Looked up The Black Hole.
The special effect supervisor was named Danny Lee.
He worked the effects for most of those 70s live action movies.

1981 Dragonslayer (dragon action props)
1981Amy (special effects)
1981The Devil and Max Devlin (special effects)
1972-1980The Magical World of Disney (TV Series) (special effects - 4 episodes)
- The Ghosts of Buxley Hall: Part 2 (1980) ... (special effects)
- The Ghosts of Buxley Hall: Part 1 (1980) ... (special effects)
- Child of Glass (1978) ... (special effects)
- The High Flying Spy: Part 1 (1972) ... (special effects)
1980The Ghosts of Buxley Hall (TV Movie) (special effects)
1980Herbie Goes Bananas (special effects)
1980The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (special effects)
1980The Watcher in the Woods (special mechanical effects: other world sequence)
1980Midnight Madness (special effects)
1979The Black Hole (mechanical effects supervisor)
1979The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (special effects)
1979The North Avenue Irregulars (special effects)
1978Hot Lead and Cold Feet (special effects)
1978The Cat from Outer Space (special effects)
1978Return from Witch Mountain (special effects)
1977Pete's Dragon (special effects)
1977Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (special effects)
1976Freaky Friday (special effects)
1976The Shaggy D.A. (special effects)
1976Gus (special effects)
1976Treasure of Matecumbe (special effects)
1976No Deposit, No Return (special effects)
1975The Apple Dumpling Gang (special effects)
1975Escape to Witch Mountain (special effects)
1975The Strongest Man in the World (special effects)
1974The Island at the Top of the World (special effects)
1974The Bears and I (special effects)
1974Herbie Rides Again (special effects)
1973Charley and the Angel (special effects)
1973The World's Greatest Athlete (special effects)
1972Snowball Express (special effects)
1972Now You See Him, Now You Don't (special effects)
1971Bedknobs and Broomsticks (special effects)
1971The Sporting Club (special effects)
1970Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You (special effects)
1969The Secret of Santa Vittoria (special effects)
1968The Love Bug (special effects - as Dan Lee)
1967The Ambushers (special effects)
1967Bonnie and Clyde (special effects)
1966Murderers' Row (special effects)
1966What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (special effects)
1965The Great Race (special effects - uncredited)
1964Mary Poppins (special mechanical effects - uncredited)
1963It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (special effects)
1960Swiss Family Robinson (special effects - as Dan Lee)
1957Ghost Diver (special effects - as Daniel Lee)
1956Around the World in 80 Days (special effects boat crew - uncredited)

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Posted by PJinAtl

Atlanta

Member since Nov 2007

14599 posts

Posted on 4/19/22 at 2:48 pm to BRich

quote:
All true, but some of the stuff he did WAS groundbreaking. Rather than moving the models in front of a stationary camera, the models he used were stationary and the camera itself moved around the model to give the idea of motion

The amazing thing is that some of the ideas seem so simple, but were at the time revolutionary.

For the Death Star trench, the model makers made a trench that was say 20 feet long, but it separated along a track like a zipper. The camera on a boom started at the beginning of the trench, as as the rig moved forward, the trench model unzipped, allowing the rig to fit in between the walls, but the camera was shooting far enough out front of the unzipping that it looked (and was) extremely narrow.

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Posted by pbro62

Baton Rouge

Member since May 2016

15353 posts

Posted on 4/19/22 at 3:23 pm to Jack Ruby

Money simple

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Posted by ScottFowler

NE Ohio

Member since Sep 2012

4738 posts

Posted on 4/19/22 at 8:32 pm to pbro62

quote:
For the Death Star trench, the model makers made a trench that was say 20 feet long, but it separated along a track like a zipper. The camera on a boom started at the beginning of the trench, as as the rig moved forward, the trench model unzipped, allowing the rig to fit in between the walls, but the camera was shooting far enough out front of the unzipping that it looked (and was) extremely narrow.

That is F'ing brilliant. And in a world of only practical effects. So much better than CGI.

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Posted by Jack Ruby

Member since Apr 2014

27322 posts

Posted on 4/19/22 at 10:30 pm to pbro62

quote:
don't think even Disney had a dedicated effects company.

Most Disney live action special effects always looked the same (like shite) and seemingly just used bad rear projection screen on everything.

Now I know why. The same guy was doing all the work. It's probably why a film like the Black Hole looked like it was made in 1965.

This post was edited on 4/19/22 at 10:38 pm

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Posted by geauxtigers87

Louisiana

Member since Mar 2011

27576 posts

Posted on 4/19/22 at 11:10 pm to ScottFowler

quote:
That is F'ing brilliant. And in a world of only practical effects. So much better than CGI.

CGI has ruined modern movie for me. Watched death on the Nile the other day and I couldn't get past all of the obvious CGI. Especially after watching the movies that made us series on how they used to do things on movies like Ghostbusters, home alone, die hard etc

It all looks so hollow and boring now to be honest. No soul.

This post was edited on 4/19/22 at 11:13 pm

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Posted by Gorlock