Research Article

Special effects in early cinema: Technological and narrative evolution in Soviet, German, and American film traditions

İbrahim Etem Zinderen 1 * , Yusuf Yurdigül 2
More Detail
1 Department of Journalism, Faculty of Communication, Atatürk University, Erzurum, TÜRKİYE2 Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, Faculty of Communication, Atatürk University, Erzurum, TÜRKİYE* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 16(3), July 2026, e202644, https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/18969
Published: 15 July 2026
OPEN ACCESS   122 Views   71 Downloads
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

This study examines the use of special effects in early cinema through the lens of Soviet, German Expressionist, and American film traditions. It analyses the functions of special effects within cinematographic narrative, their historical development, and their ideological implications. As case studies, the films Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924) from Soviet cinema, Metropolis (1927) from German Expressionist cinema, and King Kong (1933) from American cinema were selected. The methodological framework of this study consists of historical analysis, content analysis based on film analysis, and comparative analysis techniques. The films were evaluated on technical, aesthetic, and narrative levels through qualitative content analysis. Thematic analysis was employed to explore the narrative functions of special effects, while formal analysis examined the influence of audiovisual techniques on aesthetic construction. Historical analysis assessed the role of special effects in the evolution of film technology and their place within cinematic traditions. Comparative analysis revealed differences in the use of special effects across the three film traditions in terms of technique, aesthetics, and ideology. This study concludes that in early cinema, special effects functioned not only as tools of visual innovation but also as fundamental cinematographic elements shaping the ideological and aesthetic structures of different cinematic traditions.
Keywords: early cinema, special effects, cinematographic narrative, Soviet cinema, German expressionist cinema, American cinema

CITATION (APA)

Zinderen, İ. E., & Yurdigül, Y. (2026). Special effects in early cinema: Technological and narrative evolution in Soviet, German, and American film traditions. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 16(3), e202644. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/18969

REFERENCES

  1. Abdel-Ghani, T. (2020). City symphonies: The urban culture of expressionist cinema in 1920s Berlin. The City and History, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.33542/MAD2019-2-04
  2. Abisel, N. (2006). Sessiz sinema [Silent film]. De Ki Basım Yayım.
  3. Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. Free Press.
  4. Bergstrom, J. (2014). Warning shadows: German expressionism and American film noir. In J. Bergstrom (Ed.), Film Noir (pp. 38-57). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748691081-006
  5. Beumers, B. (2016). Special/spatial effects in Soviet cinema. In V. Strukov, & H. Goscilo (Eds.), Russian aviation, space flight and visual culture (pp. 169-174). Routledge.
  6. Bogdanova, E. S. (2021). Spetseffekty sovetskogo kino: Metod perspektivnogo sovmeshcheniya [Special effects of Soviet cinema: The method of perspective superposition]. Sphere of Culture, 2(2), 77-84. https://doi.org/10.48164/2713-301X_2021_4_77
  7. Bogdanova, E. S. (2022). Special effects of the Soviet cinema: A method of finishing drawing. Sphere of Culture, 3(1), 98-109. https://doi.org/10.48164/2713-301X_2022_7_98
  8. Bordwell, D., Staiger, J., & Thompson, K. (2005). The classical Hollywood cinema: Film style and mode of production to 1960. Taylor & Francis.
  9. Bottomore, S. (1999). The panicking audience? Early cinema and the “train effect.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 19(2), 177-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/014396899100271
  10. Brown, B. (2018). Sinematografi: Kuram ve uygulama [Cinematography: Theory and practice] (S. Taylaner, Trans.). Hil Yayın.
  11. Burns, W. F. (2016). From the shadows: Nosferatu and the German Expressionist aesthetic. Mise-en-Scène: The Journal of Film & Visual Narration, 1(1), 1-12.
  12. Choe, S. (2016). Of nerves and men: Postwar delusion and Robert Reinert’s Nerven. In O. Brill, & G. D. Rhodes (Eds.), Expressionism in the cinema (pp. 41-64). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474403269-006
  13. Corrigan, T. (2008). Film eleştirisi el kitabı [Film criticism handbook] (A. Gürata, Trans.). Dipnot Yayınları.
  14. Cram, C. (2012). Digital cinema: The role of the visual effects supervisor. Film History: An International Journal, 24(2), 169-186. https://doi.org/10.2979/filmhistory.24.2.169
  15. Cubitt, S. (2004). The cinema effect. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/1832.001.0001
  16. Das, S. (2023). The evolution of visual effects in cinema: A journey from practical effects to CGI. JETIR: Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 10(11), 303-309.
  17. Deleuze, G. (1986). Cinema 1: The movement-image (H. Tomlinson, & B. Habberjam, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press.
  18. Elsaesser, T. (2000). Weimar cinema and after: Germany’s historical imaginary. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203388334
  19. Elsaesser, T. (2016). Expressionist cinema—Style and design in film history. In O. Brill, & G. D. Rhodes (Eds.), Expressionism in the cinema (pp. 15-40). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474403269-005
  20. Erdoğan, İ. (2012). Pozitivist metodoloji ve ötesi: Araştırma tasarımları, niteliksel ve istatistiksel yöntemler [Positivist methodology and beyond: Research designs, qualitative and statistical methods]. Erk Yayınları.
  21. Esser, F., & Vliegenthart, R. (2017). Comparative research methods. In J. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 1-11). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0035
  22. Fielding, R. (1985). The technique of special effects cinematography. Focal Press.
  23. Finch, C. (1984). Special effects: Creating movie magic. Abbeville Press.
  24. Frymus, A., Antoniazzi, L., & Carr, L. (2021). Introductory essay: Silent film historiography, digital technology and the archive. Studies in European Cinema, 18(3), 189-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/17411548.2021.1957624
  25. Geray, H. (2004). Toplumsal araştırmalarda nicel ve nitel yöntemlere giriş [Introduction to quantitative and qualitative methods in social research]. Siyasal Kitabevi.
  26. Germani, I. (2019). German expressionism in context: The First World War and the European avant-garde. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 16, 11-34. https://doi.org/10.2478/ausfm-2019-0002
  27. Grace, H. (2005). The life of fantasy and cinema: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. Australian Screen Education, 39, 143-148.
  28. Griffiths, A. (2010). Wonder, magic and the fantastical margins: Medieval visual culture and cinematic special effects. Journal of Visual Culture, 9(2), 163-188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470412910372757
  29. Jacobs, L. (2012). The innovation of re-recording in the Hollywood studios. Film History, 24(1), 5-34. https://doi.org/10.2979/filmhistory.24.1.5
  30. Jacobsen, W., & Sudendorf, W. (2000). Metropolis: A cinematic laboratory for modern architecture. Axel Menges.
  31. Jiang, L. (2024). Montage techniques and visual language under German Expressionism. Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 1(2), 464-480. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14562438
  32. Keil, C. (2001). Early American cinema in transition: Story, style, and filmmaking, 1907-1913. University of Wisconsin Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.36032572
  33. Klein, C. (2004). Martial arts and the globalization of US and Asian film industries. Comparative American Studies, 2(3), 360-365. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477570004046776
  34. Loew, K. (2021). Special effects and German silent film: Techno-romantic cinema. Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1jf2c8c
  35. Lotman, Y. (1999). Sinema estetiğinin sorunları [Problems of cinematic aesthetics] [O. Özügül, Trans.]. Öteki Ajans.
  36. Lyman, S. M. (1997). Cinematic ideologies and societal dystopias in the United States, Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union: 1900-1996. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 10(4), 497-542. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02098688
  37. Malin, P., & Changsong, W. (2025). Through the looking-glass of the familiar: Reframing Soviet avant-garde cinema between aesthetics and ideology. ASPIRATION Journal, 6(2), 110-138.
  38. Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2002v27n1a1280
  39. Mayring, P. (2000). Qualitative content analysis. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-1.2.1089
  40. McCarthy, R. E. (1992). Secrets of Hollywood special effects. Focal Press.
  41. Miller, J. (2006). Soviet cinema, 1929-41: The development of industry and infrastructure. Europe-Asia Studies, 58(1), 103-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130500401715
  42. Miller, R. (2006). Special effects: An introduction to movie magic. Twenty-First Century Books.
  43. Moss, A. E. (2020). Cinema’s “miracles”: Film tricks and the production of Soviet wonder. Film History, 32(4), 33-59. https://doi.org/10.2979/filmhistory.32.4.02
  44. Murodillayev, B. (2024). The impact of visual effects on the cinema experience: A comprehensive analysis. Art and Design Review, 12(4), 238-249. https://doi.org/10.4236/adr.2024.124016
  45. Netzley, P. D. (2000). Encyclopedia of movie special effects. Oryx Press.
  46. Onaran, Ş. A. (1994). Sessiz sinema tarihi [History of silent cinema]. Kitle Yayıncılık.
  47. Phillips, K. R. (2018). A place of darkness: The rhetoric of horror in early American cinema. University of Texas Press. https://doi.org/10.7560/315507
  48. Prince, S. (2012). Digital visual effects in cinema: The seduction of reality. Rutgers University Press.
  49. Rees, E. (2021). From the cinema ‘dekorator’ to the cinema ‘arkhitektor’: Set design, medium specificity and technology in Russian cinema of the silent era. Journal of Design History, 34(4), 297-315. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epab015
  50. Rickitt, R. (2000). Special effects: The history and technique. Billboard Books.
  51. Roche Cárcel, J. A. (2022). “King Kong, the Black Gorilla.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 39(5), 1113-1157. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2021.1905473
  52. Rosenstone, R. A. (2012). History on film/film on history (2nd ed.). Routledge.
  53. Saul, G., & Ells, C. (2019). Shadows illuminated: Understanding German Expressionist cinema through the lens of contemporary filmmaking practices. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 16(1), 103-126. https://doi.org/10.2478/ausfm-2019-0006
  54. Schreier, M. (2014). Qualitative content analysis. In U. Flick (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative data analysis (pp. 170-183). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446282243.n12
  55. Şenyapılı, Ö. (2003). Görsel tasarım ve sinema [Visual design and cinema]. Dost Kitabevi.
  56. Shubert, A. (2024). “To become a devil”: Special effects, magic tricks, and the technological image in Faust. Film Criticism, 48(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/fc.5693
  57. Solomon, M. (2010). Disappearing tricks: Silent film, Houdini, and the new magic of the twentieth century. University of Illinois Press.
  58. Stojanova, C. (2019). German cinematic expressionism in light of Jungian and post-Jungian approaches. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 16(1), 35-58. https://doi.org/10.2478/ausfm-2019-0003
  59. Taylor, R., & Spring, D. (1991). Russian & Soviet cinema: Continuity & change. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 11(2), 103-104. https://doi.org/10.1080/01439689100260121
  60. Trifonova, T. (2004). Simulation in cinema. Kinema: A Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media. https://doi.org/10.15353/kinema.vi.1072
  61. Turnock, J. (2015a). Patient research on the slapstick lots: From trick men to special effects artists in silent Hollywood. Early Popular Visual Culture, 13(2), 152-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2015.1025531
  62. Turnock, J. (2015b). Plastic reality: Special effects, technology, and the emergence of 1970s blockbuster aesthetics. Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/columbia/9780231163538.001.0001
  63. Vaniuha, L., Kyreia, M., Lemishka, N., Spolska, O., & Patron, I. (2024). History of the evolution of cinema in the context of considering the stages of development of science and technology: The first steps to the birth of cinema. History of Science and Technology, 14(2), 513-538. https://doi.org/10.32703/2415-7422-2024-14-2-513-538
  64. Vorontsova, Y. V., & Alieva, E. A. (2024). Issledovaniye tselesoobraznosti ispol’zovaniya spetsial’nykh effektov v kinematografe [A study on the feasibility of using special effects in cinematography]. Vestnik Universiteta, 7, 34-43. https://doi.org/10.26425/1816-4277-2024-7-34-43
  65. Youngblood, D. J. (1991). ‘History’ on film: The historical melodrama in early Soviet cinema. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 11(2), 173-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/01439689100260191
  66. Yurdigül, Y., & Zinderen, İ. E. (2012). Sinemada özel efekt [Special effects in cinema]. Atatürk İletişim Dergisi, (2), 101-123.
  67. Yurdigül, Y., & Zinderen, İ. E. (2013). Sinema ve televizyonda özel efekt [Special effects in film and television]. Doğu Kitabevi.
  68. Zhang, Y., & Lauer, G. (2017). Introduction: Cross-cultural reading. Comparative Literature Studies, 54(4), 693-701. https://doi.org/10.5325/complitstudies.54.4.0693