Special Effects: Anything Can Happen

The film begins by showing the early inventors -- the Lumière Brothers, E.J. Marey and Edison -- and how motion picture technology was exploited by artists such as Méliès. Other segments include a history-making re-creation of several of the most breathtaking shots from the original Star Wars film in IMAX by Industrial Light & Magic, and backstage looks at the making of Lucasfilm's epic Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition (distributed by Twentieth Century Fox), Independence Day from Fox, Jumanji from TriStar Pictures, Inc., and Kazaam from Interscope Communications, Inc. Examples of key concepts in perception, such as persistence of vision and induced movement, are used throughout the film to explain how filmmakers are able to achieve their illusions. The unique concept of this film is to bring together the history of cinema and the art of filmmaking with the science of perception.