The Great Optical Illusions of Film and TV
There are an innumerable amount of 2D optical illusions, and some of them have been employed in the film industry. But 3D has been explored in some depth as well. There are many intriguing ways in which cinematographers and set designers can distort the visual perception of their audiences.
Some of these tricks have been used in the entertainment industry many years before film was even being dreamed of. For instance, trap doors have been used in live theater productions since ancient times. Famously, many of the “games” which took place in the Colosseum employed the use of a series of elevators and trap doors.
Their function was to carry animals like lions, bears, or leopards up to the ground level of the arena where all the bloody action was going on. Thus, from the audience’s eye view, it seemed as though ferocious beasts were randomly popping out of holes in the ground. It was an elaborate set-up, particularly in that day and age.
The result it effected has been likened to an ancient rendition of FX. We shall see how similar apparatuses and techniques have since been employed in motion pictures.
The Time Tunnel’s Spiraling Motion
The image sometimes referred to as a hypnotic circle or swirl is really just a white backdrop with black “beams” curving ever further inward. But the natural aesthetic gives the viewer a feeling of perpetuation like the motion is repeated infinitely. The Time Tunnel, a short-lived 1960’s TV show produced by Irwin Allen, used this extremely simple technique to add an intriguing aesthetic to the appearance of the machine which transports people and objects into different time periods.
The Time Tunnel of Operation Tic-Toc possesses this iconic continuation of black spirals laid on a white backdrop. This feeling of infinite continuation acts wonderfully with the common intro narration which focused on Tony Newman and Doug Phillips tumbling helplessly through “the infinite corridors of time.”
The Ames Room Applied to Cinema
The Ames room is simply fascinating in both its varying designs and in its visual distortion. It is named after its maker, an American ophthalmologist (one whose profession studies the eye) by the name of Adelbert Ames, Jr. The first of its kind was constructed in the 1940’s. The onlooker perceives people (of relatively same height) standing at either end of the Ames room to be drastically different in stature. A common addition to the room is a dark-to-light checkerboard-like pattern on the floor.
This amazing effect the Ames room in known for has caused various versions of the model to be used on the sets of numerous film and TV productions. One of the earliest uses of the Ames room in television was in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series episode “The Enemies.” The show was another one of four sci-fi series Irwin Allen would produce during the 1960's.
This particular episode involved foreign powers drugging Americans with a chemical which could turn the closest of friends into the most bitter of enemies. But the cruel scientists also put the Americans through psychological tests prior to administering the drug. The tests were meant to give the subjects a sense of being threatening by their dear friends.
The Ames room had a part to play in the story since a person at one end of the room appears to tower above one at the opposite end. One of the test subjects is startled to see his missing friend appear through a door with a pistol and having the likeness in size to the biblical Goliath. Ames rooms have been used on the sets of popular films such as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Bwana Devil and the Birth of 3D Viewing
Bwana Devil (1952) may not have been the first 3D film produced, but it began the more recent fascination of viewing films in 3D, the experience giving the illusion that subjects of a film are actually coming out of the frame and getting closer to you. The mainstream advent of 3D viewing had dawned on Hollywood and its audiences.
It really wasn’t a huge step for filmmakers, editors, or the runners of the theaters. But its effect caught on initially in the fifties and sixties and has been revived more strongly in recent years. The early 3D technology helped to draw in audiences to films like the House of Wax horror flick and the sci-fi cult classic It Came from Outer Space, both of which were released the year after Bwana Devil.
(Recently, we pointed out how VR could quickly become the new 3D-like tech for film and orchestra audiences in this article.)
The Twilight Zone: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…
Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone was pretty much a whole big illusion from plot concepts to the characters surroundings. The show’s beginning slightly predates that of Time Tunnel or VTTBOTS. In The Twilight Zone, the oft-confused viewer would, along with the main character(s), understand what was actually happening at the very close of the episode. There was almost always some sudden, unexpected twist. There were frequently some amazing visual effects to boot.
For example, mirrors were commonly used. And typically they were nothing fancy. However, their reflective properties are what made quite a few memorable scenes throughout the series. Nearing the climax of the pilot episode, “Where Is Everybody?,” a classic mirror shot captures the audience's attention. Let’s just say its effect was absolutely shattering.
The Spielberg Does It Again
Steven Spielberg is, in short, an absolute genius in filmmaking, despite not all of his works being huge successes. (By the way, he directed part of the 1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie.) In the original and beloved Jurassic Park (1993), Spielberg employs reflections everywhere. We first see the “bloodsucking lawyer” as a reflection in the water as he stands helplessly on a flat being towed ashore.
When the T-rex starts coming after Ian Malcolm and the others in the jeep, Ian peers down into the waterfilled footprint which produces wrinkles with each step the dinosaur takes. We also see Ian’s reflection.
But the most famous and fantastic shot featuring a reflection in the entire film comes during the desperate kitchen sequence. Lex, John Hammond’s granddaughter, draws a Velociraptor’s attention away from her little brother. In doing so, the raptor comes after her.
The sequence is shot in such a way that the audience can easily be caught off guard in thinking that the raptor is about to run straight into Lex. However, it runs into her mirrored reflection on the side of a metal cabinet. It is brilliantly executed.
Intro Scene to Eyewitness: The Skeleton
In the nineties, there was an educational Eyewitness TV program. It was educational and sensational; it was a relative hit. It won several awards. The final episode of the first season was the screen adaptation of “Skeleton.” The very beginning of the episode is hard to describe, but it is certainly an optical illusion.
In this opening shot, the camera motion is caused by a smooth dollying action. What makes the aesthetics of the particular scene unique is that placement of objects within the frame. White cans and containers become teeth; the dark face of a woman with long black hair looks more and more like an empty eye socket. Gradually, the image forms the shape of something it’s not: a skull. It is an amazing illusion and one I’d recommend watching.
Gandalf’s Special Cart
The basic concepts behind the Ames room were also applied to other types of props in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The concept of forced perspective, which refers to an object appearing larger or smaller, closer or farther away, is involved with most of the natural optical illusions seen in these films.
One of the better-known special props designed to attain this effect was the cart which Gandalf and Frodo ride through the Shire in the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. As Rhett Allain at Wired tells us, “…the cart is split into two pieces. The side with Frodo on it is set back further than the side with Gandalf. The trick is to get the seats lined up to look seamless” (“How to Make a Hobbit with Forced Perspective”).
A thorough mix of the real and the unreal in a film makes it more artistic. It can also deceive the viewer’s eye more. There are countless other optical illusions which have been used and have yet to be used in the moviemaking business. As ingenuity and creativity carry us forward, we can expect optical illusions to become more common.
However, as we have seen in modern films like Doctor Strange and A Wrinkle in Time, the illusions seem to be computer-generated. And the natural optical illusions appear to be used less often. They really shouldn’t be forgotten because there are some things natural illusions can do which CGI has yet to accomplish.
Editor’s Note: This piece of writing is an OIAI article. Visit the off-Medium home site for more!
