mac@allegra.UUCP (11/02/83)
A previous review said that the special effects in The Right Stuff were "negligible". BULL! The SFX were so well done that it's very hard to tell what is real historical footage and what is new SFX film... Did you really think that they took full color wide-screen footage of the launching of the X-1 that Chuck Yaeger flew? Of course not! But the SFX in the movie made it look very real. Ditto for the last flight scenes of the film. "Kids" (those who don't remember watching the Mercury missions on TV) probably won't appreciate the film - they're used to Star Wars stuff, and the more reliable Apollo missions. Jim McParland AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ allegra!mac
rene@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/04/83)
I think one of the most effective special effects was the plane(s)
FALLING. I really don't think they dropped a plane however many
thousands of feet up that was, and then filmed close ups and distance
shots of it falling. It looked real to me, though. No special effects?
And what about the scenes with JFK and the actors - do you really
think they got actors who all looked EXACTLY like the people in the
newsreels? As I hear it, they used a very expensive process also used
by Woody Allen in Zelig. Anybody know any more about this?
- rene
--
Arpa: rene.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!renedp@astrovax.UUCP (Debbie Padgett) (11/04/83)
I have it on good authority that the airplane scenes were done by slingshooting models past the camera. Not exactly high-class "stuff" for $27 M, folks. dp
wombat@uicsl.UUCP (11/04/83)
#R:allegra:-193300:uicsl:7600039:000:755 uicsl!wombat Nov 3 14:21:00 1983 Another note on the SFX in "The Right Stuff": They were done by a couple of small-time SFX-ers in their garage. I haven't seen the film itself yet, but I've heard that the effects are very good for the money spent on them. And people really up on aviation/rocketry history may notice a few things that aren't completely authentic, but some of the old vehicles they would have liked to have used just aren't around anymore. Some of the actors met with and talked to the people they were potraying, though most didn't (at least not until after the filming), and the director didn't encourage anyone to. There was a certain amount of poetic license taken in the film, but mostly they tried to stick to the book. Wombat ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!wombat
speaker@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/05/83)
The special effects in "The Right Stuff" consisted mainly of models and motion control stuff against fake backdrops. Some were dropped against a real sky... I think they used some radio controled models too. Basic stuff. The flames on the mercury capsule were actually clouds of Nitrogen in a strong artificial wind, heavily lit with orange and red lights. The Zelig effects were done with some very sophisticated computer imaging. 'Ultimat' I think is the name of one of the processes used. ANyone know anything more about this? -- - Speaker-To-Stuffed-Animals speaker@umcp-cs speaker.umcp-cs@CSnet-Relay
notes@ucbcad.UUCP (11/11/83)
#R:allegra:-193300:ucbcad:19500004:000:348 ucbcad!kalash Nov 4 08:52:00 1983 The most interesting thing (at least to me) about the effects for "The Right Stuff" is that ILM originaly did them, but they were all scrapped because they were "too good". They would have looked very different then the rest of the movie, and interfered with the story. As a result, $1 million in special effects fall on the floor. Joe Kalash
eich@uiuccsb.UUCP (11/12/83)
#R:allegra:-193300:uiuccsb:10000028:000:249 uiuccsb!eich Nov 11 22:32:00 1983 ILM did not "originally do them" (the sfx). ILM had too tight a schedule to consider them (first with Star Trek II + Poltergeist + ET, then with Return of the Jedi). Phil Kaufman from the start was in favor of seat-of-the-pants, low-tech effects.