Mighty Optical Illusions » movies

Illusions Of The Movies

Jill Harness — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:29:23 +0000

Regular readers may remember that I was planning a trip Universal Studios shortly after posting my recent forced perspective article. While these pictures from a previous trip to the park may not technically involve forced perspective, it still was fun to be able to take interactive photos with the cartoon characters from The Simpsons. My boyfriend and I took these while they were building The Simpsons Ride and had these fun partitions up to block off the construction from the public.

While I didn’t end up getting any good forced perspective images during my most recent trip, I did learn a lot about the illusions used in movies to convince us that what’s on the screen is actually going on in reality. There are tons of special effects used in movies, from set models to green screen to motion capture, which is why a trip to Universal Studios is so cool. They really try to explain these effects and use them to interact with park-goers in real time. Perhaps the best example was their Special Effects show, which can be seen in its entirety here:

What do you guys think of these kind of movie illusions? Would you like to see more of them on the site?

“Let Me In” Illusory Posters

Vurdlak — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 04:10:10 +0000

Emperor Chiao pointed me to these two phenomenal posters for a vampire movie called Let Me In. I suppose the title references an old myth, stating that the vampire isn’t allowed to enter your home, unless you invite him in. I believed this vampire trend was so 90′s. What’s up with all them Twilights, True Bloods, Vampire Diaries and similar girlish crap? Anyhow, this movie is a remake of a Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In. Chiao looked forward seeing the American version, but it totally slipped his mind until he stumbled across this movie poster, which by the way is totally awesome! I still don’t fully understand the illusion, but Chiao mentioned:

If you squint your eyes, the illusion is revealed.

Click on the photo to open original poster in its full size!

Empire’s Cryptic Canvas Illusion

Vurdlak — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:19:12 +0000

Another exam is upon me tomorrow, so rest of the day means more studying for me. To keep you occupied until tomorrow, check this new Cryptic Canvas game, Empire has launched. This is a time-wasting movie game, involving a painting that contains 50 movie references. It’s a nod to a painting that was put out a few years ago, containing famous rock bands – Virgin’s 75 Bands. The only clue Empire gives is that the movies hidden in the painting are from the last 20 years. I’m not going to allow more than 2 answers per comment, for the sake of allowing the rest of you to spend some time going through this. I’m sure that within a day you can check the comments below to find all 50 of the movies. If you have a feeling you already saw something like this, you’re right – M&M posted their 50 Dark movies on this site, Absolut released their own version where you have to find 82 vodka bottles, Lonely Plantet hid 45 cities in their piece, and Lovefilm managed to squeeze more than 100 movies in their poster (2 x times). To start this game, I’ll point out “No country for old men” – I believe the traffic sign with two old people not allowed is the one referencing this movie. Now I just need to find out what Empire as a company is all about?

50 Hidden Movies In Empire’s Cryptic Canvas