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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In four pages this paper examines the use of models and miniatures for special effects purposes in the film The Empire Strikes Back within the context of the science fiction cinematic genre, with aesthetic considerations and mise-en-scene among the topics discussed. Five sources are listed in the bibliography.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGesbmini.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
away instead of light years away. In the 1950s, film studios had to explore new and visually stunning ways of storytelling in order to compete with television. However,
money was often tight and so the directors of so-called low-budget creature features had to develop more cost-effective alternatives to expensive stop-motion animation (Pierson 73). For example, in the
1955 film Tarantula, director Jack Arnold employed an optical printing process consisting of traveling mattes that would make the spiders appear massive on the screen (Pierson 73). In the
film Them! that tells the tale of a radiation-created giant ant colonies, full-scale models were used to achieve the desired effects (Pierson 73). Japans Toho Studios took stop-motion animation
to a higher level with the technology created for the Godzilla films (Pierson 73). These science fiction films paved the way for the cutting-edge technology of todays dazzling big-screen
special effects. Computers have been largely responsible for many unforgettable images and action sequences, but filmmaker George Lucas, himself a scholar of cinema, has found imaginative uses for stop-motion
animation in his films and also relied heavily upon the construction of models and miniatures to create the his desired effects. Many of his early Star Wars films feature
several shots of models and miniatures that convey realism as impressively and in less time as computer simulations (Pierson 156). A case in point is the battle of Hoth
that forms the basis and dramatic climax for the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. Because science fiction indulges in fantasy, miniatures and models were a natural alternative to recreate
such scenes that extend beyond the periphery of reality. However, in many cases, miniatures are constructed as a cost-cutting measure (Bordwell and Thompson 182-183). In a traditional film
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