Timeline of Special Effects Before the 21st Century

By derpynathan

  • Eadward Muybridge's "The Horse in Motion"

    Eadward Muybridge's "The Horse in Motion"
    Eadward Muybridge captured a horse running in a "series" of pictures.

  • "La Voyage Dans Le Lune" (Trip to the moon)

    "La Voyage Dans Le Lune" (Trip to the moon)
    The first or one of the first examples of miniature models.

  • "Steamboat Willie"

    "Steamboat Willie"
    First cartoon with synchronized sound.

  • "The Wizard of Oz"

    "The Wizard of Oz"
    This movie used paintings for landscapes.

  • "Jason and the Argonauts"

    "Jason and the Argonauts"
    This movie stands out because it used a stop motion battle sequence among Jason and some skeletons. This sequence took four months to shoot

  • "Mary Poppins"

    "Mary Poppins"
    Was the first winner of the Special Visual Effects award. It had live action shots combined with animations.

  • "2001: A Space Odyssey"

    "2001: A Space Odyssey"
    This film was directed by Stanley Kubrick and had the most realistic scenes that looked like they were actually shot in space. A lot of Miniature models were used.

  • "The Exorcist"

    "The Exorcist"
    A horror film that had a bunch of gross special effects. Included was a 360 head rotation of a possessed girl.

  • "Star Wars: A New Hope

    "Star Wars: A New Hope
    This was directed by George Lucas and was the first time CGI was used a lot. This was made possible by the company Industrial Light and Magic(ILM). A lot of models were also used.

  • "Alien"

    "Alien"
    This film was directed by Ridley Scott and used both CGI and practical effects. CGI was used for the spaceship Nostromo. Meanwhile, the different types aliens were made with models.

  • "An American Werewolf in London"

    "An American Werewolf in London"
    The transformation of a human turning into a werewolf in this movie was done entirely using practical effects.

  • "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial"

    "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial"
    This film was directed by Steven Spielberg and is famous for the kid and E.T. flying next to the moon. This was actually done using Miniature models.

  • "Aliens"

    "Aliens"
    This film was directed by James Cameron and was a sequel to "Alien". Full sized models and shrunk down miniatures of the huge Alien Queen were used in different shots.

  • "Terminator 2: Judgement Day"

    "Terminator 2: Judgement Day"
    This film used a special morphing technique for the T-1000.

  • "Jurassic Park"

    "Jurassic Park"
    This film was directed by Steven Spielberg and "mixed" CGI and animatronics together to make the dinosaurs seen in this movie.

  • "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

    "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
    This film was directed by Tim Burton and was fully made using stop motion and puppets.

  • "Jumanji"

    "Jumanji"
    ILM used animatronics and CGI to create the animals in this movie.

  • "Toy Story"

    "Toy Story"
    This movie was the first movie to be fully made out of CGI.

  • "Titanic"

    "Titanic"
    This film was directed by James Cameron and a lot of CGI was used for the crowds and water in this movie, but for the sequence where the Titanic sinks after being split in half, the film also used miniature models.

  • "The Matrix"

    "The Matrix"
    A lot of CGI was used for this movie including the "bullet dodging" scene.