Way back in the 1800s, when film was still in its infancy, something was created that would impact the films we watch today.

As motion pictures began to emerge and become popular, stage performers took note and decided to enhance what they saw, creating what would be known as Trick Films.

Stage magicians were among the first set of creatives to take on filmmaking. They would use their trade to create certain effects on film, with Georges Méliès, a stage performer and magician, as the main figure and the man who would revolutionise the film industry.

One of his earliest films to show this was 1895’s The Vanishing Lady. In which he took the stage trick of a woman disappearing behind a cloak. Méllès changed it for the film. Instead of using a trapdoor as he would on stage, he decided to use editing techniques.

What he would use is known as a cut or substitution splice, allowing him not only to use the trick but also to add different materials to the film, such as a skeleton.

He is often credited with the invention of this trick after his camera jammed while shooting a bus, and when it started working, it turned into a hearse going by.

Méliès would also create what is known as the world’s first film filled with special effects, a film with legendary status that has been parodied throughout history. A Trip To The Moon.

Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), released in 1902, was packed with effects that make it stand out for how young film was even then. It is full of stop tricks, multiple exposures, pioneering work with blue screen, and Matte paintings.

Another notable film to showcase the substitution splice was The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, another 1895 film directed by Alfred Clark and produced by Thomas Edison, who was one of the first filmmakers to create his own studio in North America and to experiment with techniques he saw in other films.

Fast forward over a hundred years, and these techniques have been refined to create the VFX that we see in films today. If it weren’t for Georges Méliès, then we might not have the green-screen-laden Marvel Films.