Special Effects Technician

Special Effects Technician book cover — COOL ARTS CAREERS COOL ARTS CAREERS COOL ARTS CAREERS TABLE OF CONTENTS I I I I I I I I I I I I N N N N N N A A A A A A C C C C C C N N N N N N H H H H H H C C C C C C E E E E E E TTT TTT SSS SSS T T T T T T C C C C C C E E E E E E F F F F F F F F F F F F EEE EEE L L L L L L A A A A A A C C C C C C E E E E E E P P P P P P S S S S S S I I I I I I CHAPTER ONE FILM MAGICIANS 4 CHAPTER TWO A DAY ON THE JOB 10 CHAPTER THREE BECOMING A SPECIAL EFFECTS TECHNICIAN 20 CHAPTER FOUR SPECIAL EFFECTS IN THE FUTURE 24 SOME FAMOUS SPECIAL EFFECTS TECHNICIANS 29 GLOSSARY 30 FOR MORE INFORMATION 31 INDEX 32 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 32

Special Effects Technician — page 1 — Y R A R B I L S L L I K S Y R U T N E C T S 1 2 CHAPTER ONE FILM MAGICIANS The ﬁlm Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince features a scene in which ghostly shapes attack as people cross a bridge in London The bridge twists turns and crashes into the water below A team of special eﬀects technicians helped make the movie Gladiator starring Russell Crowe

Special Effects Technician — page 2 — Filmmakers did not really destroy the bridge Instead they used computer graphics to make the bridge look like it was falling apart This is one example of special eﬀects Special eﬀects make impossible things happen on screen They can involve big things like destroying bridges or small things like changing an actor’s eye color These eﬀects are created by workers called special eﬀects technicians There are many kinds of special eﬀects Some actually happen during ﬁlming One example might be a small explosion that a technician sets oﬀ A camera operator shoots the explosion on ﬁlm This kind of eﬀect is sometimes called a special mechanical effect Explosions are a common special eﬀect in action movies Special eﬀects technicians plan the explosions carefully They make the object they are blowing up extra weak in some spots This helps them make sure the pieces will ﬂy in the right directions They also make sure that actors standing near the explosion will not be hurt Special visual effects happen oﬀ camera This means they are added to the ﬁlm after a scene is shot In the movie Gladiator the main character ﬁghts in a giant stadium The crowd roars when one of the ﬁghters is hurt Most of the crowd and the stadium were added using computer graphics after the action was shot Gunshots in movies are also special eﬀects Imagine a movie hero running through a door as bullets smash into the doorway

1

PAGE 1 OF 29

The only kids' eBook subscription service that offers thousands of high-quality books from well known publishers like HarperCollins, National Geographic and others.

JavaScript Required

Whoops! We're sorry but Epic doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Check your web browser's settings to make sure it's enabled.