A jammed camera in 1896 led to the discovery of cinema's first special effect
Cinematic illusion began with a mechanical failure in 1896 when Georges Méliès' camera jammed, causing a woman on film to seemingly transform into a skeleton through the first 'stop-trick' substitution.
The birth of special effects occurred as a result of a mechanical accident in 1896 on the streets of Paris. While filming 'The Vanishing Lady', Georges Méliès experienced a camera jam that halted the film for several seconds; by the time the mechanism resumed, the actors had moved and a stagehand had substituted a skeleton for the female lead. Upon developing the film, Méliès discovered that the resulting jump cut created a seamless illusion of a person vanishing into thin air.
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