I’m not trying to take anything away from digital artists or modern set designers, but the genius that went into this time period is so much cooler and more enjoyable to watch than the stuff shot on blue screens today.
As far as the tornado in The Wizard of Oz goes, I am proud to say that my Grandfather was one of the Special Effects technicians pushing that cart around. He worked on a lot of special effects in those days for different studios. By the time I knew him, he was working for Universal and then he retired to spend more time with his hobby of astrophotography.
The give-away with that shot is that the actresses eyes change colour; at the start the red make-up is transparent through a red filter, also making her blue eyes appear black, but when the filter is removed, exposing the red make-up, her eyes also lighten.
I'm pretty sure that it was responsible for my early paralyzing fear of extremely large things like (twisters,) tidal waves and mushroom clouds - all of which appear in my nightmares to this day. I also see enormous UFOs in my nightmares.
When I was a kid, I would hide in the bathroom until the tornado scene in Oz was over. It scared me to death because it was so real. It still is although I don't hide anymore. But I always wondered how it was done.
It really is something that needs to come back to movies. The practical effects in these movies look so good and real. Nowadays, everything is over the top CGI with characters/creatures moving in such unrealistic ways, it really pulls me out of the movie.
As an astronomer, visual effects business owner, and colleague, I worked with Douglas Trumbull for a number of years and was honored to learn from him how the Effects for Blade Runner, Close Encounters, and 2001 A Space Odyssey were done among other of his massive list of works .. He had these wonderful presentations he did for me on many occasions to show his ingenuity. I counted him as a good friend until his passing just over a year ago. Interestingly you showed Wizard of Oz. It was his father that did the effects for Oz. Wonderful family. Doug is missed terribly.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I first became aware of Trumbull from the movie "Silent Running", which is brilliant, and deserved a much wider audience than it got. He was a genius, and I hope it's a consolation to you to know, as I'm sure you do, how his work has continued to influence and inspire filmmakers for generations, and will continue to do so.
My first experience with Douglas Trumbull was also Silent Running. Being only 4 years old when 2001 was released I wasn't aware of his work until I saw Silent Running when it came on TV a few years after it was released to theatres. Then in rapid succession I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: TMP and Blade Runner. It was only in college in 1984 with the advent of VHS tape and the rentable VHS player that I saw 2001 right before seeing 2010. My SFX heroes have been and will always be Douglas Trumbull, first of all, followed by John Dykstra who worked with Douglas on Silent Running only to go on to do SFX and modeling work on the original Star Wars and later Battlestar Galactica and finally Brian Johnson who did the SFX and model work on Space:1999 but before that worked with Douglas Trumbull on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Brian Johnson would later go on to do Alien, The Empire Strikes Back and Aliens. Those three giants of SFX are, to me, the "Holy Trinity" of special effects at least of the film era of the 1960's, 70's and 80's. But none can touch Trumbull when it comes to the shear beauty of the lighting effects he pulled off in 2001, Close Encounters, Star Trek: TMP, Blade Runner, Brainstorm and the absolute gobsmacking organic effects he and his team created for Tree of Life. The Birth of the Cosmos or Lacrimosa section of Tree of Life never fails to move me to tears.
@@susieusmaximus5330My sixth grade teacher made us watch it in school....must have been 1981? Still feel that movie in my heart, even more with the way our food supply has been handled . Definitely a masterful movie.... brought me to tears.
Buster Keaton has always been my favorite. The man was a genius. I have DVDs of every short, movie, appearance he made. Called "The Great Stoneface" his eyes, and physicality did the acting.
@@robertdragoff6909 The General was meticulously planned, beautifully executed. I have read the railroad car is still decaying where it landed. Wish i could see that.
So did I. I would shut my eyes everytime that scene came on. I was also terrified of the scene when Dorothys in the Witches castle and Aunty Em turns into her in the hourglass
I always considered the funnel cloud in The wizard of Oz to be more realistic looking on screen than any of those twisters that were CGI created in the 1996 movie twister or any other films since then.
My favorite Wizard of Oz shot is the transition from sepia to Technicolor as Dorothy steps out of the house into Munchkinland. The whole sequence is shot in color, but the interior set of the house and Judy Garland's double are painted, made up, and dressed in the sepia browns. The model ducks out of the frame and Garland ducks in wearing her iconic blue dress and steps into the gloriously colored Munchkinland set in one seamless shot. Simple but amazing.
This is the first time I’ve ever watched your channel, but it won’t be the last! I’ve always loved old films, and it’s nice to be among people who still appreciate them!
The unfortunate downside is - particularly when you see this on a big screen - the multiple wires holding up the Martian levitating warcraft are very visible.
Speaking of the same era (mid 50s) some of the visual effects shots in Forbidden Planet are astonishingly good, especially the Krell city and the scene where the invisible id monster attacks the spaceship.
Every time I tune in I'm blown away with how this team has just been delivering this kind of gold for 10+ years. Such a cool episode. Thanks for all you've brought to this community through the years.
Partly cuz twister had a cow flying thru the nado and mooing 😅 and partly cuz i was 16 and smoked weed right before i saw it in the theatre which made the cow scene even funnier
Very cool! Another interesting effect from Wizard of Oz, when they transition from Sepia to Color. As I understand it, the set itself where the camera starts was fully painted in B&W/Sepia, and they used a stand in for Judy Garland, dressed as her BUT the outfit was also B&W/Sepia. The opened the door, which reveals the color set outside. B&W "Dorothey" steps out and goes off camera for a second, and then Judy Garland dressed in color outfit comes back into the scene. At least, that's how I heard it was done...?
Although uncredited, director King Vidor shot the awakening scene on B&W/ Sepia tone film. Note the editing transition when Judy Garland's double facing away from the camera opens the door... The cut to the three-step technicolor film takes place right here! Remember it's 1939; the cinema and the world changed forever and you see it.
Yes! Judy Garland's double (who was always on set because she stood in for Judy when lights and cameras were being set up for each shot, and it's also her feet in most of the close-ups of the Ruby Slippers when they're worn by Dorothy) wore the Kansas sepia tone dress, and backs up from the opening of the door to the left of the camera. She then passes Toto off to Judy behind the cameraman's back, and Judy enters Munchkinland in the Technicolor version of the dress from the right of the camera!
Seeing tech breakdowns of how pre-CGI effects were achieved is one of my fave parts of the Corridor Crew reaction episodes with SFX artists, stunties etc too. The amount of sheer CREATIVITY and crazy engineering that the old-time filmmakers applied to problem-solving is just so mindblowing and inspirational. It's 100% one of those instances where having greater constraints really did seem to lead to greater creativity....? And honestly, a lot of it looks more real than today's CGI blockbusters! 😳
It's so easy to overlook these type of things when you're not having them pointed out to you. I guess that's beauty or magic of cinema. If you're just accepting what you see on screen at face value then they've done their job. It's pretty much like finding out how a magic trick is done and that's pretty cool to me. ❤
I wore out my copy of "Techniques of Special Effects Cinematography" by Raymond Fielding. I bought it in the early 1980s, and I still browse through it for ideas. If you want to know how classic effects are done, everything from foreground miniatures to Disney's sodium matte process, this is the "bible." I'm so glad more of today's filmmakers are using these techniques in addition to CGI. Thanks for bringing this great work to everyone's attention, Ryan!
That's a very good book to have. Keep hold of your copy as it's not always possible to find a copy today, even the newer editions. They should use and consult that book on this show as verbatim, because they sadly don't.
@@Ddrhl Yes, troll, "as verbatim". So people who aren't Roman time travellers can understand what it says, just like YOU! "Canon" is "verbatim" that counts.
One of my favourite practical effects from classic movies is the transition from sepia to colour in the wizard of Oz. They had actually painted the set, the clothes and had the actors wear sepia colour make up. And it was actually the stunt double that we see for Dorothy in the first half of the screen and when she goes through the door the real dorphy was waiting on the otherside
I have spent my life in Texas and I have been through three tornadoes (they were all different) and the Wizard of Oz twister scares the heck out of me.
You know a lot of these effects are far more superior and realistic, compared to many CGI films of today. And 'Roger Thornhill' being chased by the crop duster is just magnificent, one of my favourite effects and indeed,one of my favourite films! Even though only a quick glimpse of it at the start of the video,was shown!!🙄😁
Loved this episode. One of my scene transitions is in Terry Gilliam's Baron Munchausen, and it's as simple as great set design. The 'theatre Sultan' walks from the back of the stage to the front. But as the camera pans its revealed that where the front of the stage should be, is the actual palace. Such a great way to transition from the telling of the story and go into the story.
That movie had some great scenes, as did many of his movies. Gilliam was truly an artist, and he took such joy in showcasing other artists' amazing talents.
The Citizen Kane shot is also done in The Empire Strike Back, when you have a pilot's perspective as he flies between the legs of the huge walker. Since the whole shot was done as stop motion, taking away the model once the legs were out of frame was really easy, as you can take as long as you want while the camera is paused.
The give away for the pen in 2001 being on a piece of glass for me was that the pen only rotates on one axis. It was cool to have this confirmed as I grew older. Fantastic shot though. then again the whole movie is just a series of fantastic shots.
The floating pen on a glass pane resembles the trick of the clock hands in a "pendule mysterieuse". These clocks usually rotate 2 glass discs with hidden cog teeth at the rim and each a clock hand in the center to create the illusion of a transparent clock without visible mechanism.
@@AerialTheShamen The most audacious scene in "2001" is the one in which the flight attendant walks on the catwalk in seeming weightlessness. That was actually invented by Buster Keaton in the 1920's and used by him in "The Navigator," in the scene in which he and Dorothy McGuire are rescued from the derelict ocean liner by a submarine which turns over under water. It involved bolting a stationary camera to a room set that revolved, so the actors appeared to defy gravity. Later Fred Astaire used it in "You're All the World to Me" from "Royal Wedding" (1951), but it was Keaton's invention.
Since I was a kid the visuals of "Wizard of Oz" have just fascinated and astounded me. And, as an adult Buster Keaton's stunts and timing have absolutely "laid me out" from how everybody pulled-off the sheer complexity of those breathtaking stunts with apparent ease. Complete and utter cinematic genius for the times. Thank you for putting together this video.
Wow? I remember when this guy only showed and marvelled over new pictures and Special Effects. Now he's become a Classic Cinema Connoisseur and Expert like me.
I’m so glad you shared these. A reminder that you can get some really amazing shots without the use of cg. My personal favorite movie is King Kong (1933), because of the strong story line and I feel like the movie used every trick in the book for the time.
OK, the 2001 pen effect got me. I thought for sure it was just on monofilament, but the "stuck to glass" concept is absolute brilliant, and allows for a much more natural "floating" motion.
i used to be a boom operator. once did a film with a dining room scene and we had trouble getting around me in the shot. i had the director hang me from the ceiling and i was able to get the audio from above. it worked great
My year 1 animation/storytelling professor LOVED the classics, he gave us a whole list to check out and would go over with us different shots and how they did them. Masking, mirrors, minatures and puppets, double exposure, all those old tricks. Really wish my school just gave him a whole class to dedicate to going over classic cinema, it was so cool first year. Now whenever my mother's watching a classic film and I sit to watch with her I'm constantly telling her how different shots might've been done during commercials. Lots of respect for these filmmakers back in the day
You've literally covered and answered every question about how the effects on my favorite movies were done! Thirty seconds over Tokyo, The Wizard of Oz and 2001 Space Odessey! Drove me crazy thinking about 'how it's done" Thanks a bunch!
I remember a documentary with Steven Spielberg; on one of the first movies he ever made (as a young boy, with his friends, and his dad's hand camera) using lightly buried sticks in dirt, and setting them up like little seesaws so when his friends stepped on the other end of the stick they would puff up the dirt, giving the illusion of gunfire in the dirt around them.
The movie DUEL where Dennis Weaver is being chased by the semi and his car and the truck both go over the cliff. Neither he nor the driver of the truck were injured.
A very sad fact is the tornado scene in Wizard Of Oz also used asbestos dust, in fact this was the common 'movie dust' of the time. White asbestos was used as snow and set dressing. It affected so many film technicians and stars. Moving on in time dust containing silica is just as dangerous. Makes you rethink how fantastic these films are!
It doesn't change the greatness of the films. They didn't know there was an issue. If some person knew, and used it anyway, well then, that person would be a serial killer, and this just got way more interesting :0
I had never heard of "Sh! Octopus" -- amazing! The effect looks similar to how Fredric March changed in "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" (1931). Loved all your selections, we showed many of these films to middle schoolers about 20 years ago when our kids were growing up -- had Friday "movie nights," and they were truly a blast. Thanks for breaking down all these effects -- Keaton's is for sure my favorite, what a maniac!
What's sad about this is that with the advent of CGI, we have forgotten how to do anything without it. It's kind of like how they built the pyramids -- lost to time.
I love watching stuff like this. It amazes me how people made due with what they had and pulled off such impressive things. Everything from chemistry and physics inventions with crude equipment to machinery, intricate devices like watches, and the arts like cinema.
Amazing!! Thank you for the upload!! I love special effects, especially in older film and media. My favorite special effects movie is The Thing(1982). That movie really scared the crap out of me as a kid, and it was all because of those special effects and prop work. I like cgi, but I'm more of a fan of practical special effects and prop work, makeup etc. Cgi is amazing and if done correctly, it can look very real. Thanks again!! 💜🤝
You should do an episode about the original Dark Shadows, (if you haven't already.) The shot of ghost Josette walking down from the painting was absolutely amazing, especially for a show in 1967 and with a shoestring budget.
The even more impressive thing that gets forgotten about Lloyd is he's doing all that hanging off of clocks and ledges with just one full hand - his right hand was missing the thumb and forefinger due to a previous accident. PLUS between takes, he was forced to hanging in position sometimes before the cameras rolled again.
Wonderful stuff. Instead of it being spoilers, it gives you a new respect for those, already highly thought of, movies. So clever, it must've been so rewarding seeing your creativity work on the final film.
Great episode. Love the practicals. You mentioned Jackie Chan and was sorry to see no footage from his movies (although I guess his effects were similar to Buster Keaton's in that they were just done live with little to no regard for safety).
👏👏👏 🎉Thank you for the awesome video! 👍 Your creativity and hard work are truly appreciated. I learned a lot from your insights and enjoyed watching it. Keep up the great work! 🎉👏👏👏
Many of these tricks are brilliant. And I agree we need a return to more practical effects like these. Cgi is too easy. Think outside the box. Great video.
To me the problem with CGI is not that "is easy", is not really, is still a bunch of work, is that unless you spend a lot of time making it good, it will look extremely bad and fake, specially for characters and moving/animating objects, while practical effects look real by default, because they are real, but there are tons of series and movies with full CGI static backdrops, that no one even suspects is CGI, when is very well done is invisible. So IMO the problem with CGI, is not CGI itself, is lack of care and rushed effects.
One I loved as a kid, and still do is the 1953 War of the Worlds alien craft scenes. The sparking ground when they pass, the shield dome, the wicked look of the crafts. It may all be basic, but it was thrilling to me.
Another excellent effect is in Gone With The Wind, during an external scene where guests are arriving for a ball at (I think) Ashley's house. You're looking along the front of an antebellum mansion from one end as guests disembark from carriages in the middle distance and walk up the steps to the mansion's entrance. Only - the mansion was not real, it was hand-painted, and the actors were actually walking up the stairs to the rear doors of the sound stage from out in the lot (backdrop was I think matted in). Even knowing that the mansion frontage is a painting, it's so well executed that you can't tell. Personally, I think it's a rather corny movie, but technically it's impressive.
Blowing up the boxcars (pretty sure those were miniatures) and setting fire to a stage to replicate the burning of Atlanta was also considered a huge special effect back in 1939. And think about what all of that fire would have looked like on the big screen when the year prior, all of your movies were B&W.
@@kerim.peardon5551 My mom, at 14 years old, saw GWTW in the theater when it was released and she said she was awestruck by that scene and how vivid it was. The boxcars were not miniatures, though. For that scene, they gathered old sets and such from previous movies and burned them, clearing the way so they could build needed sets for the movie. Incidentally, it was during the filming of this scene that Vivien Leigh was introduced to David O. Selznick, who was still trying to find the perfect actress to play Scarlett.
@@gloriagaddy That's interesting. The way it zooms in on the cars, it sort of makes them look like miniatures. Although it's might be that the full-size cars were burned, but only miniatures were blown up. Burning a set down and blowing one up are different stunts entirely! It's very cool that your mother got to see it when it first came out. I've gotten to see it in a theater on the big screen, but I'm not going to have the same experience as 1, I've seen it many times before that, and 2, color movies are the norm. But on the big screen, it was the first time I had ever seen Scarlett's eyes look green. On the old VHS tape I had, they always looked blue.
Amazing!! Being as artistic person myself, it always amazed me how creative people can be!! If there maybe an issue, how people simply create a solution on their own. Thinking outside the box. So great!!
Seriously: I don't know how I haven't caught wind of this channel before now! Cinematography Minor at U of Oklahoma and 19 years at Boeing graphic media (motion picture & television, computer animation and my share of vinyl signage) I'm a history buff and a cinema fanatic! Subbed and liked and belled!
@@filmriot You made a mistake .... The wizard Of Oz film (1939) wasn't a "bomb" as you wrongly suggested .. it had a budget of $2.8 million , and made it's money back at the Box office which was $29.7 million
Wizard of Oz made $3 million on a $2.7 million budget and once adverts, print, and distro was added, it lost MGM $1.1 million (a huge amount at the time) and was considered a flop. We have an episode in the works that goes more into that.
Thank you, this was really fun to watch, I see why you have 2.03 million subscribers and now I'm one more. I could have watched this for for two hours if it was that long. You convinced me to watch these old films I thought about doing years ago and forgot about it. I'm going to start buying these old movies on Amazon Prime and build up an old movie collection because I watched this video, again, thank you. Take care.
Its initial returns did not cover the combined expenses for production and distribution. That is obviously what was meant. Splitting hairs is another kind of impressive effect 😉
@@SadDetonator "The Wizard of Oz" didn't make back its production costs, despite a reasonably successful reissue in 1949, until it was first sold to CBS Television in 1956 for what became the first of 39 annual TV screenings. Then it became a cash cow for MGM (and eventually Warner Bros. when it merged with Turner Broadcasting, which had bought the MGM catalog).
I can't believe when The Wizard of Oz came up, you didn't feature the change from black & white to colour when Dorothy first comes out into Oz. It's the best effect of the film and has an incredible secret to it. Maybe if you did a follow up feature you could include it.
How Fun! I personally designed and built the rooftop set to pull off a version of Safety Last for the B flick "Why Me?", and the 'how they made it' book from 2001 is what got me into special effects!
When I was ten years old, my friend and I made a cartoon version of 'The Empire Strikes Back' using an 8mm camera. We created the laser gun shots by using a box with a diagonal piece of glass right in front of the camera. We then had a light with a sheet of red plastic shine down through a hole at the top of the box ( in the shape of laser shot ), and lined it up with whatever gun was shooting in the background. We learned how to do this in some camera magazine back in the early 1980's.
Cool old special effects. I wondered for years how that tornado was done in "The Wizard of Oz" and the floating pin in "2001 - A Space Odyssey." I'm surprised that your list didn't include the ocean parting scene from both versions of "The Ten Commandments."
I liked the "steady cam" shots from The Evil Dead whereby they just bolted the camera to a big plank of wood and ran with it, creating a similar stabilisation effect that a high-wire-walker gets with a long pole.
This was awesome, I always wondered how older films were able to pull of sfx that rivaled todays vfx! Incredible! Like always just going to ask that you guys consider writing the movie titles of each clip you use in the bottom corner. Studio binder does it and it’s so helpful for those of us that want to go back and watch some of the films. Pleeeaaassee
I’ve wondered how all these effects were done since I was very little, never thought of looking it up. This video explained everything so thoroughly and just makes me appreciate the groundbreakers of cinema and visual FX even more. What we can accomplish today just on our phones with a basic editing and FX app would not be possible without those who came before us using practical effects and trickery to inspire the next generation. Thank you for this video, it’s answered questions I’ve had for close to 35 years.
8:30 The Wizard of Oz was not a flop. It failed to turn a profit, in initial release, only because they spent a ridiculous amount of money making it. It eventually became profitable after a few re-releases into theaters, and then the eventual TV rights sale.
I think he meant a flop upon it's initial release. Movies like It's a Wonderful Life and Shawshank Redemption were also flops upon initial release but ultimately became legendary and greatly revered like The Wizard of Oz.
we can discuss the reasons it flopped on release. The high cost and the subsequent war preventing widespread international release, but the fact remains that it didn't turn a profit until decades later
Really nice video, I enjoyed. I always wondered about that tornado. Today, there's plenty of footage like that of real tornadoes - and they look just like the one in Wizard of Oz. Sounds like they put some thought and hard work into this. I wonder if there was any real tornado footage for them to work from.
By chance , and with all the tornados outbreaks going on currently, I watched a video on UA-cam about the history of tornados and the earliest mentions and depictions of tornados. One of the earliest depictions was in a medieval tapestry that displayed weather phenomenon. The first video footage recorded wasn’t until the 50’s , so the technicians for OZ relied on photos
In Silent Running 1972 to create the tactical nuke explosion they took a piece of black construction paper and punched a hole in it. Then they opened up the lens all the way and zoomed in on the hole. Then they unplugged the light to simulate the light from the nuke fading out. And they composited it onto a starfield. And they did the entire SFX for only $2 dollars, mind blowing.
There was a stunt show in Universal Hollywood in the 90's where they good guy sits on the plunger for the dynamite and the building falls over him but a window placed just right doesn't touch him.
To say that the tornado in "Wizard Of Oz" "completely holds up to this day" is an incredible understatement. If you've ever seen the film projected it is an utterly realistic effect and a seamless blend of miniatures, rear projection, and foreground effects. The CGI in "Twister" couldn't hold a candle to this sequence. The entire movie is just one incredible effect gag after another--need we say 'flying monkeys?' Yes, we should. This movie really should be studied with the same reverence as "Citizen Kane" or "2001: A Space Odyssey."
8/10. I didn't know the Wizard of Oz tornado effect and straight up I was fooled by the Thirty Seconds To Tokyo one. It looks so good I thought it was real footage of military tests or something. Very nice work!
I know it's the most famous Buster Keaton shot, probably because it was done for real, but he had so many better examples of tricks that you could've used, like the Sherlock Jr motorcycle scene with the train barely missing him
They kind of had to either find something that could be done, or find a way of writing around it. I suspect that in some of these cases you had somebody with an idea before it showed up in a script. Also, these people were doing dozens of films a year, there was a very short cycle between having the idea, making it happen and seeing the reaction. These days that can take years, back then you were talking about only a few weeks or months.
The one in the Wizard of Oz was also much further in the back and not intended to be the main focal point of the scene though. Which is a massive advantage.
There's a shot in "Contact" that mystified me for a long time. It's when Ellie runs upstairs to get her father's medicine, and the camera is going with her up the stairs, _around a corner,_ down the hall to the bathroom, where it's revealed to be a reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. It was obvious once it was explained to me; the tracking shot was one shot simply matted into a second shot of the cabinet. Another mirror trick, that wasn't even an effect really, was in "Airplane!" when Kramer is getting dressed in a full length mirror, says, "Let's go" and then steps through the mirror. The scene was simply set up to suggest that there was a mirror there when there wasn't. The gag is very subtle and is usually missed by viewers.
Excellent! I have a small library of special effects books from the days before CGI because I was fascinated by how these illusions were created. Now days, when you can do just about anything on a computer, I find it all a lot less interesting. This video does a great job of actually showing you how it was done instead of just brushing it off with something like, "Oh, it's a matte."
that makeup effect was fantastic, i could imagine the audience losing their minds and just freaking out. i remember going to see jurassic park and being amazed with the cgi but that makeup trick is on another level. the things those people thought of when moving pictures were a new tech is genius....pure genius
The camera shot going between two peoples and jump straight toward other tables AND The floating pen illusion that using clear mirror technic was really Ameazing for me.Bcause it was easy to do and less effort to do for me! Big Thanks To You For Bringing This Unique Idea.I really enjoy this video!
I’m not trying to take anything away from digital artists or modern set designers, but the genius that went into this time period is so much cooler and more enjoyable to watch than the stuff shot on blue screens today.
Agreed. These special effects just seem more "real" and believable.
Exactly why practical effects are superior.
As far as the tornado in The Wizard of Oz goes, I am proud to say that my Grandfather was one of the Special Effects technicians pushing that cart around. He worked on a lot of special effects in those days for different studios. By the time I knew him, he was working for Universal and then he retired to spend more time with his hobby of astrophotography.
That's awesome, literally part of cinema history
That’s cool man
Mine was one of the producers that raped Judy. Good times!
wrdgaf
All I can say is wow! I remember how the oncoming twister scared me more than the flying monkeys. 🌪🌪🌪
The witch transformation makeup trick is probably my favourite practical effect in cinema, so effective
Yeah that witch transformation is still scary a.f. in 2023! I'm wondering if it's in any way possible to do that with color.
@@cjc363636 maybe you could recolorise some black and white footage with some software
The give-away with that shot is that the actresses eyes change colour; at the start the red make-up is transparent through a red filter, also making her blue eyes appear black, but when the filter is removed, exposing the red make-up, her eyes also lighten.
The most famous example of this is probably Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Frederick March, maybe?
That was insanely good. Good by today's standards. In fact almost better.
As a child, the tornado scene was terrifying in Oz. It's hard to believe that was just fabric and dirt.
I'm pretty sure that it was responsible for my early paralyzing fear of extremely large things like (twisters,) tidal waves and mushroom clouds - all of which appear in my nightmares to this day. I also see enormous UFOs in my nightmares.
@@unlimitedrabbit This 1000%. I've never had to experience anything so apocalyptic in my life, but my dreams can sure invent it 🥶😫
Me too! I remember I was 5 when I saw the wizard of Oz and that scene wowed me and terrified me at the same time
When I was a kid, I would hide in the bathroom until the tornado scene in Oz was over. It scared me to death because it was so real. It still is although I don't hide anymore. But I always wondered how it was done.
It scared the crap out me when I was a little kid and still makes me nervous for Dorothy today.
So far I've watched 1 -4 on how they pulled it off. I love it. Please continue to make more . Thanks.👍
To this day I have yet to see a tornado done in CGI (in movies or otherwise) that holds up the the 1939 Wizard of Oz. That was absolute genius.
I can’t even find a tornado done in CGI before that movie Twister.
@@robertforster8984 night of the twisters was one around that time. It was a TV movie with Devon Sawa.
Sharkbado perhaps used cgi
I would say Twister does hold up. its science is fast and lose but the effects are top notch.
an object that has actual physicality will always look better
It really is something that needs to come back to movies. The practical effects in these movies look so good and real. Nowadays, everything is over the top CGI with characters/creatures moving in such unrealistic ways, it really pulls me out of the movie.
Wow, I'm glad this came up in my recommended list. Truly interesting.
As an astronomer, visual effects business owner, and colleague, I worked with Douglas Trumbull for a number of years and was honored to learn from him how the Effects for Blade Runner, Close Encounters, and 2001 A Space Odyssey were done among other of his massive list of works .. He had these wonderful presentations he did for me on many occasions to show his ingenuity. I counted him as a good friend until his passing just over a year ago. Interestingly you showed Wizard of Oz. It was his father that did the effects for Oz. Wonderful family. Doug is missed terribly.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I first became aware of Trumbull from the movie "Silent Running", which is brilliant, and deserved a much wider audience than it got. He was a genius, and I hope it's a consolation to you to know, as I'm sure you do, how his work has continued to influence and inspire filmmakers for generations, and will continue to do so.
My first experience with Douglas Trumbull was also Silent Running. Being only 4 years old when 2001 was released I wasn't aware of his work until I saw Silent Running when it came on TV a few years after it was released to theatres. Then in rapid succession I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: TMP and Blade Runner. It was only in college in 1984 with the advent of VHS tape and the rentable VHS player that I saw 2001 right before seeing 2010. My SFX heroes have been and will always be Douglas Trumbull, first of all, followed by John Dykstra who worked with Douglas on Silent Running only to go on to do SFX and modeling work on the original Star Wars and later Battlestar Galactica and finally Brian Johnson who did the SFX and model work on Space:1999 but before that worked with Douglas Trumbull on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Brian Johnson would later go on to do Alien, The Empire Strikes Back and Aliens. Those three giants of SFX are, to me, the "Holy Trinity" of special effects at least of the film era of the 1960's, 70's and 80's. But none can touch Trumbull when it comes to the shear beauty of the lighting effects he pulled off in 2001, Close Encounters, Star Trek: TMP, Blade Runner, Brainstorm and the absolute gobsmacking organic effects he and his team created for Tree of Life. The Birth of the Cosmos or Lacrimosa section of Tree of Life never fails to move me to tears.
@@susieusmaximus5330My sixth grade teacher made us watch it in school....must have been 1981? Still feel that movie in my heart, even more with the way our food supply has been handled . Definitely a masterful movie.... brought me to tears.
Buster Keaton was a mad genius. Absolutely positively the G.O.A.T. His work is so underappreciated by today's film viewer.
Buster Keaton has always been my favorite. The man was a genius. I have DVDs of every short, movie, appearance he made. Called "The Great Stoneface" his eyes, and physicality did the acting.
Another gag Buster would do would be grabbing the handle on the side of a train as it was stopping at station, as if he was stopping it himself.
@@robertdragoff6909 The General was meticulously planned, beautifully executed. I have read the railroad car is still decaying where it landed. Wish i could see that.
I cannot understand how he is not rated higher than Charlie Chaplain. His stuff holds up SO much better.
Even now people copy some of his bits !
That Wizard of OZ tornado scene terrified my younger sister so bad that when we had a tornado warning she would go into a panic.
So did I. I would shut my eyes everytime that scene came on. I was also terrified of the scene when Dorothys in the Witches castle and Aunty Em turns into her in the hourglass
I always considered the funnel cloud in The wizard of Oz to be more realistic looking on screen than any of those twisters that were CGI created in the 1996 movie twister or any other films since then.
Had literal nightmares about it.
Pretty much the only time i watched the movie was Probably a couple months ago on VHS
Isn’t panicking at a tornado warning quite a normal response?
My favorite Wizard of Oz shot is the transition from sepia to Technicolor as Dorothy steps out of the house into Munchkinland. The whole sequence is shot in color, but the interior set of the house and Judy Garland's double are painted, made up, and dressed in the sepia browns. The model ducks out of the frame and Garland ducks in wearing her iconic blue dress and steps into the gloriously colored Munchkinland set in one seamless shot. Simple but amazing.
I know. I can still remember the awe I had the first time watching it!
This was an absolutely fantastic episode! I especially enjoyed the 3D breakdowns of some of the effects. Please make this a recurring series!!
The effects shots in "Forbidden Planet" are still some of my favorites, Spaceship approach and landing sequence still holds up today.
The scenes of the Krell monster caught up in the force field were actually done by Walt Disney animation for MGM.
Not just the effects but that sound of the Krell monster. The Barrons acid tripin' synth hacking soundtrack throughout the whole film, no strings.
This is the first time I’ve ever watched your channel, but it won’t be the last! I’ve always loved old films, and it’s nice to be among people who still appreciate them!
War Of The Worlds(1954)...the alien attack of Los Angeles...the special effects and miniature work is astounding.
The unfortunate downside is - particularly when you see this on a big screen - the multiple wires holding up the Martian levitating warcraft are very visible.
Speaking of the same era (mid 50s) some of the visual effects shots in Forbidden Planet are astonishingly good, especially the Krell city and the scene where the invisible id monster attacks the spaceship.
Every time I tune in I'm blown away with how this team has just been delivering this kind of gold for 10+ years. Such a cool episode. Thanks for all you've brought to this community through the years.
The Tornado in Wizard of Oz has always been the scariest most realistic to me, even over movies like Twister.
Exactly - horrifying !!!
Partly cuz twister had a cow flying thru the nado and mooing 😅 and partly cuz i was 16 and smoked weed right before i saw it in the theatre which made the cow scene even funnier
Twister was a CGi joke
@@classicgunstoday1972 You mean to say the 80,000 lb tanker truck magically _floating_ in the air like a balloon didn't do it for ya?
@@michlo3393 LOL! Yeah about as much as the cow flying around right-side up while going “MOO”
Very cool!
Another interesting effect from Wizard of Oz, when they transition from Sepia to Color. As I understand it, the set itself where the camera starts was fully painted in B&W/Sepia, and they used a stand in for Judy Garland, dressed as her BUT the outfit was also B&W/Sepia. The opened the door, which reveals the color set outside. B&W "Dorothey" steps out and goes off camera for a second, and then Judy Garland dressed in color outfit comes back into the scene.
At least, that's how I heard it was done...?
Yeah that's what I read too. I thought they were gonna show that when Oz started.
Yes. It's crazily simple _and_ complex and ingenious all at the same time.
Although uncredited, director King Vidor shot the awakening scene on B&W/ Sepia tone film. Note the editing transition when Judy Garland's double facing away from the camera opens the door... The cut to the three-step technicolor film takes place right here!
Remember it's 1939; the cinema and the world changed forever and you see it.
Yes! Judy Garland's double (who was always on set because she stood in for Judy when lights and cameras were being set up for each shot, and it's also her feet in most of the close-ups of the Ruby Slippers when they're worn by Dorothy) wore the Kansas sepia tone dress, and backs up from the opening of the door to the left of the camera. She then passes Toto off to Judy behind the cameraman's back, and Judy enters Munchkinland in the Technicolor version of the dress from the right of the camera!
You're unsure if that's how you heard it was done? Wow.
Seeing tech breakdowns of how pre-CGI effects were achieved is one of my fave parts of the Corridor Crew reaction episodes with SFX artists, stunties etc too. The amount of sheer CREATIVITY and crazy engineering that the old-time filmmakers applied to problem-solving is just so mindblowing and inspirational. It's 100% one of those instances where having greater constraints really did seem to lead to greater creativity....? And honestly, a lot of it looks more real than today's CGI blockbusters! 😳
It's so easy to overlook these type of things when you're not having them pointed out to you. I guess that's beauty or magic of cinema. If you're just accepting what you see on screen at face value then they've done their job. It's pretty much like finding out how a magic trick is done and that's pretty cool to me. ❤
I love how timeless and effective basic techniques are when applied in film, magic, or my field of music.
The pan shot that travels over and through the town into Trillby's room in the 1931 film Svengali has always been one of my favorites.
This old stuff is unbelievably brilliantly made considering the age of the films. Awesome video.
I wore out my copy of "Techniques of Special Effects Cinematography" by Raymond Fielding. I bought it in the early 1980s, and I still browse through it for ideas. If you want to know how classic effects are done, everything from foreground miniatures to Disney's sodium matte process, this is the "bible." I'm so glad more of today's filmmakers are using these techniques in addition to CGI. Thanks for bringing this great work to everyone's attention, Ryan!
That's a very good book to have. Keep hold of your copy as it's not always possible to find a copy today, even the newer editions. They should use and consult that book on this show as verbatim, because they sadly don't.
@@truthandreality8465 "as verbatim"? Do you mean "ad verbatim"? Or maybe just "canon"?
@@Ddrhl Yes, troll, "as verbatim". So people who aren't Roman time travellers can understand what it says, just like YOU! "Canon" is "verbatim" that counts.
@@truthandreality8465 Not a troll. Genuinely asked. Had never heard "as verbatim." Calm down.
@@Ddrhl And, I'm Dr. Heywood Floyd!!
The space odyssey one blew my mind LOL
One of my favourite practical effects from classic movies is the transition from sepia to colour in the wizard of Oz. They had actually painted the set, the clothes and had the actors wear sepia colour make up. And it was actually the stunt double that we see for Dorothy in the first half of the screen and when she goes through the door the real dorphy was waiting on the otherside
lol, dorphy
Wow. Not a filmmaker at all (although into photography) but find things like this super interesting. Thanks!
I have spent my life in Texas and I have been through three tornadoes (they were all different) and the Wizard of Oz twister scares the heck out of me.
You know a lot of these effects are far more superior and realistic, compared to many CGI films of today. And 'Roger Thornhill' being chased by the crop duster is just magnificent, one of my favourite effects and indeed,one of my favourite films! Even though only a quick glimpse of it at the start of the video,was shown!!🙄😁
North by Northwest has some great Hitchcock moments including that crop duster scene and but it also has the very not realistic Mount Rushmore scene.
@@randalllewis4485 Mmmmm yeah, it's still great though!
Loved this episode. One of my scene transitions is in Terry Gilliam's Baron Munchausen, and it's as simple as great set design. The 'theatre Sultan' walks from the back of the stage to the front. But as the camera pans its revealed that where the front of the stage should be, is the actual palace. Such a great way to transition from the telling of the story and go into the story.
That movie had some great scenes, as did many of his movies. Gilliam was truly an artist, and he took such joy in showcasing other artists' amazing talents.
@@wirelesmike73
Others can knock Baron Munchhausen, but it is one of my favorite films.
What an amazing imagination on that guy, Gilliam!
The Citizen Kane shot is also done in The Empire Strike Back, when you have a pilot's perspective as he flies between the legs of the huge walker. Since the whole shot was done as stop motion, taking away the model once the legs were out of frame was really easy, as you can take as long as you want while the camera is paused.
The give away for the pen in 2001 being on a piece of glass for me was that the pen only rotates on one axis. It was cool to have this confirmed as I grew older. Fantastic shot though. then again the whole movie is just a series of fantastic shots.
The Wizard of Oz tornado still might be the best on screen tornado ever.
Many of the visuals in 2001: A Space Odyssey just fascinate me. For years I would watch a scene and try to figure out how they did it.
The floating pen on a glass pane resembles the trick of the clock hands in a "pendule mysterieuse". These clocks usually rotate 2 glass discs with hidden cog teeth at the rim and each a clock hand in the center to create the illusion of a transparent clock without visible mechanism.
@@AerialTheShamen The most audacious scene in "2001" is the one in which the flight attendant walks on the catwalk in seeming weightlessness. That was actually invented by Buster Keaton in the 1920's and used by him in "The Navigator," in the scene in which he and Dorothy McGuire are rescued from the derelict ocean liner by a submarine which turns over under water. It involved bolting a stationary camera to a room set that revolved, so the actors appeared to defy gravity. Later Fred Astaire used it in "You're All the World to Me" from "Royal Wedding" (1951), but it was Keaton's invention.
Since I was a kid the visuals of "Wizard of Oz" have just fascinated and astounded me. And, as an adult Buster Keaton's stunts and timing have absolutely "laid me out" from how everybody pulled-off the sheer complexity of those breathtaking stunts with apparent ease. Complete and utter cinematic genius for the times. Thank you for putting together this video.
Great episode, I'd love to see more of these! I love the old school ingenuity in these films.
Wow? I remember when this guy only showed and marvelled over new pictures and Special Effects. Now he's become a Classic Cinema Connoisseur and Expert like me.
I’m so glad you shared these. A reminder that you can get some really amazing shots without the use of cg. My personal favorite movie is King Kong (1933), because of the strong story line and I feel like the movie used every trick in the book for the time.
OK, the 2001 pen effect got me. I thought for sure it was just on monofilament, but the "stuck to glass" concept is absolute brilliant, and allows for a much more natural "floating" motion.
i used to be a boom operator. once did a film with a dining room scene and we had trouble getting around me in the shot. i had the director hang me from the ceiling and i was able to get the audio from above. it worked great
My year 1 animation/storytelling professor LOVED the classics, he gave us a whole list to check out and would go over with us different shots and how they did them. Masking, mirrors, minatures and puppets, double exposure, all those old tricks. Really wish my school just gave him a whole class to dedicate to going over classic cinema, it was so cool first year. Now whenever my mother's watching a classic film and I sit to watch with her I'm constantly telling her how different shots might've been done during commercials. Lots of respect for these filmmakers back in the day
Awesome episode! It's amazing how well some of these effects hold up. Would love to see some more episodes about older/forgotten films!
You've literally covered and answered every question about how the effects on my favorite movies were done! Thirty seconds over Tokyo, The Wizard of Oz and 2001 Space Odessey! Drove me crazy thinking about 'how it's done" Thanks a bunch!
I remember a documentary with Steven Spielberg; on one of the first movies he ever made (as a young boy, with his friends, and his dad's hand camera) using lightly buried sticks in dirt, and setting them up like little seesaws so when his friends stepped on the other end of the stick they would puff up the dirt, giving the illusion of gunfire in the dirt around them.
Or more likely you saw this portrayed recently in The Fablemans.
@@meketone Or most likely the makers of The Fablemans had seen the same documentary.
The movie DUEL where Dennis Weaver is being chased by the semi and his car and the truck both go over the cliff. Neither he nor the driver of the truck were injured.
Ive seen that also. Pretty good effects for a kid to come up with, but it was Spielberg.
I'm not a filmmaker, but how filmmakers achieve practical effects is very interesting, so I clicked. I'm glad I did! Great video!!
A very sad fact is the tornado scene in Wizard Of Oz also used asbestos dust, in fact this was the common 'movie dust' of the time. White asbestos was used as snow and set dressing. It affected so many film technicians and stars. Moving on in time dust containing silica is just as dangerous. Makes you rethink how fantastic these films are!
It would if they knew and did it anyway. They didn't figure it out until much later.
It doesn't change the greatness of the films. They didn't know there was an issue. If some person knew, and used it anyway, well then, that person would be a serial killer, and this just got way more interesting :0
" dust containing silica " Sand?
I believe asbestos was used for snow.
The video here mentioned that fullers earth was used for the tornado.
Correction, that was the snow scene.
I had never heard of "Sh! Octopus" -- amazing! The effect looks similar to how Fredric March changed in "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" (1931). Loved all your selections, we showed many of these films to middle schoolers about 20 years ago when our kids were growing up -- had Friday "movie nights," and they were truly a blast. Thanks for breaking down all these effects -- Keaton's is for sure my favorite, what a maniac!
The Frederick March "Mr. Hyde" transformation is included in this video.
What's sad about this is that with the advent of CGI, we have forgotten how to do anything without it. It's kind of like how they built the pyramids -- lost to time.
I love watching stuff like this. It amazes me how people made due with what they had and pulled off such impressive things. Everything from chemistry and physics inventions with crude equipment to machinery, intricate devices like watches, and the arts like cinema.
6:14 WHAT?!? This looks better than the effects of probably any film that comes out today. That is freaking insane. There is no uncanny valley at all.
Absolutely
Amazing!! Thank you for the upload!! I love special effects, especially in older film and media. My favorite special effects movie is The Thing(1982).
That movie really scared the crap out of me as a kid, and it was all because of those special effects and prop work.
I like cgi, but I'm more of a fan of practical special effects and prop work, makeup etc. Cgi is amazing and if done correctly, it can look very real.
Thanks again!! 💜🤝
You should do an episode about the original Dark Shadows, (if you haven't already.) The shot of ghost Josette walking down from the painting was absolutely amazing, especially for a show in 1967 and with a shoestring budget.
First time Film Riot has come up in my feed in years… thanks for this!
Practical effects are so effective because they are real things being filmed. They convince by being real. Real images, real objects, real people.
That makeup and lighting trick is absolute genius
The even more impressive thing that gets forgotten about Lloyd is he's doing all that hanging off of clocks and ledges with just one full hand - his right hand was missing the thumb and forefinger due to a previous accident. PLUS between takes, he was forced to hanging in position sometimes before the cameras rolled again.
Wonderful stuff. Instead of it being spoilers, it gives you a new respect for those, already highly thought of, movies. So clever, it must've been so rewarding seeing your creativity work on the final film.
Great episode. Love the practicals. You mentioned Jackie Chan and was sorry to see no footage from his movies (although I guess his effects were similar to Buster Keaton's in that they were just done live with little to no regard for safety).
👏👏👏 🎉Thank you for the awesome video! 👍 Your creativity and hard work are truly appreciated. I learned a lot from your insights and enjoyed watching it. Keep up the great work! 🎉👏👏👏
Many of these tricks are brilliant. And I agree we need a return to more practical effects like these. Cgi is too easy. Think outside the box. Great video.
To me the problem with CGI is not that "is easy", is not really, is still a bunch of work, is that unless you spend a lot of time making it good, it will look extremely bad and fake, specially for characters and moving/animating objects, while practical effects look real by default, because they are real, but there are tons of series and movies with full CGI static backdrops, that no one even suspects is CGI, when is very well done is invisible. So IMO the problem with CGI, is not CGI itself, is lack of care and rushed effects.
One I loved as a kid, and still do is the 1953 War of the Worlds alien craft scenes. The sparking ground when they pass, the shield dome, the wicked look of the crafts. It may all be basic, but it was thrilling to me.
Another excellent effect is in Gone With The Wind, during an external scene where guests are arriving for a ball at (I think) Ashley's house. You're looking along the front of an antebellum mansion from one end as guests disembark from carriages in the middle distance and walk up the steps to the mansion's entrance. Only - the mansion was not real, it was hand-painted, and the actors were actually walking up the stairs to the rear doors of the sound stage from out in the lot (backdrop was I think matted in). Even knowing that the mansion frontage is a painting, it's so well executed that you can't tell. Personally, I think it's a rather corny movie, but technically it's impressive.
Wait till you see terminator 2!!
GWTW is a perfect example of innovative practical effects that still hold up today. It's hard to believe that it's nearing its 85th anniversary.
Blowing up the boxcars (pretty sure those were miniatures) and setting fire to a stage to replicate the burning of Atlanta was also considered a huge special effect back in 1939. And think about what all of that fire would have looked like on the big screen when the year prior, all of your movies were B&W.
@@kerim.peardon5551 My mom, at 14 years old, saw GWTW in the theater when it was released and she said she was awestruck by that scene and how vivid it was. The boxcars were not miniatures, though. For that scene, they gathered old sets and such from previous movies and burned them, clearing the way so they could build needed sets for the movie. Incidentally, it was during the filming of this scene that Vivien Leigh was introduced to David O. Selznick, who was still trying to find the perfect actress to play Scarlett.
@@gloriagaddy That's interesting. The way it zooms in on the cars, it sort of makes them look like miniatures.
Although it's might be that the full-size cars were burned, but only miniatures were blown up. Burning a set down and blowing one up are different stunts entirely!
It's very cool that your mother got to see it when it first came out. I've gotten to see it in a theater on the big screen, but I'm not going to have the same experience as 1, I've seen it many times before that, and 2, color movies are the norm.
But on the big screen, it was the first time I had ever seen Scarlett's eyes look green. On the old VHS tape I had, they always looked blue.
Amazing!! Being as artistic person myself, it always amazed me how creative people can be!! If there maybe an issue, how people simply create a solution on their own. Thinking outside the box. So great!!
I love this video. Very informative and entertaining. Can this be a new series you guys do?
Deal!
Yes pls ! Ryan we definitely need a part 2 this . Thx man
Seriously: I don't know how I haven't caught wind of this channel before now! Cinematography Minor at U of Oklahoma and 19 years at Boeing graphic media (motion picture & television, computer animation and my share of vinyl signage) I'm a history buff and a cinema fanatic! Subbed and liked and belled!
@@filmriot You made a mistake .... The wizard Of Oz film (1939) wasn't a "bomb" as you wrongly suggested .. it had a budget of $2.8 million , and made it's money back at the Box office which was $29.7 million
Wizard of Oz made $3 million on a $2.7 million budget and once adverts, print, and distro was added, it lost MGM $1.1 million (a huge amount at the time) and was considered a flop. We have an episode in the works that goes more into that.
I'm smiling ear-to-ear... so much fun to learn about the astonishing ingenuity 🙂
A bomb? The Wizard of Oz (1939) was the 3rd highest grossing film of the 1930's and 2nd highest of 1939, beaten only by Gone With The Wind (1939).
Thank you, this was really fun to watch, I see why you have 2.03 million subscribers and now I'm one more. I could have watched this for for two hours if it was that long. You convinced me to watch these old films I thought about doing years ago and forgot about it. I'm going to start buying these old movies on Amazon Prime and build up an old movie collection because I watched this video, again, thank you. Take care.
Not making profit and "box office bomb" are two different things. The Wizard of Oz was NOT a box office bomb.
Its initial returns did not cover the combined expenses for production and distribution. That is obviously what was meant. Splitting hairs is another kind of impressive effect 😉
@@SadDetonator "The Wizard of Oz" didn't make back its production costs, despite a reasonably successful reissue in 1949, until it was first sold to CBS Television in 1956 for what became the first of 39 annual TV screenings. Then it became a cash cow for MGM (and eventually Warner Bros. when it merged with Turner Broadcasting, which had bought the MGM catalog).
The zoom out from Harold Lloyd and clock tower was excellent . And for that matter, all of this is excellent.
I can't believe when The Wizard of Oz came up, you didn't feature the change from black & white to colour when Dorothy first comes out into Oz. It's the best effect of the film and has an incredible secret to it. Maybe if you did a follow up feature you could include it.
How Fun! I personally designed and built the rooftop set to pull off a version of Safety Last for the B flick "Why Me?", and the 'how they made it' book from 2001 is what got me into special effects!
The Wizard of Oz tornado is still one of the most terrifying shots commit on film.
When I was ten years old, my friend and I made a cartoon version of 'The Empire Strikes Back' using an 8mm camera. We created the laser gun shots by using a box with a diagonal piece of glass right in front of the camera. We then had a light with a sheet of red plastic shine down through a hole at the top of the box ( in the shape of laser shot ), and lined it up with whatever gun was shooting in the background. We learned how to do this in some camera magazine back in the early 1980's.
Cool old special effects. I wondered for years how that tornado was done in "The Wizard of Oz" and the floating pin in "2001 - A Space Odyssey." I'm surprised that your list didn't include the ocean parting scene from both versions of "The Ten Commandments."
Good point! Amazing feats for both eras!
Speaking of Chuck Heston films, the chariot race and the naval battle in Ben-Hur were spectacularly filmed!
The ocean parting scene was actually real. They just had to pray hard enough; then anything is possible 😅
I liked the "steady cam" shots from The Evil Dead whereby they just bolted the camera to a big plank of wood and ran with it, creating a similar stabilisation effect that a high-wire-walker gets with a long pole.
This was awesome, I always wondered how older films were able to pull of sfx that rivaled todays vfx! Incredible! Like always just going to ask that you guys consider writing the movie titles of each clip you use in the bottom corner. Studio binder does it and it’s so helpful for those of us that want to go back and watch some of the films. Pleeeaaassee
I’ve wondered how all these effects were done since I was very little, never thought of looking it up. This video explained everything so thoroughly and just makes me appreciate the groundbreakers of cinema and visual FX even more. What we can accomplish today just on our phones with a basic editing and FX app would not be possible without those who came before us using practical effects and trickery to inspire the next generation.
Thank you for this video, it’s answered questions I’ve had for close to 35 years.
8:30 The Wizard of Oz was not a flop. It failed to turn a profit, in initial release, only because they spent a ridiculous amount of money making it. It eventually became profitable after a few re-releases into theaters, and then the eventual TV rights sale.
I think he meant a flop upon it's initial release. Movies like It's a Wonderful Life and Shawshank Redemption were also flops upon initial release but ultimately became legendary and greatly revered like The Wizard of Oz.
we can discuss the reasons it flopped on release. The high cost and the subsequent war preventing widespread international release, but the fact remains that it didn't turn a profit until decades later
the pen on the glass trick was my favorite ! its so simple but to come to the idea of doing it this way is brilliant !
Really nice video, I enjoyed. I always wondered about that tornado. Today, there's plenty of footage like that of real tornadoes - and they look just like the one in Wizard of Oz. Sounds like they put some thought and hard work into this. I wonder if there was any real tornado footage for them to work from.
By chance , and with all the tornados outbreaks going on currently, I watched a video on UA-cam about the history of tornados and the earliest mentions and depictions of tornados. One of the earliest depictions was in a medieval tapestry that displayed weather phenomenon. The first video footage recorded wasn’t until the 50’s , so the technicians for OZ relied on photos
@@anthonyhebisen Thanks, That's what I had assumed. They did a great job, for sure.
Really cool video. Classic films are worth knowing.
Watching how older movies were made is what made me want to make movies myself. I miss good ol' movie magic
"It's a twistuh', IT'S A TWISTUH!!!"
I've watched the Wizard of Oz for 65 years and it remains stunning and beautiful.
In Silent Running 1972 to create the tactical nuke explosion they took a piece of black construction paper and punched a hole in it. Then they opened up the lens all the way and zoomed in on the hole. Then they unplugged the light to simulate the light from the nuke fading out. And they composited it onto a starfield. And they did the entire SFX for only $2 dollars, mind blowing.
There was a stunt show in Universal Hollywood in the 90's where they good guy sits on the plunger for the dynamite and the building falls over him but a window placed just right doesn't touch him.
To say that the tornado in "Wizard Of Oz" "completely holds up to this day" is an incredible understatement. If you've ever seen the film projected it is an utterly realistic effect and a seamless blend of miniatures, rear projection, and foreground effects. The CGI in "Twister" couldn't hold a candle to this sequence. The entire movie is just one incredible effect gag after another--need we say 'flying monkeys?' Yes, we should. This movie really should be studied with the same reverence as "Citizen Kane" or "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Insane!!!
Nowadays it's all CGI, blender, Houdini, DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premier...
I think we gained quality but we lost creativity...
8/10. I didn't know the Wizard of Oz tornado effect and straight up I was fooled by the Thirty Seconds To Tokyo one. It looks so good I thought it was real footage of military tests or something. Very nice work!
I know it's the most famous Buster Keaton shot, probably because it was done for real, but he had so many better examples of tricks that you could've used, like the Sherlock Jr motorcycle scene with the train barely missing him
Fascinating how these people so many years ago could have the imagination (and determination) to solve these special effect shots. Brilliant.
They kind of had to either find something that could be done, or find a way of writing around it. I suspect that in some of these cases you had somebody with an idea before it showed up in a script. Also, these people were doing dozens of films a year, there was a very short cycle between having the idea, making it happen and seeing the reaction. These days that can take years, back then you were talking about only a few weeks or months.
To me, the "Wizard of Oz" tornado still looks more real than the CGI tornados in "Twister".
I totally agree.
The one in the Wizard of Oz was also much further in the back and not intended to be the main focal point of the scene though. Which is a massive advantage.
Great video. There's an amazing tracking shot in a film called Soy Cuba from 1964: insanely complex, and it looks fabulous.
There's a shot in "Contact" that mystified me for a long time. It's when Ellie runs upstairs to get her father's medicine, and the camera is going with her up the stairs, _around a corner,_ down the hall to the bathroom, where it's revealed to be a reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. It was obvious once it was explained to me; the tracking shot was one shot simply matted into a second shot of the cabinet.
Another mirror trick, that wasn't even an effect really, was in "Airplane!" when Kramer is getting dressed in a full length mirror, says, "Let's go" and then steps through the mirror. The scene was simply set up to suggest that there was a mirror there when there wasn't. The gag is very subtle and is usually missed by viewers.
My cousin pointed that one out to me; and I admit it took me two or three views to get the gag.
Fascinating, thought-provoking, and entertaining!!! I'm floored. Great video! 👍💕😊
This is absolutely impressive! We should look back to these moments of cinema history and use them more often. This is amazing!!😍😍😍
Excellent! I have a small library of special effects books from the days before CGI because I was fascinated by how these illusions were created. Now days, when you can do just about anything on a computer, I find it all a lot less interesting. This video does a great job of actually showing you how it was done instead of just brushing it off with something like, "Oh, it's a matte."
that makeup effect was fantastic, i could imagine the audience losing their minds and just freaking out. i remember going to see jurassic park and being amazed with the cgi but that makeup trick is on another level. the things those people thought of when moving pictures were a new tech is genius....pure genius
The camera shot going between two peoples and jump straight toward other tables AND The floating pen illusion that using clear mirror technic was really Ameazing for me.Bcause it was easy to do and less effort to do for me! Big Thanks To You For Bringing This Unique Idea.I really enjoy this video!
The Pen effect at the end it's brilliant, so simple yet surprising.