Special effects are now so sophisticated they are often as interesting as the films they make spectacular. Children flying on broomsticks, dinosaurs lurching into camera, cars flipping literally on thin ice... The effects fit so seamlessly into the action that no audience has an inkling of the expertise and time that go into creating them. But big effects are part and parcel of big-budget film-making, as seen in this autumn's imminent top box-office releases Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and the new James Bond film Die Another Day. Effects can be split into two camps: physical and digital. Computers generate digital effects, creating Jurassic Park's dinosaurs and the fighting cyborg robots of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Physical effects are the explosions, stunt rigs, models, robots and prosthetics that are very real and can easily go wrong on set.
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