Superman: The Movie (1978)

Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie (1978) is considered by many to be the first example of the modern superhero feature film. Although the comic book had been around for more than 40 years, the attempts to adapt it to the moving image media had been limited. Apart from a few animated short stories in the late 1940, the first live action adaptation was the feature film Superman and the Mole Man (1951), immediately followed by a television series called Adventures of Superman (1951). In both, the most advanced visual effects were still realized with on camera tricks and devices like cables and springboards. It is anyway worth noticing that sometimes a rear projection technique was used, in which the background action was filmed separately and then projected on a screen in front of the camera with the actor performing in front of it. Although this allowed for the flying sequences to be achieved, the technique was neither new nor advanced.

When Donner's Superman was released, it tried to set a whole new standard for the global production value of superhero movies (and, by extent, comic book adaptations). Shot on a then very high budget of more than 55 million dollars, it was supposed be the next big visual effects film after Lucas's Star Wars. Thanks to the development of new techniques in the optical compositing process (the advent of digital manipulation was still many years away), the filmmaker could now enjoy a new degree of freedom in the adaptation process. While in the past his predecessors had to struggle with every single fantastic element, often being force to strip down the characters, the actions or even whole scenes because the technology didn't allow for a realistic representation, many of those could now be put back into the story and made to work in favour of the narrative. To no surprise the main advertisement line being used to promote the movie was in fact “you’ll believe a man can fly”. Such was the confidence in the quality of the visual effects that the movie was actually marketed with a strong emphasis on this aspect.

For the first time the shots of Superman flying were being shot against a blue screen, in a process that would later become the de facto standard for every kind of special effect. Although the technique was still in the early stages, the results achieved were still more realistic than the old rear projection technique in that the use of the blue screen allowed the character to be isolated and then optically superimposed on a background plate. Still, in comparison to earlier movies special effects Superman's flying sequences looked like a big setback on the quality standard levels. Misalignments in the film mattes (the actual cutout of the character), along with discrepancies in the colours between and inside shots, accounted for unrealistic images that would greatly decrease the spectators' immersion in the movie. The only true technological advancement was represented by the so called front projection technique, in which the background plate would actually be projected both on a background screen and on the subject standing between it and the camera, thus allowing for the plate to surround and wrap the character, better integrating him into the action.

And yet, Superman went on to great financial success and critical acclaim. Many praised Superman for its script, directing, acting, model and costume work, musical score. In the greater context of the comic book adaptation, the flaws in the special effects were generally disregarded as minor or inexistent, with some critic even saying that “they're as good in their way as any you've seen, and they come thick and fast”, while what was really being acclaimed was the miniature model work rather the the effects themselves.

Donner's movie can probably be accounted as an example of how an overconfidence in the possibilities of technology can actually make the storytellers bald enough to try and experiment new forms of narrative. Despite the fact that the movie does not work because of the special effects, but rather around them, the newly acquired possibility (or its perception) to create realistic and convincing sequences in which the protagonist makes use of his powers still benefited the construction of the narrative.