Special effects

“Special effects” are the computer-generated images in movies that show things that filmmakers can’t film directly. For example, Jurassic Park was about dinosaurs; since dinosaurs don’t exist (anymore!), the moviemakers had to use computer-generated special effects to create the images of the dinosaurs.

Movies like Terminator used special effects to create villains; in “Independence Day” they used special effects to portray aliens attacking the earth.

In “Titanic,” the special effects were used to make a movie about historical events look more realistic. For the movie, they did not re-create the ship. But they used computer images to portray people walking on the ship. The actual ship in filming was a small model. Other special effects were used to show the waves in the sea.