Top 10 Famous Movie Scenes WITHOUT Special Effects
#10: T-Rex Attack
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“Jurassic Park” (1993) “Jurassic Park” changed the game when it came to its groundbreaking digital effects. And thanks to its heavy use of practical animatronics, its computer-generated imagery still holds up today. Perhaps the movie’s most iconic scene is when the T-Rex escapes its cage and goes on a rampage in the rain. Although close-up shots generally used the animatronic T-Rex torso, wider shots tend to be CGI. The part where the massive dino tears into the jeep, for example, was achieved through digital effects, while the kids crawling out of the car was filmed separately on a blue screen and then composited with the dinosaur. And real or not, that roar still gives us chills!
#9: Hanging Off the Helicarrier Capsule
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“Deadpool” (2016) The finale of this hilarious superhero film sees the titular anti-heroic mercenary saving his love, Vanessa, from atop a downed Helicarrier. Unfortunately, during the battle, DP’s ally Negasonic Teenage Warhead destabilizes its supports, bringing the huge ship crashing to the ground. Deadpool puts Vanessa in a capsule that was meant to kill her to give her some protection from the fall and also hangs off the edge when it gets caught. While Ryan Reynolds (or a stuntman in his dashing red suit) hangs off a real set piece, the ground below was not a junkyard, but instead a green screen, matted floor. Reynolds may be more handsome than Deadpool (now), but he (and his stunt person) isn’t/aren’t quite as durable.
#8: Voldemort’s Death
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” (2011) The Dark Lord in general takes a lot of special effects and make-up to create, but Voldemort’s death especially involved quite a bit more than practical ones could achieve. During Moldy Voldy’s final duel with Harry, the villain’s Killing Curse rebounds onto him. Instead of just his physical body dying like all his victims (and like he did in the book), Voldemort dissolves into wisps. Before effects were added, actor Ralph Fiennes gave his dramatic death throes with tracking dots on his face. Then, effects gave him Voldemort’s snake nose and creepy skin texture. More CG work was used to create the images of Voldemort’s face dissolving. The final product is one of the more disturbing villain deaths in recent memory.
#7: Belle & Beast’s Dance
“Beauty and the Beast” (2017) Regardless of the version, the dance sequence between Belle and Beast is the highlight of “Beauty and the Beast.” As the theme tune is sung, the duo engages in a romantic twirl around a ballroom with stunning costumes. However, given that the Beast is created through CGI, the scene doesn’t have quite the same magic when you see it before the effects are added in. Actor Dan Stevens dressing up in a big, padded gray suit and wearing utterly inexplicable stilt shoes may be necessary to get Beast’s dimensions and walk right for the VFX team, but that doesn’t make it any easier to contain our laughter at seeing behind the scenes videos of the iconic dance
#6: Bear Attack
“The Revenant” (2015) Speaking of beasts, how ‘bout dem bears? Most of the events of “The Revenant” happen because trapper Hugh Glass is mauled by a bear while hunting game. It’s a harrowing and disturbing sequence, made even more so by how realistic it feels. The fight scene was achieved through plenty of makeup and prosthetics to simulate Glass’s numerous wounds, but the bear itself took plenty of VFX. A lot went into getting its musculature and movement correct, including multiple models, and studying live bears. The mauling was done on-set using a large stunt double in a blue bear costume. Even behind the scenes, the crew were concerned that actor Leonardo DiCaprio was actually getting hurt.
#5: Davy Jones & Crew
“Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise (2003-) Perhaps the most striking villain from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films is Davy Jones. He and his crew eventually took on the attributes of sea creatures, which is honestly pretty handy for them, considering the Flying Dutchman can travel underwater. Still, since creating their forms through makeup and prosthetics would be rather complicated, they’re realized through visual effects. While on-set, actor Bill Nighy and company all wore gray motion tracker suits, headbands, and dots on their faces so that they could be digitally replaced later. It looks kind of silly, but Nighy’s performance is so commanding that he’s still intimidating even if he doesn’t have an octopus face.
#4: The Throne Room
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“Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi” (2017) In “The Last Jedi,” Supreme Leader Snoke confronts a captured Rey in his throne room. Using the Force, he lifts Rey and tortures her. Naturally, Andy Serkis doesn’t have Force powers, and Rey being lifted through the air was achieved through wires, which were then removed digitally in post-production. Snoke meanwhile was created by Serkis performing in a mo-cap suit and tracking dots, which allowed his sinister performance to shine through all the CGI. Andy Serkis is going to deliver a phenomenal performance, whether it’s his actual face onscreen or not! Even the pre-viz version is chilling!
#3: Titan Fight
“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) One of the biggest fight scenes in this massive Marvel movie sees the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy face off with Thanos on the planet Titan. Although large portions of the battle are CGI, since it’s an alien planet with tons of massive ruins, the up close and personal bits needed the actors on-set. On a rough patch of set constructed and painted to like the stone of Titan, the actors and stunt people worked hard to sell the battle just as hard as the VFX team, with wirework for the bigger leaps and falls. Thanos’ set-up is quite involved too, as actor Josh Brolin had to wear a rig with a picture of Thanos mounted on it, to give the actors the right eye line.
#2: Bullet Dodge
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“The Matrix” (1999) “The Matrix” is one of the most influential films when it comes to VFX. As tempting as it was to discuss Neo’s subway fight with Agent Smith, we couldn’t give this entry to anything but that iconic rooftop moment. In the scene, Neo is shot at by one of the deadly agents. Neo dodges the bullets by bending backwards as the camera rotates around him. To achieve this effect, most of the event had to be shot on a green screen in-studio. A total of 120 still cameras and 2 film cameras were used to film this one shot, with the images stitched together like animation cells. Likewise, while Keanu Reeves is an incredible human being, even he needed wires to bend that way regularly.
#1: Banshee Flight
“Avatar” (2009) “Avatar” in general has a ton of special effects. We could’ve talked about just about any scene in the movie, since most of them are achieved using VFX. But the one with the most striking differences behind the scenes is the mountain banshee flight scene. In the movie, Jake Sully and Neytiri bond while flying on flying creatures nicknamed banshees. These airborne predators are impressive and majestic in flight. However, it’s quite a contrast to see the actors in motion capture suits straddling complicated rigs while wearing wires and being supported by crew members. Maybe Jake’s not so skilled at riding one after all…
