spectacular, resulting in large budgets and huge box-office
blockbusters.
Beginning in the late 1890’s, the father of special ef-
fects, Georges Méliès, used effects such as stop-
action and double exposure, perspective tricks, and
mirrors to create illusions in film. As filmmaking
evolved during the 1900’s, the art and science of spe-
cial effects also grew to include techniques such as
cel animation, prosthetic makeup, model making,
claymation, matte painting, and finally computer
technology.
Facing financial difficulties in the 1960’s, major
film studios eliminated special effects departments
to reduce overhead costs. However, for Stanley
Kubrick’s 1968 movie2001: A Space Odyssey, artist
Douglas Trumball invented the “slit scan” technique
to create the famous “stargate” light sequence. The
film’s special effects helped make it a phenomenal
box-office success. Partly as a result, in the 1970’s a
new generation of film directors began to revive spe-
cial effects, setting the tone for the 1980’s. Steven
Spielberg’sJaws(1975) became the first blockbuster
of the post-studio era, making over $100 million. His
dazzlingClose Encounters of the Third Kind(1977)
employed some of the effects specialists who had
worked on 2001. George Lucas’sStar Wars(1977)
used the first computer-linked camera control sys-
tem. The success of these movies helped guide the
studios to change their business models. Over time,
they ceased to focus on making a steady series of
medium-budget, relatively successful films. Instead,
they began to focus more of their energies on creat-
ing fewer but more lucrative films, blockbusters with
massive budgets that sought to realize even more
massive profits. Most such blockbusters were effects-
driven, relying on spectacle rather than narrative as
their primary draw.
During the 1980’s, filmmakers met the public’s
growing expectation for impressive special effects
and large-budget action and science-fiction films. In
1982, Disney producedTron, an adventure film set
largely in virtual reality that featured the first exten-
sive use of computer-generated imaging (CGI).
Other milestones in special effects history included
Blade Runner(1982), which envisioned Los Angeles
in 2015;The Last Starfighter(1984), the first film to
use CGI instead of traditional, physical models of
spaceships; andAliens(1986), which used in-camera
visuals.
In the 1980’s, Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic
(ILM) special effects studio worked on over fifty ma-
jor films, became the world’s most successful special
effects company, and produced landmark effects, es-
pecially CGI. The company added impressive CGI
effects in the climactic scene of Spielberg’sRaiders of
the Lost Ark(1981). InStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(1982) the “Genesis sequence” was the first com-
pletely computer-generated sequence in a major mo-
tion picture and the first use of a fractal-generated
landscape. In two further collaborations with Spiel-
berg, ILM produced the effects forE.T.: The Extra-
Terrestrial(1982)—the most successful film of the
decade—andYoung Sherlock Holmes(1985), for which
the company created the first fully computer gener-
ated character, the “stained-glass man.”
Also in 1985, ILM created alien life-forms and a
spaceship forCocoon.Labyrinth(1986) opened with a
digital owl, the first CGI animal. For the Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer and Lucasfilm coproductionWillow
(1988), ILM performed the first digital morphing
(the seamless evolution of one image or character
into another). A Disney production,Who Framed
Roger Rabbit(1988), combined hand-painted imag-
ery with computer animation.Back to the Future, Part
II(1989) used a computer-controlled camera to cre-
ate stunning split-screen photography. InThe Abyss
(1989), ILM made the first computer-generated 3-
dimensional (3-D) character, the alien pseudopod,
which swam in the first digitally animated water.
Raiders of the Lost Ark,Cocoon,Who Framed Roger Rabbit,
andThe Abysswon Academy Awards for Best Visual
Effects.
In 1986, Lucas sold ILM’s computer graphics de-
partment to Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs,
and Pixar was born. Pixar producedLuxo Jr.(1986),
a two-minute short film about a pair of desk lamps.
This short was the first fully computer-animated
film.Tin Toy(1988) was the first computer anima-
tion to win an Academy Award—for Best Animated
Short Film—and was the inspiration forToy Stor y
(1995).Impact Special effects in the 1980’s had profound
cultural, economic, and commercial impacts. The
film and special effects industries were both revital-
ized, as audiences came to expect spectacular spe-
cial effects and high-budget action films. During this
decade, the average cost to produce a film rose from
$10 million to $23 million, but movie theater reve-902 Special effects The Eighties in America