Halloween presents a wonderful excuse for a lot of things, one of the best probably being the simulation of murder and suicide for the purpose of terrifying innocent children. It’s a bit difficult to pull it off live, but if you’re into the idea of making a festively gory flick, an air compressor blood cannon can go along way. More »
It doesn’t take a genius to realize dry ice is awesome, and with Halloween right around the corner, you’re bound to be seeing a lot of it. But did you know dry ice bubbles can be used as a practical effect to make whirling, churning alien planets? More »
It’s the oldest Hollywood trick: Take a picture of something small and make it look giant. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less mind-bending when a Hot Wheels toy looks like a totally drivable, $1 million F1 racer. More »
CGI is everywhere, but there’s something about practical effects that are just way cooler, especially when you dig into what it takes to make them happen. “Cloud Tanks” are tool that’s been used in plenty of great films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Poltergeist to make weird alien atmospheres. This is how they work. More »
Jurassic Park was one of the last nails in the coffin for stop-motion animation—a special effects technique that had brought dinosaurs to the silver screen almost 50 years ago. But before the advent of computer graphics it was considered the cutting edge of visual effects, thanks to the work of a man named Ray Harryhausen who was a master at the technique. More »
After seeing the reel of special effects used for Game of Thrones Season One, I was on high alert to see if anything looked off or weird in Season Two. Could I spot the hidden CGI? Nope. I couldn’t find anything. Turns out, pretty much everything was CGI’d and it’s amazing because it all feels so damn real. More »
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