Special Effects in history: from Meliés to the present day - Boris Masník

(or the Great Digital Revolution) 

Boris Masník, special effects artist and supervisor, has worked on almost a hundred Czech and foreign film and audiovisual projects. His lecture accompanied by lots of examples and demonstrations will focus on the history of special effects as seen from the position of a special effects artist.
Special effects are, quite surprisingly, old as films themselves. Throughout history, special effects have changed immensely, and this applies for technology, graphic design and also dramaturgy. The most significant change came with the digitalization of post-production. The change was so quick, substantial and considerable that it could be called a “revolution”. But even in the “post-revolution” period, special effects remain a creative activity that in spite of all those “bits, bytes and terabytes” still depends on human creativity.