Special effects studios

Special effects studios are responsible for creating believable creatures, making another world we have never seen before, and or a multitude of other illusions. The most recognized company in the film industry to accomplish these tasks is know as Industrial Light and Magic.

Industrial Light and Magic was created by George Lucas after he found out that 20th Century Fox had closed their doors on their own special effects studio. Lucas found himself in an awkward situation especially it happening after getting the go ahead to start his Star Wars movie. He decided to create his own company ILM or Industrial Light and Magic.

The company has created dozens of effects for several other movies over the years since 1975. Their latest work was on the film Iron Man due in theaters soon.

Los Angeles Film School

The Los Angeles Film School is a great place to start if you are interested in pursuing a career in the film industry.Not to mention its in the heart of where most movies we see today are made. Of course there are many film schools out there however why not go to a school that is much cheaper then Full Sail has to offer and the Los Angeles Film School is located in Los Angeles where Hollywood movie executives and studios are located. The real kicker here is it cost about $30,000 cheaper to go to the Los Angeles Film School then Full Sail does.

There are many other film schools in the Los Angeles area as well as the entire state of California. However for this article I decided to do some research on the Los Angels film school to start out.

The Los Angeles Film School was founded by Hollywood professionals. The school is located off Sunset Blvd near Vine Street in Hollywood California. The Los Angeles Film School offers a one year "hands on" experience into the program.

However before the building became a film school it was RCA's recording studio where all the greats would record their albums including Elvis Presley.

The current tuition cost to attend the school is $42,000 and the requirements are that you must have a high school diploma or GED pass their test they have. If you are under 18 years of age a parents consent.

Multimedia production software

Multimedia production software is used to edit films, tv shows and more. So what is it? Multimedia production software such as Avid Technologies and Final Cut Pro are used quite often in the editing room. Here is a look into the editing softwares commonly used.




Film editing has been done has been around for many moons and is the process used to clean up the final film. It is used to delete scenes, add other scenes in different sequences then it was filmed and splicing in frames among other tasks. The Final Cut Pro software is used with Macintosh based computers and was created by Apple. Of course there is also the Final Cut Express which is more streamlined for the amateur starting out. It is much less to purchase then the Final Cut Pro edition but doesn't have everything the Final Cut Pro edition has in it. These editing softwares are also highly used in deleting backgrounds and adding others such as the use with green and blue screens.

Below I added some videos on the use of these programs and what they are capable of doing in the film industry.

Jaws movie

We all remember the old movie Jaws, and some of the younger generation remember Jaws not from the movie but perhaps from the attraction at Universal Studios. The thing we may not know is the many failures encountered by the film crew during the production of the movie.

The Orca boat used in Jaws

This is one of Steven Spielberg's earlier movies that proved to be more of a nightmare to make then anything else. There where 2 mechanical sharks made that where named by the film crew Bruce. However due to the fact that the sharks where used in salt water there where many mechanical problems during production.

Martha's Vineyard where filming took place

Not only where the sharks a problem but so was the boat Orca that was used in the film started to actually sink and take on water also during production. This proved to be quite a task and the crew nicknamed the film Flaws instead of Jaws. Nonetheless Steven Speilberg did pull through.

Bruce the Jaws shark used in production

Bruce still does exist in Universal Studios, but has been stored for many years under the hot sun and has been showing its age.

Below is a video from the film crew.

Spider-man behind the scenes

Spider-man shooting began on January 8th 2001 in Culver City. Filming for the movie was in New York and California. The scene where Peter gets bit by the spider was filmed inside the National history museum in Los Angeles, California , shooting for the interior of Norman Osborn's home was at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California, and shooting for the interior shots of the Daily Bugle was in Pacific Electricity Building also in California.

National History Museum Los Angeles(Where Peter gets Bitten)

The Sony soundstages 27 and 29 where used for the complex scenes in Time Square where the Green Goblin and Spider-man fight.

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Pacific Electric (Daily Bugle Scenes)

The original costumes that where created for Spiderman where stolen during productions and Sony had put up a $25,000 reward for the return however they where never returned. The webbing that came from Spider-man was a computer generated one or also called CGI effect. During the scenes of the Green Goblin and Spider-man fighting in the air was done in separately with the two characters. Spider-man was actually filmed with a green screen where the Green Goblin was shot with a blue screen and then where combined later in film editing.

Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills (Norman Osborn's Home)

I decided to put in some videos of some of the bloopers from Spider-man.

Terminator four coming out

Terminator movies that we all remember starring Arnold Schwarzenegger where ones that everyone remembers. Now theres even talks about Terminator 4 coming out in 2009 believe it or not.

The last Terminator three movie was partially funded by Arnold himself to make it all happen.He originally wanted James Cameron to direct the movie however Cameron declined the offer but told Arnold to accept no less then $30 million for the part.The movie was going to be filmed in Vancouver British Columbia however Arnold wanted to keep the movie to be made in Los Angeles as part of his campaign for office. It is said that Arnold paid $6 million of his own money to film the movie in Los Angeles.

Below are some videos of the making of Terminator movies. Both past and present.

I am Legned movie

The I am Legend movie originally thought to be filmed in Los Angeles, the director Akiva Goldsman whom signed on to direct decided to move the locoation to New York. However the studio executives didn't think that New York would be a good place to film the movie. It wasn't until Goldsman decided to go to New York and film some spots in time square and have the people digitally removed that the executives had a different frame of mind.


Will Smith

Much of the weeds that grow in the cracks in New York where flown in from Florida. During the filming of the movie there where also a lot of New Yorkers whom where not so fond of the filming location the studio chose. They had to close a lot of the areas around New York off for filming. Will Smith is said to have never seen so many middle fingers pointed at him in his career during the filming.


Brooklyn Bridge

The most expensive part of the filming was on the Brooklin Bridge which is said to have cost in Five million dollars. Below are some videos on the behind the scenes look into the making of the film.