Chopping off a head! Need some advice!

K

KOHR

Well-known member
Hey everyone! I've been working with after effects and premiere pro for a while now... mainly on some low budget short film work and also recently on some minor commercial work. Well, I'm about to embark on my first short film that will actually be submitted to a competition and I need your advice on a certain effect that is going to occur about 3/4's the way through the script. It's a zombie flick, and I need to chop off a zombie's head with an axe. Now, I'm thinking, I can do this while the zombie running at him (yes, fast zombies) or when he has the zombie pressed up against the wall. I'm thinking that if the zombie is pressed up against the wall, it'll be a little easier for compositing, but at the same time, the moving zombie may hide a little bit of the masking. Anyway, I'm wondering how you guys would set up this effect during production and what kind of advice you could give me on actually making it work in post. I figure that I may need to get my hands on some sort of fake head to flip through the air. Any help would be great!

By the way, I've also never actually created a bullet hole appearing on someone's forehead when they get shot. How would I go about this if you see the character before, during, and after the shot. I'm thinking that I would have the wound done practically on the character, then cover it in post for a couple frames, and reveal it as soon as the shot occurs. What are your thoughts on this??

EDIT: Also! I've been thinking of doing this certain effect for a while, but I just am not sure it would be worth the amount of effort required to make it work! I would like to make my zombies have pale, completely glazed over white eyes. Does anyone know how to accomplish this sort of effect? I'm sure it has something to do with tracking the pupils and then adding some sort of slightly opaque white or gray mask on top.... but if they turn their head, this could screw up easily.

Thanks very much!! :grin:
 
Last edited:
Let me first direct you to www.videocopilot.net which is Andrew's extensive site on visual effects using After Effects. Theres a blow up your head with a gun tutorial that probably will give you better ideas of how to pull this off. Check those tutorials out!
 
Hey, thanks! Unfortunately, I've already reviewed all the videos and tutorials on that website since I've started AE a while back... I've even bought several of his DVDs! He's really great at what he does! Though, I'm just looking for specific advice on this "stunt". However, I'll go back through his videos and see if I can use any of them to adapt to my specific effect. Thanks!
 
There's probably a ton of ways to go about this...but here's how I would do it (which is probably not the most efficient way...but works for me).

3 shots...

1. Zombie running/standing against wall/whatever...shoot that all the way to the gun shot, use blood spatter either in post or squib

2. Prep actor/actress with bullet hole in head via practical like you mentioned, film a close up of their head jerking back, etc

3. them falling or whatever

As for the head-chopping...i'd really go practical on this all the way for the best methods unless you have someone really good in 3D animation that can produce a photo-realistic head. You can mask the head of the actor and rotoscope it falling or something.
 
madhorizons said:
There's probably a ton of ways to go about this...but here's how I would do it (which is probably not the most efficient way...but works for me).

3 shots...

1. Zombie running/standing against wall/whatever...shoot that all the way to the gun shot, use blood spatter either in post or squib

2. Prep actor/actress with bullet hole in head via practical like you mentioned, film a close up of their head jerking back, etc

3. them falling or whatever

As for the head-chopping...i'd really go practical on this all the way for the best methods unless you have someone really good in 3D animation that can produce a photo-realistic head. You can mask the head of the actor and rotoscope it falling or something.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the advice! So by practical, what do you mean? I don't have many zombies willing to just get their head chopped off for the glory indie cinema! Haha! Though possibly you mean a raised prosthetic fake head off the top of someone's real head (a la' headless horsemen costume) and chopping that off in a physical stunt?
 
Hmm, I'll see what I can come up with for pratical while still making it look good. I'll probably be running some tests relatively soon. I'll try posting them up here for some more tips.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top