From the first time Georges Melies shot the moon’s eye out with some over-powered artillery, the visual effects of movies have helped filmmakers like Geroge Lucas take us to new worlds, helped Stanley Kubrick visualize our most far-reaching dreams, and helped filmmakers like James Cameron, and John Carpenter bring our greatest fears and impossible creatures to life.
For over a century, special effects have helped Hollywood realize impossible visions. Now, computers, pixels, and CGI have become the dominant force in vfx, but in this movie list, we’re talking about the old-school art of practical effects. This is for sure going to be a long one. So get ready for a fascinating VFX breakdown or two or ten, because we’re going to take a deep dive into the behind the scenes magic of some of your favorite action movies, sci fi movies, and horror movies with CineFix’s Top 10 Practical Effects of All Time.
The Picks:
10 – Body Horror – An American Werewolf in London (1981) – dir. John Landis
9 – Animatronics – Jurassic Park (1993) – dir. Stephen Spielberg
8 – Forced Perspective – Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) – dir. Peter Jackson
7 – Rotating Sets – Inception (2010) – dir. Christopher Nolan
6 – Motion Control – Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) – dir. George Lucas
5 – Creatures – The Thing (1982) – John Carpenter
4 – Stop Motion Animation – Jason and the Argonauts (1963) – dir. Don Chaffey
3 – Everything and the Kitchen Sink – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – dir. James Cameron
2 – Ship Design – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – dir. Stanley Kubrick
1 – The Birth of Practical Effects – A Trip to the Moon (1902) – dir. Georges Méliès
Movie List Credits:
Written and Produced by Michael Calabro
Voiced by Clint Gage
Edited by Randi Redmon
Animation and Graphics by Casey Redmon
Eight years ago, we published our first version of Top 10 Practical Movie Effects of All Time. We decided it was time to revisit that list, and we hope you enjoy it.
For more tangentially related CineFix – IGN Movies and TV, be sure to subscribe AND check these out!
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https://youtu.be/fe6x1h8dZlY
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https://youtu.be/VSiERa2Cp_E
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This video was surprisingly informative. The "behind the scenes" scenes were a joy to watch.🤜🤛
52 minutes of Cinefix???? Here we go….
It's nice to see Cinefix taking a little more time in doing what they do best: informing their audience in detail on the behind the scenes of the movie-making world. I don't know why you bother with the pretense of the "list" video style, and just do a video on Practical Effects. I suppose lists invite challenger comments, which are needed for the algorithm…
It's the Stargate sequence not the Stargazing sequence in 2001.
I miss when movies were good
To this day I'm still in absolute awe of the use of practical and special effects in Walter Murch's "Return to Oz" (1985) many of which were mentioned on this list.
The floating pen in 2001 is one of the best that will ever be made. Ever.
Another is in Videodrome the vhs scene. For eyeball, Evil Dead Trap.
Terminator 2 jail bar scene is also top 10.
Great list, very entertaining. I would have liked to see at least honorable mention for stop motion animation films like "A Nightmare Before Christmas" or anything by the production team that gave us Wallace & Gromit.
honestly, good list.
I absolutely love the longer form of this video! Thanks for always delivering high-quality videos about cinema, this channel has been one of my favorites for a long time since I first discovered it. Also love the subject of this. Makes you realize how truly incredible and talented the people are who make these sorts of things happen.
This was an amazing video.
List checks out
T2 is the best action movie of all time, it has no equal.
I never expected this video would be very long but entertaining and informative
"The Gate" (1987) had incredible special effects using force perspective, stop motion animation, animatronics, and make-up effects.
It deserved a mention.
the thing is on top
High school musical 3 senior year should be an honorary mention for rotating scenes… thought this channel was about cinema!
Awesome video,thanks for all you hard work!!
Now Cinefix lists come with their own history lessons rather than just name-dropping a bunch of movies.
can't believe i thought it was a good idea to watch this while eating lunch
Speaking of practical fx, what about an episode about puppets?
21:23, 21:34, 42:48 Stargate not Star gazing.
Please make a Top 10 2010s Movies List. It would be perfection.
TOP 10 2010s MOVIES PLZ PLZ PLZ
23:54 excuse me for being that picky person. It is Muh-rin county, not Mar-in county
Your first shot of John Dykstra is actually Richard Edlund.
Eraserhead?
On forced perspective my favourite is Chaplin on roller skates for sure. Its so well done and i watched that explanation on how they made it a million times but it still scares me everytime he gets on the edge.
I'm surprised puppetry wasn't a category for practical effects! (Yes I know there were similar categories here, but I feel like puppetry could have its own category by itself)
Why script expletives into your video if youre just gonna censor or beep them? Just dont script yourself to say it.
Its kind of sad that this list will probably never be updated with everything being all CG now. Its been said a million times but with The Thing(1982) as an example, practical when done good will always look nice as oppose to cg which looks dated after a few years.
LSD enthusiasts AHAHAHA 🙂
No mention of thunderbirds ether
What an incredible list – that LOTR trivia is mind blowing, I had no idea.
what a nice manifest for this wonderful movies. thanks cinefix!
Great job! very entertaining while very educative. Great choices and well executed. Congratulations!
best hour I have spent this year..
Why no mention to films like Wallis and Gromit for stop motion?
Jabba the Hutt should have been on the list. 3 guys in a worm having to work together to synchronize the performance.
I know this is about practical effects but having Jurassic Park and LOTR on here together is kind of funny since the practical AND digital effects of Jurassic Park still to this day hold up better than anything they did in LOTR.
1974 Earthquake.
Thank you for this amazing fascinating video! A real treat, with its length too.