Q&A: I have some questions about the special effects and visuals in movies..?

Question by Shadow: I have some questions about the special effects and visuals in movies..?
Have you ever seen Alien, star wars episode 3, and The Godfather? People die in those movies..But in reality..Really, I wonder..

In aliens, how did the chestburster spurt out of his chest? Did they use a dummy for the scene? And if so, how do they make it so that the dummy looks realistic? How do they change from a human (for dialogue, of course) to a dummy? (for the death sequence)

In titanic..How did they get the exterior of the ship, and the interior? How did they film the sinking? They couldn’t possible have built the ship themselves and sink it in the ocean..

In aliens, what did they use to make the queen? How did they make it move?

In thousands of movies, people die..But how is it done? Like for when a body is split in half..Or when Anakin has his legs cut off, and has his flesh burned..

How the hell do people do it? I’d just like to know..I can’t watch a movie without realizing its fake, and going “How is this done?” In spiderman…How does he shoot the webs? If its computer generated, how do you get the actor to interact with it?

i have..All these questions, and I hope they’re not hard to answer, or a “big secret” amongst common people.
I would really love to know just how my all time favorite directors do it..Such as James cameron, and Tim burton..How DOES he wear those scissor hands?

Also, in ROTS, a person is decapitated..Once again..Dummy? And if so, how did they switch to a dummy so quickly without a stop in the filming?.
Also, how do they get it done? Don’t they have a deadline to meet? Why do movies take so long to develop? In titanic, did they ACTUALLY have people build the grand staircase?

But wouldnt that cost millions of dollars? Where does James cameron get the money?

Best answer:

Answer by Ed
Depending on the time the movie was made, it’s a mix of a dummy and CGI’s (Computer Generated Images). Often in death scenes you will not directly see the victim’s face or you will see the death occur quickly and somewhat blurry. This “blur effect” is what allows a smoother mix of CGI’s and what is real.

CGI’s are what allowed for the Titanic to “sink”. Part of this was a mix of close up shots (the people in the water and on sets of the “Titanic” and a distant image which was the Titanic built in model format that could be mixed into the shots, and used for long angle shots.

Part of what can also be done is the use of green suits. Ever watch the news and see the weather person standing in front of a map of whatever region? That’s a green screen. It can be made into a suit format and using the suit, the programmers can edit out the “missing” limbs to make it appear that someone has lost a leg or an arm.

What do you think? Answer below!