Special effects have always been a major part of cinema history, and the first example of their use was in 1895, in a film produced by the inventor of the light bulb, Thomas Edison. These days, special effects are an entire industry unto themselves. From computer-generated imagery to animation, lighting, set design, pyrotechnics, some of ​​the most amazing practical effects ever, and hundreds of other types of special effects, they are a massive staple of film as a whole. When movies were first made, however, they were much less advanced than the technological marvels of the modern age.
Although less advanced, the early days of special effects were still the cutting edge of technology for the time. Film in general was entirely novel, and experimenting with it to achieve effects that would be impossible in the real world would have been almost entirely unheard of. This was a whole year before the 1896 movie, Arrival of a train at La Ciotat And the urban legend of an audience running in fear of a live train. The novelty of special effects is likely why Thomas Edison signed up for the project, and without his help, special effects may not have gotten such an early start.
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The execution of Mary Stuart trick film includes the first-ever special effects shot
The first motion picture to ever include special effects was a short “trick” film from 1895 titled The execution of Mary Stuart. The short is a recreation of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and some have argued it was the first movie to use trained actors instead of pedestrians, and that it was the first horror movie ever made.. Since it depicts the beheading of the titular character, The execution of Mary Stuart Used his special effects to save his actress’ life. The story of how this was achieved in 1895, decades before the invention of the computer, is almost as exciting as his record.
As the beheading scene is done in the execution of Mary Stuart
To achieve this headed in The execution of Mary StuartThe short film used what would later become a staple of cinema: a stop trick. Director Alfred Clark set the beeheading as standard, with regular actors taking their places. Then, as the executioner raised his ax, he cut filming, all the other actors remained silent, switched Mary’s actress with a dummy, started rolling again, and had the executioner cut off the dummy’s head. (via Scholarly Community Encyclopedia). When the film finally rolled, it looked like the executioner had cut off the head of a living person on camera.
Another interesting part of The execution of Mary StuartIts special effect is how easily it can be tracked in the history of the practice. Stop tricks quickly gave way to real cuts, where filmmakers would actually cut rolls of film and paste them onto other rolls. From there, dozens of other special effects techniques were developed, and the entire film industry was changed forever. Everything that came after, including the special effects that almost ruined some movies, owes a debt to The execution of Mary Stuart and Thomas Edison.
Source: Scholarly Community Encyclopedia