Getting hit by a car

That was really cool!

I wish I could post the car hit tutorial that's part of the new Serious FX 2 DVD. (coming soon)

Basically, a mom and a baby in a stroller are coming toward the camera on the side walk and she hands the kid a toy and it falls on the ground. Just then a friendly pedestrian is walking past her (away from the camera) he leans down and hands it to the kid and the mom says thanks. Just then he crosses the road and is struck by a car.

It's pretty funny.

Andrew Kramer
 
Serious FX

Serious FX

Hey Andrew

Can't wait for Serious FX 2. The first one is great. I learned a ton from that one. Any projected release date yet?

Tim
 
so what about this one here? Is this a post-production software effect or what?? saw this as a suggested link after watching yours (nice bus btw!!) and I'm not sure I'm admiring a great effect or watching a real accident (though the camera movement suggests it was set up). what do you think?

edit: and what the heck's that thing in the bottom left corner of the screen that floats with the cam until the impact??
 
It is said that this one was digitally manipulated. But somehow it always looked too real to me, but it also looks as if it was a set up. (The way the camera moves etc)
 
AndrewKramer said:
That was really cool!

I wish I could post the car hit tutorial that's part of the new Serious FX 2 DVD.
Click to expand...
Do you have a link to the first DVD? I'd be interested in getting my hands on it.

Thanks!
 
Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone! I am putting together another car hit for this commercial contest...It's ridiculous and doesn't make much sense but I figured why let a newly learned effect go to waist...I'll post it when it's done....Still waiting to see other peoples car hits...

Oh and Andrew, can't wait for Serious FX 2, the first CD taught me so much...

:dankk2:

Oh Brett, here's the link to his site http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials.html
 
Nice job, Roadkill (great humor, too). Markcheng, if you pause/advance/pause the video, you'll see the "telling frame" that proves it's a effect. After the car moves about two feet in front of the pizza guy, there's a blur in front of the car but the upper-half of the pizza man still has his body standing in a upright posture! It would be physically impossible for his upper torso not to tilt toward the car earlier when the bumper would have whacked him. On that frame it looks as though the car is going THROUGH him. Then, at the next frame his upper torso is replaced by the tumbling dummy and the camera mysterously jerks to the right to follow the action at that instant.

But that tumbling dummy really makes the effect appear believable. I'd swear it was two takes, with a dummy on the hood of the car on the second take but that certainly seems like a lot of extra work. In post production the dummy could be masked out of the first several visible frames, until it was time to mask out the pizza man during the intersection/"collision" with the car. I'd guess the dummy was 100% real. Here's one approach:

1. Put the dummy at the point of impact
2. Tie a transparent string to the dummy
3. Run a long string to a stationary object behind the car
4. Take the dummy back to the car and put it on the hood
5. Ensure camera focus is on the point of "impact" (where line slack is tight)
6. Have the car speed up and have driver hit brakes hard at impact point

At this point, the dummy is radically jerked back off the hood. The transparent line (perhaps a monofiliment fishing line) breaks shortly after impact, but the violent jerk is enough to cause the dummy to tumble.

Of course, the more elegant way would be to use various still pix, rotate the pizza guy's body to simulate tumbling, etc. That might work for a quick clip but the motion effects would be really hard - especially the motion/inertia when the body hits the ground, etc.

Here's my question - did the car actually hit the brakes and is the smoke REAL, or is the smoke an effect and the brake squel added in post?

Regards, Michael
 
www.videocopilot.net/carsmack.mov

Here is the original test we did for the 2nd DVD to make sure it could be done relatively quickly for a tutorial. That's really the trick is showing off great effects that can be done in about 10-15 minutes. Anything can be done in AE but no one wants to watch 2 hours of tinkering for one effect.

Feel free to bootleg the sound FX i pulled the ambiance.

Best,
Andrew Kramer
www.VideoCopilot.net
 
No green screen, just keyframe a mask shape. 2 plates make the lighting easier to match etc. Maybe a little too much feathering but it looks better on the HD source. Ohh, I've said too much.

Andrew
 
No, it looks great man :) I love the innocent smile in the first scene.

I did a car hit test back in 2003. I replaced my leg with a 3d model that went flying through the air. Looked pretty convincing, but somewhat exadurated though.
 
That hit was awesome Andrew.....I like how you added the wiggler effect to intensify the hit.....Atleast it looks like you used that.....I need more believable sounds like that....Much more believable...Good job!
 
Okay, so here's my attempt. Ill note now that the shadow needs some work and stuff, but I was an attempt atleast. Also, my first time using after effects.. This little project was a good way to learn some beginnings of after effects. Thanks for all your help Raodkill475! And don't worry I won't claim this as my own idea ;-).. Just wanted to get practice doing something cool for once! ;-)

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1516933005
 
RoadKill: Not bad. I was thinking about making one car hit - and its similar the methode you just did. And it seems it works great. I will remember this one when I need a car-hit-scene ^^

Andrew: Nice done, but when I freeze the frame, I could easy see its masked. If you want to make it realistic, so watch the mirror on the front of the car (I don't know what its named in English). Make it more blur and feather with the front of the car. And the actor started to "fall" 1-2 frames to early. You could make the car hit 1-2 framers earlier. But else its really good job. Nice shaking of the camera.
 
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Ok guys, we have seen the car hit scenes from the side, but what about from a perspective view? :) I think I'll experiment with that when I get my new camera. Would be cool to see your tests too!
 
Yeah, the hard part was the roto but it turned out to be pretty easy, I didn't want to overcomplicate it at first. Wait til you see the one that will be on the DVD! Much improved you can go frame by frame all you want.

And yeah I used a little wiggle expression to make the bounce.

Best,
Andrew Kramer
VIdeoCopilot.net
 
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