Creating Red Eye ?

titas

titas

Member
Hey folks,
here's one for you... I want to deliberately shoot footage in which the actors have red eye, like you would get in a stills camera. Is this possible to do in camera without doing it in post? I think its something to do with how the eye reacts and may only be a reaction to a flash or something, but thought it worth a post here...:shocked:
 
It is absolutely a reflection within the eye. What occurs is that the blood vessels in the retina reflect back toward the camera. This occurs because the flash duration is too short for the iris to react to. In a continuous situation (such as with a motion project) the eye will have time to react to the light and the effect will be gone. I can't think of a practical solution for this effect other than a specialized contact lens.
 
khmuse said:
It is absolutely a reflection within the eye. What occurs is that the blood vessels in the retina reflect back toward the camera. This occurs because the flash duration is too short for the iris to react to. In a continuous situation (such as with a motion project) the eye will have time to react to the light and the effect will be gone. I can't think of a practical solution for this effect other than a specialized contact lens.
Click to expand...


or Rotoscoping.



Hang on a tick, you said "practical".

Never mind.


:laugh:
 
A contact lens is a distinct possibility. I'll check that out.

I suspected it wouldnt be possible to get a continuous reaction from the eye. Thanks for your input guys.
 
Kidding aside, I just remembered there are certain contacts that have tiny crystals/elements in them which reflect light when lit from a certain angle. Sounds like that could be something.
 
Ridley Scott did something similar to what you are talking about in Blade Runner. Not sure how they did it, but it is possible. Hmmmm...

EDIT: Here's a link to a similar discussion on Cinematography.net. Maybe one of these techniques would work.

Red Eye Effect
 
be careful with these contacts. If you do not get your actors checked out for sizes, you may end up only being able to shoot for a few minutes at a time before your actors have horrible head-aches. These types of contacts are nototrious for being cheaply made, and bad for the eyes. if you are going to go for it, go all in, and get the good ones.
 
The cheap-o lenses can take forever to get into your actor's eyes. They flip and flop all around and just don't want to go in, unless your actor normally wears contacts and is good at inserting them.

And as with anything you put in your eye, it's possible to seriously scratch a cornea.
 
The alternatives are $300- $450 which is past the budget. I assume that I can order similar lenses to these locally. I'll discuss it with an optician as advised on the site. At least they're honest and mention presciptions etc on the there.
 
That type of contact isn't the safest thing in the world, but I know plenty of people who have used them extensively with zero problems.
 
do it in aftereffects. it would be so freaking easy. i'd say it would take 1 minute for the first frame and 10 seconds (maximum) for every additional frame. what is your budget?
 
You can glue Scotchlite to their pupils and then position a red flourescent light right next to the camera. This is how they make the reflective balls for motion capture. (BTW, this is not a serious suggestion. Do not glue anything to your actors' eyes, they get angry.)
 
The system that Jordan Cronenweth evidently used on Blade runner was to film the actor through a semi slivered mirror at 45 degrees to the camera axis and then project a small light (like a mizar) into the mirror (thus forcing the light along the axis of the lens) - the net effect, apparently, is to create a reflection in the pupil similar to cat's eyes at night - which only the camera reads. I haven't tested it myself but this, evidently, was the system. :shocked: Good luck trying it,

James
 
Just found this:



"Colored lights were also occasionally used to create a special effect for the replicant's eyes: "One of the identifying characteristics of replicants is a strange glowing quality in their eyes," Cronenweth notes. "To achieve this effect, we'd use a two-way mirror — 50 percent transmission, 50 percent reflection — placed in front of the lens at a 45-degree angle. Then we'd project a light into the mirror so that it would be reflected into the eyes of the subject along the optical axis of the lens. We'd sometimes use very subtle gels to add color to the eyes. Often, we'd photograph a scene with and without this effect, so Ridley would have the option of when he'd use it."

http://www.theasc.com/magazine/mar99/blade/pg2.htm
 
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