Requiem For A Dream VIOLENT SHAKE effect

Mike Krumlauf

Mike Krumlauf

Award Winning Filmmaker
for people who have seen this amazing film, i was wondering if anyone knew how to do the effect in the scene where Damon Waynes is in jail with Jared Leto(while his arm is killing him) and the whole scene has Damon shouting for help and the scene has this very VIOLENT shake to it and was wondering if this could be done inside final cut...along with the sound as well. If i find the scene on YouTube i will EDIT it into this post.

Thanks:)

EDIT: ok the scene is very quickly in this trailer at the 42sec mark and with Jared Leto at the 1min mark http://youtube.com/watch?v=qz45M9nVF0M
 
I got this by using a slow shutterspead and so there was lots of motion blur and shaking the camera up and down.
http://frenchquarterfeatures.com/shake.mov

THe scene in Req looks like post effect.

If you are on FCP maybe try Grame Nattress's earthquake plug in. It might be free, can't remember. google nattress film effects or g film effects

But this looks like a film stutter effect.
 
I would never recommend phsycally shaking your expensive camera around cause it's not the most healthy thing for the camera. A plug in will also allow you to control the shake amount, direction, etc, to be exactly what you want.

Nattress Set 2, version 2, has two plug-ins I highly recommend. One is Reverberation, the other is Earthquake. Both do the shakes, but in different ways, and have plenty of parameter control to get a shake to match your story telling.

Trick is, Nattress discontinued Set 1 and Set 2, replacing them both with the Big Box Of Tricks. This BBOT combines Sets 1 & 2 along with several new plug-ins, and is only $100. It's a HUGE bargin on some top shelf plug-ins! The best bang for your buck with plug-ins on the FCP market.

http://www.nattress.com/Products/BigBox/Bigbox.htm
 
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Get a drill, a drill bit, a round disk of plywood, drill into the circular wood disk off centre (more off centre, more violent effect), now it will wobble when spinning. Activate the drill, apply the wobbling disk to various parts of the tripod when recording, with varying results. Perhaps some rotating drill device has speed control to also vary the results. Maybe more useful for other vibrating effect in movie making.

Agree BenB, not good for cam, caveat emptor, not a flying toy...

The Requiem (not sure, can't fully remember now), Fight Club and The Butterfly Effect, imo, involve taking a normal shot with talent, etc, then do a separate background plate and subsequent roto/post manipulation composite.
 
haha, you guys act like I was shaking it like angry nanny caught on on nanny cam shaking a baby.

Haha, i was just moving it up and down, with loose elbows, not all stiff armed and shaking it up and down vioulently. My effect came from the fac that the shutter was mega slow so I had motion blur. Not from getting a hard earthquake effect by really shaking the hell out of the thing, lol :grin:
 
"Hey Bob, we need that shaking effect! Get the jackhammer!"

But serioulsy, the Nattress Big Box of Effects is so worth the price, what you get for it is fantastic. I think it's the best plug-in deal on the market right now.

Then again you could rent one of those vibrating things they use to smooth out cement slabs...
 
Jack, I say 'really' use/push the equipment to get the shot. :thumbsup:

BenB, I wish G Natress' plugs were available for PC apps.

Regarding the effect, the Fight Club violent shake involved a two plate composite, the background plate and Jack's (Norton) roto'd overlay plate are moving in opposite directions and varying oscillation, as I see it, which make the shot stand out more visually, to me anyway. Now to find a jack hammer on eBay...:D

(I am Jack's .......)
 
lol,

BenB said:
...But serioulsy, the Nattress Big Box of Effects is so worth the price, what you get for it is fantastic. I think it's the best plug-in deal on the market right now...
Click to expand...

That is so true. And the customer service is aces.
 
Christopher Barry said:
Get a drill, a drill bit, a round disk of plywood, drill into the circular wood disk off centre (more off centre, more violent effect), now it will wobble when spinning. Activate the drill, apply the wobbling disk to various parts of the tripod when recording, with varying results. Perhaps some rotating drill device has speed control to also vary the results. Maybe more useful for other vibrating effect in movie making.
Click to expand...
Spielberg used this technique for the opening scene (Omaha beach) in Saving Private Ryan.

Regarding plug-ins, GenArts Saphire has a bunch of plugs that would achieve this effect. Shake is the plug that would best match the effect you're after. Time average, Time displace, and Time slice also produce interesting results.
 
I'd probably shoot at a high shutter speed, maybe also at 20/22 fps, and then overlay various takes on each other. Maybe add motion blur as well. As for the actual movement, I'd shake the tripod I guess, or do a few rapid, small pans, or both.
 
Um... do you have AE (after effects)??

The wiggler is what you're after. There's a great FREE tutorial from Andrew Kramer over at videocopilot.net that shows exactly how to do it.

It's number five on THIS page.

If you're stuck with just FCP, take others' advice on the nattress filters.

-brown

p.s. I doubt you'll get the EXACT look you're after by attempting this IN camera. It's definitely a post effect, for control purposes.
 
Nattress filters give you great control over so many parameters, any other method is a waste of time, IMHO.
 
In Requiem it looks like it was two sperate images composited together. The front shaking different than the background, but I could be wrong. The first jail bar shot in the trailer (at around 37 seconds) almost looks like the background is rear projected.
 
BenB said:
Nattress filters give you great control over so many parameters, any other method is a waste of time, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Well fine then!

:beer:

Jeremy... I'm going to agree. I haven't watched the movie in awile, but I do remember watching that effect pretty extensively, and it DID look like two images composited together.
 
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