How much will it cost for this digital FX work?

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
I've got some problem areas with my feature 'Afterlife' that are just beyond my meager abilities to fix. I need to get some kind of estimate of what it will cost to hire a digital effects person to fix these things for me.

'Afterlife' was shot on the DVX100a in SD. The first problem is two greenscreen scenes. They are both critically important to the story, so I can't cut them out. But I also can't re-shoot them. The greenscreen was unevenly lit, and there is also some degree of green wash on the car interior (these are driving scenes, set at night.) I can make them look fairly decent using FXHome's CompositeLab Pro, but they need to look a lot better.

The other things involve some fairly simple digital FX -- making our ghost look more ghostly, and also an effect where two people are enveloped in a brilliant white glow that descends from above. That's pretty much it.

I don't have the exact times of the two driving scenes, but I can get them.

Anyone want to ballpark a cost figure for me here?

Thanks in advance!
 
I'm just throwing my opinion out here. Take it for what it's worth!

A VFX student will probably run you $15-25 an hour. (I say this - being a VFX student :] )
A pro could be anywhere from $35-55 to more. With a pro, you are gaining the wisdom of workflow and experience that might actually save you money in the long run.

An unevenly lit green screen is a pain, but a pro should be able to handle it. (divide and conquer- pull multiple keys and layer the alphas.)

As for how many hours- it depends on the length of the footage of course, and the difficulty of the comp.
Does the greenscreen uneven lighting change at any point in the scene? that'll be trickier- think of that like a whole new shot.
 
The guy I know who would totally be able to handle that would probably end up costing you around $1200 for the fix.
 
Renee said:
I'm just throwing my opinion out here. Take it for what it's worth!

A VFX student will probably run you $15-25 an hour. (I say this - being a VFX student :] )
A pro could be anywhere from $35-55 to more. With a pro, you are gaining the wisdom of workflow and experience that might actually save you money in the long run.

An unevenly lit green screen is a pain, but a pro should be able to handle it. (divide and conquer- pull multiple keys and layer the alphas.)

As for how many hours- it depends on the length of the footage of course, and the difficulty of the comp.
Does the greenscreen uneven lighting change at any point in the scene? that'll be trickier- think of that like a whole new shot.
Click to expand...

Thanks Renee! No, the greenscreen lighting stays pretty consistent. I don't think either driving scene is more than 90 seconds long, but I need to double-check that. I'll let you know.
 
90 seconds? That's not bad. Again depends on the trickiness of your comp- like what exactly you want done. Good luck finishing your film!
 
I'll see what I can do. The background to be comped in is footage shot out the window of a moving car at night. Pretty straightforward comp, nothing fancy.

Renee, PM me your email address so I can send you some clips. Thanks!
 
Is important to know the duration of the shots and the complexity of the comps to help you with a estimated.
Can you post a picture from your test comp? and from the original footage maybe i can give you a hand or two ;)
Some of my work can be seen in here:
http://www.vimeo.com/21231223
pass:ccldk

Good luck with your project!
 
This is kind of footage lands on my desk every day. If it is not too bad.
,I could help you out, - sounds like no biggie .

Frank
 
Sorry for the delay- been busy! I took a look at your footage. It's not too bad. I see two main conflicts for the key- #1, the darker green wrinkles in left side and #2 the white shiny wrinkles on the right side.
(I assume those white spots are wrinkles of shine on your green dropcloth?)

Around 1:25 in the outline of your actor intersects the white field. I'm sure it happens more than once. I wouldn't bother with those in the key, and instead rotoscope those moments out. That could take some finessing, but a good roto-er would have no problem.

A minor thing is all the detail in your actors curly hair. It'll be tricky to retain. I could see myself pulling 3 or 4 separate keys, and layering them for a clean, nice alpha.

In my humble opinion, it is definitely useable! I would want a full work week to noodle with it and the background plates. Take that for what it is worth!
 
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