36 Low-Tech Tricks Hollywood Uses

As you may have noticed, we love to dissect movie effects here at Cracked. That's why we asked our readers to show us the shockingly simple tactics behind executing some of the most visually complex scenes in film history.

The winner is below, but first the runners-up ...

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CRACKED.CON COM EVVER WONDER IWHERE THE ICONIC BLASTER SOUNDS IN STAR WARS CAME FROM? THAT'S JUST SOUND DESIGNER BEN BURTT HIITTING A RADIO TOWER WIRE

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Entry by DocBen

During the filming of the 1926 movie, Metropolis, Eugene CRACKEDG COM Schufftan placed a half-transparent mirror at a 45 degree angle between the came

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Entry by Triborough

Making a TV show is expensive! But we pass the savings on to you! $85 $148 $175,000 $85 +$36 for uniform $85 $85 $85 $85 $85 $85 $85 $85 Non-union TV

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Entry by Stullberg

Oh, Ripley, you've got it all wrong! Anyone who brings that much K-Y JELLY MUST be Friendly! CRACKED.COM

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Entry by Lycanthropist

Filmmakers use a wax button bullet effect for onscreen gunshots to the head. A button on a string is embedded beneath a plate of wax skin with blood t

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Entry by jmDCI

This entire mountain forteess was constructed in miniature with the sole PUEPOSE of being frigain blown LIP for Eares.s dream in iceptione A director'

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CRACKED.COM ON OCCASIONS WHERE BLANK GUNS ARE TOO LOUD. TOO EXPENSIVE OR IMPRACTICAL FOR THE LOCATION. FILMS OFTEN USE AIRSOFT GUNS INSTEAD. AND INSER

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Entry by plasquatch

36 Low-Tech Tricks Hollywood Uses

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Entry by Garrote

FAK GLASSE Safer than jurping face:first through a real window. -Delicious. -It used to be made out of SUGAR CRACKED COM (Nowadays, boring synthetic r

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Commonly seen behind the scenes at the beginning of a take. a clapperboard is struck to sync audio and video. It also has lines for writing production

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Entry by NoahKort

CRACKED.COM GOT A HUGE PIECE OF SET LEFT OVER FROM KING KONG IN THE WAREHOUSE TAKING UP VALUABLE SPACE? BURN IT IN Gone WITH THE WIND

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Entry by bazooka

Actor Fred.MacMurray was reluctant to star in the TV sitcom My Three Sons until the producer agreed that every scene that he appeared in for an entire

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Entry by thnderleg

Snorting cocaine is too hazardous, SO the FX team will use regular powdered milk as a substitute. MiIk N SITOL INOSITO And those suffering from lactos

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Entry by JustinBoyle

WHAT MIYSTERIES LIE WITHIN A SANDWORMI'S HIDE? CONDOMS LOTS AND LOTS OF GODDAMNED CONDOMS

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Entry by evan2

36 Low-Tech Tricks Hollywood Uses

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Entry by Mongoloid17

EVER WONDERERED OW sNOW SCENES LOOK so FLAWLESS, EVEN AFTER MULTIPLE TAKES? CHANCES ARE, THE SNOW HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY EFFECTS COMPANY SNOWBUSINESS. W

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Wanna do a cheap dolly shot? Put the camera in wheelchair a (or a wagon, wheelbarrow, or an office chair) CRACKEDOON

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Entry by MelJel

Watermelon is used for sounds. many foley A head getting cracked open, a guy getting punched in the face, even dinosaur a egg hatching! CRACKEDOON

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Entry by Adogg1991

The waterfalls surrounding the city of Theed in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace were created by pouring salt down a velvet screen. They used

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Entry by ChevySpoons

Question: How do you get actors in a car to look like they're really in a moving car? Answer: Use a process trailer. AFEIS The trailer rides low, so

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Ever wonder what makes the creepy background noises in horror/sci-fi movies? Odds are. it's a waterphone. Its spine-tingling sounds are featured in th

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Entry by Gisele

Qew do you get a Realiscic CRACKED.COM seund EfFECT fer a horde f 6load chirsgy URE har ? By Recerding 30,000 Kiwis in Welingcern Scaoum ourinng a bre

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TOP GUN TISED A MIXTURE OF IN-FLIGHT FOOTAGE OF REATTETS ALONG WITH NUMEROUS MINTATTIRE MODETS OF VARTOUS SIZES. RUT THEY RAN IN'TO A PRORTEM WITH MAT

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Entry by NDUDE

In the 1950 film Orpheus by Jean Cocteau, Orpheus has to travel between our world and the Underworld through a magic mirror. The film shows Orpheus st

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Entry by foxjasond

In order to keep production budgets reasonable, many TV shows will plan for episodes that have only the main characters, using only a few regular sets

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Entry by Bennett Rea

Ever notice that dreamy cloud-like aura that happens at certain moments in movies? The secret is... Vaseline. Camera operators smear it on the lens to

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Entry by davlee1991

Often, if an actress woN't get naked, or wants too much money to get naked, body doubles are used, especially when her, face isn't in frame. An altern

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Entry by scooperfield

Save the Cat Shortly after introduction, the main character does a good, selfless deed, So the audience will know that despite questionable actions,

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Entry by bazooka

The Aviator The 1940s Beverly Hills neighborhood in line for the dramatic XF-11 aircraft crash is the COMBINATION of some detailed 1/4 scale miniature

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Entry by Rachel P.

HI Euit Pastle CRACKEDCON

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Entry by John Mulroy

CRACKEDo In the video of Dance Tonight by Paul McCartney, director Michel Gondry uses an old but neat technique to portray the ghosts in the room. H

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Entry by mightyzamfir

CRACKED.COM When a filmmaker needs clouds to look dramatic. they use a cloud tank. Pioneered by Douglas Trumbull. it's essentially squirting paint (

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Entry by Scott Laffey

Matte Painting Before CGI, filmmakers would create breathtaking environments by painting backgrounds on sheets of glass.

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CHOCOLATE! A great source oP Pake blood! CRACKED COM

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Entry by dvorakdvorak

Want to create a It's simple! Just sense of unease or suggest thata TILT character is evil? the camera! TODAY This is known as the Dutch Angle and w

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There is an almost universally upheld rule in cinema that when you cut to something else within the same scene, you have to cut to an angle at least 3