8. The Opening Shot of Star Wars Trilogy (1977)
http://youtu.be/z33-qOXOWS4 Now that CGI is as advanced as it is, George Lucas would rather sit on his backside and let machines (and an army of very talented animators of course) do all the work, but making the original Star Wars Trilogy was much more of a challenge. Visual effects (CGI) only existed then in a rudimentary form and if you wanted to create cinematic magic, it was Special Effects (an effect that actually happened in reality, captured on camera) all the way. With that in mind, capturing the opening sequence of Star Wars, and indeed every space-flight sequence thereafter required some lateral thinking. Why It Was Inventive: Because there was no real CGI to rely upon, Lucas and his Cinematographer had to work out a way to shoot the space-flight sequences live. This involved a series of custom built sets and models, which the camera itself would then rotate and move around at very specific, geometrically planned trajectories in order to simulate their movement in space. So when you see that tiny rebel vessel fleeing from that huge Imperial Star Destroyer, youre seeing something that was shot live (minus cannon blasts of course, which were added in post-production). To this day I find effects that were captured live to be superior to CGI, provided its done right. And Lucas is truly a pioneer of the art. Pity then that hes squandered that title on Episodes I III.