- “The Horse in Motion” (1878)
Series of frame-by-frame photographs of a horse, showed how all 4 hooves actually leave the ground at the same time. Photos by Eadweard Muybridge.
- “Primitive Motion Studies” (1884 - 87)
Test Footage of motion including “The Human Figure in Motion – Descending Stairs and Turning Around”.
- “Monkeyshines No. 1” (1889 - 90)
First experimental kinetoscope film.
- “The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots” (1895)
First in-camera special effect.
- “La Voyage Dans la Lune” (1902)
(“A Trip to the Moon”) Developed special effects in film such as animation, matte painting, miniature, compositing live action footage.
- “The Great Train Robbery” (1903)
First cross-cuts.
- “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” (1906)
Historically, technically the first animated short film – the first known attempt at animation. First cartoon to use stop-motion animation. Projected at 20 fps.
- “Fantasmagorie” (1908)
First fully animated film.
- “Gertie the Dinosaur” (1914)
First major animated character.
- “Ben-Hur” (1925)
Notable use of a miniature to achieve part of its crowd sewuences.
- “The Lost World” (1925)
Pioneered the first major use of stop-motion animation in a feature film.
- “Metropolis” (1927)
Significantly advanced the art of miniatures, as well as matte paintings and compositing.
- “Steamboat Willie” (1928)
First cartoon with a post-produced synchronised soundtrack.
- “The Invisible Man” (1933)
Early attempts at visual/special effects; overlaying elements together (+ double-exposing).
- “King Kong” (1933)
Synthesized matte paintings, miniatures, rear projection and stop-motion animation.
- “The Rains Came” (1939)
First awardee of the Academy Award for ‘Best Achievement in Special Effects’.
- “Citizen Kane” (1941)
Reinventing camera techniques.
- “Blue Skies” (1946)
Duplicated live action performances.
- “Mighty Joe Young” (1949)
Smoothly composited stop-motion animation and live action/rear projection. First film that Ray Harryhausen worked on assisting Will O’Brien. Academy Award awardee.
- “Ray Harryhausen’s Films” (1953 - 81)
o “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” (1953)
o “It Came From Beneath The Sea” (1955)
o “20 Million Miles to Earth” (1957)
o “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958)
o “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (1974)
o “The Three Worlds of Gulliver” (1959)
o “Mysterious Island” (1961)
o “Jason and the Argonaughts” (1963)
o “The First Men in the Mood” (1964)
o “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” (1977)
o “Clash of the Titans” (1981)
- “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951)
First film to feature ‘flying saucers’.
- “Bwana Devil” (1952)
First 3D feature film.
- “The War of the Worlds” (1953)
Vibrant colour sfx. Academy Award winner.
- “Mary Poppins” (1964)
First winner of the Academy Award for ‘Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects’.
- “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
Academy Award Winner. Featured revolutionary use of miniatures. Primitive version of ‘Go-Motion’ used.
- “The Andromeda Strain” (1971)
Possible first use of computer rendering, as well as advanced computerised photographical visual effects.
- “Westworld” (1973)
First significant film that employed CGI.
- “Futureworld” (1976)
First use of 3D CGI. Also used 2D digital compositing to composite characters over a background.
- “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” (1977)
Notable use of a large scale model in a feature film.
- “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” (1977)
First extensive use of animated 3D CGI. First winner of renamed category “Best Achievement in Visual Effects”.
- “Superman” (1978)
First use of the Zoptic camera as well as its innovative 3D-like effects in its title sequence. Academy Award Winner.
- “Alien” (1979)
Similar achievements to Star Wars in visual effects. Alien chest burst sequence was notable for special effects. Academy Award Winner.
- “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979)
Wormhole Effect.
- “An American Werewolf in London” (1981)
Wolf transformation sequence.
- “Dragonslayer” (1981)
First real use of ‘Go-Motion’.
- “Looker” (1981)
First CGI character. First shaded 3D CGI in a feature film.
- “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981)
Lengthy matte painting. Face melting technique. Academy Award winner.
- “Blade Runner” (1982)
Cityscapes.
- “The Dark Crystal” (1982)
Combined use of puppets, miniatures and matte paintings.
- “E.T the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982)
Academy Award Winner.
- “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982)
Featured first entirely computer-generated sequence.
- “Tron” (1982)
First major application of CGI used in conjunction with live-action footage.
- “Where the Wild Things Are [test]” (1982/3)
First test footage of Disney’s attempts at combining 3D environments with 2D animated characters.
- “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi” (1983)
Similar achievements to the original film, featuring more extensive CG effects. Academy Award Winner.
- “Zelig” (1983)
Technical achievement of blending new footage with period film.
- “The Adventures of Andre and Wally B” (1984)
First CGI animation (Pixar).
- “The Last Starfighter” (1984)
First to extensively use CGI for spaceship models and planets in place of models.
- “2010: The Year We Make Contact” (1984)
First film to combine fluid dynamics with CGI.
- “Young Sherlock Holmes” (1985)
First fully CGI photorealistic character in a feature film. First composite CGI > live action.
- “Aliens” (1986)
Combined numerous in-camera effects with post-production techniques.
- “Flight of the Navigator” (1986)
First films to use ‘reflection mapping’. Later used in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace on the Naboo spacecraft.
- “The Great Mouse Detective” (1986)
First incorporation of 3D backgrounds with 2D.
- “Howard the Duck” (1986)
First film to use digital wire removal.
- “Labyrinth” (1986)
First CGI animal.
- “Luxo Jr” (1986)
First fully computer generated short film with CGI shadows (courtesy of Pixar’s Renderman).
- “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986)
First groundbreaking use of 3D scanning.
- “Robocop” (1987)
‘Outdated’ stop-motion techniques used.
- “Tin Toy” (1988)
First CGI character that had realistic human qualities (animation).
- “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988)
Matched 2D animation with live action footage. Academy Award winner.
- “Willow” (1988)
Digital morphing (first).
- “The Abyss” (1989)
First digital CGI water simulation.
- “Back to the Future, Part II” (1989)
Computer controlled camera work.
- “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989)
First all-digital composite shot.
- “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” (1990)
First instance of digitally manipulated mattes.
- “Robocop 2” (1990)
CG Digital Puppetry to create a characters face.
- “Total Recall” (1990)
Motion capture for use with CG characters.
- “Backdraft” (1991)
First photorealistic fire (CG).
- “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” (1991)
Major CG character with morphing Academy Award winner.
- “Death Becomes Her” (1992)
Photorealistic CGI skin. Academy Award winner.
- “Lawnmower Man” (1992)
Early use of a sensor covered suit to capture an actor’s movements (precursor to the techniques used to create the character of Gollum).
- “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992)
First use of green instead of blue screen.
- “Jurassic Park” (1993)
Seamlessly mixed CGI and animatronic techniques. Academy Award winner.
- “The Flintstones” (1994)
First digital fur rendering.
- “Forrest Gump” (1994)
Removal of legs, digitally composited new footage with archived, compositing (large scale), crowd scenes. Academy Award winner.
- “The Mask” (1994)
Combined live action with cartoon effects.
- “Babe” (1995)
Lip sync for animals. Academy Award winner.
- “Batman Forever” (1995)
Digital stunt doubles.
- “Casper” (1995)
First film CG character as lead.
- “Jumanji” (1995)
Mass scale CGI animals.
- “Toy Story” (1995)
First Feature length CG/3D film.
- “Waterworld” (1995)
First photorealistc water.
- “Dragonheart” (1996)
Very complex CG character.
- “Independence Day” (1996)
Academy Award Winner.
- “Twister” (1996)
Notable atmospheric fx effects.
- “The Fifth Element” (1997)
CGI environments – motion controlled.
- “Starship Troopers” (1997)
First large scale CGI battle sequence.
- “Titanic” (1997)
Digital passengers, underwater shot, CG + miniatures. Academy Award Winner.
- “Godzilla” (1998)
CG Monster.
- “Mighty Joe Young” (1998)
Furthered ‘hair, fur & feathers’ technology.
- “Fight Club” (1999)
CGI image-based modelling.
- “The Matrix” (1999)
Bullet-time effect. Academy Award Winner.
- “The Mummy” (1999)
Most realistic CGI character.
- “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” (1999)
Jar Jar Binks character.
- “Hollow Man” (2000)
3D model of an anatomically correct, ‘functional’ model of a human body.
- “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000)
First all colour-graded feature film.
- “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” (2001)
First hyperreal CGI feature film.
- “Lord of the Rings Trilogy” (2001 - 2003)
Balrog, Moria, Gollum, Helm’s Deep, crowds, Minas Tirith, Black Gates. Academy Award Winner (all 3 films).
- “Shrek” (2001)
Advanced liquid and fire.
- “Waking Life” (2001)
A Scanner Darkly effect (pre-decessor).
- “Matrix Revolutions” (2003)
First realistic detailed face deformations.
- “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003)
Undead pirate effect.
- “The Polar Express” (2004)
Further developed motion capture tech.
- “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” (2004)
Big budget CGI backgrounds.
- “King Kong” (2005)
Expanded Gollum-tech.
- “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006)
Davy Jones – motion capture to CG advancement.
- “Beowulf” (2007)
Motion capture/CGI (furthered).
- “Spiderman 3” (2007)
Sandman particles effect.
- “Transformers” (2007)
Highly complex transformations.
- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008)
Aging, warping etc.
- “Watchmen” (2009)
Dr Manhattan LED capture suit.
- “Avatar” (2009)
CGI, motion-capture, 3D. Academy Award Winner.
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