Special effects: techniques that, when used correctly in a movie, can advance its plot. In 1902, Frenchman George Melies’s “A Trip to the Moon” brought to the screens the first special effects movie in the history of film.
The 13 minute silent film is based on the novel of the same name: Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon. It opens with a group of astronomers in a meeting; one speaker in the meeting proposes a trip to the moon, and with that, five audacious astronomers volunteer for the mission. The astronomers immediately build a spaceship and are fired into space. The ship lands in the eye of the man in the moon, the area of the moon that resembles the visage of a person. Concisely, the astronomers land on the moon's surface and embark on one thrilling adventure.
From the science fiction to the action packed adventure, this film is one to see; the fact that it is silent film may be a turn off for some, but the ingenuity of special effects make this film a classic.