Jurassic World Velociraptors
If you were wondering how the filmmakers were able to make the velociraptors so lifelike, it's because they used CGI. Well, that and they also had some people posing so they knew how to animate them.
It must have been really fun getting to run around pretending to be dinosaurs and shouting at people. We think this is probably the best way to get a movie done and if possible should be done at any time.
Jurassic Park T-Rex
If you thought the velociraptors from "Jurassic World" were cool, just wait until you see this one. This is an oldie from the set of the original "Jurassic Park" and is debatably cooler than some CGI effects.
For the T-Rex in the movie, they actually built a life-size animatronic. Sometimes the lengths that movie studios go to capture the true magic of a movie really impress us.
Pod Racer Scene In Phantom Menace
The pod race scene in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" was a real work of art. And we mean that literally. It wasn't a set, but rather a model that came to life on the big screen with the help of camera angles and editing.
To make the set piece work, they cut hundreds of thousands of Q-Tips, placed them in a mesh, and used fans to help them move and look more real. They also placed character models around to help enhance the illusion.
Rocket Raccoon From Guardians Of The Galaxy
Rocket Raccoon is real, end of story. At least, that's what we wish we could say. Obviously, Rocket Raccoon isn't real and they needed to use a stand-in in order to help coordinate scenes.
That stand-in is none other than Sean Gunn who plays Kraglin in the same film. He's technically more than just a stand-in, which is why Bradley Cooper, Rocket Raccoons voice, doesn't do the motion capture. Just look at how happy he is to play both characters!
Lieutenant Dan's Legs in Forrest Gump
If you were ever wondering how filmmakers are able to remove the limbs of people who are supposed to be amputees then look no further than Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump.
Apparently, all you need are some blue tights. This is the same technology as green screens only they decided to use blue instead of green. You can probably do this effect in your own home as well.
It Sewer System
We were always wondering about this sewer system. It somehow always seemed too intricate to make sense as an actual sewer system somewhere in the states, at least compared to the others shown on TV and movies.
Well, it seems we were right, as the whole sewer system was crafted for the movie. it's amazing how well they are able to craft such realistic sets. From the outside, it just seems like a big, wooden playground.
Star Wars Ships
The pod-racing stadium is not the only set-piece in the "Star Wars" franchise. In fact, there are many, many more. All of the movies, especially the early ones, have tons of technical effects, not special effects.
Here you can see some of the artists working on one of the spacecrafts for the movie. It is actually a pretty big model, but compared to how it looks on-screen it's actually pretty small.
E.T.'s Perspective
There's a scene in "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" Where Elliott brings E.T. with them through the streets during Halloween, but they had to disguise him so that people wouldn't think twice about what he is.
Throughout the scene, they show his perspective through the eyehole cutouts in the sheet they placed over him. They did this by simply attaching a similar sheet to the camera.
The Godfather Jawline
Marlon Brando needed to have a messed up jaw for part of the movie "The Godfather". Many people think he put cotton balls in his mouth but that wouldn't exactly allow him to speak properly nor would having cotton in his mouth look very normal.
Although it would be pretty simple to do that, it makes a lot more sense to just make a prosthetic for this sort of thing. And that's exactly what they did.
Back To The Future Part II Jacket
The "Back to the Future" Trilogy is full of practical effects. For a movie that's set in the future, they sure don't make use of any futuristic technology for the movie. It was made in the 80s, after all.
For the auto-adjusting and auto-drying jacket, they had to use a crew of people to make the effect work. You can see them here working meticulously on the effect. It couldn't have been very easy.
Train Scene In Back To The Future Part III
Special effects can sometimes be super expensive and look super cheesy. Sometimes it's better to just use practical effects and touch them up in post-production. That's exactly what they did for this movie as well.
Instead of being chased by a real train (which would be extremely dangerous and not very efficient) they decided to use some models with a torch attached to the train.
Pulp Fiction Briefcase
We never get to see what's inside the briefcase in "Pulp Fiction", but if you were wondering what's in there then you still have a chance! What's inside might not surprise you, but it's fun all the same.
Inside the briefcase are a lightbulb and a mechanism to turn it on when opened. While obvious when you think about it, it's interesting to know that it wasn't any sort of special effects that made it work but rather a blinding light that the actors had to stare at.
The Hunt For Red October Submarine
Filmmakers and producers do a lot to make sure their movies look as real as possible and to do that they make all manner of special equipment. Take the submarine from "The Hunt for Red October" as an example.
To make the submarine seem like a real submarine without, well... getting a real submarine, they decided to make a large animatronic set. By making an "on-land" submarine, they were able to recreate what it would have been like in the world of the film.
The Dog In The Call Of The Wild
Similar to the velociraptors in "Jurassic World", the dog in "The Call of the Wild" needed to be played by an actor in order to properly choreograph the movements of this CGI doggo.
The dog who stars in this movie was played by motion artist Terry Notary. In this image you can see how he placed the groundworks for the CGI overlay that would eventually become known as Buck.
BB-8 From Star Wars
The older "Star Wars" films use tons of practical effects for their movies to the point where you would have a hard time guessing what is CGI. Another practical effect was the bot BB-8.
In order to move this little guy around, they had someone in a green screen suit with a green screen-covered tool to push him around. This created the illusion that he was really moving without making him look like another computer-generated image.
Baby Driver Real Driver
When you're filming a scene in which you are actually having people drive a car instead of using a green screen or special effects, it can be pretty dangerous to act while trying to keep your eyes on the road.
That's why they built this contraption for the car in "Baby Driver". While the actors were busy doing what they were doing in the car, they had someone else driving the car from the topside.
Thanos In Infinity War
Have you ever wondered how they brought the hulkingly large Thanos to life? Well, look no further as this behind-the-scenes photograph explains it all!
As well as motion capture, they added a large stick and a picture of Thanos to keep the height proportions correct. This not only helped filmmakers understand how to build Thanos in post-production but also helped the actors know where to look when speaking with him.
Shutter Island's Island
It seems as though anytime we see a big fictional location in a movie that it's not actually a product of CGI. As a matter of fact, that seems to be true for a number of films, including "Shutter Island".
This picture goes to show just how well a set piece can be made into a real-life location. The details put into the asylum on Shutter Island really makes it look like something that could exist in real life.
The Shining Set
That's not the only fictional location in film that turned out to be a giant miniature set-piece. In fact, there are many sets that you might be surprised to find out are really miniatures.
This one certainly surprised us. We really thought that the hedge maze and the property in all its glory were genuine, state-of-the-art authentic real estate. Boy, were we wrong.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day Set
And that's not the last one we have for you, either. It turns out that a lot of the classics from back in the day are set-pieces and you'd never even realize it. Like in "Terminator 2: Judgement Day".
Here you can see the artists working on the set and arranging all the cars. Although the more we think about it the more we understand that they would have had to use a set, we didn't expect it to really be a miniature.
Tiger In Life Of Pi
We spoke before about how green screen technology can be blue as well when we spoke about Lieutenant Dan. It can pretty much be any color you want, but is typically blue or green, hence the name.
In "Life of Pi" we get another example of blue being used. Instead of a real-life tiger (which obviously wouldn't work), they used a blue stuffed toy as a replacement and stand-in for what would become the tiger.
More Avengers Endgame
In this behind-the-scenes photo, we get a glimpse into the scene where Bruce Banner and Rocket Raccoon try to recruit Thor into the time heist. You can see Thor on the right and a stand-in for Taika Waititi's character Korg.
You can see here exactly how they made the visuals work. Whereas Korg uses motion capture technology, good ol' Thor's beer belly is completely prosthetic. And what a job they did, abs and all.
Other Avengers Cast Members
If you're wondering about everyone else, there are many people who don't actually wear their suits, but rather work with full-body motion capture suits.
As well as Korg and Thor, other members who wear motion capture suits include Spider-Man, War Machine, and Hulk. We guess the moves they do these days have gotten too complicated for any old costume.
The Invisible Man - Invisible Man
In the movie "The Invisible Man" a man becomes invisible in order to stalk and harass his ex-girlfriend after faking his death. Terrible, right? Well, even so, they needed to figure out a way to make the invisible man work.
It's actually a surprisingly simple effect. After dinning a full-body green screen suit, they just had to edit him out in post-production. Many YouTubers and Twitch streamers use this same technology to edit out the backgrounds of their recording studios.
Titanic Atlantic Ocean
Everyone knows that The Titanic sinks into the ocean by the end of the movie. After all, the movie was based on true events. But how exactly did they manage to film everyone all the way out in the ocean?
When you look at this photo, the answers become clear. They built a very large pool for everyone to drown in (sorry if that sounds morbid). This way they can actually control the temperature of the water and have longer takes and retakes in the water without worry of injury.
Blade Runner 2049 Background
You don't always have to use a green screen for the entirety of a landscape to change it. You can see in this photo from the 2017 film "Blade Runner 2049" that they really just needed a green screen for the character.
This is because everything in the background is static, and because nothing changes they can just put in an overlay. For the character moving, however, it's harder to coordinate where that overlay is displayed, so by putting in a panel where he walks they can calibrate it properly.
Knives Out Reflections
Because "Knives Out" is done mostly on a set, they needed some way to capture the film without any of the studio being shown. This is a bit harder when certain characters wear glasses.
Because of the reflections in her glasses, they needed to reflect light through things that would be naturally found in the house, such as these windows. That's why they have them floating and able to be caught in her glasses' reflections.
Men In Black Chucky
In a scene from "Men In Black", they discover that there is a tiny alien inside of a man's head controlling his actions. The man is actually a robot being piloted by this alien, who is named Chucky.
This alien would prove to be too small to articulate everything from movements to lip-syncing with the small model they had, so they built a large model for these purposes. With the right angles and editing, it looks like he's still inside the man's head!
Mulan (2020) Horses
In the live-action film "Mulan", there was no way to actually capture Mulan out in the raging snow storm with a horse and get all of that perfectly shot and filmed. So, they came up with a pretty brilliant idea.
Instead of using a real horse, they used one of those horseback riding machines, covered it in a green blanket, and put it in front of a green screen and giant fans. Then with a bit of editing, they had exactly what they needed.
I Am Legend Infected Dogs
In "I Am Legend" a scientist is searching for a cure for a rampant virus (a bit too real these days). The virus has turned all manner of things into zombie-like creatures, including dogs.
These dogs needed to seem strong and alive and in order to make them seem capable of taking down Will Smith's character, they had someone dress up in one of those fancy green screen suits we've seen and struggle against Smith themself with a model of the dog's head.
Space Jam 'Toons
Basically, everything animated in this movie needed a green screen in order to bring the animations to life. But that's not the only thing they needed, as they had to have some way for Michael Jordan to act without seeming like he's all alone.
In order to do that, they also had someone be a stand-in for anyone that he would be speaking to. They, too, donned a green screen suit so that they could be edited out and Jordan spoke to them as if they were the character.
The Matrix Slow-Mo Gun Fight
The gunfight in "The Matrix" where Keanu Reeves did a whole bunch of cartwheels while dodging bullets was a really expensive one to make and really interesting as well. Just look at this huge setup.
They had the camera on a dolly and Reeves on wires so everything was pretty much on a track, but a lot of the damage was real and they needed Carrie-Anne Moss to get it all right on the first try because to set it up again would have also been expensive.
Corpse Bride Set
For movies that are stop motion, you have to take picture after picture only moving things in small increments in order to get a fluid film. The people who do this have to be very meticulous or the whole scene will fall apart.
Here you can see them working on the set. Everything is really small in order to make it easier to work with. Jobs like this can be very stressful because one wrong move can cost the whole scene.
Star Wars Crawling Intro
You would think that the crawling intro at the beginning of "Star Wars" films would be easier to do on a computer. While that may be true, they really used to stick to practical effects to make their movies.
Here you can see that they used a giant slab with all the words already written on it in order to make the intro. They would roll the slab under the camera at a steady pace to make what you see during the film.
Star Wars: R2-D2
And what about R2-D2? That must just be someone controlling the robot remotely and dubbing over the voice in the editing sequence, right? Well, that's actually not entirely correct.
Here you can see that there really is someone inside the R2-D2 suit at all times. In this picture, it's his lunch break, so you actually get to see the man inside the machine.
Lord Of The Rings Ring
Obviously, the ring is ring-sized in "The Lord of the Rings" franchise. But there are so many takes where the ring is huge and extremely detailed. This is no more than a regular close-up, right?
You would think so, but in reality they actually made a larger model in order to really get the best close-ups possible. The model is scaled up proportionately and looks like the ring was fit for a giant.
Door Handle Effect In The Matrix
While "The Matrix" has a ton of special effects in it to bring it to life, there is one instance that really stands out in one of the scenes. It's a moment where Neo is reaching for a doorknob and you see his reflection as well as Morpheus' in it.
It's really subtle and very quick, so you probably weren't able to tell how this scene works. If you look closely, though, you'll see that they just dressed up a camera in the same suit and tie that Morpheus was wearing to match the reflection.
Alien 3 Xenomorph
While it may not have been the same every time, the xenomorphs in the "Alien" franchise are some of the scariest effects in classic horror movies. In "Alien3", they had an actor, Bolaji Badejo, playing the part.
Here you can see him taking a break from playing the part as the costume was made from latex and was pretty hard for him to breathe in. Even still, this is not something we want to see taking a break anywhere near us.
Labyrinth Helping Hands Scene
When Sarah falls into this vertical corridor in "Labyrinth" she is greeted by hundreds of hands that come together to form faces. She uses these hands to climb back to the top, but how exactly was this done?
Apparently, she really climbed it like it was a cliff face. These hands were all made of latex that was painted over and were all modeled after Jane Gootnik's hands. Seems really helpful.
2001 A Space Odyssey Floating Pen
The classic space movie "2001 A Space Odyssey" was at the time best in class when it came to showing off what a journey through space would be like. They were even able to recreate the effects of low-gravity environments.
The most iconic example of this was the scene with the floating pen. In order to make this effect work, they glued it to a large piece of glass that they roatated to give the impression that the pen was actually floating.
The Grand Budapest Hotel Train Ride
There are many ways to film a train ride for a movie. The first and most obvious would be to film it on a train. Other options include using a green screen to simulate a real train ride in the studio.
Well, Wes Anderson opted for a more technical effect than either of those. They created a train car replica with minimal supplies, attache it to a dolly, and then literally simulated a train ride while filming the scene.
James Bond Goldfinger Laser Scene
You would think that this famous scene from "Goldfinger" would be done with some sort of special effects. Well, it seems like they opted for something a little more realistic.
You have to remember that this movie is from 1964, so it was probably easier to do it this way. As the laser slowly made its way to Sean Connery, he looked pretty anxious. This is because he was genuinely scared as they decided to have someone use an acetylene torch to actually cut through the metal.
The Muppet Movie 1979
This one might be fairly obvious, but the muppets also needed to be puppeteered for their movie as well as the television series. But we bet you have no idea what that looks like thanks to all the fancy camera angles.
Well, this picture is here to show you exactly that. While the Muppets were busy doing there thing up top, they were being controlled from below by the puppeteers who were hiding in small ditches.
Honey I Shrunk The Kids Models
If you were impressed by any of the large-scale models and animatronics so far, be prepared to be wowed yet again by another classic film from back in the day.
In "Honey I Shrunk the Kids", they needed to make massive scaled-up models of everyday things in order to make the illusion real. Here you get to see what it looked like to make a giant honey bee.
Star Wars Death Star
If you thought the ships were the only giant structures that were actually brought to life by the use of models, think again. It's much much easier to make large structures by building a smaller one than to create a lot of CGI for it.
The Death Star is also a big structure that's actually a physical model. By using models like these, filmmakers can get all the right angles from something they want to create without having to envision them through the use of computer imagery.
Raise The Titanic Scale Model
In "Raising the Titanic" a team of experts is looking to raise the ship from the bottom of the ocean because they are looking for a certain material that can only be found within the ship.
Here you can see a diver towing the 55-foot scale model ship into place. They needed to use a replica, but unlike the ones in the "Star Wars" franchise, for example, they used a somewhat large scale model that needed to be pulled into position.
Independence Day Explosions
While there certainly was a lot of CGI in this movie there were also a lot of practical effects used. It was about eighty percent models and the other twenty percent was special effects.
Here you can see a combination of models and real fire used which will have CGI added to it in editing as well. It must be really exciting to watch these things take places and then come to life on screen.
True Lies Helicopter
In "True Lies" there was a scene where one of the actresses needed to hang from a helicopter. But that wasn't just any old effect, this was the real deal.
The US government actually supplied three Marine Harrier helicopters as well as the pilots for the film, but it wasn't without payment. They required a fee of $100,736 for the rentals and work.
Jaws Shark
The jaws shark wasn't any old shark, that much is obvious. It was too vicious and especially too big to actually be a real great white shark. And it's also easier to blow up a fake shark with a fire extinguisher than a real one.
So they made Jaws into an animatronic. Using wood and metal parts and an engine to operate some movement, they were able to create one of the scariest monsters from the late 20th century.
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom Plane Crash
"Indiana Jones" is packed with crazy stunts and action-packed adventures. But they can't possibly recreate everything, can they? Well, when it comes to crashing a plane, they most certainly cannot.
The amount of money and danger that would be is too much for any budget to cover. So instead they used an electronic system to control a model plane and crash it down onto a set piece. They had the cameraman on a dolly as well to capture the perfect angles.