Special Effects in Cinema Trivia Questions

Three mechanical sharks were built, but they constantly broke down due to saltwater corrosion. The delays forced Spielberg to shoot around the shark, making the film scarier by hiding it.

James Cameron built a massive 17-million-gallon tank at Rosarito Beach, Mexico. The sinking used real water, miniatures, and some CGI augmentation for crowds and distant shots.

No real skulls were used in the shower scene. The production used a real human skeleton for the corpse of Norman Bates's mother because real bones were cheaper than plastic replicas at the time.

Forced perspective made hobbits look small, but dwarves were played by actors of normal height. The trick placed taller actors farther away, not on stilts—stilts would have ruined the camera angle.

Director of photography John Gaeta rigged 120 Nikon cameras in a circle and triggered them in sequence to create the iconic slow-motion spin. CGI only cleaned up the frames.

Bolaji Badejo, a 7'2" Nigerian design student, was cast for his lanky frame. He wore a latex suit and performed the creature's movements on set, with only the head built as a puppet for close-ups.

The blades were three-sided rods covered in reflective tape, spun by a motor to reflect light and create the iconic glow. Color was added afterward through rotoscoping each frame.

While ILM used many matte paintings, the flames in Star Wars were mostly miniature explosions or animation, not painted glass. This myth likely confuses them with the painted laser blasts.