1 - Prosthetics
Surviving to this day, some of the earliest special effects in film were those derived from plays. Aside from props and practical sound effects, makeup and wigs were used to transform actors into characters. And as the creation and use of plastics became widespread, as did the creation of prosthetics for acting.
With effects ranging from fake noses, horrific scars, and even monstrous masks. Though use of computer generating images have taken over much of the ground once controlled by prosthetics, practical purists still cite the importance of its use today. Early werewolf films, and B-movie monster of the week titles created an entire industry around make up artists and prosthetics makers in film. Even television shows, like those of Star Trek relied heavily on these early effects.
2 - In Miniature
The current trend of special effects started to leave props and the practical behind with miniatures and with stop motion. While monsters made of clay left the center stage several decades ago, the use of miniatures and close up camera angles made for big sci fi battles before the invention of digital visual effects.
Though rarely seen today, in big name productions, miniatures had their time in the spotlight during George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy. Before space battles could be simulated virtually, he went into painstaking detail with miniature spaceship figures in order to sell a world light years apart from our own. Even today, very few people watching the original Star Wars films for the first time would be able to discern the use of these miniatures, without prior knowledge. Though creating these models was a long, and tiring process, their use has left a legacy in the classic status of films they were present in.
3 - Animatronics
On the opposite end of the spectrum, film directors went bigger than life. Creating life sized, or near life sized models of beasts and monsters and animating their joints or jaws with machinery, animatronics brought a physicality to special effects that would later be replaced by CGI. Steven Spielberg was an early adopter of animatronics for film making, adopting their use for Jaws.
Though, at the time he was so unhappy with the result that he kept the shark out of the audience's eye for as long as possible, giving the film the tense atmosphere it has today. He would later return to use of machines in Jurassic Park, to greater effect. And while use of digital effects were used to help out with convincing audiences that the dinosaurs were more than just theme park machines, it would have lacked any semblance of realism if computer generated graphics of the time were used without those metal shells.
4 - Blue Screen
Better known now as the green screening, this effect is used to separate two images. This is the stage curtain of visual effects, and the means by which modern movies create the massive illusions that they do today, for good or for bad.
By using one solid colour as the section to be removed and replaced from a film, effects artists are able to use colour keying to associate a wholly separate image with the provided colour (once blue and now green). Though once only used to impose separately filmed scenes, such as movement in the background of a driving scene, green screens are used for any number of computer generated effects today. Though, many of those reside further down the list.
5 - Slow-Mo
Like prosthetics and animatronics, slow-mo (or bullet time) is by no means a new invention. But, as green screen use, digital cameras, and computer generated effects progressed, as did the use of slow-mo. Following its popular use in the film the Matrix, back in 1999, slow-mo saturated the movie industry; first in homage, than in parody as it became cliche.
Though many action movies and mainstream comedies still use these effects today, slow-mo is far less common than it was in the 2000’s, and is now primarily associated with specific directors, like Zack Snyder. Since the late 2000’s, slow -mo has continued to appear in films like 300 with new ‘stop-and-go’ trademarks, where the action is slowed for a moment only to be sped up in intervals to exaggerate movement and stylize combat.
6 - Digital Compositing
This is about the time when blue screens became green. No longer were inserted images mere backdrops, but entire locations instead. Digital compositing blended images together. With it, viewers were transported into locations like the Death Star. And, through further future use in combination with CGI, would be transported to Star Wars prequel destinations, and even the most fantastic portions of Middle Earth. 
Though purists argue that digital compositing, like many computer generated visual effects, have over saturated and cheapened the film making landscape, without it, we’d never have made it into some truly vivid and fantastical worlds.
7 - Wire Removal
Some of the earliest true alteration of filmed images came in the form of wire removal. Before computer effects were powerful enough to float actors on their own, filmmakers relied solely on wires for the use of flight and exaggerated action. But, green screens alone weren’t enough to remove visible wires from productions; and to the keen eye, these practical effects are still visible in many classic movies today.
At a milestone of visual effects, however, when computer generated alteration was known primarily for digital compositing, artists were able to achieve the previously unthinkable; to remove reality from their work. By altering images through the use of digital imaging, in the late 1980’s, film makers were finally able to remove any sign of wires from their films entirely.
8 – Morphing
Almost entirely a horror and science fiction effect at its creation, morphing was the next logical step in visual effects after wire removal. Because if filmmakers could negate objects from existence, who was to say they couldn’t change it into another. Morphing was utilized to gradually, and seamlessly shift one image into another; be it from person to person, or person to monster.
By shifting different features at different rates, effects artists were able to master on camera, visual transformation. Those werewolf prosthetics mentioned earlier got a wide range of use out of this effect, no longer relying on the monster to be off screen to enact their transformation from man to beast. All that would be left to follow, on the virtual side of this advancement, would be true, wholly computer generated images. Which brings us to:
9 – CGI
It’s everywhere, whether it’s necessary to the genre or not. You’ll find CGI in romantic movies as well as action movies, and fantasy as well as comedy. Use of CGI has become so widespread and so accessible, that even a number of television series have adopted it over the use of practical effects. And the use of these effects are varied. With it, artists have created entire landscapes from scratch. While early science fiction adopters and historical dramas used this expensive implementation sparingly, films like the Star Wars prequels began to use more virtual locations than physical ones in their filming process.
Dangerous stunts have also been replaced by computer generated models, in many cases, reducing the need for stunt actors in hollywood, while also reducing the amount of accidents in the field. And, even entire monsters have been created from scratch, replacing animatronics and prosthetics almost entirely for the creation of horrific beasts. Even the new Jurassic World used CGI on top of full animatronic models used for filming, leaving very little of the practical effect in the finished product.
10 – Mo-cap
The greatest issue with CGI, however, remains to be the advance of technology, oddly enough. Though advances gave us this option, further advances have rapidly left early use of the effects dated. Unable to age well while the technology is swiftly outpacing itself, big Summer blockbusters tried to quickly outpace the progress of the year before with the next big budget film by paying out even more to visual artists only to reach unsustainable levels. Help in curbing this rising tide, was the reimplementation of practical in the process.
Rather than having to animate movements from scratch, without reliable reference, directors began to use to the mocap method. By covering actors or animals in green screen fabric and easily identifiable balls for the computer to track, artists were able to create reference files for their work, enabling them to produce realistic movement to have their graphical creations pasted over. While this hasn’t stemmed the tide of more realistic computer effects outpacing predecessors, it has helped to make the visual gap less notable by supplying recognizably realistic movement. And anything that can help the viewer to associate the fantastic with the familiar in film, can only support the illusion people seek to lose themselves in in these kinds of movies.
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