Compositing Practice

Trees (unless there metal) don't usually cause sparks when a bullet strikes them. I'd be more ready to see a chunk of bark fly and a hole get drilled in the tree.
 
The gunshot effects were fairly good (apart from the sparks in the tree!) but the explosion needs many more layers in it. Are you working with AE? Several particle simulation layers each of fire, smoke, dust and debris are necassary. Make sure that the speed of the explosion/fire matches the speed of the other emelents in the scene - in your explosion the fire is in slow motion but the car jumps way too fast. You also need to play with the light in each scene, explosions and gunshots emit light which will brighten the scene like a camera flash.

Also make sure the explosion and fire stay in the same places (especially if this is a gas-fueled fire, because gas sticks to everything and burns like crazy) On your car, fire covered the back end and then quickly moves to the front, leaving the rear end momentarily looking as good as new.

A bit of camera shake also helps to make it more life-like, as well as cover up mistakes.

Here's a few tutorials which you might find handy - these apply to after effects (which I'm assuming you're using) but many of the techniques can be appled in regular NLE's, albeit with less control and much less impressive effects.

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/simulated_lighting/

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/planet_explosion/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top