The Special Effects of "Darby O'Gill"

Thesis: The film Darby O'Gill and the Little People pushed Disney's special effects to the next level - work done in this film not only raised the bar in special effects, but has been  influential to many films after it.

 Disney's Real Leprechauns

The first step in making special effects is making sure audiences will believe them.  As an elaborate promotion for his upcoming film, Walt Disney aired an episode of his show "Wonderful World of Color" in which Disney takes a trip to Ireland in search of actual leprechauns to appear in his "Irish picture". Disney eventually meets up with to Brian, King of the Leprechauns, and the two produce Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
During production there was no mention of the actor who played King Brian - Jimmy O'Dea - but instead there were multiple bios and photo shoots of his character King Brian. In the opening of the film there is even a thanks to King Brian from Walt Disney.

Disney Studios

At the time, Disney was the only studio with its own in-house effects studio.  In 1940 Disney constructed it first sound stage and by 1988 the company had 5 stages ( Stage 4 was split into two stages). Stage 2 is one of the largest sound stages in Los Angeles at approximately 31,000 square feet.  Stage 4, completed in 1958, was first used to film Darby O'Gill.
On the Disney Back Lot buildings were constructed for use as outdoor sets. Modifications were made as necessary for other productions including The Love Bug (1968), Those Calloways (1965) and of course Darby O'Gill.


Peter Ellenshaw

Credited for Special Photographic Effects and Special Art Styling - Peter Ellenshaw worked as a matte painter and was the brains behind the special effects used in Darby O'Gill.  In the late 1940's Walt Disney approched Ellenshaw to work on the studio's first live action feature, Treasure Island.  Since that film the two began a professional collaboration and friendship which lasted over 30 years and 34 films.  


Types of FX in Darby O'Gill

Mechanical Effects: or "physical effects" include mechanical props, sets, scale models, pyrotechnics and atmospherics effects - such as creating wind or rain.  In Darby O'Gill, sets were made four times larger to make the 'leprechauns' look two feet tall. Other mechanical effects included building large shoes, an enchanted whip beating Darby, and an air-driven puppet to make audiences believe King Brian was tied in a burlap sack.

Optical Effects: which are film's optical illusions, include composting, and the use of backdrops and matte paintings.  Optical effects are done while filming and 'trick' the camera into seeing what isn't really there. Some of the optical effects seen in Darby O'Gill include the lightning shooting out of King Brian's whip, the fire around the Leprechaun's cave door, and the flying Death Coach an Banshee.

Matte paintings are paintings done on a pane of glass that are placed in front of the camera to complete a scenery and are used constantly through Darbie O'Gill.  Matte paintings are widely used and allow directors to see what the final shot of a scene will look like without having to wait for developing film.  The reason matte paintings are so effective is because cameras only have a single 'eye' - the lens.  If you cover one of your eyes you'll notice that it becomes difficult to tell the distance of things.  The same principle applies with cameras.  Although a matte painting can fool the camera, traditional matte paintings aren't often used for long scenes because audiences may eventually see the seams. 

For more on matte paintings click here.

This idea of lost depth also makes another type of special effect incredible effect: forced perspective.  Forced perspective tricks the eye into seeing something like averaged-sized actors playing two-foot leprechauns.  In Darby O'Gill King Brian is placed four times the distance from the camera as Darby - this makes the camera see a pint-sized actor sitting next to a giant.  To compete the forced perspective look, normal sized sets were built for Darby and large sets were built for the leprechauns.  A lot of planning goes into making a forced perspective scene look real - Ellenshaw often made matte paintings to blend the two sets together. 

For more on forced perspective click here.