Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

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movies

360

1895 First public movie show

held in Paris.

1905 In the United States the

first nickelodeon film theatre

opens.

1907 Hollywood founded.

1927 The Jazz Singer (USA) is the

first full-length film with sound.

1929 First Academy Awards.

1928 American cartoonist Walt

Disney (1901-66) launches his

most popular cartoon character,

Mickey Mouse, in the movie

Steamboat Willie.

1935 First full-spectrum

Technicolor feature, Becky Sharp,

is released.

1953 First CinemaScope (wide

screen) movie, The Robe, released.

1995 Toy Story, first completely

computer-animated feature

film, released.

2003 Lord of the Rings trilogy is

the first movie to win an award for

Best Digital Acting Performance.

2009 Avatar becomes the first

movie to create an entire world

using motion capture technology.

Movies

SPeCIAl eFFeCTS

Special effects have created a vast new fantasy world in movies. In a technique known as

back projection, first used as early as 1913, the cinematographer projected a previously

filmed background on to a screen from behind. Actors or models were then filmed in

front of the screen, giving the impression that they were actually at that location. Glass

screens painted with realistic backgrounds, studio sets wired up with controlled explosions,

special smoke and wind machines, and stop-frame animation of models were all used to

help bring make-believe scenes to life. As recently as the 1970s, life-like models were still

being filmed in a studio to produce gruesome horror effects, such as the shark in Jaws,

and convincing space battles, such as those in Star Wars. Today, almost all of these

effects are created digitally using powerful computers.

DIGITAl TrICkery

Digital video editing software allows moviemakers to insert

actors into almost any environment imaginable. Actors are

filmed in front of a green or blue “matte” background, which

is later replaced with a new scene—one either filmed

elsewhere or created on computer. real people can also be

combined with computer-generated characters and models,

as in Harry Potter, and whole armies can be created that have

an “artificial life” entirely of their own, as in Lord of the Rings.

The actors are

superimposed on a

new background, and

the wires supporting

them are erased.

DUBBInG

The sound editor is responsible

for assembling the soundtrack for the

movie. This consists of dozens of separate tracks, including all

the dialogue, music, sound effects, and background sound.

After editing, these sounds have to be balanced against each

other and blended in a process called dubbing. Technicians

known as mixers watch the movie and operate controls on

a sound console to get perfect timing and balance of sounds.

The actors are filmed

against a background of

solid blue or green color.

spielberg

Directors often become

“stars” in their own

right. Director Steven

Spielberg was born in

1946. He shot his first
      film when he was 12
      and won a contract
      with Universal Studios,
      Hollywood, after
      leaving college. He
      became the most
      successful American
      director of the 1970s,
      1980s, and 1990s with
      blockbusters such as
      Jaws (1975) and Jurassic
      Park (1993), and Oscar
      winners such as
      Schindler’s List (1993).

Find out more

Cameras

Music 364-

Television

Theater

eDITInG

The movie editor ensures that all

the shots are in the right order,

and that the movie lasts the right

amount of time. But editing is

more complex than that. A

good editor can improve the

movie by cutting out

sequences that slow down the

action or inserting close-up

shots to make a scene more

dramatic. editing is a highly

skilled process. In the past it

involved physically cutting

and taping together pieces of

film, though now it is usually

done digitally. The director

and movie editor work together

for hours to get the right

combination of shots in each scene.

“BUlleT-TIMe” SlOW MOTIOn eFFeCT

each small hole in the scene above conceals a

still camera taking a picture of the scene from a

different angle. The series of shots is put together

in sequence on computer, along with thousands

of extra “in-between” frames created using

software. The effect is of the camera moving

around the action in extreme slow motion.

On computer, the colored

background is easily

removed using a software

filter—sometimes called

“Chromakey”.

US_360_Movies_2.indd 360 09/02/16 3:57 pm