It costs millions to produce a good film. Cast, body double, scenography, special effects… and all the parts that can derive from them. Indeed, one of the most expensive areas in films is the one concerning special effects. There are techniques and technologies used in cinematography to simulate particular scenes. They are expensive and could be risky. Special effects can be divided into different types: optical, visual, digital, live, mechanical and prosthetic effects.
Therefore, special effects are not just particular scenarios, fireworks, and explosions. An interesting domain is one of the prosthetic effects; actors are covered in make-up to look different. It could be to act like a monster, to create peculiarities and to age or rejuvenate them. But it is not only that. It is also about the creation of puppets, mannequins, animatronics and so on.
Animatronics, which are different from the automaton, are mechatronic puppets. The term goes back to 1961 when Walt Disney began to develop them for films. This particular field in engineering takes into account simulations, computerized graphics, stop motion. The main companies in this area of expertise are mainly Chinese, Japanese and American.
How much does it cost to create animatronics? The cheaper end is around $3,5k. Particular figures with good fluidity of motion, details and other factors range from $10k to over one million (just for one figure). They also need to be maintained, since they are mechanical.
One of the most notable examples of animatronics can be seen in the 1975 “Jaws” by Steven Spielberg. The story is all about a great white shark that sows panic among the community. But the mayor doesn’t sound the alert as the place is touristic and he would lose part of the profit. After the fourth victim, a shark hunter is called to kill it.
The film is a colossal challenge both in terms of time and money. This shark is a mechanical animal created exclusively for this film. But the problem is that it refused to function from the beginning. Here, the genius in Spielberg fed the waiting of it during the whole film.
There were three sharks created for the film: one shark was for the particular scenes in the sea and the other two were to turn right or left; all of whom were renamed “Bruce”. In the beginning, the budget was 3,5 mln, during the filming it increased by nearly three times. Nowadays, the last shark from the film has been installed in the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles (California).
What are the materials used to create the model? Fibreglass body, acrylic paint with urethane top-coat, urethane plastic for the teeth, acrylic for the eyes, steel support for internal structure.
Just imagine how much material has been used for it.
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