Special Effects

The Star Wars Trilogy, the first being the phantom menace, released in 2005 in an attempt to fill in the gaps in terms of the beginning of the epic tale and effects not previously possible in the original trilogy due to lack of technological knowhow was labeled a failure by the majority who filled the cinemas with high expectations. This also showed in the box office as it only netted about 43.5 million dollars when films like Chicago, even with all the critics managed to bag about 170.6 million dollars. It was a pop- culture calamity, a soul less, passionless film whose only real effect was to smudge the happy memories of the three originals (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, Thursday 9 February 2012, 21:45 GMT). Like Mr. Bradshaw, we all were expecting the innovation of CGI effects along with the excellent storyline portrayed in the original movies would finally do justice to the brilliant mind that was George Lucas. After the next two sequels were released, it became obvious to everyone that the story was second on the priority list and the producers probably concentrated on how to make the light saber look like an actual light saber. The argument here is does computer graphics imagery enhance the film industry or is it a self destruct button? This essay will attempt to explain briefly the early history of special effects, the term computer graphic imagery (CGI), why the film industry believe it's needed and its obvious consequences. Examples of certain movies with special reference to star wars) and directors will be cited to strengthen this argument.

Special Effects consist of producing effects that happen either in front of the camera or by treating the filmafter it has been shot in post-production through montage and animation of other filmed material (Dewdney and Ride 2006, p.42) or they are tricks film makers use to create events that cannot be done normally. Before CGI, special effects was elementary in its approach using the basic knowledge of light