| A | B |
|---|
| Forced perspective | An illusion that makes larger objects appear to be closer to the viewer than smaller objects. |
| Matte | A mask that prevents light from reaching and exposing a portion of the film. |
| Matte painting | A painting, traditionally done on glass, of a landscape or other background that is combined with other images in the finished film. |
| Persistence of Vision | The illusion of movement created when a series of still pictures flashes by in rapid succession. |
| Rear Projection | A way of combining previously filmed backgrounds with live-action foregrounds. |
| Rotoscoping | A process that enables filmmakers to trace live-action footage frame by frame. |
| Shuftan Process | A method of using mirrors to combine full-scale live action and miniatures. |
| Split screen | A process that combines two or more different actions, filmed separately, in the same film frame. |
| Traveling matte | Mattes used to combine two separately filmed scenes when the foreground element changes shape or position from frame to frame |
| Animatronics | Three-dimensional figures or parts powered by pumps, motors, hydraulics, computers or other electronic or mechanical means. |
| Prosthetics | Any three-dimensional item that is attached to an actor to change his or her appearance. |
| Blue- or green-screen | An optical process that allows subjects filmed in front of a blue or green background to be combined with a separately filmed background. |
| Bullet time | Uses multiple cameras to display the passage of time as extremely slow or completely frozen. |
| Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) | Screen images that are created using mathematical formulas and computers. |
| Morphing | A process that makes one image transform seamlessly into another. |
| Motion capture | A technique that records the movement of bodies or faces so that it can be used for animation or computer-generated characters. |
| Motion control | A method of recording or programming the movements of a motion picture camera so that the shot can be repeated exactly. |
| Pre-visualization | Computer animated scenes that help filmmakers work out shots, camera angles and other visual problems before the scene is shot on the set with actors. |
| Visual effects | all types of image manipulation, whether they take place during principal photography or in postproduction. |
| Physical effects | are performed live using “real world” elements. These include explosions, weather effects and stunts. |
| Reasons to use special effects | when the real thing is too expensive, dangerous or impossible to shoot. |
| The Playhouse (1921) | Buster Keaton movie that used a split screen effect |
| The Great Train Robbery (1903) | movie that used stationary mattes |
| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | animation which used travelling mattes |
| Reasons to use models and minatures | they represesent things that don't exist or are too expensive or difficult to film |
| Disney engineers | coined the term animatronics to describe three-dimensional mechanical figures developed for Disneyland in the 1960s |
| Alien (1979) | this film incorporated the use of animatronincs and special effects make-up |
| The Empire Strikes Back (1980) | one of the first films to use computer graphics |
| The Abyss (1989) | first film to use water effects |
| The Perfect Storm (2000) | first digitally simulated entire ocean |
| Jumanji (1995) | first to digitally reproduce multidimensional hair |
| Terminaor 2 (1991) | first film to use the morphing techinique |
| The Matrix (1999) | first film to use bullet time |
| Star Wars (1977) | first film to use computer-programmed motion-controlled camera rigs |
| Splash (1980) | film which incorporated the use of proshetics on its main character |
