History Main / SpecialEffectFailure

Sometimes cheesy FX are regarded as part of the SoBadItsGood charm of a work. Sometimes authors will [[IntendedAudienceReaction intentionally aim for this]] as a form of StylisticSuck.

* Pretty much the whole of the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fancomic ''Webcomic/HowIBecameYours''. Special mention goes to all the copied poses. Diaz copies from everything, mostly the show itself (though she often uses [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] as a model for Zuko), and often uses the same artwork over and over (Iroh is depicted in the "holding out the white lotus tile" pose from "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWaterbendingScroll The Waterbending Scroll]]" several different times). He's also depicted in a pose from "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheStorm The Storm]]" wherein he is in a dark room and lit from below by a fire, and no attempt was made to change the lighting, despite the ''How I Became Yours'' scene taking place in bright sunlight.

The audience's expectations for effects have grown up with the media. For example, it is obviously a dummy being thrown from a train in ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery1903'' -- but since it was filmed when filmmaking ''itself'' was in its infancy, people forgave it. If a modern remake had done that, however, they would not have been nearly as kind unless it was for [[StylisticSuck other reasons]]; ''Franchise/StarWars'' raised the bar for visual effects so high that only the most advanced pre-1977 effects can measure up. It should also be noted that the modern push to update everything to HD can also result in a retroactive form of this, as a matte painting in a 1980s VHS release looks fine, but on the cleaned up, [[DigitalDestruction "remastered"]] Blu-ray looks like, well, a cheap matte painting in the background. Same for video games when prerendered backgrounds look weird.

The audience's expectations for effects have grown up with the media. For example, it is obviously a dummy being thrown from a train in ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' -- but since it was filmed when filmmaking ''itself'' was in its infancy (1903 to be exact), people forgave it. If a modern remake had done that, however, they would not have been nearly as kind unless it was for [[StylisticSuck other reasons]]; ''Franchise/StarWars'' raised the bar for visual effects so high that only the most advanced pre-1977 effects can measure up. It should also be noted that the modern push to update everything to HD can also result in a retroactive form of this, as a matte painting in a 1980s VHS release looks fine, but on the cleaned up, [[DigitalDestruction "remastered"]] Blu-ray looks like, well, a cheap matte painting in the background. Same for video games when prerendered backgrounds look weird.

* [[SpecialEffectFailure/LiveActionFilm Films — Live-Action]]

!!Examples subpages:

!!Examples with their own pages

!!Other examples

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* The “destruction” of the Munich terrorist facility in the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' fan film ''WebVideo/DiamondsCut'' seems to intentionally go for the Camp factor with what seems like a really bad photoshop. Absolutely nothing collapses and the only signs of destruction are little tongues of flame with thin tendrils of smoke at the forefront.

* In ParodyFic ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'', the alien abductor D'Ork of the Thorkoth looks like a cheap prop from a Creator/RogerCorman [[Film/ItConqueredTheWorld film]], has a KillerRobot that's just a [[Film/RobotMonster diving helmet on a gorilla suit]], and pilots a FlyingSaucer that's held up by visible strings.

* The “destruction” of Munich terrorist facility in ''Franchise/Bond'' fan film ''WebVideo/DiamondsCut'' seems to intentionally go for the Camp factor with what seems like a really bad photoshop. Absolutely nothing collapses and the only signs of destruction are little tongues of flame with thin tendrils of smoke at the forefront.

* The “destruction” of Munich terrorist facility in ''Franchise/JamesBond'' fan film ''WebVideo/DiamondsCut'' seems to intentionally go for the Camp factor with what seems like a really bad photoshop. Absolutely nothing collapses and the only signs of destruction are little tongues of flame with thin tendrils of smoke at the forefront.

** They try to make a scene in which an unnamed man tries to take a shower, but worms come out instead of water. Greg can't find a way to make it looks natural, and settles for throwing gummy worms at Rowley's face and hoping it'll look realistic once they make the final cut.

* The Hatbox Ghost from ''Franchise/TheHauntedMansion'' ride at Disneyland remained a legend for decades due to this. He was a skeletal old man with a hatbox in his hand, placed in the attic with the Bride figure, whose heart beat and glowed. Promotional materials said that in the story, the Hatbox Ghost was the groom, whose head faded from his shoulders and reappeared in his box in sync with his bride's heartbeat. (There is evidence that this was part of a murder story in the attic scene, with other hatbox heads in the attic, and the Hatbox Ghost exposing the Bride as the killer with his trick.) The effect was meant to be done with careful lighting- the light would go off above his shoulders, making his head seem to vanish, and go on in his box, revealing the second head inside. However, proximity of the figure to riders made the first part of the illusion fail and the Hatbox Ghost was removed very early in the ride's operation, never made it to the Walt Disney World version, and most riders never saw it, to the point that it was considered a myth until photos of the figure ''in situ'' emerged. After, the Attic scene was retooled to make the Bride a lonely, mournful character due to the lack of a victim. After several decades, during which a new murderous Bride story was implemented with more detail, the Hatbox Ghost was finally brought back to Disneyland in 2015 with much more complex effects, with fluid animation, a projected, animated face, and a head-traveling effect that worked while the character was placed right next to the riders' vehicles. (Part of this is due to the new figure being hollow and the head being pulled into the body when the "switch" occurs.) While the new Bride is more obviously murderous, the Hatbox Ghost assumes a similar narrative role to before, likely showing what's in the attic hatboxes, as the hats are on a rack.

When {{special effects}} look really cheap and dodgy, to the point of pulling the audience out of the narrative, you have a Special Effect Failure. All-too-common prior to 1980, and still with us today despite relatively inexpensive digital effects that can be very convincing and realistic... but often aren't.

* Parodied by ''[[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00448.htm Freefall]]'', where cheesy special effects have been painstakingly re-created by CGI, including the wires.

* Pretty much the whole of the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fancomic ''[[Webcomic/HowIBecameYours How I Became Yours]]''. Special mention goes to all the copied poses. Diaz copies from everything, mostly the show itself (though she often uses [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] as a model for Zuko), and often uses the same artwork over and over (Iroh is depicted in the "holding out the white lotus tile" pose from "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWaterbendingScroll The Waterbending Scroll]]" several different times). He's also depicted in a pose from "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheStorm The Storm]]" wherein he is in a dark room and lit from below by a fire, and no attempt was made to change the lighting, despite the ''How I Became Yours'' scene taking place in bright sunlight.

* People responsible for news graphics are only human, and sometimes they put up a picture of the wrong person.

The audience's expectations for effects have grown up with the media. For example, it is obviously a dummy being thrown from a train in ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' -- but since it was filmed when filmmaking ''itself'' was in its infancy (1903 to be exact), people forgave it. If a modern remake had done that, however, they would not have been nearly as kind unless it was for [[StylisticSuck other reasons]]; ''Franchise/StarWars'' raised the bar for visual effects so high that only the most advanced pre-1977 effects can measure up. It should also be noted that the modern push to update everything to HD can also result in a retroactive form of this, as a matte painting in a 1980s VHS release looks fine, but on the cleaned up, [[DigitalDestruction "remastered"]] Blu-ray looks like, well, a cheap matte painting in the background. Same for Video games when prerendered backgrounds look weird.

* In-universe example in ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidDoubleDown'', where middle school student Greg Heffley tries to create a homemade horror movie on NoBudget:

* People responsible for news graphics are only human, and sometimes they put up a picture of the wrong person. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRcTgMsEG2k Here is a case where that happened.]]

The audience's expectations for effects have grown up with the media. For example, it is obviously a dummy being thrown from a train in ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' -- but since it was filmed when filmmaking ''itself'' was in its infancy (1903 to be exact), people forgave it. If a modern remake had done that, however, they would not have been nearly as kind unless it was for [[StylisticSuck other reasons]]; ''StarWars'' raised the bar for visual effects so high that only the most advanced pre-1977 effects can measure up. It should also be noted that the modern push to update everything to HD can also result in a retroactive form of this, as a matte painting in a 1980s VHS release looks fine, but on the cleaned up, [[DigitalDestruction "remastered"]] Blu-ray looks like, well, a cheap matte painting in the background. Same for Video games when prerendered backgrounds look weird.

When {{special effects}} look really cheap and dodgy, to the point of pulling the audience out of the narrative, you have a Special Effect Failure. All-too-common prior to 1980, and still with us today despite relatively inexpensive digital effects that can be very convincing and realistic... but often [[ConspicuousCG aren't]].

The audience's expectations for effects have grown up with the media. For example, it is obviously a dummy being thrown from a train in ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' -- but since it was filmed when filmmaking ''itself'' was in its infancy (1903 to be exact), people forgave it. If a modern remake had done that, however, they would not have been nearly as kind unless it was for [[StylisticSuck other reasons]]. It should also be noted that the modern push to update everything to HD can also result in a retroactive form of this, as a matte painting in a 1980s VHS release looks fine, but on the cleaned up, [[DigitalDestruction "remastered"]] Blu-ray looks like, well, a cheap matte painting in the background. Same for Video games when prerendered backgrounds look weird.

Sometimes a Special Effect Failure is caused by resorting to OffTheShelfFX. Many examples are just plain {{Blooper}}s (a literal failure of the effects). In a video game it can be because of ModelDissonance being revealed by a glitch or oversight.

[[folder: Theme Parks]]

The audience's expectations for effects have grown up with the media. For example, it is obviously a dummy being thrown from a train in ''Film/TheGreatTrainRobbery'' -- but since it was filmed when filmmaking ''itself'' was in its infancy (1903 to be exact), people forgave it. If a modern remake had done that, however, they would not have been nearly as kind. It should also be noted that the modern push to update everything to HD can also result in a retroactive form of this, as a matte painting in a 1980s VHS release looks fine, but on the cleaned up, [[DigitalDestruction "remastered"]] Blu-ray looks like, well, a cheap matte painting in the background.