting in a rocket and. traveling to the moon and the rocket. lands in the man in the moon's eye. Yeah, everybody's seen that. I don't. care who you are if you say you haven't. You have. Yeah. Um this was the guy who. made that and this is a very early. movie. It was from 1902. But he was. doing all sorts of amazing stuff. He was.

using extensive costumeuming, masks, um. all sorts of in camera techniques. He's. painting on film frames. Yeah. And this. is 1902. And like I was saying, this. stuff was refined, but was the basis of. special effects for the next century to. come. Should we take a quick break? I. think so. All right, let's take a quick. break and we will talk a little bit. about uh the Matt technique right after. this. I'm actually pretty psyched about. this.

[Music]. All right, Chuck. As I said, I'm very. psyched about the mat. Yeah. So, this isn't uh this is a little.

confusing the way it's laid out here, okay? Um because what what Ed's talking. about here with Norman Dawn is called. original negative matte painting. Okay. Um if you hear of a matte painting, that. is a uh piece of glass where you have. and I'm going to talk about the most. common way you might see it employed is. you take a a big piece of glass and you. paint like a cityscape on it, right? Like really realistic. Yeah. And then. you put that in a scene and shoot it. So.

it's uh instead of having someone in. front of a city, and this was pre-blue. screen and green screen technology, you. would just put Kurt Russell in Escape. from New York in a field and there's a. matte painting of New York City behind. him, right? And it looks great. And. James Cameron painted that in Escape. from New York. He was a map painter. Oh, I didn't know that. That was like his. first job. It's neat. Like if you um if. you even if you do know what Chuck's. talking about, go to the internet and. just look up like great Matt paintings.

It's amazing. There's a lot of really. wonderful ones. One you've seen before, ones you haven't. But basically, anytime. you've seen a movie pre. 1993, maybe 1990, um, where somebody walks into this. enormous place or this amazingly. elaborate future city or something like. that, what you're actually looking at is. an expertly painted painting that has. been messed with in post-prouction or. using an in camera technique to make it. look like it's alive or actually, you.

know, bustling or energetic or there, but it's really a it's a painting. It's. a painting that some amazing human being. painted by hand. Yeah. And we should. point out they still do this today. They. just do it digitally. And digital matte. painters are super talented as well. Sure. Um but it's kind of neat to think. about that old craft and James Cameron. painting a piece of glass. Yeah. Uh and. sticking that behind Kurt Russell. And I. mean it was used in everything. Like I. if for my money, Matt painting is the.

single most um important and widespread. special effect ever. Maybe hard to argue that. Thank you. Like it it was in Mary Poppins when Mary. Poppins is coming into the city of. London. That's a map painting when. Superman walks into the um uh where's. the what's the name of the place where. he's from? Like the crystal cave where. um Fortress of Solitude. Yeah. Is that where he talks with um. with Marlon Brando, his dad? Uh yeah, I.

think so. Okay. Um that's a Matt. painting. And I think the Fortress of. Solitude are the remnants of Krypton. Okay. And boy, Superman people are so. mad at me right now. That's probably not. right. People still I thought everybody. was on the Marvel train. No, people love. Superman. Really? The comics. Oh, okay. Cuz I was going to say, I mean, you've. seen what they've done in Superman. lately, right? And Batman. Yeah. So, uh, that's the map painting. And what that. is, it's called set extension. So, that. basically means you're just sort of. extending the real life set, uh, to make.

something, uh, bigger and more opulent. Gotcha. Um, or maybe not more opulent, just bigger and more, right? But here's. the thing, relying on that matte painter. and having the glass there and glass can. break and it can, you know, onset with. lighting can be weird. So, that's all. can get a little hinky. Mh. So that's. why this technique called original. negative matte painting was developed by. Norman Dawn. Okay. And that is when. nowadays he'll use what's called the. matbox, which is um literally a like.

black I don't think it's cardboard these. days, but whatever they make it out of a. cardboard thing that you put over the. lens to block out whatever you want to. block out. Uh back in the day, they. would paint cardboard and hold it in. front of the lens or they would actually. paint the lens. Mh. And what you're. essentially doing is um painting away, it was early green screen. You're. painting away what you don't want in the. frame or what you want in the future and. then uh adding that later on, right? And.

because it's black or because it's. covered, there's light is not hitting. that part of the film, that part of the. film, the actual film strip itself that. you're you're recording onto or filming. onto, that's unexposed. All that gets. exposed is the part of the lens or the. camera that is not covered that has say. your actor like doing the herkyjerky. dance. Right. Right. And then so what. you do after that is you take that film. that has your actor doing the herkyjerky.

dance. Project it onto a screen so you. see where the actor is. Yes. And on this. screen you literally paint the. background that you want. Then you film. the whole thing a second time. And now. you have your actor in the set that you. originally wanted. Right. The only. difference there uh which is something. that wasn't quite right here is they. don't like project it. They just develop. a few frames of it. Okay. And project it. like a slide. I got you. So it's not. like the camera the film is moving.

through on the wall. Right. Right. Because in the article here it says and. then you just stop it. And what happens. if you do that is the the bulb burns the. film. Okay. So you can't just stop a. movie projector. You produce like a. slide of and project that. Yeah. And. then you paint in the castle or the the. mountain or the whatever you want and. then you go back and expose it again. Yep. Pretty neat. You just open your. trench coat. There you go. And the uh. big innovator with the original negative. matte painting was Norman Dawn and he.

really like really led the way. But I. mean again, most of the stuff that that. does this now is done by computers in. post, but this is like the lengths. people were going to to make movies at. the time. And you watch them today and. you're like, "God, that looks terrible.". But if you stop and think about the. effort that they were going to, they. were inventing this. Yeah. It's just. mindboggling that they managed to get. it, you know, to this point. Yeah. Normand Dawn tried to patent that.

technique as well. Uh, but they said, "No, you did not invent this. You. popularized it, and you can't patent. something that you made super popular.". Yep. There's some other stuff, too. There's like rear projection and front. projection, which is basically like. projecting the background, a moving. background onto a screen behind the. actors. Yeah. Um, basically, you know, all those hokey driving scenes where the. person's like the car is being rocked or. whatever, the road behind them, that's. front or rear projection. Yeah. the And.

um people still will use that as homage. like in Pulp Fiction uh very famously. Bruce Willis uh or I guess not. Yeah. When Bruce Willis gets in the cab after. the fight. Yeah. And if it looks. oldfashioned, that's cuz uh QT used rear. screen projection for that. Yeah. And. there's also a technique that's not in. here that I just remembered. So I'm. actually having to look up what it's. called. Um when you're in a car scene, but you're not doing a rear screen. projection. Okay. So, what happens here. is you're you're sitting in a car in a.

still car on the set, but they're not. projecting anything behind you. Okay. What you've got is uh two people shaking. the car out of frame. What are they? Grips. Uh yeah, usually a grip, but I've. I've shaken cars and trains before. It's. like cuz I'm just a body on the set. Oh, I got you. Like, get in there and shake. that thing. In fact, one job I was on, there was a fake subway train and the. hydraulics broke early on and they were. like, "Bring out the PAs. You're going. to shake this train for 12 hours.". They're like, "You got rhythm? Get in. there." Yeah. Oh, we couldn't have too. much rhythm because we got uh yelled at.

for that because it looked too rhythmic. Gotcha. So, we're like, I don't know. what I don't know how to do this. Who. are you working for? Oh, it was just a. commercial director. Gotcha. That said. that our our movement of the train. looked too rhythmic and not believable. Right. So, anyway, this Fruit of the. Looms commercial was totally. unbelievable. Uh you sit in the car, you're acting like you're driving. There's someone else shaking the car. There might be someone else off camera. like flashing a a light uh through the. car like you're going by a street light.

or a headlight goes across their face. and there may be fake rain in the. background and this is sometimes like. six, seven, eight people uh working in. concert to make it look like you're. driving at night in the rain or. something like that. Right. So there's. not like an obvious background trees or. road or whatever, but maybe there's. headlights coming up behind you. It's. just dark. Yeah. But they're people with. a spotlight. Yeah. It's really really. cool. oldfashioned, but people still use. that stuff. Yeah. And I wish I could. remember the full name of that. technique. The uh the shake and shimmy.

It's I'm going to be so mad later on. We'll just call it the shake and shimmy. Okay, that's right. Um so you talked. about green screen and that's actually. super old, too. There's a really. convoluted explanation about how. originally green screen employed sodium. vapor lights. Yeah, which would actually. mess with the yellow exposure on. pancromatic film. and my brain I started bleeding out of.

my ear. I cannot tell you how many times. I read descriptions about this and I. can't quite get it. So suffice to say. that that was one technique for green. screen. What really kind of changed the. industry is when they figured out that. again if you if you if you film in. black, the um the film is not going to. be exposed. So anything you go and. reexpose it to it will cover over that. stuff. So like it's transparent. So for.

example, in the invisible man from I. think 1930 1933. Yeah. Claude Reigns. wore a black bodysuit. and the background was black. It was a. black screen, like a black green screen. and but he wore clothes and everything. and bandages and sunglasses and I think. he smoked a cigarette or whatever. But. when he took the bandages off and he. took his sunglasses and clothes off, there was nothing there. It was a black. bodysuit and a black um background. So.

when they filmed the background later. on, all you could see was the background. and the clothes and the bandages. It. looked like there was nothing there. because as far as the film was concerned. when they were filming it, there wasn't. anything there. So the film wasn't. exposed in those sections on each frame. That's right. And that's called the. Williams process. And a key part of the. Williams process is the optical printer. And that is a projector that actually. prints an image directly onto the film. that runs through the camera while that. printer and camera are synced up. Yes.

So this is to me the optical printer is. the second most widespread and useful. special effect technique in the history. of film. You just waved your hand. I. did. So I suddenly had an ass got a. beret on. Uh yeah, hard to argue that. too. But uh all this stuff was just. precursor to what was blue screen early. on. uh chroma key blue and then later. became chro chroma key green. Right. I'm. not sure why they made the switch. actually. I don't either. Other than. maybe the green less prevalent or less.

use. I think so. Probably maybe the blue. was um cuz you know what you don't want. anything close to that color, right, will disappear against the green screen. Anyone who's ever done the weather on. the newscast can tell you that. Yeah. There have been there are blooper reels. of weather people disappearing when they. wear like a green jacket or something, right? It looks like the weather's going. on through their body. Same thing. So, so I want to say one more thing about. optical printers or another little bit. about it. Sure. So, what you have is a. projector projecting a film on to a.

screen and you you have a camera. recording what's being projected, right? That's right. That's the optical. printer. And you could do all sorts of. stuff with that. So, let's say you have. a shot where you have one mat in the. foreground and live actor and then. another mat in the background that has a. bunch of different people in it or. something like that or storm troopers. Three. Okay. So, you got three different. elements to that shot. What you would do. is using the same film, film each thing.

So, you go film that like the uh the. actor, the live action actor, you've got. that on the film and you project that. and you take film where you're filming. the mat and you project that and film. that. This I just totally have screwed. this up. Oh my god, this is just like um. Oh, what was No, it's worse than that. Was it um false false positives? Do you remember that time where I was. like I took a pretty simple thing and. just completely.

walked the dog with it? Yeah. Okay. Well, I just did that again. Everyone, I. want you to go look up optical printers, read a little bit about them, and then. you'll say, "Oh, Josh is right." Yeah. This tough stuff. It is. Essentially, you're filming a projection, and you can. do that multiple times with the same. film, and it adds up to where you have. the shot you wanted, where it makes it. look like all these things that you. filmed three separate times are all. happening together in one space. Yes, you are marrying separate images.

together onto a single piece of film, right? You couldn't do that with before. optical printers, which is a projector. and a camera working together. That's. right. Okay. I think I need a nap. Uh we. should mention briefly motion controlled. cameras. Uh this is a system that allows. it. It's basically taking the the person. out of the equation. There is not a. person pushing a dolly. There is not a. person moving the camera. It is a. machine that is programmed to move a.

camera through space uh very very. precisely and exactly the same every. single time. Yeah. So you can do the. exact same motion over and over again. Over and over. And a lot of times. you'll, if you're on a TV commercial, as. boring as that is, you will see stuff. like this for like a food shoot. Uh. because food shoots are notoriously. tricky cuz everything's super close up. and has to be perfect and you can't be. off a little bit with a camera because a. lot of times you'll sub in stuff later. in post and that's the whole reason for. a motion control is to replicate.

moves with exact precision. So, um, I. was reading about Industrial Light and. Magic using this to really great effect. with the first Star Wars, which is. episode four, right? The New Hope. That's the first one, right? Right. I'm not confirming or denying. anything. I'm just going to let that. stand. Episode 4 is the first Star Wars. movie that ever came out. Correct. The Star Wars: A New Hope is the first. episode, okay, that I ever saw in a.

movie theater because it's the first one. that ever came out. Anyway, when they. were making this, you know, is it a star. destroyer? The big the big daddy ships. Okay. Oh, man. We're going to get murdered. Um, everything, all of the ships in Star. Wars were models. Yes. Fairly small. models actually. They weren't the. biggest. Okay. I think it was episode. four. I'm almost positive. Okay. So, um, those models were not moving in these. shots in these enormous like huge. panoramic shots where like there's, um,

TIE fighters flying around shooting. everything and, um, X-wing fighters. shooting the TIE fighters. None of those. models were moving. What happened was. they figured out how to use motion. control cameras so that the the camera. would go through the shot and around the. model and make it look like the model. was moving. And plus it was moving the. shot through space. Right. Right. The. thing is is let's say you have five. different ships. You film those five. ships separately, but those five ships.

are all going to be in the same shot. So. you have to film that same shot the. exact same way, right? Five different. times and then run it through an optical. printer so that you can get all of them, all five shots onto the same strip of. film. But that's one of the one of the. ways that motion um motion control. cameras were really put to good use and. it was extremely groundbreaking because. not one of those ships were moving in. reality when they were filming Star.

Wars. Can you name five Star Wars ships? Tie Fighter. Mhm. X-wing fighter. Mhm. You already said one. You were right. The TIE Fighter 2. Uhhuh. Uh the deuce. is what the people in the know call it. Sure. Um the uh uh you already said star. destroyer. You should use that. So star. destroyer was right. Yeah, there's a. star destroyer. Oh, okay. You made a. face like I just was just totally off. Um you can make the case that Endor was. a ship even though it was a planet. Uh. there was the uh the the forest speeder.

Uhhuh. The um the uh pod racer. Oh yeah. And. um Dr. That's right. He's the final ship. Yeah. Uh, do you know how many people Oh, boy. their calf muscles just popped right out. of the backs of their legs. Holly Fry is. like hyperventilating somewhere in the. office and she doesn't know why. So, as. I said earlier, it's it's usually a com.

combination of these different. techniques to create one overall special. effect using these different crafts. And. uh a great example is Jurassic Park in. the um in the scene with the. velociraptors in the kitchen. That great. great sequence uh when it was playing. cat and mouse with those children. Yeah. There were uh puppets. There were actors. in costumes. There were animatronic. raptor heads. And there were full CGI. raptors. And you throw this all in a.

hat, mix it all up, and it comes out to. be like a really believable looking. scene. Yeah. It comes out as an Oscar. Yeah, I'm sure they won Oscars, right? But they had to have. I don't know, but. there's just no way. It was. groundbreaking. I remember being just. gobsmacked in the movie theater. Yeah. When I first saw those dinosaurs walking. across the screen. And that was 1993, I. believe, for the first Jurassic Park, right? Jurassic Park: A New Hope, the.

first one that came out. So, um, but that was five years after. the first Oscar had been awarded for. special effects, as far as I know. Oh, really? I believe that The Abyss was the. first one to win an Oscar for special. effects, maybe. Or there No, no, I'm. sorry. I'm way off. Way off. Um, The. Abyss was the first movie to win a. special effect for a CGI effect. Okay. Remember the water? Sure. Um, still. looks pretty good. It looks amazing.

Yeah, this was 1987 we're talking about. Wow. Was that when that came out? Yeah, I was surprised to see that too cuz I I. thought it was Yeah, it's a good movie. Yeah, I really like that movie. How do. you not like Ed Harris? [Music]. You don't like Ed Har did you not like. Ed Harris? No, I like I like him as an. actor. I think a lot of people might. have problems with Ed Harris as a. person. He's notoriously canankerous. I. I I've never heard that. I believe it. Sure. He looks like he could yell. somebody down, doesn't he? Sure. But he.

also keeps a cool head when he's an. actor as a 70s or 60s NASA guy. Hey, I. love Ed Harris. All right, let's take. another break. Okay, and we're going to. come back and talk a little bit about. Star Wars episode whatever right after. this. [Music].

Okay, we're back and we should talk uh. we should mention the garbage mat real. quick. Okay, because that is uh that is. a big deal. A lot of times you have wire. work or you have um you have things. hanging from wires. is doesn't have to. be a person. It can be like a model. plane or a TIE fighter or whatever.

Sure. You got to get rid of those wires. unless you're Ed Wood. You can't have. fishing line. No, you're supposed to. not. But yes. Or if you're Charlie. Throne in Mad Max Fury Road, you got to. get rid of that arm. Mhm. Or if you're. in Forest Gump, you got to get rid of. Lieutenant Dan's legs. Man, that was. amazing. That was the first time. anybody's ever done really something. like that throughout. Yeah, I have my. problems with that movie for sure. And. one of them is I think he way over he. was like a kid in a candy store and way. overdid the like and now Forest is in.

the White House and using archival. footage and sticking Forest in it. Yeah, that whole like half hour dialogue he. has with Peter Cushing's ghost. It was uncanny. Uh but I get it. I get why these. filmmakers get excited. these really. technical wizards, they get a new. technique and they just hammer it. The. guy from Industrial Light and Magic when. they made the first Star Wars, call it. what you will, um, his name was, I think.

John Dystra, and this motion controlled. camera assembly that they created was. called Dystralex. Mhm. It was super. groundbreaking and they really did. amazing stuff with it. Well, he's like a. legend in this industry now. And I saw. an interview with him recently and he. was like, "I'm so tired of seeing just. whole cities leveled and like just the. most amazing stuff you can possibly. think of being done just because we can. do it, right?" He he he put it really. really well. I think it's an.

embarrassment of riches. Yeah. You know, totally like it can be done so it's. being done. Everybody's doing it. It's. just, you know, like and it makes it. less amazing. Mhm. Not necessarily cuz. it looks bad. It just keeps looking. better and better every time. Yeah. Like. if you if you look at Charlie's Theren's. um prosthetic arm or missing arm Yeah. compared with Lieutenant Dan's missing. legs looks radically different. It does. So it's getting better. There's just too. much of it, I think, is the point. Just.

to be just to be all Ed heresy on this. No, I have long predicted a return to. practical effects. Really? And it's. starting to happen a little bit more and. more. Yeah, I could see starting with. indie filmmakers. Yeah, for sure. Which. is funny because finally. computerenerated effects have trickled. down enough like you or I could just. walk out of the studio and probably get. on any one of those Macs out there and. use stuff that 101 15 years ago would. cost $500,000 to set up a rig like that.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's how some young. filmmakers have gotten noticed is by. making these um short films with like. zero money on their computer that get a. lot of action on YouTube because it. looks so amazing and the studio will be. like, "Sign that person up." Yeah. I I. can't remember the guy's name, but uh. that's happened a couple of times in. recent years. The Ed Harris. Uh we should talk about a few of the. groundbreaking people over the years. Oh, yes. Um, we'll go through these a. little quicker than what we have in.

front of us, I think. But, oh no, we. should mention Lon Cheney. Sure. Uh, one. of the original u superstars of film in. the silent era, the man of a thousand. faces. He was uh he was very talented. doing his own makeup and changing his. face. Um, that's why he's called the man. of a thousand faces, right? He's like, here's 997. What about Willis O'Brien? He was one of the pioneers of stopmotion. photography. Again, if you're a. California races fan, you have a lot to.

thank Willis O'Brien for. Yeah. He also, this dude, the stuff he did. I mean, if. you look back, he did King Kong, the. 1933 King Kong. Yeah. And if you look. back at this, you're like, this is this. is cool. But if you research what was. done to create this, you're just blown. away by it. Yeah. Again, many processes. coming together. um to create that 1933. version of King Kong. And that fight. looks good still. I mean, it doesn't. look realistic, but consider the year.

It looks awesome. It does. And it's. about three three and a half minutes. long. King Kong fighting the. Tyrannosaurus Rex. Um but it took seven. weeks to film. Yeah. Because there's 24. frames shot per second in a film. That's. right. And for every frame, they moved. the models a little bit here or there. Yeah. So that's why it took seven weeks. just for that fight scene. I think it. was 55 weeks for all of the stop motion. photography that was done in that movie.

Yeah, that's impressive. It It really is. impressive, especially when you realize. the trouble they went to when you go. back and watch it. Like this is pretty. nuts. Yeah. Ray uh Harryhausen continued. the work of Willis O'Brien and very. famously in like the 50s and 60s with. movies like Jason and the Argonauts and. Clash of the Titans. Yeah. Remember. Medusa? Sure. Scary Lady. Yeah. Yeah, that had to be toward the end of his. career, I guess, cuz that was in the. 80s. Yeah, I think like 81 maybe. Remember the Minotaur 2, man? That was. cool movie. That was a big movie for me.

as a kid. Yeah. And I was like when LA. Law came along, I was like, I know that. guy. That's right. There's the Titans. guy. Uh we we should shout out uh Millisent. Patrick. This is a very interesting. story. She was one of the only well. first and only women working in special. effects back in the day, right? and she. created the very famous mask of the. Gilman from Creature from the Black. Lagoon in the mid1 1950s and was. unceremoniously fired. Not just fired,

stricken from the credits. Yeah. This. guy named Bud Wesmore, he assisted her. and then basically had her fired rather. than give her the credit for the mask, which he would take credit for because I. think he was the supervisor in charge of. effects or costume or something. Oh, I. thought I guess he assisted her, but he. was her boss. Yeah. Okay. But like she. very clearly on her own came up with the. Gilman for the creature from the And. this has only come out in the last like. few years. They've kind of dug up the.

original stuff and uh yeah, sexism just. basically pushed her out of the industry. altogether. Yeah. Very sad. She's. starting to get her do now though, which. is good. Yeah, that is very good. Um. there's Dick Smith is amazing. He. created the Squib. Oh, really? Yeah. He's a He's a very famous makeup artist. He's really good at making people look. aged. Yeah. He made 47year-old Marlon. Brando look uh much older than The. Godfather. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He was only.

He was a year younger than me. Brando. Crazy. I never thought about that. Wow. He really is good. He also did Death. Becomes her, which is one of the. all-time great movies. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. And The Exorcist. Yep. And. Scanners. And if you ever seen Ghost. Story from 1981. Oh yeah. Yeah. Very. scary movie with the old dudes. He did. Uh he did that. What else? Uh very. famously aged Dustin Hoffman and Little. Big Man by many many years. Sure. And. then in the last like 25 30 years uh.

Rick Baker and Stan Winston. Stan. Winston's he's got my vote. Yeah. Yeah, I mean these two guys were both just uh. creative leaders in the industry and um. trailblazers in the industry and as Ed. says in here like mentored a generation. of special effects uh employees, employees, creators, artists. Sure. All. three of those work. Lord, gig workers. Uh Rick Baker, American Werewolf in.

London in 1981, which still holds up. Mhm. Uh the thriller video in 1983, Star. Wars Moss Eisley cantina. He made all. those. Yeah. Did you know that about the. Mos Eisley cantina? Sure. I didn't know. that. He was sing almost single-handedly. responsible for all of them. And then. Stan Winston, you got to talk about. movies like The Thing and Predator and. Terminator and they both have set up, you know, foundations and schools and. things like that. Stan Winston also did. the uh makeup for what I think is maybe.

the best slasher film of all time. Friday the 13th part two. Yeah. Two is. when Jason comes along, right? Yes. It's. Jason before he got his mask. He gets. his mask in three. I think the Friday. the 13th franchise is as good as it gets. for horror movies. I dropped off at a. certain point. Did you see all those? No. No. I still haven't seen all of. them, but even just putting like the. first five or six up. Yeah. Um, I think. it's like watching them again as an. adult, I'm like, these are really good. slasher films. Like even better than I.

remember from being a kid. Yeah. Um, and. the reason Stan Winston filled in for. Friday the 13th part two, is because the. guy who did Friday the 13th, the first. one, Tom Cevini, was unavailable. He was. off doing Creep Show, I believe. But Tom. Ceini is another legend. I think they're. redoing Creep Show. Are they? Oh, okay. I'd watch that. Different stories. Oh, even better. I think if I'm not. mistaken. Nice. But yeah, Sabini is well. known for uh being sort of the godfather. of gore. Yeah, he did Maniac. Did you.

ever see that? Yeah, that was a off the. rocker. movie. And then these days there are. companies um ILM and and Weda. ILM. Industrial Light Magic is Lucas's. company and they're cool because they. invented this stuff because Lucas needed. stuff to be done that couldn't be done. Right. And he was like, "Go figure out. how to do it." And they did. They really. did. And then Weda is Peter Jackson's. company. Oh, okay. And he's the one that.

has really pioneered the mocap, the. motion capture techniques. Mhm. where a. person's wearing like a suit and the. suit has a bunch of different kind of. like almost ping pong balls all over it. Yeah. At like joints and crucial places. where the body moves and the actor, stunt person or dancer, whoever wearing. the suit goes through the motions and. then uh they're just going through the. motions. Sure. And that that those. motions that what's captured is fed into. a computer and the computer generates a. character doing all those same motions.

creating the performance. But it's a. computerenerated character. Yeah. I. don't think he was the first, but the. the Gollum character in those Lord of. the Rings movies um was really one of. the first really terrific looking fully. CGI character. Yeah. I found from what I. could tell the first full CGI character. ever in a movie. You want to guess? You'll never guess. Well, I mean it's. touted as Indiana Jones in the Last. Crusade. Wrong. Really? Mhm. What is it.

going to be? It's another Spielberg. movie. Okay. It's young Sherlock Holmes. Do you remember the stained glass knight. that comes to life and tries to slash. one of them with his sword? First full. CGI character in a movie. Well, why? I don't know, but that's what I could. find. And that one's from 1985. Well, it it says maybe there's uh it's. in the nitpicky language because in the. last crusade when Walter Donovan's face.

melts and turns to dust when he drinks. from the chalice. That's in That's in. Raiders of the Lost Arc and it Oh, no. You're right. You're right. I'm sorry. Last Crusade. Okay. Yeah. It says here. it was the first ever digital composite. of a full screen live action image. There's something in the language there. Yeah. Like maybe it wasn't full screen. or something. This was the Gotcha. This. was a the first CGI, but it wasn't the. first CGI image. This was the first. moving CGI image. The first CGI image.

was in Looker. Remember that movie? I. totally saw Looker. Yeah, that was a big. HBO movie for me. For sure. Same here. It was Looker, Runaway. Uhhuh. Crawl. Runaway is Tom Celich. Yeah. And Jean. Simmons was the bad guy. That's right. I. saw Croll a lot, too. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh, look, Albert Finny, right? If I. remember correctly, Albert Finny and. Susan Day. Yeah, Susan Day. And it was. written by Michael Kiteon, I think. That. was the first full body 3D human, but it. did not move. It was static. Yeah. And.

the very first uh computerenerated. effects period, funny enough, were used. to replicate computer screens. So. whenever you would see a computer screen. in like Westworld or Aliens or Star Wars. and they were like what is the computer. going to look like you know not now uh. that that was the first time they used. computerenerated imaging was to. make a fake computer screen and the. first full CGI scene ever done was in. the Wrath of Khan which I believe came.

out in 1982 but there's a genesis like. earth being you know like cooling and. turning into the earth and there's this. amazing shots around it. That's all CGI. and that was the first one. And Tron. Oh. yeah, I thought for sure Tron would have. been among the first. Apparently most of. that was animated by humans, not. computers. That's right. The um like all. the glowing lines, all that stuff. animated, which makes it nuts that they. were able to create that. Yeah. Uh the.

now the big thing is this deaging. technique that they're getting better. and better. Yeah, they really are. Yeah. So, the new um Scorsesey pick, the. Irishman, I think dees and it and has. taken a long time to get out because the. deaging didn't look good enough for. Scorsese. So, they've deaged Dao. And. then I saw this new Ang Lee movie, Gemini Man, where Will Smith of now, he. plays an assassin and he has to go kill. his younger self, Looper. Uh, yeah, sort.

of like Looper, I guess. But this Gemini. man script has been in development for. like 25 years with various people. attached, but they could never do it. because the technology was never Yeah. It's finally here. But here's the thing. I didn't know. Like I've seen this. trailer and I'm like, man, that deaging. looks great. They didn't deage him. It. is a fully CGI Will Smith. Oh, and it. looks that realistic. The younger. version is. Yeah. Wow. So I was like, man, they're getting so good at the. deaging. Wow, that's amazing. So he. mocapped his whole performance, motion. captured, and they just used Fresh.

Prince uh photos, man. They just. basically deep faked him, sort of. Fresh. Prince photo. Have you seen the Bill. Hater deep fake that's going around now? It's pretty cool. Yeah, cuz he goes from hater to Tom Cruz to. Seth Rogan, back to Tom Cruz. It's like kind of all. over the place. Yeah, it's really. creepy. It's really well done. Uh and. then, you know, like we said, they use. CGI for so many movies. little mistakes. that can be corrected, little things. that it's just much cheaper to add. digitally later on, right? It could be a.

movie that, like I said, looks like it. has no CGI whatsoever and it's cheaper. to put a plate of food in the background. digitally than cook the food, right? And. put it on set, right? Which is that's a. bad example. Uh or you can color grade a. movie. You completely change like the. movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou has. that yellow hue for everything. Yeah. All that stuff is green. You know, they're in the deep south in the. summertime, right? And they used to have. to like film it at some weird exposure. and then project it at another exposure.

with some filter and then record the. whole thing on an optical negative. Yeah. Now they can just do it all with a. computer. Easy peasy. It's great. You. got anything else? I'm kind of looking. around, but this is like one. of this topic. Yeah. Hopefully it made. you appreciate movies more. Yeah. you. specifically. Me? I'm just kidding. I. know you love the movies. Sure. Uh if. you want to know more about movies, go. listen to Chuck's podcast, Movie Crush.

You'll love it. Hey, thanks. Uh and. since I said movie crush, it's time for. a listener mail. Uh and actually, since you said movie. crush, we're about to release an episode. on the Matrix. Oh, yeah. Hadn't seen. that movie. It's been 20 years since it. came out. You've never seen The Matrix? No, I hadn't seen it in a long time. But. I didn't realize this is the 20 year. anniversary. We watched it last night. Still totally holds up. Really looks. great. Fun. Yeah. Well acted by most of. the cast members.

Who didn't act well? Oh, you know, Kenu. always gets picked on. I love that guy. I know. Kung fu. He's perfect in that role, though. Yeah, he's great. I can't imagine anybody else. in it. It'd be too just too serious. I. think like imagine Tom Cruz in that in. The Matrix. Yeah, you're right. He adds. a little like something light, doesn't. he? Yeah, it makes it a little more. everyman. Almost a little more. believable in a weird way. I think so. Have you seen those John Wick movies? Uh, I've seen some of it. It's just like.

a little too video gamey for me, but I. mean, it's fine. I I respect that people. like it. Sure. Here we go. Okay. This is about 3D. Uh. 3D. It's about solar panels. I got I got. movies on 3D. Got the Well, they are in. 3D, I guess. Okay. I got movies on the. brain. Hey guys, uh being a roofer my. entire life, I never thought I'd have. much input until now. It's my time to. shine. Uh one thing that wasn't. mentioned in the solar panel episode is. that people really need to consider the. age of their existing roof before.

installing solar panels. Oh, that's a. good point. Uh a new residential shingle. roof should last about 30 years. But if. the roof isn't nearly new, I would not. suggest installing solar panels. And. definitely don't install it if the roof. the roof the roof is on fire. Once the. panels are installed, roof repairs or. replacement is very difficult and much. more expensive. If the life of the roof. ends before the solar panels die, you. can easily add 50 to 75% or more to the. cost of the re-roofing due to the added.

labor cost to remove and reinstall the. panels. What a nightmare. Yeah, I didn't. think about that. So, you should align. it ideally with your new roof. Sure. Uh. I do mostly commercial roofing. Can't. tell you the number of customers who I. talked to had solar panels on an old. roof and are now paying through the nose. for repairs or replacement. A reputable. solar panel specialist should have this. roof conversation with a potential. customer before installing the panels, but I'm afraid it doesn't always happen. uh or customers underestimate the added.

re-roofing cost once they're installed. Man, this is a great PSA. It is. Thanks. again for what you guys do. I'm in my. truck a lot driving to different job. sites and it's always easier on Tuesday. through Thursday. Nice. When I have a. new stuff you should know and that is. from Owen uh Cinenig. Great name. First. and last. Yep. Love the name Owen. Stephen King's kids name. One of them. Yeah. Owen King. Thanks a lot, Owen. We. appreciate that big time. That was a.

great email. I would have never thought. about that. And he didn't even send his. business in to be plugged. So, just. Google his name and roofing and if he. happens to live near you, use him. That's how dedicated this guy is. He. sounds honest. Uh, well, if you want to. be a cool person like Owen, you can get. in touch with us. You can go on to. stuffyoushow.com and check out our. social links. You can also send us an. email to stuffodcast@ iheartradio.com. [Music]. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from.

iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio. app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows. [Music].