Special effects (which typically refers to visual effects in live-action moving-image media but also includes audio effects and other possibilities) are the methods used to produce on-screen (or on-air) events and objects that are physically impossible or imaginary, or too expensive, too difficult, too time-consuming, or too dangerous to produce without artifice. The ethics of the related technologies are seldom discussed but are nevertheless significant.

Origins

Cinematic special effects grew out of trick photography and began with the trick film tradition popularized by early filmmakers such as Georges Méliès (1861–1938), a special effects pioneer who was the first to develop many in-camera techniques. Silent films used a variety of special effects techniques, particularly in the genres of science fiction and horror. Many new special effects technologies became possible after the invention of the optical printer in 1944, resulting in a new generation of science-fiction films in...