That was a really cool era for special effects, when there were so many practical effects crews still involved and collaborating with the new computer guys. When it worked it was amazing, when it missed it was terrible.
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One of the coolest was how they used computers on Star Trek First Contact to change how they shot spaceships. They locked miniatures in place and put the camera on computer controlled robot arms, and swooped the camera past the ships over and over, doing multiple exposures on the same film.
aug 25, 2025, 6:32 pm • 15 2 • view
And they would change the lighting and effects on the ship, so the way the engine glowed and the way light reflected on the miniatures looked nothing like a little model
aug 25, 2025, 6:34 pm • 9 0 • view
I can’t find the behind the scenes video of them filming the ships, but I found this behind the scenes of the borg queen using the same computer controlled camera rig, and it turns out for this shot they used a fake head and a real actor’s body, the exact opposite of what I would have imagined.
aug 25, 2025, 8:00 pm • 5 0 • view
Also found this clip that shows the incredible lighting effects on all those models, plus baby Adam Scott saying “sir, it’s the Enterprise!”
aug 25, 2025, 8:09 pm • 9 3 • view
So that's what's called Motion Controlled Photography & it's actually much older than ST:FC. They were doing it as far back as the 60s for movies like 2001, but it really came into it's own with Star Wars.
aug 25, 2025, 10:42 pm • 4 1 • view
I think first contact was using some cutting edge software to design those shots, though. The way they were taking separate shots of each miniature separately, with camera and lighting moves that worked together when they composited it all together to make sense in 3D space
aug 25, 2025, 10:55 pm • 5 0 • view
I forget where I heard about this, possibly dvd special features, so it might not be the most unbiased source about how groundbreaking it was
aug 25, 2025, 10:56 pm • 5 0 • view
Yeah the separate lighting passes (one with the model lit, & a bunch of other ones with it dark but the lighty bits of the model turned on) dates back to Star Wars.
aug 25, 2025, 11:50 pm • 3 0 • view
I actually remember this getting talked about when Levar Burton did the TNG episode of Reading Rainbow. They don't mention the multiple passes out loud but you can see them adding in the lighting pass when they composite the shot together. (starting at 10:56 if it doesn't load right)
aug 25, 2025, 11:58 pm • 4 0 • view
George Lucas' most valuable contribution to film as a medium is (almost certainly) special effects. ILM is still doing cutting-edge work to this day: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industr...
aug 26, 2025, 12:03 am • 8 1 • view
They did make some improvements with it in First Contact, by among other things, doing CGI touch-up passes after filming the miniatures.
aug 25, 2025, 10:43 pm • 5 0 • view
You still get that stuff, though mostly on lower budget stuff. The high budget movies tend to go "yeah we'll just make the scene in CG", where low budget stuff uses a bare minimum. Upgrade ends up looking far better than Venom
aug 25, 2025, 6:34 pm • 5 1 • view
I really should rewatch Upgrade. I remember it as an absolutely awesome action movie, and We Have Tom Hardy At Home is a really fun actor.
aug 25, 2025, 6:35 pm • 8 1 • view