Indiana Jones Without FX - Things You Didn't Notice

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Nowadays, with computer generated imagery, it's a lot easier to achieve supernatural FX in movies. But, back in the day when computers were still figuring out how to CGI, moviemakers would often have to come up with many weird and wonderful techniques in order to achieve the desired effect while still looking halfway decent.
And I can't think of a better example to demonstrate some of these ingenious techniques than the Indiana Jones movies.
So, in this video we're going to answer these questions and also discover just why the original Indiana Jones films turned out to be as good as they are!
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[@cardiffst]

I can’t help but feel than professional miniature and matte work age far well than even the latest cgi.

[@kacperzimowski4626]

it sure does.... :/ The latest CGI is a joke

[@timmitchell3870]

I would agree. Some of the non-CGI objects themselves didn't look all that realistic - but even the best actor can't run away from a CGI boulder nearly as convincingly as he can an actual boulder. Even if it's made out of plaster - at least it has something to actually run away from.

[@tonidozier4573]

Sfx artists were called upon to use more creativity without the use of computers.

[@UmbrellaGent]

Only when watching this video did I realise that I never thought about the plane crash in a tunnel in The Last Crusade as a special effects shot. It looks incredibly convincing to this day.

[@Inspadave]

yes and no. Practical effects are great for some things, but not in all situations.

[@matsnilson7727]

I just LOVE these old, inventive and extremely well made practical effects. Truly something special to behold! Modern CGI can definitely be useful in small doses, but sadly it's often overused and can feel cheap... even though it's probably quite expensive.

[@roterstern1301]

LOL "old" 🤣 But i get ur point ;)

[@thespadestable]

@Mats Nilson - You can't blame them, though. As the CGI technology advances, so does the cost to have it done. Movies don't have as long of a theatrical run as they used to, and the days of yesteryear DVD/DVR Tape sales has dramatically changed to the point it's too much of a financial risk to do laborious practical effects with no idea it's return. Even Top Gun: Maverick's financial department choose to do without specially written soundtrack songs in order to save money for other areas of production, even though the model worked for the original movie.

[@danbosch-]

WAAAAY overused in most movies.

[@davidharrison7014]

They even used CGI in "Creed III" to show the background of Dodger Stadium, (in a studio in Atlanta)! And it LOOKED it, too! They could've shot it in the REAL stadium for just a FRACTION of the cost.

[@Maki-00]

I agree. I always said that Lou Ferrigno painted green in the old Incredible Hulk show was way scarier than the crappy CGI Hulk in the movies!

[@SpielSatzFail]

They were magicians back then. They made us see things that raised the question of "how did they do that???" 😃 The ghost scene being nothing near cgi and the minecart sequence using miniatures were things I never thought of.

[@thomasstudstrup5028]

Watch Temple of doom on bluray on a 4K tv and the mine car sequence will look so awful that you will never watch that movie ever again.In fact every other special effect in that movie looks just as terrible. Including the scene where the man has his heart removed from his chest and then being burned alive. A scene that offended some annoying parents so much at the time the movie came out that Speielberg invented the awful PG13 rating, that has ruined so many movies. And later made the awful fourth movie that was so kiddie friendly that it could be watched by 5 year old kids.

[@roquefortfiles]

Its all shot in a water tank dude. Or with fans and the film rolled backwards. When they didn't have CGI they had to think creatively. CGI has stopped innovation. It is for dumb people who don't want to think. All the CGI artists today are standing on the shoulders of the people who actually did stuff for real.

[@V3ntilator]

People shouldn't watch a lot of these movies on either 4K or Blu-Ray as you will see more flaws.

[@roquefortfiles]

@@V3ntilator Not necessarily. Depends on how the transfer was done.

[@davidharrison7014]

Hence the name "Industrial Light & Magic".

[@babyshambler]

I've watched and rewatched the Indiana Jones trilogy many many times over the years but had no idea how much went into some of the effects until now. Amazing skills from all involved. Long live practical!

[@andrewmurray1550]

The geniuses at ILM of course who have also embraced the "dark side" - CGI! and still churn out oscar winning films.

[@villehytonen7279]

This really made me appreciate those movies even more. Never had an idea how complex some of those effects were.

[@antenant9294]

I am astonished that the ghostly lady in Raiders of the Lost Ark was not CGI. That was a truly incredible effect to have achieved. Some of the others, even at the time, seemed a little dodgy... but this one was, and is, incredibly convincingly scary.

[@mackychloe]

Agreed.

[@JediKnight207]

There was no CGI at that time.

[@juicedgoose]

​@@JediKnight207CGI has been around since the 50s, became more common in the 70s

[@JediKnight207]

@@juicedgoose Atari style graphics.

[@richardmattocks]

The real added genius of the mine car miniature chase is that the camera pans and tilts while it’s travelling, just as a full-sized cameraman-operated shot would have done. Adds so much

[@danceswithmules]

Fun Fact: the full-sized U boat practical in Raiders of the Lost Ark was borrowed from the production of Das Boot. Unfortunately, when the Das Boot production got it back, it started falling apart in the middle, then was swept away during a major storm in La Rochelle. When it appeared listing and half-sunk in the end of Das Boot, that wasn't something the production had to do. It really was that beat up by then.

[@diogocatalano9557]

The submarine mockup was damaged in Spielberg´s hands. He returned it that way and didn´t pay a penny for it.

[@daveerhardt1879]

I'm much more impressed how they did the special effects without CGI. A lot more creative if you ask me. And their special effects were great too.

[@johntumahab323]

The "face melting" of Major Toht at the end of "Raiders" became so popular among VFX makers that it started popping up all over the place. The one I can think of off the top of my head was the face transformation in the original "Critters". The bounty hunter aliens are supposed to be able to change their appearance to that of different humans, but rather than simply do progressive makeup or a puppet head, they went all the way with the face melting and then "unmelting" into the new shape.

[@michaelm6964]

Practical effects have always been so amazing and the different ways VFX artists go about getting Themis always so unique or simple

[@Captain-Cosmo]

I saw a cut of Raiders about six weeks before its release. There were no credits, but except for including the periscope footage which was ultimately cut, it was pretty much finished by then. Temple was another story. Lots of unfinished effects, no opening scene (the musical number) at all, and missing ADR. The really cool thing was, however, that the cut I saw included footage of Cate Capshaw's heart getting ripped out. I was floored when I saw it, and not at all surprised to see it removed in final release. In the final cut, you can tell that there's some missing time there, and later at the end she even says that getting her heart ripped out isn't her idea of a good time.

[@digitalblunt]

That's crazy, can you describe the scene? How did she get her heart back?

[@Captain-Cosmo]

@@digitalblunt Like the acolyte who was burned alive before her, it did not show. Your question may also be why it was cut; her living didn't make sense. It really made that segment of the film - and the whole film - dark. The cut was not rated, of course. We expected an R, and it would have been as is.

[@Captain-Cosmo]

I am reminded that a similar thing happened with Gremlins. No credits, no ending, no music (well, it had some of a temp track) and more violence. Phoebe's speech about her dad didn't stand out as much because the whole film was dark. Editing and a goofy score by Goldsmith REALLY transformed it.

[@kurtb8474]

They were at the top of perfecting models and miniatures when CGI came in to replace all of that. We of that generation were always amazed at the realism. Younger film enthusiasts seemed to be surprised at all of this practical effects technology. CGI made a big splash with Jurassic Park, which was amazing at the time. But, I think it's been overused since then. It seems that the moviemakers of today are making movies with only CGI in mind, rather than the telling a good story.

[@samuelsuggs9751]

And Jurassic Park was made by the same director as the Indy movies. He used lots of practical effects like miniatures and robotic puppets mixed with the cgi, even within the same scenes, and it all blended together so seamlessly its still hard to pick out which shots are cg. Even the best cg falls short when it's oversaturated because it begins to look like a video game.

[@tuttuttut7758]

Jurassic Park was a perfect mix of practical en CGI effects. These days it seems like they come up with it like they're throwing everything at a wall and see what sticks. It's too busy, too much and overcrowded. I hate modern CGI

[@brianlaudrupchannel]

They still did miniatures in LOTR

[@geroutathat]

Its a shame too, because 3d printing the way it is, you could make miniatures easier than ever. And if they were a bit more inventive they could flawlessly mix cgi and practical, after all they have the 3d cgi model of the plane, why not print it out, and use it in shots where they can, then use the cgi where needed. If they were clever enough you really would totally struggle to know what was real and wasnt.

[@davidharrison7014]

@@samuelsuggs9751 The pod race scene in "The Phantom Menace" comes to mind, with entire scenes looking like a video game.

[@craigjohnson4302]

Back in the day there had to be creative genius to figure out how to create these effects. Now days, although it takes a certain skill for the CGI replacements, the need for creativeness has been diminished. Notice, in general, how computers have reduced the need for us to think and plan.

[@charlottearena]

I could never imagine how much creative genius went into to the making these films, without CGI. It makes today's movies methods (although computers and the technicians are clever) sort of lazy and dare I say cheap. Just makes me appreciate, these movies so much more. Thank you :)

[@roquefortfiles]

Yes and no!! The degree of control over the image they had back in Temple of Doom era was one element over the other. With CGI they have control down to the smallest pixel of the image. But there was an instant abandonment of techniques that still worked and a belief that CGI could solve every problem. Just go and look at Air Force One. The CGI dept convinced the producers that they could do a 747 plane crash better than a practical model. The result was atrociously awful. The CGI dept had no idea what they were doing. And the result looked like a joke.

[@MajSolo]

@@roquefortfiles we need a bigger computer! ( we need a bigger boat ) give us more money

[@keaneye09]

It just means you understand practical effects more now and still don’t understand the level of work or the amount of effort it really takes to make cgi effects.

[@roquefortfiles]

@@keaneye09 Really? I used to work in computer graphics.

[@andrewholliday251]

" and dare I say cheap". Nothing daring about that - the reason we use cgi is because its cheap - compared to earlier ways of doing the same things. Otherwise we'd still be using those techniques. CGI didn't takeover because it was better (as most early cgi effects films (and many more recent ones) make abundantly clear - it took over because movie accountants found it far more palatable; it both cost less and still looked like it cost the same - so better for the bottom line and better for tax-dodging (pretend it cost more than it did and claim it). Win-win.

[@xcoder1122]

I cannot understand why people would complain about the effects in the 4th film. There was nothing wrong with the effects at all. Also the acting was as good as in the other 3. What was wrong about the 4th movie? Just a tiny thing: The Plot!

[@indianajoneseditz]

Tbh the alien theme is probably the most realistic out of all of them

[@owie4070]

This was fascinating. I'm especially impressed by the miniature work and the water rushing through the tunnels. Thank you.

[@FirstLast-vr7es]

I really wish that they still made movies like these... They really were generally better back then.

[@mibeatleman6767]

This is what you get when you don't use lousy CGI effects, you get timeless, good looking special effects.

[@ClifHaley]

I've been interested in sfx since the 80s and it took me way, way too long to appreciate matte paintings. They are like the unsung hero of so many fx shots that you don't even know are fx shots. That's how good they are.

[@bcarr1122]

I know what you mean. I'd seen the original, 1980 theatrical version of "The Empire Strikes Back" dozens of times, but it was only several months ago that I learned just how many of the shots were matte paintings. It's genuinely amazing! Of course, the quality of matte paintings varied; some movies used better art effects than others.

[@SixStringflyboy]

Crystal Skull is the Highlander 2 of the Indiana Jones franchise. It just never should have happened.

[@tomennis7414]

Well done putting this together,it was really amazing to see how these films were made..Thank You 👏

[@21Rodge]

Raiders of the lost ark is a timeless movie classic.

[@therookie5714]

Last crusade

[@trhansen3244]

It came out in 1961 before JFK kiilleed

[@Gojirawars03]

@@trhansen3244 What? It didn’t? 💀

[@dh2032]

yes, they felt like much old all old film techniques, our at the what looked they where doing, modern tech of the time?

[@greenbeagle13]

Wow, fascinating. I have never watched any Indiana Jones movies, but now I gotta'.... Thank you for this upload.

[@rainydaze9318]

The first one is the BEST!

[@samburch]

@@rainydaze9318 the first three are all gems

[@PU8698]

@@samburch All 4 are great

[@nameprivate2194]

_Raiders of the Lost Ark_ [1981] is arguably the greatest Action film of all-time, while the following two sequels are plenty worthy sequels not to be missed. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKW7e32tetBkhKM

[@mattiaspalm4281]

They are a must see for all!! Greater adventure films are hard to find and for me, the 3rd film is the best one. The 1st and 2nd are great, but the 3rd has something special that really fascinated me as a young boy, and still does. And of course, Sean Connery is in that movie! I really liked the 4th movie also, it is not as great as the first 3, but absolutely viewable.

[@mattjones5987]

I think it would have been funny if Indiana had tried the "leap of faith" across the chasm only to land with a thud on the invisible bridge

[@SWExplore]

Very cool to see how those special effects shots were filmed with CGI. Thanks for sharing!

[@BhaaskarDesai]

Making the best use of whatever they had with a substantial amount of creative brains with great precision and still making it a huge success. Pretty much sums it.

[@christianemden7637]

Absolutely love that you speak about the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Thumbs up for that alone.

[@ZefDavenport]

Many of these amazing procedures came from the limitations they had back then. When an artist is limited, they'll use their imagination and creativity to fill the gaps.

[@michaelbruno1666]

That 'Leap of Faith' invisible bridge scene just blew me away in the theater.

[@ddegn]

It's a good thing Indi didn't move his head at all or it would have been given away.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

George Lucas came to Spielberg several times with various versions of what would become the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and each time Spielberg declined, saying, "I've done aliens several times already!"* but eventually he caved in because Lucas was his longtime friend but also because he had told Spielberg that they weren't aliens, they were "interdimensional beings". . Let's hope that Indy 5 is able to re-capture that magic that made the first 3 so special, since this is it: The last time we will see Indiana on the big screen (if what we hear from Spielberg and Harrison Ford is true). One of the original titles for Indy 4 was "Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men". So glad that didn't happen... * Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982), both of which hold up quite well to this day, and War of the Worlds (2005). And actually, A.I. (2001) had aliens in it too (at the very end)!

[@joshfacio9379]

On A.I. were those aliens? I had always thought they were extremley advanced sentient robots decended from mans robotics and they were trying to figure out their creators soul for a better word as humans were long gone by then.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@joshfacio9379 Could be. I haven't seen that movie since it originally came out.

[@Billyfulu]

I'm convinced now, movie makers are certified magicians!

[@MrRezRising]

I saw the original version of this video in 1983, when they did a Behind the Scenes. I was about 13 then. The stunt work was fantastic, and the stuntman who actually 'rode' the statue as it fell in the Well of Souls was almost 80. Nice video, guy. 👍

[@CrookedSkew]

Smashing video. These movies were my childhood. Part of me things that because of the amount of thought that had to go in, they got great effects out. While there are many better effects now, the lack of thought can easily come through.

[@quantumphaser]

We knew it wasn't CGI back then because no computer could do these effects in the 1970s. This was what real film making was. Passion, talent and art.

[@harryhondo1013]

Raiders came out in '81 and Temple of Doom in '84, so there was really no CGI in the 80's, too.

[@CalTxDude]

Wow! I really enjoyed this video, So much I didn't know ! Thank you! One thing though, The story speaks for itself and you narrated so well. The music is superfluous and rather distracting. Just let the story do it's thing and you tell it is well is you do

[@Uhfgood]

I loved learning about these things when I was a kid. Now CGI can just do it all (yes I know there are some artists working hard). But in the Pre-CG days they had to become really inventive. Building new types of cameras, figuring what film stocks work, how many levels of optical compositing you could do before it because too grainy to use etc. I think part of the reason Indy 4 was terrible (aside from Shia LaBeouf), is because since they had so much money, and CG artists can do everything, there was an overreliance on CGI which made for more unrealistic situations. With full on practical, and even old fashioned hand drawn post-production, they had to be frugal about where they spent their money, what would work and what wouldn't, so were able to craft something truly amazing. This is sort of the problem with the Star Wars "prequels" as well. Too much money and no actual real limitations to make the artists and engineers really creative. Don't even talk about Indy 5, it's already going to be a woke sh*tshow.

[@ShamrockParticle]

^^this CGI has been a long-built craft, trailblazing and doing a lot to make photorealistic items that blend in seamlessly with the live action sets, props and actors. An early use of it mixing with live action and practical effects was in "Death Becomes Her", but the use of masking and greenscreen (or blue or yellow) was the earliest and most important aspects regardless of effects type. CGI is very respectable but prior to it, there was a lot more that had to be done. And it's all amazing.

[@Uhfgood]

@@ShamrockParticle - I'm not even saying that cgi isn't very good these days, I'm simply saying this pre-cg vfx was pure genius. See with CG it's a lot of math, once you've figured out the math, it's less about trying to come up with ingenious solutions to tough problems about how to put stuff up on screen. For instance there's a difference between an audio producer at the mixing board trying to come up with an appropriate mix for a band that works on the majority of audio systems and someone at home adjusting their equalizer for their best hearing experience. I can probably get an album to sound a bit better based on my own hearing and equipment by messing with the equalizer. But an audio mixer, has to be a lot more inventive to get it to a point, where you don't really have to use an equalizer to get a decent sound, or in cases where you don't have that kind of control. There's a kind of knowledge/experience/intelligence required for the audio mixer to do his craft, where as me, it's just pulling levers. I'm not even saying the computer scientists couldn't have come up with ingenious math solutions in order for a particular effect to work, but then once it's done, once you get to a point, then the "artist" down the line just has to pick the correct levers to pull. Now you do have certain skill you need to do something good in a reasonable amount of time in Blender, but in general to get to the level of real the computer scientists have to create all the math that goes into the modelling, or animation (interpolation?), or even the add ons that make it easier for us non-techs to "pull the levers" so-to-speak. We also have a bit of a problem with "cg look" which seems to cover a lot of the effects, they all tend to start looking the same, and don't exactly look quite real, but that's more along the lines of everyone using the same techniques, and what not (using the same software etc). When it comes to color grading, everybody that does a vfx shot, tends to make everything dark or somewhat tinted a certain way. Originally it was called "color timing" or even just straight up "color correction" back in actual film days, because they would do a chemical color-grading, that would essentially take many different pieces of film and chemically treat the film copies such so that they would look consistent. Because each time a scene was filmed there would be a myriad of reasons why they would all look different. I believe the word 'timing' has to do with timing how long the film is in a certain chemical to get a certain look, higher/lower contrast, saturation, etc... But now with the digital handling everything, you're back to pulling levers. When the software can do all the visual changes to the video, then now you're not coming up with inventive ways to make it look consistent, you're just trying to achieve a look. In most cases is just making everything dark and possibly desaturated. Does that make sense?

[@davecullenphotography]

Thank you for this, enjoyed it, makes me want to watch them all again (Apart from the forth one)

[@dollarjilt1]

another good clip, thanks mate, really enjoyed this

[@JesseNewberry]

Amazing effects. A couple things as kids we did notice was when Jones' bag hung on the tank's gun was there was no way the strap could have slipped around the barrel. Another was when the tank fell over the cliff, for one it just didn't seem realistic for the turret to break off so easily. But when it did they failed to paint a dark spot where the manhole should be.

[@viswanaathv.s.220]

Nice video. Amazing. Thanks for taking time and effort to make this video. Appreciate it.

[@jogordon1530]

It’s unbelievable the amount of painstaking work that goes into those movies! Wow!

[@matthouben4242]

The exterior submarine model used in the filming of Raiders of the Lost Ark was borrowed from the production of Wolfgang Petersen's film Das Boot. The filming of the submarine shots occurred at La Rochelle, France, where Das Boot was being shot.

[@edthacow]

I was 84 when Raiders came out. I'm still here. My son, grandsons, and my mom are so excited for everything. I can't wait to see what 2024 has to give. Who else loves Indiana Jones? My dad loved these movies.

[@barriniho]

How old are you now?

[@mtgcardzandreview2756]

Very cool seeing how and learning just what some of the effort that was taken to make these great flims. I guess I should see if you've done some of the older James Bond films.

[@Linda-pg3so]

Thanks. That was fascinating. Always love the behind the scenes. 👍🏻🇦🇺🤗

[@piotrwillow6440]

Fun fact: the submarines miniatures were actually used from Wolfgang Petersen's movie The Boat (Das Boot) 1981, great war dramma btw.

[@a2pha]

For a long time i thought the "spirits" scene was done with multi-reflective mirrors and refractive glass. I see now it was a lot more complex than that.

[@Talsedoom]

Back then they didn't had CGI and made movies better than they do now. The Irony.

[@Perich29]

I love the invisible plank at 5:13

[@PandaJerk007]

I rewatched the movies last year, so great! there was a shot or two at the end of Temple of Doom I could tell was edited somehow, but as a whole the series looks amazing. (I figured all the stunts were done at full size, never would have guessed on the parts with models!)

[@spamfiend]

Practical effects are still a winner for me. CGI still looks really poor at some time

[@GravityBoy72]

Still better than most CGI.

[@commanderkeen3787]

Practical effects will always exceed CGI. We still have not reached a point where CGI on its own is believable. Films like Terminator 2 pulled it off so well because they combined old school effects with the CGI

[@nomdeplume7537]

Their problem-solving ingenuity is mind-blowing. To figure out, if you force water back on itself with air in miniature after adding a surfactant. It enables you to scale it, making it appear as if it's an actual deluge. Certain directors try to achieve as much as they can with practical effects, augmenting what they can't with CGI Which seems to be the best of both worlds. A fully CGI character against a CGI background washes the tone out, betraying its nature. A CGI character against a majority practical background sells the effect

[@mariashelly4812]

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was AWESOME! And shares fav Indiana Jones movie status with the original Raiders.

[@jonternent850]

Can't help but think if they re-made these films frame-for-frame today, but replaced the effects with CGI, they wouldn't look any better. That says something for the ingenious and creative guys behind those scenes!

[@gerryroberts662]

I like how they the the track with the camer, wonder if they used split screen to combine two image in one frame, that is pretty cool either way. love this old school tech.. Very superior when done right. Great EFfexx.

[@davidstuart4915]

good review of effects - amazing and tedious work required takes serious commitment and faith that end product will bring financial rewards

[@flyingfox2005]

Just a small correction, ILM had nothing to do with the boulder sequence... all on-set effects of that type were coordinated by the British crew under the supervision of Kit West.

[@Hucklefart_Dinklejartin]

Judging off the trailer for the fifth one it will be absolutely beautiful and it even includes a flash back scene with a very convincing deep fake young Harrison Ford

[@henrikhyrup3995]

Of course, ILM - Industrial Light & Magic - by far and away the best in the business. The creativity and the lengths they had to go to in order for the effects to work and hold up so many years later are mindblowing!

[@theresidentalien]

“The Lucas-less 4th film”. WHAT!? George Lucas was intimately involved with Crystal Skull. It was a story idea he himself forced through countless revisions. He was a producer on the film and on the set for a lot of filming.

[@haze1123]

The background music here is nightmarish and never ending.

[@charlesgreco6964]

Wonderful stuff. The magic of movie making.

[@Szlater]

The Fifth film is likely to be scrapped, it’s testing very, very poorly despite them trying 5 different endings, all of which involve Indy’s death and replacement by Phoebe Waller Bridge. People in the know are actually talking about it becoming a Batgirl-style tax writeoff for Disney.

[@dustanglx50]

Spielberg and Lucas always did their best work when they had the most limitations. With visual limitations, you have to have your actors sell it (Jaws). When they are presented with an unlimited (kinda) budget and unlimited computer visual effect, the movies seem to lose focus. Instead of being a story about characters in a setting, it becomes a setting with some characters.

[@mackychloe]

This is amazing. there's a ton of nineties movies that have effects that can't even match Indy effects that were created ten+ years earlier.

[@Bobywan75]

Practical effets age much better. The water surface tension trick is genius !

[@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester]

Absolutely fascinating, thank you

[@stephenrivera4382]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@brandond73]

Special effects back then in movies like Indiana Jones and Star Wars were sooo much cooler using models than the CGI of today!!

[@Mr_PNW]

There’s an outstanding docuseries on Disney+ called Light & Magic which shows the history of Lucas’ ILM sfx team going from practical to cgi.

[@ScoutMotto2011]

Love the song from 0:55 - 1:15. I looked for it on the links you posted, but could not identify which song it is. Will buy and support your work if it were included.

[@mikedroz2301]

There's a series on Disney+ all about ILM. I'm only a couple episodes in, but it's absolutely amazing!

[@rabsmiff]

Aw---you just took all the MAGIC out of these movies, Mac!!!

[@AttlasAllux]

The phrase, "necessity is the mother of invention" comes to mind. In the classic era of genre filmmaking, every Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Spielberg blockbuster film often came with a "making of..." mini-documentary/promo which played on TV. Many people got into SFX and filmmaking because of these 'making of...' docs. I remember being as captivated by them as I was the films themselves. Ironically, it was Spielberg and ILM who ushered in this new era of CGI-fests. But to be fair, Jurassic Park still had MOSTLY practical effects including life-sized dinosaurs courtesy of the legendary Stan Winston (T1, T2, Alien, The Thing, more). I was never too keen on CGI Gollum. Nor Fern Gully Dances with Wolves in Space (Avatar). But as the tech improved, CGI gave studios a cheaper, less messy alternative to practical effects which involved an army of animators in cubicles... which "The White Slavers at Disney" can't help but exploit for their failing Marvel and Star Wars franchises. It is the soulless, agenda-driven corporate exploitation sabotaging the quality of (and eliminating the magic from) the finished product. Spielberg may have invented the summer blockbuster (and became insanely wealthy as a result), but he and Lucas poured their heart and soul into their work. Their passion was contagious, right down to the people painting the crinkled aluminum foil. Some directors like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino are still old school (we can look forward to practical H-bomb effects in Oppenheimer). But they, too, are a dying breed. Thanks for sharing this bit of cinema history and a glimpse into old-school movie-making magic.

[@nameprivate2194]

@5:48: Haha in those days (c. 1981), that would've been blue-screened. Blue-screening would change in the '90s to the green-screening seen in the video and in use currently in movies, etc.

[@josephbingham1255]

6;57 Referencing the dissolving face. I think they had some fun and made at one point the dissolving face look like Christopher LLoyd.

[@PepperWilliamsMusicBlend]

Good video and great soundtrack

[@rikirex2162]

amaizing how much real work goes into cinematic illusion.

[@harmonised8353]

Great making of footage. (Plus the fifth film in the series was just superb. No real or serious complaints whatsoever!)

[@BluMacaw]

And that's why older movies look fake, but somehow still look better than anything new.

[@fill7t1]

Wow wow wow! The amount of mintures used, you'd never guess watching the film, other than the melting heads. These people are amazing. These films still stand the test of time!

[@bendynamic2150]

Honestly, I feel like to most fans there are only three Indiana Jones movies.

[@houdannycomedymagic8642]

Mr. Spielberg must have had a blast doing these lower-tech effects! Harkened back to his beginnings.

[@paulxavier6532]

What a cool video. The good old days where creativity and innovation was king.

[@michaeltaylor8835]

Astounding the work that gpes in fx

[@darrylkravitz7188]

Thank you for this knowledge.

[@samufigueroa555]

Had no idea freaking great video freaking great job making these movies back in the day I wish I truly do wish some message was still used today wow wow wow wow

[@timsimpson9367]

Raiders 1 and 3. loved them. Love to see the new one but the first was the best and always will be an utter classic. Great movie.

[@schallrd1]

Movie magic at its finest done by the master innovators.

[@gedruk]

This is a really interesting video thank you

[@jmartin1885]

There are a couple of books you should get, if you are a fan of ILM! 'Industrial Light and Magic, The Art of Special Effects' and 'Industrial Light and Magic, Into the Digital Realm'! The books are huge 'Coffee Table' editions, Cloth-bound and printed on very expensive paper, also including huge fold-out paintings! The first one is packed with valuable information on how the did their (now) old-school-tricks! The second book, details ILM's development of CGI effects... These people were pioneers, and have always been at the forefront of breakthrough film techniques! Out of all the special effects I learned about, Matte Paintings (to me) are wonderful movie magic! They had a tangible, man-made intergration (Brush-to-glass, then glass to screen), that was so magical, it passed-by our eyes undetected!

[@mego73]

Are you sure they filmed the boulder scene a number of times. I had always heard it was covered by multiple cameras and he did it once or twice. The multiple cameras would supply many angles to use and also to extend the stunt's length further than it really was.

[@i_love_rescue_animals]

Very cool. Loved seeing how they did some of the effects in a practical way and without CGI (not even being a "thing" back then). I LOVED the first Indiana Jones movie. I think the other 2 weren't quite as good, IMO. I went to school for Industrial Design (a million years ago). I never used my degree and when I look at these kind of behind the scenes pieces, I wish I had tried to get into model making and set building for movies. Love Harrison Ford too - legend.

[@dominic.h.3363]

Before clicking on this video: simple, everything was real, that's why I didn't notice. After watching the video: called it.

[@thebagfather4633]

great job have a great new year

[@michaelstewart5754]

Just incredible

[@danielwordsworth1843]

But, as we all know, the boulder chasing Indy was just yo momma with paint

[@johnbattista9519]

Lame

[@TheUnderscore_]

@@johnbattista9519 Yo it's Jon Batiste