And all the screens go black and have this green text raining down, and the one guy with all the IDs says in a really sinister voice "Mr. Anderson..."
Wait, I saw this movie already.
Ok, I'm a professional filmmaker, here's my 2 cents...
It is impossible to seperate film and television because most network programming is not shot using video cameras, but film.
So, with that in mind, the most significant revolutions in computer effects for filmed media are...
Computer control of lasers to lay down fractal patterns directly onto film (see Dr. Who opening sequences, the "Vertigo" title sequence, and the ultimate use as the wormhole effect in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Computer control of the motion of models.
Go-motion technology developed by ILM for Star Wars.
The main title sequence for "Superman: The Motion Picture."
Jim Blinn creates his famous CGI solar-system flybys for the Jet Propulsion Lab.
Standardization of computer-generated title sequences.
The "computer recognition and interface theorization" period of the early 1980's (WarGames, Tron, Real Genius, Black Hole, The Last Starfighter, Superman III, etc.).
The pseudopod in The Abyss.
The stained-glass knight in Young Sherlock Holmes (NOT Young Indiana Jones).
The CGI compositing revolution that occured between Back To The Future Part III and Forest Gump (the ILM guys got together and said 'there has to be a better way to do this') that was made possible by the move from optical printer technology to scanning and direct laser printing onto motion picture film negatives.
The compositiong revolution included such fantastic side-effects as the change from bluescreens as a chemical process in development of the negatives (see "The African Queen" for the old way) to the computer process now commonly-called chroma-keying, wire removal, and eventually digital grading.
Star Trek: The Next Generation incorporates Macintosh generated animations into on-set displays.
The photorealism achieved in Jurassic Park (i.e. the 'yeah, the t-rex is fake, but so is the jeep').
An ILM animator puts a beveled edge on a mirror for "Contact."
Pixar begins experimenting with artificial characters in entirely artificial worlds for the big screen.
The Foundation Imaging-Video Toaster sparked revolution that began with the pilot episode of Babylon 5, continued in the wormhole effect seen in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and culminating in the Federation-Klingon-Cardassian-Dominion battle fleet sequences of the last 3 seasons of Deep Space Nine.
ILM develops their new carving system for "Minority Report."
Cinesite begins the digital grading revolution, often to the chagrin of cinematographers, seen in "Traffic," "O' Brother Where Art Thou?," and "The Lord of The Rings."
There are many more little steps in there, but those are the most important ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBEWQFViz3U
http://www.thenexthope.org/
amd.hope.net openbeacon.org
And all the screens go black and have this green text raining down, and the one guy with all the IDs says in a really sinister voice "Mr. Anderson..." Wait, I saw this movie already.
Especially when they come back and see what we've done with the place.
What was Odo doing on B5? Was Garibaldi jealous?
Sorry, forgot two things... Terminator 2, morphing. The Matrix, flow-mo (still-camera arrays).
Ok, I'm a professional filmmaker, here's my 2 cents...
It is impossible to seperate film and television because most network programming is not shot using video cameras, but film.
So, with that in mind, the most significant revolutions in computer effects for filmed media are...
Computer control of lasers to lay down fractal patterns directly onto film (see Dr. Who opening sequences, the "Vertigo" title sequence, and the ultimate use as the wormhole effect in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Computer control of the motion of models.
Go-motion technology developed by ILM for Star Wars.
The main title sequence for "Superman: The Motion Picture."
Jim Blinn creates his famous CGI solar-system flybys for the Jet Propulsion Lab.
Standardization of computer-generated title sequences.
The "computer recognition and interface theorization" period of the early 1980's (WarGames, Tron, Real Genius, Black Hole, The Last Starfighter, Superman III, etc.).
The pseudopod in The Abyss.
The stained-glass knight in Young Sherlock Holmes (NOT Young Indiana Jones).
The CGI compositing revolution that occured between Back To The Future Part III and Forest Gump (the ILM guys got together and said 'there has to be a better way to do this') that was made possible by the move from optical printer technology to scanning and direct laser printing onto motion picture film negatives.
The compositiong revolution included such fantastic side-effects as the change from bluescreens as a chemical process in development of the negatives (see "The African Queen" for the old way) to the computer process now commonly-called chroma-keying, wire removal, and eventually digital grading.
Star Trek: The Next Generation incorporates Macintosh generated animations into on-set displays.
The photorealism achieved in Jurassic Park (i.e. the 'yeah, the t-rex is fake, but so is the jeep').
An ILM animator puts a beveled edge on a mirror for "Contact."
Pixar begins experimenting with artificial characters in entirely artificial worlds for the big screen.
The Foundation Imaging-Video Toaster sparked revolution that began with the pilot episode of Babylon 5, continued in the wormhole effect seen in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and culminating in the Federation-Klingon-Cardassian-Dominion battle fleet sequences of the last 3 seasons of Deep Space Nine.
ILM develops their new carving system for "Minority Report."
Cinesite begins the digital grading revolution, often to the chagrin of cinematographers, seen in "Traffic," "O' Brother Where Art Thou?," and "The Lord of The Rings."
There are many more little steps in there, but those are the most important ones I can think of off the top of my head.