The Production GuideSFX
by Martin Willey
The Production GuideThe first ever film special effect was created by Alfred Clark for the Edison film The Execution of Mary Stuart (1895). Queen Mary is beheaded, but it is a hidden film edit, cutting from first scene with an actress to a second scene, with all the other actors in the same position, but the actress is replaced with a dummy with a detachable head.
Almost every exploding spaceship in Space: 1999 uses the same trick.
Breakaway, the space station explodes. The model still existed over a year later when they filmed it for Dragon's Domain (and it still exists today). There is a cut between the shot of the spinning space station and the explosion, which includes debris created specifically for the shot. The camera is pointing upwards at the camera ceiling.
In The Infernal Machine, an Eagle is blown up. This shot shows the SFX studio ceiling for a single frames.
Hidden cuts were also used in live action, to make items suddenly appear or disappear.
In New Adam New Eve, the editor included a few frames showing the stage assistant putting a stun gun in the hand of Magus.
Copyright Martin Willey