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Case Studies

Lights! Camera! Action! Freeze! In the opening sequence of Swordfish, the camera follows a girl as she enters an intersection, and explodes. The moment of the explosion is frozen in time as the camera navigates through the haunting stillness of over 500 elements of debris, shattered glass, people, police cars and buildings. The exterior shot was created using 134 35mm still cameras that were timed to go off with the action during the shoot, 45 cameras were used for the interior. Read about the magic of that scene and look at other case studies of special effects and computer graphics in action.

Archived Articles

Catching Up With Ali Jan 1, 2002, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter Director Michael Mann wanted to capture stylized POVs for the boxing matches featured in his new biopic, Ali, starring Will Smith, so he commissioned experiments with tiny video cameras during fight sequences. Ridley Scott Makes War Jan 1, 2002, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter In his zeal to recreate the 1993 firefight between U.S. Special Operations forces and Somali militia fighters accurately for his new film, Black Hawk Down, director Ridley Scott found himself engaged in "the most grueling shoot I've ever directed, by far." Hard Times in Toon Town Dec 1, 2001, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter In the early 1990s, when live-action visual effects were transitioning from traditional techniques to the digital universe, so-called traditional animation... Gladiator Revealing Ridley's Rome May 1, 2000, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter Director Ridley Scott has a penchant for creating entire worlds in his films, like the futuristic city in Blade Runner and the spacecrafts in Alien.... Shrek Assist Nov 1, 2001, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter Unique imagery from the feature film Shrek motivated advertising agency BBDO, New York, to approach PDI/DreamWorks,... Building Character Apr 1, 2001, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter Animators at Pacific Data Images (PDI), Palo Alto, found themselves struggling late last year to keyframe... Unbreakable Jan 1, 2001, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter Workin' on the Railroad When director M. Night Shyamalan attracted attention with The Sixth Sense, he relied on practical effects. But for his latest... Swordfish Jul 1, 2001, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter On the opening scene of Warner Bros'' Swordfish, John Travolta spins a scenario that he describes... Effects to the Rescue: Fix-its Have Become a Mainstream Hollywood Practice...and Facilities Couldn't Be Happier (and Busier) Apr 1, 1997, 12:00 p.m. ET, Millimeter The story is legendary. Arnold Schwarzenegger's muscles and a $100 million budget couldn't shield Warner Bros.' Eraser from a possible lawsuit involving...