Most fans knew that there’d be important connections between this year’s Blade Runner movie and the one that came out 35 years ago. But one of those links was a major shock and took a lot of work to pull off.
Five months ago, the Russian/Ukrainian musical group 5’Nizza released a music video for their track, Samoliot, featuring a series of mishaps that were seemingly frozen in time. But while the action was paused, the artists themselves continued to sing as the camera moved around them. It was a clever take on the…
Not all of Game of Thrones season seven’s secrets and surprises have been revealed. Now that the latest season has finally aired, the visual effects studios responsible for bringing the fantasy world to life have started releasing their behind-the-scenes reels of the show’s real magic: its movie-caliber special…
David Fincher got his start working on special effects for Return of the Jedi. In some rare footage from Alien 3, we get to see and hear how he works with the FX team to bring the destroyed Bishop android to life. Usually, footage like this would be considered an effects test, but when David Fincher’s doing it, it’s a…
Adam Savage and the Tested crew recently had the opportunity to visit the sets of Alien: Covenant, and in their latest video they not only get some hands-on time with many of the weapons used in the upcoming prequel, they also learned the secrets of how alien-infected actors are able to vomit so much blood.
The best thing about the live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell is the film’s visual aesthetic. It presents a near-future that’s hyper-saturated with holograms, cybernetic body modification, and slick user interfaces. Some of the creators involved are showing how all that came to be.
A blockbuster like Marvel’s Doctor Strange relies on countless visual effects studios to help bring the film’s imaginative world to life. We’ve already seen how Industrial Light & Magic warped New York into a giant knot, but now we’re getting a peek at how Framestore created Doctor Strange’s spells, portals, and that…
A visually-rich film like Ghost in the Shell that’s filled with futuristic sets and cyborg characters could have easily relied on green screens and digital effects to bring its entire world to life. But as Adam Savage discovered at a recent visit to Weta Workshop, the film version of the iconic manga still turned to…
In an effort to capture never-before-seen footage of animals in their natural habitats, the BBC’s Spy in the Wild series created robotic versions of meerkats, monkeys, and other creatures designed to blend in with their real-life counterparts. The robots are remarkably lifelike, until you remove all of their fur and…
The Oscars are a little over a week away, which means we’re finally getting a bunch of peeks at the visual effects behind 2016’s biggest blockbusters, including Doctor Strange. Here’s how Industrial Light & Magic twisted New York City into a giant mind-melting knot that would have impressed M.C. Escher.
It’s not a surprise that Batman v Superman had a lot of CGI. But an almost 12-minute effects reel reveals how many things were added, removed, and composited. For example, did you know Superman’s cape wasn’t real?
Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events has a number of visual effects in it, since it’s a show with a number of strange and unreal settings, action, and fantastical creatures and devices. But the thing that will haunt you is the baby.
When you can’t rely on a computer to improve (or fake) a movie scene, you gotta improvise. And back in the days of silent films, filmmakers were really, really good at coming up with creative ways to cook up special effects. It was a master class of using specific camera angles, splicing together shots, using glass…
Obviously, those huge spaceships in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival weren’t real. Spaceships aren’t real. But a new VFX video reveals lots of other fake elements in the movie, and you’ll be surprised. Most of them are incredibly subtle and simple. Just like the movie itself.
Actual, physical special effects are always welcome and seeing the Demogorgon’s head as an actual animatronic is great. But there’s something about this jerky test footage—maybe it’s that the head isn’t attached to anything—that makes it almost creepier than in the show.
Even if there is too much CGI in movies these days (and there is), let’s be thankful that the CGI we’re bombarded with looks good. Or, at least, it looks so much better than the utter crap computers spat out back in the ‘90s. God, that era of CGI was awful. Diane Bullock edited together this clip of CGI footage to…
Stranger Things costumes are sure to be everywhere this Halloween, so you’ll need to distinguish your ensemble by striving for complete authenticity. The ultimate Dead Barb will take some work, but YouTuber Freakmo—who specializes in effects make-up—will show you how in her cheerfully informative tutorial... slugs and…
Thirty seconds into watching this video, my face already hurt from smiling too much.
The only thing more impressive than invisible visual effects of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is seeing the work that went into them. Industrial Light & Magic did Oscar-nominated effects work gets stripped totally naked in this brand new VFX breakdown.
These days all you need to recreate Hollywood-caliber visual effects is a fast PC and some expensive 3D software. But if you want to try your hand at recreating old-school special effects, find yourself a 3D printer, make a miniature version of Ghostbusters’ Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and go to town with a blowtorch.
