How the earliest effects were produced

Visual effects were created using in-camera effects, such as jump-cuts or superimpositions, miniatures, back projection, and matte paintings.

• A precursor of animation was by Briton Eadweard Maybridge, who photographed The Horse in Motion in 1878. He photographed frame by frame how a horse's hoofs were off the ground at the same time.
• In 1902, magician George Melies developed the art of magical special effects that he perfected and used in later films.