|
|
|
|
Producers in front of the glass matte painting used in "Dancer of the Nile"
|
1900s
Special effects become a moviemaker's staple as films move from
documentaries to dramatic stories, and the basic arsenal of trick techniques is
established.
1903
Edwin Porter's popular "The Great Train Robbery" features matte shots to
composite two separate images, placing a shot of a train into the window of a
station.
1906
Edwin Porter directs "The Teddy Bears," one of the earliest stop-motion
animation films. A short sequence of frolicking teddy bears, just over a minute
in length, takes 56 hours to animate.
1907
Preparing glass mattes
|
|
Norman O. Dawn pioneers the glass shot
for motion pictures, a gag that
remains in the filmmaker's arsenal today. For "Missions of California,"
Dawn's innovation enabled directors to save money by only building a portion of
a set and filling in the rest with a painting. Dawn later invents the
stationary matte, the foundation of a technique allowing two shots to be
combined in one.
1907
Richard Murphy creates a mechanical eagle for "The Eagle's Nest," the
forerunner of today's animatronic creatures such as ET and Jaws. The
stuffed eagle kidnaps a baby and battles the hero, played by silent director
D.W. Griffith.
Continue: 1910s
Photos: Bison Archives
Reel Timeline |
50-Foot Chicken |
Wizards of Ahs |
Be in Pixels
Titanic: What's Real |
Virtual Humans |
Resources |
Teacher's Guide
Transcript |
Site Map |
Special Effects Home
Editor's Picks |
Previous Sites |
Join Us/E-mail |
TV/Web Schedule
About NOVA |
Teachers |
Site Map |
Shop |
Jobs |
Search |
To print
PBS Online |
NOVA Online |
WGBH
© | Updated November 2000
|
|
|