Amazing Effects in Classic Films - How Did They Pull It Off? Part 2

[@JJ-sq3jj]

The man with the rubber head thing is actually insane. Not only the effect, but the fact that he figured that out. It's so inspiring

[@tomandjanlambert]

Skibiti Toilet came to mind

[@mandolinic]

The earthquake sequence is just astonishing. If it were in colour then you'd easily think it was made in the last few years.

[@filmriot]

Right! So impressive.

[@m.a.packer5450]

I wish movies still used real effects, puppets, stages that changed/destructed, they add so much more intensity and believability to the actors' performance

[@Bettiephile]

"Darby O'Gill and the Little People" would be wonderful for a part 3. It's a master class in forced perspective and several other techniques. The effects team behind the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy studied the film extensively and there is at least one shot where the modern effects crew could not figure out how it was done in 1959.

[@petergivenbless900]

You missed a trick with the composite shots of Harrison Ford and the train crash in 'The Fugitive'; Ford was combined with the train crash shots using Introvision's front projection system, in which foreground elements as well as the background are covered in retroreflective material, allowing the projected image to appear both in front of and behind the live action on camera (in the shot of Ford jumping off the bus before it gets hit, he was actually jumping off a platform hidden behind retroreflective material, making it "invisible" when the background is projected over it). Also, I noticed in the unused mirror gag in 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day', Edward Furlong briefly looks at the camera during the take (although that may not be why the shot was not used)!

[@ponyhorton4295]

I worked as a matte painting contractor once at Introvision and I remember the elements from that scene around the shop.

[@danielferris7960]

Thanks, I came to make the same point. There's some great behind-the-scenes footage of this sequence being achieved which was shown in a BBC TV show 'How Do They Do That?' shortly after the film's release.

[@StayFractalesque]

Thank you! ..I already commented, but I'm not gonna delete it because I just want to rub it in.. ..not only do their guests often have zero ideas about how it was done, they have zero clue, period.. ..take a shot everytime someone says "I dunno" ..like, what, this channel is all about easy lay-ups making themselves appear waaay smarter than their guests by comparison? ..at least try to have a dialogue with your guests..

[@GlennDavey]

Went on a huge silent movie jag in the late 2000's to "educate myself" about early film-making because I felt like my knowledge was lacking, even as a film-making student. Totally immersed myself in George Melies, through Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and other movies so much that I became really acquainted with the quality/style, so to my eye it looked like it could have been filmed yesterday. It was all I watched for a while. This culminated in finally watching the best copy of Citizen Kane I could get my hands on and it literally looked and sounded like the MOST modern thing ever. "I'm not sure about these new talkies" I thought, "but this looks incredible".

[@DarthHater100]

They imply that when Jack Nicholson looked down on the hotel lobby's hedge maze, that it was the miniature used for the overhead shot. There was actually a smaller "model" set up in the hotel, but it only superficially looks like the overhead shot. For that, they did a separate miniature. Adam Savage built the maze for some museum show, and does a video where he goes into detail regarding the maze.

[@doublet147]

I wish it wasn't so expensive (nowadays) to do a lot of practical effects (including minis, puppets, etc.). The movies with PFX age really well. Movies with PFX & supplemental VFX are sublime-the perfect combo.

[@SR-qo4fm]

Keep it up guys!!!🎉 more shots with deeper break downs. I would way rather listen to you all explain cinema history than corridor.

[@1950Grendel]

Check out Keaton's "The Playhouse" from 1921. He replicated himself nine times on the playhouse stage in one scene, rewinding and refilling each time as he played a different instrument. Keaton was anybody's equal with a camera.

[@waymire01]

The thing that strikes me the most (having watched all three of these episodes out of order) is how often your experts haven't seen the movies being highlighted. Seriously, set aside some time and actually watch some of the best movies ever made. Age doesn't make them irrelevant, quite the contrary. Not only are they great entertainment, but you can learn so much from those who came before.

[@SingleStepStudios]

That Fugitive train shot was shot on and is located on the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad in North Carolina if any were wondering. They even shot in the nearby town of Bryson City.

[@ponyhorton4295]

They also did some of that scene at Introvision in Hollywood.

[@EricLefebvrePhotography]

The rear projection inside the miniature subs!!! MIND BLOWN!!! You guys should collab on this with inCamera.

[@johnnhoj6749]

2001 earlier used a variation of this. They did one pass filming the models with their windows blacked out and then a second pass with the models in darkness but with their windows filled with tiny front projection screens onto which the actors were projected.

[@angelthman1659]

4:43 I'm pretty confident I know how the twin FX in Palm Beach Story was done. They had a dolly either on tracks or some precise surface operated by a motor. It's possible there was no motor, and just grips timing their moves precisely using a stopwatch. There appears to be a circular motion because of the angle, but the camera is really just pulling straight back.Two versions of the shot were filmed, with Claudette Colbert on either side. They likely did dozens of takes to get the timing right. In the editing, they found the two takes that were closest in time and stitched them together. Any discrepancy in the timing, which would have been minor, was remedied by speeding up the slower of the two sides by literally removing frames. You can actually see some minor jumps from the missing frames on the right side.

[@smackerlacker8708]

I agree, except I think did multiple takes and projected the duplicates on a mirror.

[@HairyDalek]

I know how those Abyss sequences were filmed - the late great CineFex magazine covered it in detail. The thing to remember is that those model subs were suspended on wires, so they had to wait for them to stop swinging before taking the next shot. Basically: move model, advance frame in projector, wait, take shot. And repeat. It was a very long process.

[@Voodoomaria]

George Melies was originally a stage magician, and when Motion pictures fist started, he wanted to see if he could somehow use them in his act. Experimenting one day, he was filming a Paris intersection. At one point, a horse drawn omnibus pulled up to the stop at the intersection, at this moment Melies stopped cranking the camera while he made some adjustments before continuing to crank, and film. During this interval, the omnibus moved on, and in it's place a horse drawn hearse took it's place at the stop. When Melies screened his film from that day he was astounded to see an omnibus stop at the intersection, then "Magically" change into a hearse. This happy accident set his imagination on fire, and became the birth of cinema special effects.

[@brodielarson9096]

With the Palm Beach story, I think they shot all the different versions of the couple and played them at the same time with some slight modifications...

[@adamrickman2461]

need a collab with Corridor crew!

[@EricLefebvrePhotography]

That's a good one but a with the guys at inCamera would be sweet as well.

[@JoeLiningToolFilms]

Yes!

[@nbentertainment3840]

Thats a great idea need a corridor crew and film rote making a sci-fi shortfilm 😊

[@johntnguyen1976]

They could do a dance-off with the Turbulent Displace song

[@JoeLiningToolFilms]

@@johntnguyen1976 yes!!!

[@timetraveller6643]

Palm Beach Story theory: 1) The scene was filmed twice for the two halves. (with a camera very well secured to a track with motorized tight pulley differentials) 2) Then the film was developed and the two shots were physically projected on two screens in a dark room. 3) A mirror was placed so that one screen is visible on the right while the edge of the mirror obscures the left side and reflects the couple from the other screen. 4) This arrangement was then repeatedly tested and aligned before filming the two screens. I believe this is a variation on the Schufftan Process. The mirror's edge is nicely blurred, the alignment can be secured, and the effect watched live and corrected repeatedly before exposing the final print. If it is negatives that are projected, you get a print with the fewest iteration artifacts. Several tries with different exposures ensure a good take. You are essentially filming a film just like the people in the submarine miniatures from The Abyss.

[@ajm7210]

Please make a Part 3! This is such a fantastic series. It’s both fascinating and really informative (the Abyss effect blew me away)! Edit: should’ve waited till the end before commenting. But HOORAY for part 3!

[@ianmarks4481]

What a surprise to see Todd Vaziri's face pop up on my screen! I worked with Todd for a short time at Banned From the Ranch, where we were working on shots for Dr. Dolittle, Soldier, and Star Trek: Insurrection simultaneously. You've never met a nicer or a smarter guy.

[@WTDoorley]

I love visual effects. I think it goes back to when I was a toddler and I saw an ad for "The Blob" (the original with Steve McQueen) on TV. It frightened me so badly that I had nightmares. My mother finally explained that the shot of people running from the Blob as it poured through the theater doors was just "axle grease" (her term). After that, I was always trying to figure out how the shots were done. Though I worked in film and video for 30 years or so, it was on sponsored films and what we used to call "industrials," so I never worked in VFX myself. I'm still fascinated, though. Thanks, Film Riot. I look forward to the next installment.

[@crimetimeproductions6340]

The fugitive train crash actually wasn't fully practical, there's some behind the scenes photos that show miniatures of the train crash set. Most of it was practical, but there's insert shots of miniatures sprinkled into the edit as well.

[@akyhne]

Actually, most of it was miniature, because the train didn't crash the intended way.

[@TheFPSChannel]

The Abyss models were something I was obsessed with in film school. My fave trivia is the batteries to run the projectors and lights on each model kept dying too soon. So they doubled the length of the battery life by turning the power off when the shutter was closed on the camera requiring precise timing between each of the models and the cameras. I mean… 🤪

[@new.asteroid.tracker]

How about the 1938 production of a Cristmas Carol. In the scene where Ebenezer traveled back to his past at his old boarding school, Nell runs through his ghost like image to greet young Ebenezer to bring him home for Christmas. The resulting image looks like a solid human body passing through a ghostly spirit like passing through a curtain. It took me by surprise since the movie was filmed in 1938 and has me baffled as to how they did it.

[@SadDetonator]

I discovered your channel through part 1, immediately subscribed, and now am so happy that the genius Méliès got his due in part 2. Thanks so much for these videos! 😊

[@thork6974]

Unless I'm mistaken, the "rear-projected pilot" trick was first used for the shuttlepod in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

[@LeviAmes]

Excellent Video. I'm learning quite a bit from this.

[@swandive46]

Thanks for this! I'm always amazed by the practical effects from such classic movies.

[@crissy5183]

Seem so simple and yet so effective in it's time period. classics, just love 'em!!💋

[@SarcasticPlotRecaps]

Limitation really does drive innovation. Lack of resources and tools can truly conjure the miracles of man's mind.

[@BrooksWachtel]

The San Francisco earthquake sequence was the work of John Hoffmann - he was, among many other accomplishments, a montage expert and, as you mention, gets many of his effects from editing and camera angles with a minimum of actual special optical or practical effects. He related that he'd walk through the backlot and if a building had a window sign that said, say, music publisher, he decided a piano could fall out of the window, etc. Again, the major power of the sequence comes directly from his film-making sills and command of angles and editing, covering some actions with fast cuts from multiple angles to create a frenetic effect.

[@caligulathegod]

Moby Dick (1930) has an incredible sequence about 30 minutes in that has some incredible compositing and miniature work when Ahab goes after Moby for the first time and gets his leg bitten off.

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

What I love about the pre-digital SFX space is the incredible creativity, engineering know-how & editing skill of the teams involved. The way they were able to bring effects from their imagination to the screen with the fairly limited tech available at the time is just remarkable! It's like watching an old-school magic trick, in that it invites both wonder & so much guessing as to how it was done... P.S. You're right about it not always working in the past, too!! 😂 SFX in the original Dune scarred me for life, I swear...

[@AnimeZone247]

i wouldn't call it limited. They matte painted and roto scoped. The difference is they did it by hand and now it's digital

[@DJphotoandtech]

The @CorridorCrew just talked about The Palm Beach Story in their latest video on their site. They figured that the camera is on a dolly and is being pulled by a cable and weight on the other end being released, as it would have a consistent acceleration and speed to its drop.

[@Vodhin]

On "The Palm Beach Story" my guess is that it was done in camera in two takes, the first with everyone except the left most bride and groom (the right most bride could be a double, with her veil hiding the fact she doesn't look exactly like the other two), and the second pass with just the left most couple standing in front of a non-photo blue screen (certain film stocks cannot register it). A simple governor on the camera dolly would ensure a consistent travel speed, and it really doesn't matter syncing the two shots together, since all she does is look over for a bit. The imperfections noted could have been the result of a ripple in the screen.

[@damageman215]

Corridor Crew actually just covered some of the camera effects in The Palm Beach Story 🙂

[@eliansalinas5904]

I Love your Channel, please make a video of how to color grade like JOKER or the GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL , I would like to see that

[@NoNameNOPE730]

The Fugitive shot wasn’t composited. It was an in-camera effect called Introvision. The background of the train was projected onto Scotchlite. It didn’t spill onto the actor thanks to the high reflectivity of the material and a dim projector. The camera and projection had to face the lens at the same time, so they used a one-way mirror at a 45 degree angle.

[@Happymali10]

14:15 The crash-setup was also really simple. They had a set of points (a "split" in a rail line), and just...didn't continue the new track past a few feet. These few feet were on skinny supports so that they collapsed as the train went over it, making it lean as it "derailed" because....it ran out of track.

[@gothnate]

Parts of The Fugitive was filmed just 20 minutes from me. Sylva, Dillsboro, and Bryson City (all small NC towns), as well as the Cheoah Dam near Robbinsville, NC. Yes, the train and bus are still there. Fun Fact: "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was partially filmed in Sylva, also. I have some video and stills I took one night while watching the filming. Sam Rockwell and Peter Dinklage were both there along with their stunt doubles for a scene where the police station gets burned.

[@Lumibear.]

For that wedding spilt screen shot my guess is that they did two exposures using some kind of precision mechanism to move the camera the exact same way twice, as nothing in the shot is crucially timed, they’re all just standing there, it was not beyond their abilities to build a specialised geared rig purely for that one shot. If they tied the film advancement into the same mechanism as for the camera motion it could even have been done in-camera, if not, married together later onto a third piece of film (I lean towards the latter as it looks to me as if they’ve attempted to correct a small mistake of the lady on the left’s arm going transparent by overlaying a frozen image of her missing elbow).

[@shoked99]

Another great video. I think how they did FX in really old movies is fascinating. Thanks.

[@simonkennedy6116]

If you've ever watched Kind Hearts and Coronets, there's a shot where Alec Guinness is playing five or six different characters sitting in a row

[@richbuilds_com]

Those Abyss shots have blown my mind twice now: once when I saw the,. and just now when I found out how they shot them!

[@foodank_atr817]

Damn I wanna play paintball at that train crash set.

[@flipnap2112]

and dont forget, on Escapoe from New York, James Cameron was a matte painter.. so good segue

[@imaginationworkshopstudio]

At 5:25 that technique of camera move is called a "PULL BACK REVEAL", or a "OPEN UP".

[@jerryumfress9030]

These people who came up with these special effects were next level. They had to use what they had and made it work

[@WaterShowsProd]

I actually clicked on this because the thumbnail preview was the shot from The Palm Beach Story, one of my favourite films. It's quite funny that shot, as it's not an effects film in any way, it's a screwball romantic comedy, and it just happens to have that remarkable shot at the very end of the movie, when the leading man and lady (Joel McCray and Claudette Colbert) suddenly explain to their jilted admirers that they're both identical twins. The reveal being done this way must have had the audience in stitches.

[@yaddamop]

Been racking my brains over The Palm Beach Story. When I saw Colbert and McCrea, I figured it's a Preston Sturges film and Sturges was METICULOUS with the actors' placement, dialogue word-letter perfect, no wonder. So, as for the motion control part, there's a guy in the Philippines who does commercials there and he did motion control without motion control. He laid the dolly tracks at an angle and, using only gravity, let the camera slide slowly down. He said that, since gravity is a constant, the speed will be the same. Of course, he used a contemporary camera much lighter in weight than a 1942 model, but it could be Sturges did the same thing. In fact, I'm looking at the motions of the actors down to the candles to see if they were all doing motions in reverse to fool the eye that Sturges shot it maybe backwards since it might be easier to do. Just a theory on my part, but the "wow factor" is definitely there. Here is the link to the video I referenced. Maybe you have seen it, maybe not but maybe it'll help unlock the secret. It's only some 5 minutes and change. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmXZpX-XariYm9k

[@Raspu2]

My guess on "Palm beach story" is a tilted dolly; the gravity is constant, so you can do the same exact movmet twice, after that, hand made tracking matte. In "The fugutive", there is no composite, is Introvision; a front projection method.

[@SoloPilot6]

The "eye exercises" from "Ella Cinders" deserves mention, if only because it was the first time anything like it had ever been done.

[@BLANCARLAUREAN]

The guys at Corridor Crew did an episode where they talk about the wedding scene. Apparently it was a simple pulley system of some sort that kept the camera moving at a steady pace, pretty cool

[@sorensblade]

Nothing better than old school film effects to make my brain explode. Just pure raw creativity to make an idea work

[@WalkerRileyMC]

@14:00: It actually wasn't composited! This was done fully in camera using a front-projection technique called Introvision. Yes, Harrison Ford wasn't really in any danger, but it also wasn't a comp.

[@LeCharles07]

11:41 I'm just in awe of the creativity of special effects people.

[@FlightlessProd]

Between this and the Corridor Digital VFX Artists react - it's a great time to be able to figure out these old ways of doing things.

[@doric_historic]

I never knew about 'San Franciso' being the mother of the disaster type movie, thanks for that...

[@PatrickDempsey-bx9pi]

It's great to have someone praise older special effects, and not pass the effects off as being primitive. New technology is great, but not always better.

[@TruthSurge]

that earthquake stuff was utterly amazing. Only part that looked a bit fake was that woman leaping from inside the room of the building.

[@chaseadamek]

North By Northwest the plane shot AND that shot of Roger Thornhill coming out of the embassy building (assuming it’s a miniature) but that is the most beautiful shot in any Hitchcock film to me

[@bb21again.67]

I've seen a video of the making of The Abyss on the VHS Special Edition, and the actress with the cowboy hat was inside a real sub doing her knitting while James was talking to her via his helmet intercom system.

[@MLawrence-z9k]

I appreciate u doing movies from the golden & silver ages of film but since we are talking about original ways to do authentic & practical effects shots , the facehugger scene of it running towards Sigorney Weaver in the movie Aliens & jumping over the counter & latching on to her face & wrapping its tail around her neck is definitely worth putting in one of these episodes & explaining to ppl how they managed to accomplish it without CGI or blue screen or stop motion or rear projection because its so damn simple but nobody will guess how they actually did it !!!!

[@joeyunderwood]

“i’ve actually never seen Space 2001”

[@mickwillis6981]

What is ‘Space 2001’? Never heard of it.

[@Abdullahs_World]

Best Video dear Ryan

[@Jimo368]

The Dresden bombing in Map of the Human Heart is one of my favourite scenes

[@ponyhorton4295]

If I was doing that twins wedding shot without motion control, the simplest way would be to put markings at regular intervals on the dolly tracks, and possibly a hash mark on the rim of the dolly wheels. Then you have a metronome off-camera clicking a steady beat, and simply push the dolly at a repeatable speed using the tempo of the clicks to correspond to the marks on the dolly track. I used the same technique of tempo timing to create a live, in-camera real time animated sunrise in a matte painting shot I created for a Roger Corman film in the late 1980s.

[@Pluviophile218]

It's a shame that all the creativity from the older ideas is lost now that everything can be generated by computers.

[@valmarsiglia]

How do professional VFX people not immediately recognize the Stargate sequence from 2001? That would be like a classical pianist not recognizing the Moonlight Sonata.

[@Steve_in_NJ]

I took one film-making class in College. My professor was a personal friend of Peter Boyle (the Monster in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein), who was from Philly (where I went to school), we learned a lot of "old school" F/X and when you see all these glass painting matte shots, you appreciate the way movies in the early 20th century were made. Today, it's all Green Screens and CGI, which is sort of cheating when actors are on the set surrounded by only green screens.

[@All_Access_Passes]

I cannot believe after seeing T2 a million times, this is the first time I ever noticed Eddie Furlong looking at the camera as it is moving.

[@trollhunter8842]

That maze scene from the Shining was incredible. I actually thought they built that giant maze.

[@mauricenash]

Another fantastic, great and informative episode! Waiting for part III, thank you🙂

[@joshuabutlermusic]

Please keep this series going. 🤘🏻

[@KRhetor]

I'd love to know details of how they filmed the "Steppin' Out" number in Easter Parade. Obviously, rear projection was used, but how they pulled it off so flawlessly is beyond me.

[@NinjaNezumi]

4:44 it was a simple rail dolly. The split screen betrays a lens deformation. You see this same deformation in those viewfinder toy cameras. The background was shot separately and composited together in the same way viewfinders are.

[@wirelesmike73]

Little Audry II making herself grow right after Seymour leaves the room following the song, Please Grow For Me in Little Shop Of Horrors. How did they do it? It's literally one of the only shots in any movie that I can't nail down exactly how it was done. It seems obvious, at first, until you try to pinpoint composite lines and visible tricks. Simple looking, but one of the best and cleanest shots ever done, IMO.

[@digiscience3508]

Cool i wached it completely

[@goldsmithofthesun4323]

the corridor crew kinda figured out the twin effect, it was actually done by a weight on a pulley system, probably. Since the weight was unchanged , it would pull the camera at a consistent speed, they just had to hope that they nailed the camera pull with less takes, and then stitch the footage together. However, the end credits for that same scene, still remains a mystery, some of them said they were shooting through a glass panel with the letters painted on it, while others thought it was literally a bunch of letters carved out of some material, fixed on a transparent object which would close in on the camera as the camera kept moving backwards.

[@nathanielschwartz425]

1:33 It’s actually called A Trip To The Moon.

[@kellyoleary6599]

4:39 Palm Beach

[@richbuilds_com]

I hope you have many more episodes of this series!

[@sendforacar9323]

I think the twin shot is quite easy to explain. The shot was, as you said, stitched together. They had a dolly track set in place and timed the two shots. The dolly was probably on a crank that only allowed for a set speed. You should recreate it and put the debate to rest.

[@TheLowlyyouarenice]

You should do the Back to the Future trilogy, especially part 2. Back to the Future 2 has so many special effects from splicing the same actor onto the screen at the same time for 2 or 3 characters, flying cars, and I believe there are more.

[@heckensteiner4713]

Clips from Dr. Mabuse = Great video. It's a simple equation.

[@That_AMC_Guy]

The Palm Beach Story: They probably used twins. Just like how Linda Hamilton's twin sister worked with her on Terminator 2 or how Alexandra Paul's twin sister worked on the film Christine. That defect in the film? Probably simply a defect in the film or the cinematographer trying his damnedest to hold focus during a moving shot. Either that or it's one VERY well done super-imposing job. Two strips of film running over a separate background.

[@zayemusic]

2:58 He said they probably shot it in california and waited on a earthquake...😂😂😂

[@garygreen5670]

If you do another one perhaps you could include Derek Medding's space shuttle launch from Moonraker, which I, when I was a kid, thought must be stock footage of a real space shuttle (even though it says 'Drax' on the shuttle). The way Derek Medding's created the vapour traiis from the rocket boosters was quite brilliant.

[@SpectrumPOV]

Buster Keaton also did some duplicate effects in some of his films. And they still look amazing.

[@ib12us]

Makes me rethink how they did Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

[@nickc9793]

You should do an episode on those past bad vfx from popular films.

[@Durwood71]

It's a crime that we still don't have an HD release of the director's cut of _The Abyss._

[@CK-ceekay]

I'm wondering how you did the big red X. Is that digital or is it just a shot of an actual light panel?

[@jamiedriscoll9781]

13:22 only thing that bugged me with this shot at the theater was no ankle shackles during the leap but then shackled on landing.

[@TheAnimeist]

12:00 The simplest effect in the list, but probably the most effective.

[@JoeLiningToolFilms]

Only through the first one so far and i got it 50% right. Mind already blown. . . . Upon finishing...mind still blown

[@Slazlo-Brovnik]

13:28 "It just keeps going ... what the hell" Well that's bad physical knowledge there. A 3000-ton freight train is not significantly slowed down by a bus. It basically gets slower only because somebody applied the trains brakes. And he braking distance of a train is several miles long. Of course it keeps going.

[@cherminatorDR]

I like the train sequence in Wrongfully Accused more than the Fugitive

[@moviedorkproductions9465]

In The Palm Beach Story, the synchronized reversed twin effect was done by having the camera on a slightly elevated, offset slider and they let gravity keep the pacing as they duplicated the shots.