MovieChat Forums > Spies Like Us (1985) Discussion > Visual Effects and Miniatures

Visual Effects and Miniatures

posted 18 years ago by Mr.Bell
5 replies | jump to latest

Derek Meddings did some truly seamless visual effects work on this, much of the space stuff reminiscent of Superman with nods to Thunderbirds (numbered satelites).

The scene in which William Prince and Bruce Davison go on the elevator drop or when the drive in theatre turns into a satelite base are 100% seamless miniatures. They get so much screen time but the audience will never know!

The late Ray Caple did some an amazing matte painting for when they cross the desert into the Russian mountains. You couldn't have done better with a digital matte painting today.

The Brits were up there with ILM, Boss film and Apogee back in the early days of the post-Star Wars VFX revolution.

[–] greene515 18 years ago

Excellent work Derek Medding's was a guru when it came to miniatures.
(Check out That scene in'For Your Eye's Only' when the warehouse blow's up
that was a miniature as well,

[–] matjusm 15 years ago

Speaking of visual effects, did they actually build a driveable fake mobile rocket launcher or was that an unmoving set piece?

mmm, doughnut...
-Homer J. Simpson

[–] Mr.Bell 15 years ago

Most of the moving rocket launcher shots from the opening sequence were miniatures, even the trees were miniatures. The full size prop seen later could have been stationary but was more than likely a crane truck with a shell over it.

[–] sirtj228 8 years ago

Those scenes were some of the best parts

[–] cobrn-24298 7 years ago

This is a lost art now a days. To me now it looks like most film makers rely on too much CGI.. Even the older TMNT movie was more realistic than the newer ones.. Yes they were costumes but they were physically there on set.