Melies the Storyteller: Tim made me aware of a new DVD coming out featuring the works of Georges Melies. One of the few nonfiction pieces I've written was a piece on the history of special effects in the studio. This review, coming by way of the Reason blog, is good, but misses the main contribution Melies made.

The difference between him and the other guys was that he was finding a way to incorporate the effects into the story. The effects weren't just eye candy, they were vital plot elements. The story depended on them.

A lot of folks had done effects films--Thomas Edison himself had shot a really cute one involving Santa Claus--or story films, but there had been little overlap.

Melies wasn't, as this review suggests, trying to imitate the more mainstream filmmakers. He was trying to pull the effects into the mainstream. And I think he succeeded wonderfully.

And the effects, of course, are why he bolted his camera to the floor. This was before Robert Zemekis developed the Vistaglide camera, which could flawlessly recreate its own movements for effects shots. Back then, the camera had to be stone rigid in order to make the stop motion stuff and the jump cuts look as good as possible.

Melies was a darn fine magician. But he was also a delightful storyteller.