Special Effects

Without a doubt, the most awe-inspiring part of watching a silent movie is the special effects. This is because, unlike today, there was no CGI in those days!

Nevertheless, silent filmmakers were still able to achieve greatness on the big screen - all without the aid of today's technology. Take that, AI. For much more in-depth info on early camerawork, we recommend the YouTube link below!

There are countless examples we could present you, but for the sake of time we've selected 5 memorable effects from silent films. *drumroll*

1) The Thief of Bagdad (1925)

Superstar Douglas Fairbanks wowed audiences with his flying carpet - and many have wondered for generations how he did it. Unlike today, there were (obviously) no green screens and software doing all the work! But....they did have a sheet of steel, upon which the "magic carpet" was set. The steel sheet was then suspended by piano wires and hoisted into the air by a crane, high above the heads of the streets filled with extras! And to think - extras were paid practically nothing to be in this much peril!

2) Ben Hur (1925)

For anyone who has seen this film, the most memorable scene is likely the chariot race. A stadium, filled with spectators, cheering on the race as the horses whiz by....but wait. Did they *really* have that many spectators? In a word: NO. The stadium set was built life-size...up to the first row of spectators. These were "real people". And the scores of people in the stands above that? Miniatures.

Now, before you scratch your hair off, let's go over "hanging miniatures". This was the practice of building part of a large set in miniature, then suspending it in front of the camera as the scene was filmed. This gave the illusion of a larger, more grandiose set than it really was (as shown):

OK so! In the instance of Ben Hur, the entire top half of the set was in miniature (as shown), and the "spectators" were rigged to move by "puppeteers":

As a side note, the front row of "real people" included stars like Mary Pickford (and hubby Douglas Fairbanks), Sid Grauman, Harold Lloyd, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish and Colleen Moore - who all volunteered to be extras in the movie! And speaking of Harold Lloyd...

3) Safety Last! (1923)

A memorable scene from this movie is the famous sight of Harold Lloyd, hanging from a clock on the side of a building. You might know what we mean:

But again, this brings up the question: HOW? Well, the answer was given quite quickly in those days, as Harold was interviewed quite a lot about it. In some interviews, he "told all". In others, he kept it a secret - going so far as telling one reporter that "no trick photography was used"! But eventually, the truth was confirmed:

4) Sherlock, Jr. (1924)

Buster Keaton, that dashing daredevil, shocked his audiences on a regular basis with his stunts - but this one was a chart-topper:

And how did he do it (without becoming a casualty)? Well, this was a fairly common filming trick, in which part of the lens was blocked out before filming (in this case, the bottom), and the top part was filmed - showing Buster riding safely. Then the film was re-wound, the lens un-blocked, and the bottom part was shot separately:

Although, if Buster had tried this for real...we wouldn't have been surprised!

5) Modern Times (1936)

Yes, despite the year, this was a (great) SILENT MOVIE! And in it, legendary Charlie Chaplin creates quite a scene in a department store:

For this shot, he used a well-known and often-used special effect: matte painting on glass! This was similar in theory to a hanging miniature, but the partial set was instead painted onto a sheet of glass and mounted in front of the camera: