Mike Jittlov worked in special effects back before computers took over. His legendary film short, The Wizard Of Speed And Time, was actually a self-created remake of an earlier short. [more inside]
posted by hippybear on Jun 23, 2009 - 27 comments

The Top 50 Movie Special Effects Shots.
posted by theroadahead on Jan 6, 2009 - 68 comments

Brad Pitt is no spring chicken, but it still took some work to put an 85-year-old version of his face on a child's body in his newest movie. The first step: a new markerless, wireless, uncanny-valley-clearing motion capture process, termed "volumetric cinematography" by the effects studio. [more inside]
posted by peachfuzz on Jan 1, 2009 - 49 comments

Mac Vs. PC. Inspired by Transformers, this short visual effects piece shows us what would happen if our home computers could turn into robots and started beating each other up.
posted by Effigy2000 on Dec 22, 2008 - 48 comments

Radiohead's promo for their single House of Cards was "shot" using light and laser-based scanning systems rather than cameras, with data being generated in real-time. Includes video and making of, and you can even play around with a 3D visualization of Thom Yorke's head.
posted by hnnrs on Jul 14, 2008 - 109 comments

Legendary special effects artist Stan Winston has passed away from cancer at the age of 62. From Mr. Roboto to the Terminator to Iron Man, he leaves an almost unparalleled body of work.
posted by dersins on Jun 16, 2008 - 62 comments

Blake's Back! British science fiction classic Blakes 7 is getting the Battlestar Galactica treatment. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Apr 25, 2008 - 45 comments

drawnline: The commercial and personal work of Andrew Bell.
posted by gwint on Oct 14, 2007 - 4 comments

Sneaky Pete Kleinow, [Wikipedia | Allmusic] passed away Saturday, January 6 at the age of 72. In addition to being an incredible pedal steel guitar player, most notably with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, he was also an accomplished visual effects artist who worked on films such as The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator I & II, and Army of Darkness.
posted by keswick on Jan 8, 2007 - 17 comments

From extra sheep and mountains in Brokeback Mountain, to flipping around shops and removing a leg in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Buzz Image provides an extensive portfolio of their CG and FX work. And plenty of beavers.
posted by divabat on Dec 20, 2006 - 23 comments

Les Kiriki Acrobates Japonais [YouTube] by Segundo de Chomon.
posted by tellurian on Mar 19, 2006 - 23 comments

CGchannel.com has a brief but fairly informative feature on the two CG effect "set pieces" in the recent movie S.W.A.T. I thought the movie was a quite respectable summer spectacle - the helicopter crash in particular was quite well-done - and it's usually fun and instructive to see how these things are done.
posted by GriffX on Sep 12, 2003 - 3 comments

Seeing The Matrix yesterday (and just before it, the preview for the third Terminator movie) reminded me of this old David Foster Wallace essay"F/X Porn", in which he points out how Hollywood blockbusters have become the equivalent of your average "2 for $10.99!!" XXX rentals. [Google cached version here.]
posted by slipperywhenwet on Jun 13, 2003 - 36 comments

Jarrett's Blood Splatter Photoshop Tutorial. Learn to create horrific violence in this step-by-step guide from a Fark Photoshopper. "After you're done with the blood splatters, you might want to add shreds of clothing or body parts at your discretion." And they say reading Fark won't teach you anything.
posted by vraxoin on May 1, 2003 - 18 comments

Will we ever know what is real anymore? The making of the Matrix sequels. After these movies, will we ever be able to tell what is real or not on the small and large screen?
posted by npost on Apr 8, 2003 - 72 comments

Michael Rivero, formerly an digital effects worker for Final Fantasy and Coneheads has walked onto the scene and stood out when it comes to the conspiracy genre, with his site WhatReallyHappened.com. He has been claiming that 9/11 was the work of the Israelis and the US government to cause a war for Oil in the Middle East, while also making other comments on the War on Terror.

While he seems to boast that his site's Alexa rating is higher than Newsweek's as affirmation that he is popular, no matter how flawed Alexa may be.

Is this what really happened? or merely the posted viewpoints collected by a person who distrusts the Government?
posted by RobbieFal on Aug 29, 2002 - 36 comments

Maunday, Toosday, Thursday, Saturday... The special effects of the Godfather. How did they rig Santino's tollbooth demise? How did Moe Greene get shot through the lens of his glasses? Great reading for any movie or special-effects geek.
posted by GriffX on May 22, 2002 - 3 comments

More - movie short One of the most amusing Javascript special effects I've seen in a long time. J/k This short movie done in flash rockzor's.
posted by Niahmas on Nov 23, 2001 - 15 comments

Low or no budget horror films. They're awful, and oh so enticing (prolly 'cause they can be awful, amusing, and sometimes really good). How do you do special effects on no budget? Boggles the mind. As Halloween as it gets, the independant film makers and horror officiandos have their own portal. Crawl down these haunted corridors at your own risk.
posted by Wulfgar! on Oct 31, 2001 - 7 comments

360-degree video appears to be just like QuickTime VR, only it moves. There's a trippy demo over at Atom Films that uses the technology to put you in an old-folks home. But the downside to 360-video? Lower framerates, and the need for a special camera.
posted by endquote on May 21, 2000 - 1 comment