Special Effects and the Death of Imagination

By Leonard Aaron Caplan

In film and video, special effects can be astounding! They can enhance reality as in a Western or war movie or help us imagine new realities as in James Cameron’s Avatar. From the early days of movies ‘til today, special video effects, along with their sound counterparts attract moviegoers and television viewers, even becoming beloved icons. Who doesn’t love and remember R2D2, the cute little robot on Star Wars, which in reality was an actor’s voice emanating from a lifeless plastic shell, animated by electronics? And who in this generation doesn’t recognize the “beam down” sound and visual effects of Star Trek both on TV and in the movies?

It’s when special video and sound effects BECOME the movie or TV show that it becomes a problem. Many may and have disagreed with me, but years ago, I found Jurassic Park to be a vapid, mindless showcase for special effects with a story and dialogue a chimp could have written, giving the actors little to do except look ridiculously scared while running. The book, Jurassic Park by the late Michael Crichton on the other hand was a clever “who (or what) done it” with engaging characters and a great plot.

Why and how does this happen? Evidentally, it’s cheaper, more profitable and easier to hire special effects wizards than it is to do numbers of re-writes in an effort to be more faithful to books or other original sources that stories may come from. And let’s face it, if a movie, TV show or home video is making money, what do the producers care about story?

Special effects are tools, and should not be building blocks for a story. Have you ever seen a play where the actors are so good and the story so engaging that you may not have noticed ‘til the end that there was very little or even NO sets or costumes? I’ve seen plenty and I can tell you that it is ultimately more satisfying to have your imagination stimulated than your eyes and ears.

I’m talking about the death of imagination here! Remember the sitcom Frazier when Niles mentioned his never seen wife Maris? Throughout its 11 season run, the audience never saw her, and there were dozens of stories written about Niles relationship with her. Why did it work? Imagination! No amount of special effects could have planted in viewers minds a better image of how she might have looked and sounded or the kind of person she was than the minds of the viewers themselves. You just can’t beat that!

Being a teacher, I guess it’s the young people, the next generation I worry about. With a steady diet of special effects movies, what must this do to their imaginations? If a mind isn’t stimulated, it regresses. How tragic it would be if one day when a well written story came along, with great dialogue, plot and characters if the majority of the populace simply doesn’t have the capacity to recognize it? In my opinion this could happen if TV and movie makers don’t put more thought and meaning into their projects instead of concentrating so much on money and special effects.

Special effects have their place, but give me the human mind and its imaginings. You can’t hire a better special effects machine than that!

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Talent Can't Survive Alone!

By Leonard Aaron Caplan

Let’s face it, it’s glamorous to be on TV, as a host, reporter, narrator, etc. You can’t blame people for wanting the notoriety, the access to “exclusive” people and places and the good living a successful talent can make. But those who aspire to such positions need to realize that the video, audio, lighting and writing of these segments don’t simply get done by themselves.

Along with camera people and video editors are engineers , directors and production assistants. There are also producers who plan segments, making decisions about what a video segment or show is about, etc. These are the people whom on-air talents must depend, no matter how good they are in front of the camera.

I’ve had students and even interns tell me there is no need for them to learn the ropes of video production because “I’m the talent”. These people miss the point! I’ve been in video production since 1979 and I can tell you that the talent who are smart enough to learn the ropes both in front of and behind the camera are those who will be more in control of the segments they do and ultimately more in demand by producers and others in charge of hiring.

The behind-the-scenes people who make talent look good will very appreciative of the talent who understands what they go through for the production and often will go out of their way to make the talent’s job easier. The contrary is also true. Show production people you only care about what you’re doing and don’t appreciate what they do and you can be sure of only minimal cooperation, and in some cases not at all.

There is a lot potential on-air talent must learn if being in front of the camera is their goal. It’s called “paying your dues”. It’s a myth that someone is spotted and hired sight unseen for their looks or voice. Most on-air personalities will also tell you that it took years, many of them working for free or almost-free for them to realize their goal.

Television is a team effort. No one position is indispensable. Everyone depends upon one other, no matter how different their job is from yours or how little you may understand it.

Understand this and you’ll increase your chances of success. Don’t understand it or minimize others contributions to the whole and you’ll see just how hard it is to reach or stay at the top.

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