Here’s Why They’re ‘Special’ Effects

Diane Perlov, the curator of special exhibitions and acting deputy director for exhibits at the California Science Center, believes that film and television special-effects artists are as much scientists as they are artists or technicians.

“They remind me a lot of scientists I’ve worked with because they are inventive people who are always tinkering with things,” Perlov explains. “A director may come up with an idea and then ask a special-effects artist to ‘Make this happen.’ The special-effects artist may not know how to make it happen, but he or she will tinker with an idea and invent a way to do it on film. Like scientists, they are a passionately curious group.”

The connection between science, or scientific thinking, and special effects is the basis for a just-opened temporary exhibit at the California Science Center. Dubbed “Special Effects 2,” the exhibit actually isn’t new to the Los Angeles area. It debuted in 1995 at the old California Museum of Science and Industry, and subsequently spent about four years on the road at various museums across the country. The current run through Feb. 6 at the California Science Center marks the exhibit’s final stop before it is retired from public view.

“Special Effects 2” is also a sequel to a special-effects exhibit that was developed by the California Museum of Science and Industry in 1986. That exhibit toured the country through 1993 and was so popular that the museum decided to create the sequel.

Perlov played a key role in creating both exhibits. But she says it was much more difficult to collect the artifacts for “Special Effects 2,” which include the surrealistic typewriter from the film “Naked Lunch” and a scorpion model from the movie “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” All exhibit items are on loan to the museum.

“When we did the first one, people weren’t really saving and preserving these [special effect] artifacts,” Perlov says. “So it was a lot easier to get them. It was like, ‘Well, we’ve got these things lying around. Do you want them?’ Since then, the objects have become much more commercially valuable and are thus harder to get. They’re collectors’ items now. Today, you have these restaurants like the Hard Rock Cafe that display film memorabilia.”

“Special Effects 2” is more educational and interactive than the first exhibit, which consisted mainly of non-interactive artifact displays. The current exhibit contains five mini-workshop areas designed to show visitors how special effects are designed, developed and executed.

Actual special-effects drawings and storyboards from films such as “The Hunt for Red October” and “Alien 3” are on display in the art shop section. This area also includes maquettes, which are small sculptures that are made from conceptual drawings and paintings. They help special-effects artists visualize what a character will look like.

The centerpiece of “Special Effects 2” is Monica, a 20-foot brontosaurus that was featured in the “Dinosaurs” TV series. A visitor can sit atop the dinosaur while watching several TV monitors that depict her and her new friend strolling “live” down a busy walkway at Venice Beach.

The Jim Henson Creature Shop “was really generous in creating Monica for us,” Perlov says. “We were just going to use the head of the dinosaur with the neck coming out. Then halfway through it they said, ‘Let’s just do the a whole dinosaur. It would be better.’ We said, ‘OK!’ ”

Another highlight is the animatronic head of Earl Sinclaire, another prehistoric character from “Dinosaurs,” which aired from 1991 to 1994 on ABC. Visitors can make Earl’s mouth grin and his eyebrows move while observing how the internal mechanisms work through a portion of the head where the skin has been peeled open.

A makeup area displays the different masks, head casts and molds that were used to help transform Robin Williams into “Mrs. Doubtfire” in the 1993 film. At various times during the day, guests can also take part in a floor demonstration in which they are affixed with special-effects items such as fake scars, bullet wounds and black eyes.

“At one of the museums [where “Special Effects 2” was on display], the [makeup artist] did quite a number on the person who was running the exhibit department,” recalls Brian Stotesbery, an exhibit electronics technician at the California Science Center. “She had scars and bruises [applied]. We went out to lunch after that, and people were turning and wondering what happened to her. I didn’t want to be with her because I thought maybe they thought I had beat her up or something!”

A computer area allows visitors to create their own special effects. Participants can add textures, colors or motion to maquettes that are presented on screen.

“People look at the exhibit and they either say, ‘I had no idea it was this complex and that they went through all this trouble to do this,’ or they say, ‘I had no idea it was so simple,’ ” says Perlov.

BE THERE

“Special Effects 2,” California Science Center, 700 State Drive, Los Angeles. Open daily through Feb. 6. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. Parking, $5. (323) 724-3623.