We understand by special effects those elements that are used in the cinema or on television to generate characters, environments, situations or realities that cannot happen in real life and that must be added to traditional filming. Special effects are used mainly in movies or series of the science fiction genre, although today many things and elements are also considered special effects and added to films such as comedies, dramas or horror or suspense films.
The realization of special effects can be carried out in two main ways: manually or technologically. While the first of the two is no longer used as much because it requires a greater amount of time, the second is more common although, due to the important technological infrastructure that it usually requires, it can mean much more expense and investment. Anyway, many films combine both since, depending on the director or the filmmakers, each scene, character or situation can be better solved in one of these two ways. When we talk about manual special effects we refer, for example, to fictional characters such as monsters that are made by hand. Technological special effects are always through the use of computers and through the generation of graphics or animations.
Special effects can add a lot to a story that might not otherwise be achievable. When it comes to science fiction films, special effects play a very important role and are present both in the sound, in the animations, in the photography, in the design of the environments, in the characters, etc. However, special effects such as sounds, funny or specific animations, image alterations and many others can also appear in comedies, dramas, war or horror movies.
