In 1878 Eadweard Muybridge forever changed the entertainment industry as we know it. In what started as a bet with a friend, Muybridge created the first ever motion picture. Soon after this creation the film industry began. This industry quickly became one of the highest grossing entertainment businesses in the country. From the beginning of this film era, a few main concepts have withstood the test of the toughest critics and pickiest audiences. A few of these themes include space travel and artificial intelligence, but the one I find most interesting is the “end of the world” feature.


Most people believe that the beginning of the apocalyptic films started with the release of film based on the H.G. Wells novel “war of the worlds” in 1953. Yet others argue that it actually began two years earlier in 1951 with the hit movie “when worlds collide.” Either way, both of these films ignited a plot line that immediately grabbed and held the attention of audiences for many years to come. Some of the best of these films include “The Birds” (1963), “Night of the living dead” (1968), “Planet of the apes” (1970), “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” (1981), “Reign of Fire (2002), “Children of Men” (2006), and many, many others.

Each of these movies has helped lay the foundation for hundreds of apocalyptic movies to follow. As you can tell the decision for which movies to include in my “end of the world mashup” was a very difficult one. In the end (no pun intended) I decided to include movies with the most enhanced special effects and graphics. My video includes clips from “Independence Day” (1996) “Deep Impact” (1998), “Armageddon” (1998), “The Day After Tomorrow” (2004), and the brand new movie “2012” (2009).


“Armageddon” is a captivating film that begins with the mysterious destruction of a U.S. space shuttle in outer space. Soon after astronomers at Nasa discover that a meteor shower is pelting away at earth and that a large asteroid is headed directly for the planet. With time running out NASA decides to hire the best oil drillers to land on the asteroid, drill a hole, and drop a nuclear bomb into the center of the asteroid. It’s a race against the clock to destroy the asteroid before it collides with earth. The scenes I chose to use from this film are ones that show hundreds of smaller asteroids ripping through New York skyscrapers and virtually destroying the city.


“Independence Day” is a film that begins with the disabling of all communications systems worldwide by a mysterious atmospheric interference. Shortly after the military learns that several alien spaceships are on a collision course with the Earth. After numerous attempts to communicate with the aliens, it is soon discovered that the aliens are going to attack major points around the globe in less than 24 hours. On July 3rd, the extraterrestrials obliterate the entire city of New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. A few of the survivors, including the hero Will Smith, head towards Area 51 where it is rumored that the military has captured one of the Alien Spacecrafts. They devise a plan to fight back and fight for their independence. The scenes I use from this film are the ones where the aliens are destroying New York.


“The Day After Tomorrow” is a recent movie that begins when a Paleoclimatologist discovers that a huge ice sheet has been sheared off of Antarctica. But what he didn’t know is that this event would cause an enormous climate change that would eventually effect the entire world population. Meanwhile in New York it has been raining non-stop for the past 3 weeks. Everyone soon realizes that the world is about to enter a new ice age, and the majority of the population tries to evacuate to the warm climates of the south. The clips I used from this movie are the ones that depict New York covered in Ice and tornados tearing through Los Angeles.


“Deep Impact” is another apocalyptic film that begins when a teenage astronomer and his teacher discover a giant meteor amongst the stars at night. It turns out this meteor is heading straight towards planet earth. The President devises a plan to send specialized astronauts on the space mission, Messiah. Their mission is to destroy the comet before it gets too close to the earth. When Messiah backfires, the President announces that special caves will have to be built, and the government will have to have a lottery-of-fate to randomly select 800,000 ordinary American citizens to go along with 200,000 scientists, soldiers, and other officials. These 1,000,000 people will be set aside to save the population from extinction when the comet hits. The only used one clip from this movie which shows the giant meteor crashing into earth a creating a massive title wave that obliterates everything in its path.


“2012” is a very recent movie that is centered around the apocalyptic predictions from Nostradamus and the ancient Mayan calendar which state that the world will come to an end December 21, 2012. When a global cataclysm shoves the world into chaos, actor John Cusack joins the race to ensure that humankind is not completely wiped out. While the world's leaders struggle to build "arks" to escape the impending doom, Curtis races to find a way to save his family. But it might be too late as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of unreal strength wreak havoc around the world. The clips I used from this movie show the main character and his family attempting to avoid disaster while fleeing in their car.


And without further adieu here is my end of the world mashup video!

End Of The World Mashup from Cameron McClain on Vimeo.