Analysis of George Melies

All these elements are credited to George Melies as he is the first movie director who showcased them in motion pictures. This makes George Melies arguably the most important man in the history of filmmaking with regards to his contributions in the film industry in just a span of sixteen years from 1896 to 1912. His background as a magician set him on the path of viewing the film industry from a complicated standpoint and this saw him develop elaborate costumes, sets and startling arrays of visual tricks. His creativity forecasted the future of the film industry and thanks to his ingenuity in production and some of his tricks, we currently have the science fiction and the special effects genres of film. This definitely makes him an important filmmaker judging from how many audiences are attracted by these genres.

In the film industry, one point that stands out is that viewers appreciate films where the hero carry the day, and they also love movies that get them pondering or asking themselves big questions. The reason why the science fiction genre is popular among many viewers is that it attains the above goals in a single story. This further emphasizes the importance of George Melies to the film industry given that he is the director that first invented the science fiction genre. Until his time from 1896 to 1912 no director had been able to meet all the demands of viewers in a single story. ‘A Trip to the Moon’ is the first ever science fiction film and it’s about explorers traveling to the moon, capture an alien and return back and celebrate with a parade in the city (Mattu, n.

When producing this movie, the directors used considerably small figures which they manipulated into motion pictures that depict dinosaurs moving around. This is an example of the current state of the substitution trick like the one that was used by George Melies to produce the special effects films such as ‘The Four Troublesome Heads’, ‘The Vanishing Lady’ among others. The other special effects movie that could be related to the works of George Melies is the Titanic. The ship that was used in the ‘Titanic’ movie and the huge cannon that was used to launch the explorers into the moon in the film ‘The Trip to the Moon’ are based on the same idea. By using special effects, Melies made the use of the huge cannon to seem real and the same technique was used to make the ship in the Titanic to also seem real.

Conclusion. From the above discussions, it is clear that the impact George Melies had on the genres of science fiction and special effects films is just unparalleled. His experimentations with pyrotechnics, dissolves, theatre machinery and time-lapse photography have not only made impressions among most film lovers but also invoked emotions among them. It is also clear that most of the current special effects films can be related to his pioneer works such as the vanishing lady, and also most of the current science fiction movies can be related to his pioneer works such as the trip to the moon. Therefore it is right to say that all who have ever watched any special effects movie or a science fiction movie owe this man a huge debt of gratitude (Wilkinson).