934 — Watching Special Effects

Have you ever wondered how Hollywood can destroy the world? Find out in this episode.
Slow dialog: 1:12
Explanations: 3:17
Fast dialog: 16:36
Chrissy: Wow, that movie was amazing, but I can’t believe that they blew up the Eiffel Tower. I bet the French are really pissed.
Jack: You’re kidding, right? They didn’t really blow up the Eiffel Tower. They used special effects to make it look that way.
Chrissy: Are you sure? It really looked like the real thing.
Jack: They used a scale model or a computer-generated image of the Eiffel Tower and added some pyrotechnics or other visual effects to create what you saw on the screen. It’s like a big optical illusion. I can’t believe you really thought they blew up the Eiffel Tower.
Chrissy: Oh no, I didn’t. I was just kidding. But you have to admit that it was pretty cool that they got the real president of the United States to kill that monster, right?
Jack: You must be messing with my mind again. That wasn’t the president. That was an actor wearing prosthetics and makeup standing in front of a green screen. They added the monster later in post-production.
Chrissy: Oh, right, sure. But you have to hand it to them for moving a section of the Great Wall of China to New York City, right?
Jack: Oh, boy...

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse