Special Effects and Layers [Transcription of Video]

Nelson: I loved special effects. We all do of course, but I was in to them rather early. When I was fifteen, which was in 1952, I had an American Cinematographers Handbook, which I read from cover to cover. I was already budgeting low budget movies in my mind. I was a member of a film society called Cinema 16. It was perfectly clear to me that anyone could make movies. One of my heroes was a fellow named Norman McLarin, a Canadian cartoonist with the National Film Board of Canada who actually drew on the frames. It was good stuff. Very cute!

Layered effects. I was fascinated by three dimensions from the time I was a kid. There was something called the True View, which was a 35MM viewer far better than the View Master that came in later. Then came 3-D movies. I think House of Wax was the first one. To me, the real thrill was to go, curtains parted, and this hand drawn road was flung out to you in three dimensions and said "now is the time to put on your glasses." Who was it done by? It was done by Norman McLarin!

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