Earlier this year filmmaker Stu Maschwitz posted on Twitter a series of messages recounting the work he did, as a then junior visual effects artist, on the scene of the house crashing on the road in the 1996 summer blockbuster, Twister. He later copied them to his website: go read it there.
The story comes with a fair amount of detail, hacks and tricks to make the best of the technical limitations of the time, and gives an idea of the amount of work such a scene in a prominent Hollywood film entails.
Twenty years ago today, TWISTER was released. I’m going to share a bit about my involvement in the film. pic.twitter.com/6RBphItaLT
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) May 10, 2016
The first shot alone took four months. I animated the house by hand, and every board and prop that flies off it. pic.twitter.com/tD29jQouOP
— Stu Maschwitz (@5tu) May 10, 2016