Julia



= Are special effects in movies necessary and what is the purpose of special effects? = ===My portfolio topic is entertainment and I will be researching special effects. My essay will point out some reasons why special effects are important today. ===

A few questions that I have about my topic are:  -Why do we use special effects?  -What is the history of special effects?  -What are some different types of special effects?  -Where would we be without special effects?  -Can special effects be harmful to society?  -What is the purpose of special effects?  -How does it work?



= Annotated Bibliography: = 1. Carrera, Luis. "The Revolution of Special Effects in Movies." //The Revolution of Special Effects in Movies//. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. . -This is an easy to navigate website that covers: what special effects are, the history of special effects, the types of special effects, why to use special effects, and how special effects affect society. I really think the history of special effects is a great part of this website because it definitely has information that I wish to share in my paper. Also, within this website, there are lots of points that prove that special effects are necessary and this would be very helpful for proving my point. 2. Spielberg Blasts Movie Special Effects." //The Internet Movie Database//. IMDB, 16 July 2010. Web. 13 Nov.2010. . -Although this website does not contain a bunch of information, I found it helpful because it presents a different opinion. A well-known movie director shares his opinion that special effects are becoming too special. I would like to take a quote or several quotes out of this and maybe use it for a “yes, but” section of my paper since I will be writing about the opposite opinion. 3. "Science of the Movies." //Science Channel//. Science Channel. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.. -This website is by the Science channel and it talks about a show called “Science of the Movies”. I found this very interesting and I thought it would be neat to include in my paper. It talks about what the show is and also gives a great list of the top ten special effect sequences. 4. Roos, Dave. "How Special Effects Artists Work." //How Stuff Works//. Discovery. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. . -This was an awesome website. It covered the basics of special effects and what all goes in to special effects. It also talked about what special effects artists do and the degrees to become a special effects artist. An important piece of this website was when it talked about the different types of special effects. Overall, this website had a wealth of information. 5. "Special Effect." //Wikipedia//. Wikipedia, 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. . -This may not be the most reliable source, but it contained information on just about every aspect of special effects. It goes in depth with the history of special effects and also describes in detail some of the techniques of special effects. 6. Nuta, Cristina. "Special Effects Make Movies More Interesting." //Famous Why//. Famous Why, 18 Feb. 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. . -I found this website interesting and helpful because it gives actual examples of special effects and then breaks it down by explaining how it works. I think an example of this would be good to add in my essay because it would help the reader be able to better visualize special effects. 7. Buchanan, Kyle. "The Four Special Effects That Movies Still Struggle to Pull Off, According to the Skyline Directors." //Vulture//. New York Magazine, 12 Nov. 2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. . -This article talked about four specific special effects that are hard to master. I liked reading about this and I think that if I included some of this in my paper, it would help the reader to understand the level of difficulty special effects. 8. Godbole, Medha. "Special Effects in Movies." //Buzzle.com//. Buzzle.com, 22 Mar. 2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/special-effects-in-movies.html>. -This website covered the basics. It explained special effects and some movies that include prominent special effects. It also touched on where we would be without special effects, which is a question that I had about this topic. 9. "Special Effects in Movies." //A Digital Dreamer//. A Digital Dreamer. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.adigitaldreamer.com/articles/special-effects-creation.htm>. -This was a very simple website, however, it made a very good point. It talked about how special effects has changed what types of movies can be made. It explained that special effects have made it possible to produce movies that otherwise would be impossible to bring to life. 10. Asokan, Saju. "How Computer Graphics (CG) Changed Special Effects in Movies." //GoArticles.com//. GoArticles.com, 5 Aug. 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1052394>. -This article discussed how special effects, specifically computer graphics, have altered the way that movies are produced. It talked about how they have made movie production more effective and it also compared computer graphics to a time when there were no computer graphics.

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