Before CGI on movies
CGI: Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, shorts, commercials, videos, and simulators. The images may be dynamic or static, and may be two-dimensional (2D), although the term “CGI” is most commonly used to refer to the 3-D computer graphics used for creating characters, scenes and special effects in films and television, which is described as ‘CGI animation’.
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966), known professionally as Buster Keaton, was an American actor, comedian, film director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer. He is best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”. Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton’s “extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929” when he “worked without interruption” on a series of films that make him “the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies”. His career declined afterward with a loss of artistic independence when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, his wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1959.
Many of Keaton’s films from the 1920s remain highly regarded, such as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), and The Cameraman (1928), with The General widely viewed as his masterpiece. Among its strongest admirers was Orson Welles, who stated that The General was cinema’s highest achievement in comedy, and perhaps the greatest film ever made. Keaton in 1996 was recognized as the seventh-greatest film director by Entertainment Weekly, and the American Film Institute ranked him in 1999 as the 21st greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Body double
In filmmaking, a body double is a person who substitutes in a scene for another actor such that the person’s face is not shown.
In a recorded visual medium, a body double is used in certain specific shots to replace the credited actor of a character. The body double’s face is obscured to maintain the illusion that they are the same character; usually by shooting their body at an angle that leaves their face out (such as by showing the body double from the back) or in post-production by superimposing the original actor’s face over the body double’s.
Before CGI, you see an example
https://youtu.be/T9tULNKuyUU
Video list: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx5NYbCLsAAQAV9rTEEmboKD-Tg-5CQ76
Stunt double
A stunt double is a cross between a body double and a stunt performer, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, such as jumping out of a building or from vehicle to vehicle, and for other sophisticated stunts (especially fight scenes). Stunt doubles may be used in cases where an actor’s physical condition or age precludes much activity, or when an actor is contractually prohibited from taking certain risks. A dance double performs the dangerous or physically difficult dance parts of a character’s role.
Stunt doubles should be distinguished from daredevils, who perform stunts for the sake of the stunt alone, often as a career. Sequences often do not place stunt doubles in the same mortal peril as the characters: for example, harnesses and wires can be digitally edited out of the final film.
Many stunt doubles have long production careers as part of a star actor’s contractual “support crew”, along with the star’s cooks, trainers, dressers, and assistants. Often stunt doubles have to look like their respective actors, in order to maintain the illusion that it is the actor on-screen. Stunt doubles for Eddie Murphy, John Wayne, Harrison Ford, Steve Martin, Salman Khan and Michael Landon have been associated with their lead actors for decades.
