special effects techniques
Special effects (SFX or just FX) are as old as cinema, and many techniques have their roots directly in stage magic (film pioneer Georges Méliès was originally a stage magician).
The British film industry was particularly strong in special effects. Much credit for this goes to Alexander Korda and his brothers, Hungarian directors who came to the UK in the 1930s to make a series of epic impressionist films. Korda brought Ned Mann, a Hollywood SFX expert, to the UK; The British Board of Trade insisted that British technicians should be employed and trained. British artist Walter Percy “Pop” de Corda would then take over the special effects. After World War II, a new generation of artists maintained a strong influence of the industry, many of whom were trained by Pop Day and Ned Mann. These included Wally Weaver, Tom Howard, Peter Ellenshaw (Day’s stepson, who went to America to work for Disney in the 1950s), and Les Bowie. In the 1950s, Les Bowie started his own company to create effects for films other than Hammer Horror films. Bowie recruited Derek Meddings and later Brian Johnson. As Meddings began working for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson in the 1960s, Johnson joined them. The talent of British technicians attracted Stanley Kubrick to create 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in Britain, employing Johnson.
For Space: 1999 Brian Johnson was able to take advantage of his experiences working with Les Bowie, Derek Meddings, and in 2001, Wally Weavers and Douglas Trumbull.
In 1975, as Brian Johnson finished the first series of Space: 1999He was visited by two American filmmakers, Gary Kurtz and George Lucas, who were preparing their own science fiction film to be filmed in Britain. They wanted to see the effects Johnson was making for Space: 1999And offered him the job of SFX supervisor. But Johnson had committed to Space: 1999Lucas also asked Douglas Trumbull and eventually hired Trumbull’s assistant, John Dykstra, star wars (1977) was able to use cheap integrated circuits (second hand VistaVision built in the 1950s) to control cameras, which would revolutionize special effects.
The first step was to identify each SFX scene from the shooting script and annotate it with notes and sometimes sketches.
All SFX scenes were then converted into storyboards, depicting every SFX shot of the episode. More information
Filming on Stage 4, the ballroom stage at Bray Studios. This platform had a recessed area for the camera. They will also be filming on the larger Stage 3, a purpose-built stage in Bray.
Copyright Martin Wiley
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