10 Movie Scenes You Didn't Realise Were Tricking You

There was more than what meets the eye with these movie scenes...

Underwater Movie
20th Century Fox

Though a great deal of the problems thrown at filmmakers over the course of bringing a feature into existence in the modern day tend to be solved with the blanket solution of "just CGI it in post-production", that doesn't necessarily mean that every director or team behind a project reach straight for bucketloads of animation when faced with a tall cinematic order.

And even if CGI is the answer, as this list will show, sometimes it's in its more subtle and discreet execution that it excels far more than its explosive and over-stuffed contemporaries elsewhere. And it often goes unnoticed due to its effectiveness.

But away from the world of digital enhancement, everything from forced perspective to truly mesmerising paintings have also been able to fool audiences into thinking there was absolutely no movie magic being pumped into the frame they were blissfully enjoying.

From exceptional vocal talents and CGI craft tricking us into thinking an actor was present on set, to doubles being cheekily swapped in under fans' noses, these movie moments were all laced into a flick in some rather unexpected ways...

10. That's No Moon, It's A Matte Painting - Star Wars

Underwater Movie
Lucasfilm

Though still possessing some of the most ground-breaking and cutting edge special effects available at the time, the team behind the Original Trilogy of Star Wars films had to think on their feet on more than a few occasions when trying to pull off various cinematic illusions for their galaxy far, far away.

And while puppets, models, and sets were all brilliantly utilised at times over the course of that first critically adored set of features, another tool was effectively snuck onto our screens in the most gorgeous of ways.

Brilliantly tricking those who filed into cinemas to witness the villainous antagonists assembling in The Empire Strikes Back, a beautiful matte painting - one of many used in bringing the Original flicks to life - was designed to be used as the backdrop for the scene. While the naked eye fools us into believing that this is in fact a huge hanger set filled with stormtrooper extras, in reality it's the work of a highly skilled artist adding layers upon layers of painted troops and a whole inter-galactic space docking point behind a few real extras.

Contributor
Contributor

Lifts rubber and metal. Watches people flip in spandex and pretends to be other individuals from time to time...