Angel Wings!

DArcyFD

DArcyFD

Active member
Hi, I'm new here.

I have a serious problem which I'm hoping someone may be able to help me with their knowledge/experience/opinion.

I have a great script for a short which in many ways is very do-able, on a small budget.

There is one problem however which has led me to lose all faith in the whole thing! I can't see it working without a solid solution.

Ok here's the problem: I need to pass off one of the actors as having Angel Wings. Big, feathered wings protruding from his back. It has to be 'believable', ie. in a kind of absurd way. In other words, it needs to be plausible that the other characters believe he is an angel. Therefore, the wings need to be visually plausible to the audience. Otherwise the whole film simply won't work!

I can't think of any way to do this on a limited budget, say no more than US$1000.

Constructing the wings themselves isn't that inconceivable - say, a wire/mesh frame, with lots of real feathers painstakingly attached.

But how to get them onto the actor? By the way, he's shirtless. (Again, that's something the film needs to work visually, on a comedic level). So that means no straps, no harness etc.

Has anyone dealt with a problem like this before? Any suggestions/advice would be much appreciated since, as I said, the film simply won't work otherwise.

Thanks,
D'Arcy
 
A lot depends on the circumstances. One option is to give him a shirt, that way you can create a rig to support any contraption you make. Also if its a quick, straight on shot thats been properly photographed, you may be able to have the wings raised off the ground or hanging from the ceiling. Those are only options if you have the means or talent to create a set of fake wings. Obviously CG wings are the easiest and cheapest but well done practical effects look better than well done CG work any day.
Consider other options to reveal that he's an angel (halo, bright lights etc). But really, without getting too far into the screenplay, the best thing is to use the magic of implication for your reveal. Not only is it inexpensive but it also adds subtlety and a little bit of class to a small production. I would even consider just having the character sort of re-enact a popular religious image (from a painting or sculpture)
So basically you may consider a script tweak because physically protruding wings are just not reasonable options, and even still standing ones dont look too proffesional. Sometimes its just the nature of indy filmmaking.
 
yeah, the join between the wings and the actor are the problem - for a budget of less than $1000 and no visible harness allowed, you're going to have trouble making that join believable. The obvious option is to only show the actor from the front (with wings showing behind his shoulders) and hide some sort of frame behind his back or 'attach' the wings via greenscreening.

I'd strongly recommend storyboarding the whole film, so that you know what shots of the angel you _really_ need.
 
Thanks for the replies, I appreciate the suggestions.

Unfortunately, and without going into nitty-gritty details of the script, the wings are a must, and not only would the film not work without them, it would be a different film altogether.

I'm dead-set against CG, just because I'm not convinced it can deliver results that are believable.

I don't want to sound like I'm being narrow-minded or refusing to think outside the square, it's just the nature of the story!

I think at the end of the day it's probably too ambitious for an indy film.

I am starting to consider changing the character completely, but as a consequence it would change the whole meaning of the story.
 
Angel wings!

Angel wings!

Without CG or spending a lot, d*mned if I know.

If you figure this one out, I hope you'll share it here so we can all benefit from the knowledge, because making that believable would be IMPRESSIVE!

I hope you can do it! If not, remember--it can be revealed to your characters without revealing visually to the viewing audience (as McLeish suggested). Just give 'em a good reaction shot (perhaps bathing them in golden light or some such thing to sell the shot), and you might still pull it off . Never underestimate the power of the audience's imagination!

Cheers,
Mike
 
Didn't you already ask this question? It sounds really familiar, down to the shirtless angel. What kind of shot will it be? Will they be stationary, hopefully shot from the waist up? If so, you might be able to build a stand to sit behind them, and attach the wings to the pole. If you make a hinge like mount for the wings, you would be able to flap them to some extent. Viewed from the front, it could be believable.
 
I had the same problem with a music video. I went to a costume store to check out wings and all they had were really lame small kids size wings.....looked too fairy like (even though they werent fairy wings). I just decided to use some wings in the program Poser. I ended up using 2 clips of it and I had to be really specific of what angle it was shot at.

After doing all this, building your own wings would look the most realistic but making them move realistically would be REALLY hard. Everytime the actor would move, it would look like you had a frame built.
 
You could shoot the wings on green screen using some fishing line to make them seem to twitch or 'ruffle' or whatever you call the movement of oversized wings. Then shoot your actor on greenscreen doing whatever actions or movements he needs to do with the wings attached. After that, its simply a matter of getting a good motion track in a compositing program like After Effects and you'll have a moving, practical, set of wings. Of course, you need to be very careful to make sure that the track is PERFECT and that the angles and lighting in the two greenscreen shots not only match each other but also the background plate you'll be placing under them both. If you need to do a shot from behind the actor, try painting some green dots onto his back and use those as motion tracking points, then cover them with the composited wings.

Another note on that technique that just popped into my head... If the actor is going to be making large movements that would change the way light falls onto him (for instance, leaning 90 degrees to his right), then the wings would need to reflect that change in lighting angle. That means one of two things: Keep your actor relatively still with regards to light, or plan out every shot and movement and then 'simulate' the change in light when shooting your wings on greenscreen.

It won't be easy, but you're guaranteed to get some good stories out of it.
 
And if all of that sounds like too much work, I have a nail gun... as long as your actor isn't SAG, no worries ;)
 
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