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10 May, 2024
The Evolution of Special Effects in Iconic Sci-Fi Films
Discover how special and visual effects have evolved over the span of more than 50 years, as we explore some of Hollywood’s most iconic Science Fiction films.
Join us as we explore how special effects have evolved in cinema, spanning over 50 years alongside the advancement of technology. From as early as the '60s, with 2001: A Space Odyssey, to 2024’s Dune: Part Two, we discuss pivotal moments for special effects in twelve iconic sci-fi films that attest to human creativity, innovation and experimentation.
Revolutionary SFX in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The first entry on our list is considered by many to be the most pivotal of the genre, being an iconic landmark in sci-fi cinema history for its visual brilliance, scientific realism and revolutionary practical techniques. The movie, produced in 1968, follows an expedition of epic proportions throughout space and time after mankind discovers a mystifying artefact buried under the moon’s surface.
2001: A Space Odyssey was an experimental piece of film that reconstructed filmmaking and film narrative through the exploration of radical time travel across aeons and galaxies. Working closely alongside Kubrick was Douglas Trumbull, one of the most esteemed SFX pioneers of his time (working on Blade Runner, Star Trek and Close Encounters). Using slit-scan photography, Trumbull produced the iconic “Star Gate'' sequence, one of the many special effect inclusions in the film that made it so visually appetising and groundbreaking. The film is timeless for its modern colour correction techniques and colour grading alongside high-resolution cameras.
A significant element of the film’s success was the creation and use of vastly extravagant props to amplify the scientific realism and immersive quality of the movie. This is reflected in the outdoor scenes, which were shot amidst gigantic 40 by 90 feet screens as well as the construction of a giant centrifuge that cost $750,000 to make in order to create the zero-gravity scenes. Directed by the revered Stanley Kubrick, the film won him his only ever Oscar for Best Visual Effects and would go on to inspire many sci-fi films in this list as well as renowned directors in the years to come.
Pioneering CGI in Westworld (1973)
Westworld, directed by Michael Crichton, centres on an adult playground and vacation destination designed to cater to any fantasy, where lifelike robots are programmed for anything from romance to friendship to violence, the latter ensuing disastrous repercussions.
Another exciting addition to the sci-fi genre and film history for its innovative special and visual effect techniques, Michael Crichton was the first film director to use computer generated imagery. Special effects used to create the infamous colourful square pixels as shown in the perspective of the robots, described in the script as “a bizarre, computerised images of the world”, by adjusting the contrast and colours of the film to create the pixelated, low-resolution perspective of the robot Gunslinger. As the resources were so limited, the computer processing for this effect took about eight hours per ten-second sequence.
Creating holograms & levitation in Logan’s Run (1976)
Released in 1976, Logan’s Run has become a cult classic since its release date nearly 50 years ago and is a model sci-fi archetype for a futuristic dystopian world, laden with shiny, metallic surfaces and vibrant landscapes. The story unfolds around a police officer who discovers the sinister secret of a society that worships youth and uses violent methods to prevent civilians from aging.
The production team took on some innovative techniques for the time period in order to create a technologically advanced society. This is shown through the representation of Carousel, a sinister ritual observed in the movie as well as Logan being interrogated by the Deep Sleep central computer. To bring these scenes to life, the special effects team worked with pioneering techniques such as holograms and wide-angle lenses as well as hidden wires to depict levitation. While the production team faced a plethora of challenges during these scenes, they helped to pave the way and make further advancements for SPX in the film industry, earning Logan’s Run a Special Academy Award for visual effects.
Real-life action men in Mad Max 2: Road Warrior (1981)
In the second of George Miller’s sci-fi saga centring on a post-apocalyptic Australia, Mad Max (Mel Gibson) is a former cop reduced to scavenging food and gasoline in a desolate wasteland. Agreeing to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits, he cruises the barren, dystopian Outback along highways crawling with human vermin.
An action-packed sci-fi, Mad Max: Road Warrior is characterised by its constant battle and chase scenes that amplify that gritty, pitiless world in which it is set. To make this all the more authentically chaotic, the film relies mainly on practical special effects and stunts, with hardly any post-production visual effects – more than 200 hundred, hair-raising practical stunts were performed. As Miller had a low budget for the film, he was forced to come up with creative ways to keep costs down. This included hiring ambulance drivers, a truck driver and extras who played biker gang members and who were, in fact, real members of the Australian gang called the Vigilantes, and who were paid in beer.
One of the most memorable stunts is the barrel roll of the tanker, carried out by an actual truck driver on his first film set with no experience in stunts, but having been cheered on by half the town and unable to back out of the agreement. The stuntman, Dennis Williams, drove down a hill in a 12-wheel truck filled with sandbags before deliberately losing control of the vehicle resulting in it toppling over before the cameras.
Futuristic FX in Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)
Set in a dystopian future, the police department forces Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) out of retirement to hunt four genetically engineered humans who have come to earth. Initially underperforming and receiving mixed reviews on its release date 42 years ago, Blade Runner has established itself as a cult film that pioneered the way for the whole of the sci-fi genre, let alone the seven renditions of the movie to come in later years.
The film is an expertly paced exploration of morality through AI and technology, a common trope in the sci-fi genre, using the available resources to the fullest to create a distinct visual style is truly striking. While iconic films like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars may have pioneered practical effects and innovative camera techniques for the 60s and 70s, respectively, Blade Runner managed to go one step further for this 80s sci-fi addition. Before digital effects were common, Blade Runner created the dystopian world by using innovative cinematic techniques that play with light, smoke, rain, and, most notably, miniature models (with the assistance of Douglas Trumbull). While the latter technique was laboriously time-consuming compared to newer computer-generated ones, they establish the authentic feel and contribute to its revered status 42 years on.
Vibrant, neon colours and futuristic city scenes created the Cyberpunk theme that pervades the landscapes of the film. They utilised Xenon lights, which had not previously been used in Hollywood, to create the low-lit, grungy scenes filled with artificial shadow and shafts of light – a special effect tool that would go on to permeate many sci-fi action movies to come. Despite the polarised critical response, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Effects, Visual Effects.
Innerspace’s intriguing SFX (1987)
Joe Dante’s Innerspace explores a top-secret test carried out by industrial spies who miniaturise a test pilot and accidentally inject him into the bloodstream of a hypochondriac grocery store clerk, causing their mission to go disastrously awry. The special and visual effects of this sci-fi comedy are among the best of their era, winning Dante his only Academy Award to date.
The production team’s use of practical special effects such as miniature models, as with Blade Runner, helped to create the film's authentic and realistic sci-fi feel. They constructed larger than life scale sets representing internal body organs and pathways, which were photographed and composited with blue screen footage of rod-puppet submersible pods that were filmed with Go-Motion technology. Another wacky practical effect the production crew utilised was submerging organic materials like onions and cucumbers in water for such scenes as inside the lungs to create an authentically alive and moving atmosphere, as with blood flowing through a human body.
The special effects team also used a new system that had been developed called pin-blocking. It was a way of match-moving a live-action element and then taking moving footage and tracking it to that (live-action) movement. This was used for the scenes with the test pilot in the miniature pod. For all their effort in producing a truly immersive sci-fi voyage through the human body, the film was honoured with the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Mastering slow-motion in The Matrix (1999)
When a stranger leads computer hacker, Neo, to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth - the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence. Now, every move, every second, every thought becomes a fight to stay alive - to escape The Matrix. When the Wachowskis released this engrossing, action-packed sci-fi, it rocketed them to fame, particularly for their exploration of experimental special effects throughout the film.
The Matrix has become renowned for its ground-breaking visual techniques at the turn of century. Transcending the use of real models and practical effects, The Matrix explores heavy use of computer-generated visual effects that were ahead of their time to create an augmented reality, helping to shape the genre into the imaginative, escapist film category it is known as today.
Amongst the wobbly mirrors and mechanical “Squidees”, one of the most iconic moments in sci-fi film history is Neo’s bullet-dodging scene, which required around 120 still cameras, placed one next to the other, to create the illusion of super slow-motion and gravity defiance. Through this scene, The Matrix revolutionised VFX and filmmaking, setting the bar for the new century of cinema, so it comes as no surprise that the film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (as well as three others).
Navigating animatronics in AI Artificial Intelligence (2001)
In the not-so-distant future, David, a robot with actual human feelings, especially a never-ending love for his "mother," Monica, is adopted as a substitute for her real son, who, afflicted with an incurable disease, remains in "cryo-stasis." But when the couple's real son returns home after being cured, David's life changes dramatically. Based on the short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss, the film explores the ethical implications of creating and living closely with sentient AI. The compelling sci-fi hit was initially developed by Stanley Kubrick, who passed away shortly before the release of his final film, Eyes Wide Shut, prompting Steven Spielberg, a lifelong fan of Kubrick’s, to take the reins of the film’s production. The movie was released at the cusp of the 21st century and pushed the boundaries of visual effects by blending computer-generated imagery with live-action scenes, making it one of the most ground-breaking sci-fi films of its era.
The crew were tasked with building a wide range of robots in various stages of completion using a combination of makeup, drawings, prosthetics and CGI. This is demonstrated in the scenes showing robots with incomplete heads that you can see through. The design phase saw the application of computer technology to character design to create uncanny robotic characters that were pivotal to the movie's authenticity and exploration of artificial intelligence resembling humans. The animatronic teddy was labelled the hardest robot to build for the film and control as a puppet, taking the team hours to master intricate movements, but was regarded as one of the most memorable special effects included in the film. These game-changing and carefully thought-out techniques secured Ai Artificial Intelligence an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
Scientific realism & special effects in Interstellar (2014)
Grounding itself as a Hollywood landmark for Christopher Nolan, Interstellar is a sci-fi epic that focuses on outer space and interplanetary travel through a wormhole to find a new home for mankind in a dystopian future where Earth has become inhospitable. Leaping thirteen years ahead of AI Artificial Intelligence, the production team behind Interstellar were able to create realistic space scenes and vastly unrecognisable worlds with an array of computer-generated visual effects at their fingertips.
Production took place with the aid of the astrophysicist, Kip Thorne, to ensure representations of blackholes, wormholes and other cosmic phenomena were scientifically accurate. He provided the team with three-dimensional mathematics behind the events which were then turned into “software that could accurately calculate all the light-ray paths around these objects, to show how they distort space and create these vast gravitational lenses," Paul Franklin, the film’s visual effects supervisor stated. The team also decided to use the retro special effect technique of miniature models as they wanted them to look more realistic than digitally created spaceships. Another SFX tool, pioneered in the 20th century, was used to create the 5th dimension in the “library” area (considered in conjunction with Einstein’s theory of world lines) as they used slit-scan photography, a technique made famous in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
One of the biggest sci-fi films of recent years, Interstellar utilises a combination of old and new FX methods to create landscapes that are both realistic and fantastical, resulting in a Oscar win for Best Visual Effects.
Warping time in Tenet (2020)
The second title from Director Christopher Nolan, who holds the ability to create futuristic worlds that showcase breathtaking visual effects in Tenet, grounded in real world scenery alongside compelling narrative. The plot follows a CIA operative who journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a global mission that unfolds beyond real time.
Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson worked alongside the production team and helped to navigate the breathtaking visual effects. Throughout the sci-fi blockbuster, the crew explored a range of techniques to create illusions of inversion and time-bending such as the reversing bullet, while receiving advice from a theoretical physicist. A notable scene he helped bring to life included a battle scene where a building blows up, created by constructing, exploding and imploding two buildings from the same camera angle and pieced together. Nolan also places emphasis on the need for practical effects, choosing to build a real plane built up for after the plane crash scene, with supplementary CGI, showcasing a momentous amount of attention and commitment to detail. As Jackson states, “The only effects work was some cable removals and there was a little bit of clean-up. It was full-size 747 smashing into a set-built building, and all of the flames, all the collapsing, the jet bridge— everything is practical in-camera.”
The intricate planning and execution of the special and visual effects in Tenet granted it an Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Visual Effects and Best Special Visual Effects, respectively.
Creating a dystopian desert in Dune (2021)
Director Denis Villeneuve takes the sci-fi genre to the next level with Dune, a mythic and emotionally charged tale that follows the journey of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man, who becomes entangled in a war over the galaxy’s most precious resource. Based on the novels by Frank Herbert published more than 50 years ago, Dune’s production team had an array of modern technological advancements at their fingertips to truly bring the story to life in the 21st century. With a blend of props, wardrobe, equipment and CGI, the sci-fi film boasts magnificent cinematography and narrative through the exploration of innovative visual and special effects.
Differing from our previous sci-fi mentions, Dune takes place largely in a barren desert rather than outer space, combining vast sandy planes with futuristic technology to create a unique dystopian world. Villeneuve and his production team emphasised careful use of lighting and space, shooting scenes outdoors most of the time to allow for natural light or in a carefully lit studio. Sandscreens were used instead of the traditional green or blue screens to project an accurate colour palette onto the actors, as if they were surrounded by desert and glaring sun. Another impressive SFX technique was the incorporation of 18 tonnes of sand, constantly being blown around the set to immerse the viewer in the environment, sometimes obstructing the view of the scene. The result is a refreshing sci-fi film that takes you to another world without breaching the constraints of reality with heavy use of CGI.
Aside from deft prop use, modern, advanced visual effect tools were used to create the sandworms seen throughout the films, along with the movement of the sand as they cascaded around the desert. These effects are also showcased in the futuristic spaceships and architecture throughout the film. Dune received an array of awards for its stunning visual effects.
Returning to Arrakis in Dune: Part Two (2024)
The mythic journey continues as Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. For the second addition to the trilogy, director Denis Villeneuve stuns viewers with dazzling special and visual effects that integrate photorealistic CGI with expert cinematography, costume design, sound design to create another epic spectacle.
Stepping foot into the vast planes of Arrakis once again, (shot in Jordan for its desert terrain and huge rock formations) Villeneuve and his team execute wonderous display of a futuristic dystopia so immersive that it feels very much real, committing to copious amounts of pre-planning and dedication to bringing the novel’s setting and story to life.
Which sci-fi film blew you away with it's special effects?