12 Movie Scenes That Didn’t Use Digital Effects, Just Their Directors’ Creativity

Many films, to create their effects and scenarios, decide to use computer-generated images. This decision, in some cases, is taken to save on building models and because many of the scenes are humanly impossible. While these technological marvels exist, there are still producers who prefer to shoot their scenes the old-fashioned way.

We, from awesome.club, We love cinema, that’s why we made a list of movie scenes where their creators preferred to make their own special effects.

The super-fast night bus transporting Harry Potter wasn’t really going full speed. To achieve this effect, the vehicle was being driven at normal speed and the other cars were going super slow; that way, when the scene is played, it seemed to go very quickly, but that was not the truth.

In the film appears BB8, which is an android created exclusively to represent this character, which is managed remotely and fulfills several functions appreciated throughout the film. In total, seven different BB8 units were used throughout the shoot to bring this android to life, creating true integration with the other characters.

The scene in which Mary Jane is rescued by Peter Parker, when she slips and her food tray flies through the air, was filmed 156 times. The idea was to show the protagonist’s superhuman abilities, catching Jane with one hand, before falling, and with the other also rescuing her food in a single movement.

In order for the actor to be able to pick up the tray so deftly, they put glue on his hand, and although on screen he does it very easily, it took dozens of attempts.

In the saga, the hobbits must have looked much shorter compared to Gandalf. They used a technique called “forced perspective”, placing actor Ian McKellen much closer to the camera, to make him more imposing. Also, to maintain the effect when the camera was moving, they added props and decorations to create the optical illusion.

For this film, it took over 40 trained squirrels to sit on a production line. These little animals had to crack nuts and drop them onto a conveyor belt. They were trained every day for ten weeks before filming began.

To recreate Agent 007’s car accident trick, the car was aided by an air cannon behind the driver’s seat. This allowed the car to complete seven complete turns in the air, and the pilot broke a Guinness record for such a feat.

When Pepper helps Tony replace his ARC reactor, they use a prosthetic chest attached to the actor’s chest. The camera was projected at an angle where the prosthesis was seen horizontally, while Robert Downey Jr. was sitting in the back. In addition, they placed a bright light over the region to hide the edges of the piece on the fake chest.

For the plane hijacking scene, a South African EMB-110 was used for the CIA plane and a Lockheed C130 Hercules for the Bane mercenaries. At the end of the sequence, the CIA plane is destroyed, and to create this effect the real aircraft was replaced with a scenic version which, with permission from the Scottish government, crashed over the Cairngorm Mountains.

To make the scene where Mary Poppins and the children get into the bathtub and quickly disappear, a water slide was installed at the bottom of the bathtub that led to the basement, which was hidden among the soap bubbles.

The fire that comes out of the guitar is real. To achieve this effect, a valve was installed at the rear of the instrument, which controlled the flames from the central part. The guitar had a pedal chained to the actor’s waist, and weighed 60 kilos.

The scene in which Harry’s head is burned with the blowtorch was performed using a technique known as “Pepper’s Ghost”. This technique consisted of placing two panes of glass at a 45-degree angle, the first facing the camera and the second in a dark off-screen area with a fake head, so that the fire you see on the actor actually , is the reflection on the glass.

The scene where Harry argues with his Aunt Marge and applies a spell that makes her inflate and float in the air was done with practical effects. To perform the scene, it was necessary to adapt the costumes to progressively inflate and deflate the actress. In addition, they used prostheses glued to her body and expandable rubber bladders to her face.

It was only necessary to use computerized effects to eliminate the cables that lifted the character, when the actress was floating in the air.

And you, can you distinguish between the real effects and the computerized ones? What’s the most impressive effect you’ve ever seen in a movie?