Here's the problem.
For almost 100 years filmmakers struggled to find new and better ways to create special effects. The public was dimly aware of the immense difficulties filmmakers had to overcome to bring startling images to the screen. But the very fact that the public didn't really know how these eye-popping images were created actually increased their admiration for the people who created them.
Special effects wizards such as Ray Harryhausen and many others were like skilled stage magicians. We, the audience, knew the magic wasn't real -- but we loved to be fooled by the magician's clever tricks. In fact, we didn't really want to know how the tricks were done -- because that would spoil the magic.
Ah, but those days are gone now. And nothing can bring them back.
Today, special effects are done by computer . . . and everybody knows it. There are no "new ways' to create special effects. And the great unwashed public assumes that FX creators just tap a few keys on their keyboards and whistle up images of anything they can imagine.
That's why bored audiences now sit through mega-budget movies and yawn with boredom while spectacular special effects race past them at breakneck speeds. We know all the magicians' tricks. So naturally nobody is impressed by them.
Raise your hand if you think that's sad.
Okay, put your hands down, grab your empty glasses, and allow me to freshen your drinks so we can offer a toast to the by-gone days of truly magical special effects.
Bud the bartender at a friendly spaceport bar called . . . All Sci-Fi
For almost 100 years filmmakers struggled to find new and better ways to create special effects. The public was dimly aware of the immense difficulties filmmakers had to overcome to bring startling images to the screen. But the very fact that the public didn't really know how these eye-popping images were created actually increased their admiration for the people who created them.
Special effects wizards such as Ray Harryhausen and many others were like skilled stage magicians. We, the audience, knew the magic wasn't real -- but we loved to be fooled by the magician's clever tricks. In fact, we didn't really want to know how the tricks were done -- because that would spoil the magic.
Ah, but those days are gone now. And nothing can bring them back.
Today, special effects are done by computer . . . and everybody knows it. There are no "new ways' to create special effects. And the great unwashed public assumes that FX creators just tap a few keys on their keyboards and whistle up images of anything they can imagine.
That's why bored audiences now sit through mega-budget movies and yawn with boredom while spectacular special effects race past them at breakneck speeds. We know all the magicians' tricks. So naturally nobody is impressed by them.
Raise your hand if you think that's sad.
Okay, put your hands down, grab your empty glasses, and allow me to freshen your drinks so we can offer a toast to the by-gone days of truly magical special effects.
Bud the bartender at a friendly spaceport bar called . . . All Sci-Fi
