Special effects are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. It is sometimes abbreviated as SFX, but this may also refer to sound effects.
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th century onward, the rise of illusionism in staging practices, which culminated in the realism and naturalism of the theatre of the 19th century, led to the development of the fourth wall concept.
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience.
Wire removal is a visual effects technique used to remove wires in films, where the wires are originally included as a safety precaution or to simulate flying in actors or miniatures. It uses a lot of rotomatting, a process of using splines in a program like After Effects or Nuke to extract a subject from a video, motion tracking, and painting over footage, which can be done in Photoshop, Boris Silhouette, or Nuke.
A stunt is an unusual, difficult, dramatic physical feat that may require a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually for a public audience, as on television or in theaters or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer-generated imagery special effects, these depictions were limited to the use of models, false perspective and other in-camera effects, unless the creator could find someone willing to carry them out, even such dangerous acts as jumping from car to car in motion or hanging from the edge of a skyscraper: the stunt performer or stunt double.
A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honoured the god Dionysus. Tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play were the three dramatic genres emerged there. Athens exported the festival to its numerous colonies. Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements.
A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows pilots-in-training to safely advance their skills in a more forgiving aircraft.
Royal Air Force Barkston Heath or RAF Barkston Heath is a Royal Air Force Relief Landing Ground under the command of RAF Cranwell near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
Wire fu is an element or style of Hong Kong action cinema used in fight scenes. It is a combination of two terms: "wire work" and "kung fu".
Gregory Jbara is an American actor and singer. He is known for his roles as Deputy Commissioner Garrett Moore in the CBS police procedural Blue Bloods (2010-2023), Dan O'Keefe in the Fox sitcom Grounded for Life, and for his performance as Jackie Elliot in Billy Elliot the Musical (2009), for which he earned a Tony Award.
Dominic Gerard Francis Eagleton West is an English actor, director and musician. He is best known for playing Jimmy McNulty in HBO's The Wire (2002–2008), Noah Solloway in Showtime's The Affair (2014–2019), the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama nomination, Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew Fred in A Christmas Carol, and Charles, Prince of Wales, in the Netflix drama The Crown (2022–2023), the latter of which earned him nominations for another Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
The Dassault Falcon 7X is a large-cabin, 5,950-nautical-mile [nmi] range business jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the second largest of its Dassault Falcon line. Unveiled at the 2001 Paris Air Show, its first flight took place on 5 May 2005 and it entered service on 15 June 2007. The Falcon 8X, first delivered on 5 October 2016, is derived from the 7X and has an extended range of 6,450 nmi made possible through engine optimization, aerodynamic refinements as well as an increase in fuel capacity. Featuring an S-duct central engine, the 7X, 8X and the Falcon 900 are the only trijets still in production, as of 2025.
Benjamin A. Foster is an American actor. His films include The Punisher (2004), X-Men: The Last Stand and Alpha Dog, 30 Days of Night (2007), The Messenger and Pandorum, The Mechanic (2011), Contraband (2012), Kill Your Darlings and Lone Survivor, The Program (2015), Warcraft (2016), and Leave No Trace (2018). He has won an Independent Spirit Award for portraying Tanner Howard in Hell or High Water (2016). He also had a recurring role as Russell Corwin in Six Feet Under (2003–05).
Imbiah Lookout is Singapore's biggest cluster of attractions, it is located in Sentosa Island. The area contains 11 attractions.
An omnidirectional treadmill (ODT) is a mechanical device, similar to a typical treadmill, that allows a person to perform locomotive motion in any direction, allowing for 360 degrees of movement. The ability to move in any direction is how these treadmills differ from their basic counterparts.
A Kirby wire is a pendulum-based flying system used by stage performers. The system was invented by George Kirby in 1898, and utilizes a quick-release mechanism for safety. The Kirby family made other innovations in theatrical flight including the somersault wire and a system that allowed an actor to be flown to the stage above the audience.
Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre was a theatre in Mariupol in southern Ukraine. The modern theatre was constructed in 1960 in the approximate location of the former Church of Mary Magdalene. The theatre was known as Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre before it was given academic status in November 2007. It was largely destroyed by Russian military airstrikes on 16 March 2022, resulting in the deaths of around 600 people.
A rigger is one who works on ropes, booms, lifts, hoists and the like for a stage production, film, or television show.
Matthew Robert Smith is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who (2010–2014), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series The Crown (2016–2017)—for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination—and Daemon Targaryen in HBO's fantasy drama series House of the Dragon (2022–present).
George Brant is an American playwright. Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, he is the author of several award-winning plays, most notably Grounded.
