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| - An act of desperation by a cash- or time-strapped effects team in the days before digital imaging became affordable and subsequently took over Special Effects. Instead of incurring the time or expense of building their own miniatures, they instead take a shortcut by purchasing off-the-shelf toys or model kits. Depending on the quality of their manufacture (and, in the case of models, assembly), the results can range from surprisingly effective, to sub-par, to obvious Special Effect Failure. This trope comes in two flavors: See also Special Effect Failure. Examples of Off-the-Shelf FX include:
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| abstract
| - An act of desperation by a cash- or time-strapped effects team in the days before digital imaging became affordable and subsequently took over Special Effects. Instead of incurring the time or expense of building their own miniatures, they instead take a shortcut by purchasing off-the-shelf toys or model kits. Depending on the quality of their manufacture (and, in the case of models, assembly), the results can range from surprisingly effective, to sub-par, to obvious Special Effect Failure. Do note that the use of off-the-shelf models is very common for miniature work. Most model kits are often already of very high quality and can be pulled off convincingly, particularly in the use of "greebling". This is when one takes parts from a model kit, already being of great quality and put it on as detail for bigger models. A great example are the star destroyers in Star Wars, which were essentially plywood models which were dressed with loads of parts from mixed and matched kits to create what looked like extremely realistic and detailed ships. This trope comes in two flavors:
* Straight Out of the Box: Unmodified items being used as props. Here the item has literally just been ripped out of its packaging, and at most it is given a new coat of paint. These may require assembly, but still remain largely unmodified. Note, however, this doesn't always equate with the results looking bad or being a Special Effect Failure; if the models are convincing enough, or used as background item, it might be sheer pragmatism - why spend $500 and two days of work to make something that will appear in only a few frames, when the hobby store across the street sells good replicas for $20 and they come pre-assembled? And the creative use of paint, lighting and camera angles can further gloss over the finer details - even making the item appear to be something different than what it really is.
* Kit-Bashing: The item is a model, toy or some other off-the-shelf product, but it is modified, altered into something else. In Hollywood and among hobbyists this is often known as "kit-bashing", where parts from several commercial model kits are combined to create a new model. A similar technique is used for CGI models as well. Kit-bashing is sometimes used just for experimental purposes, to get a general appearance and design for a prop. Other times bits of model kits are attached to custom built models just to give it texture and save time. Or perhaps only pieces of it are used into the making of something else entirely. This again is pragmatism: building a new model by gluing bits from other existing items together is both cheaper and easier than molding new parts from scratch. And the results can be equally good. See also Special Effect Failure. Examples of Off-the-Shelf FX include:
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