special effects advise

S

skywalks

Active member
Hey Folks. I'm looking for some advise on doing some scenes with special effects, i'm really just trying to plan out the shoot itself. I'm a little unsure as to what requires a green screen and what can be added to a scene with out.

If i'm shooting a scene outside, and I want some creatures that are the same color as the ground to pop up and start running at the actors do I need a green screen for that?

Also if I have a scene with a market, and I want a plan to rise up from behind some of the huts, so it's not visible until it's in the sky, do I need a green screen for this?

If I want a cave enterance to be covered in ice and then shatter and reveal a character, do I need a green screen for this?

Any help is appreciated,
cheers,
Jesse
 
Depending how you want to accomplish these shots, You may or may not need greenscreen. Personally, I prefer to avoid greenscreen if at all possible for a number of reasons. Regardless, I have a few questions to you that can help me answer yours:

What kind of camrea are you using?

Do you have any compositor or fx people working with you?

Do you already have a creature design and how do you plan to create it? i.e CG, actor in costume, puppets, etc?

Do you have the shots storyboarded how you want them to look?
 
Hey TeamSeaShanty

I'm probably going to be filming on my canon 5d mark ii

As of now, there aren't any compositors or fx people involved. I'm hoping to find some people in the near future, but maybe not until post.

I don't have a creature design yet, should have something drawn in the next couple of months. But i'd like to make it with cgi

no story boards yet, but I could get some rough ones drawn up by mid feb.
 
I really don’t think any of these shots inherently require green screen but you do need to plan them out meticulously. The last thing you want to do is go to all the trouble of having your movie complete except for these few shots and then hope what you’ve got will be what your compositor needs to put them together for you. Get your f/x artists onboard in preproduction so they can help you set up each shot. Do several tests with your 5D to find out if where your plans work or where you need to make adjustments. Also, come up with alternate shots so in the worst case scenario, you aren’t stuck.

Several years ago, I was asked to composite a shot for a friend of mine. The filmmakers shot what they thought was necessary to complete the illusion but the end result was less than stellar. Even though the sequence was shot in HD, the clip I received was downcoverted to SD, every take had smoke and leaves blowing across the blue screen, and there were no cut-aways for that key moment in the story. As much as I tried, I never got a decent key with that shot and the editor was forced to use my lackluster composite. Perhaps a more skilled compositor couldn’t pulled a better key but in retrospect, it would’ve worked out better to have used a painted backdrop in-place of the blue screen. It was a learning experience for both myself and the filmmakers that unfortunately, was at the cost of the final product.

Try to find existing break downs of shots similar to what you want to. You can also get tips for setting up shots through: http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/vfx_index.html

The key is really knowing what you want and keeping the effect simple. For example, showing someone trapped in ice might be as simple as shooting your actor with a proper background through a wavy frosted piece of glass, cutting to a shot of the ground while you have a grip dump a cooler of broken Ice, and cutting back to your character with the frosted glass gone. It’s all how you plan it.
 
thanks for the advice & info!

Is there a good website for hiring efx people? I doubt I could afford high end wages, but I'd like to talk to some people and see what's available.
 
There are several forums out there for animators and f/x artists very similar to DVXuser. CGtalk, 3d Total, and vfxtalk are just a few. They all have job posts. Videocopilot.com also has some great tutorials along with a forum.

When it comes to good 3d character animation integrated with live action, you’re really taping 4 disciplines. Modeling, rigging, character animation, and compositing. One artist can perform all of these tasks but it’s tedious and you will want to make sure they feel properly compensated for their work whether it’s through money, experience, thrill of the challenge, etc.

Check out the schools and colleges in your area and see if they offer classes in 3d animation, compositing or matte painting. You might be able to find some talented people eager to get a good piece for their demo reel or chat with some of the instructors and get additional advice. Don’t forget to see if there are any videogame or vfx companies close to you. You might be able to hire out an artist for this as a side job.
 
It's not a matter of apathy. It sounds like a really interesting project. I think many of us are booked up at the moment so we can't participate, as much as we'de like to.

Best wishes. Maybe someone with some free time will jump on board.

-Gord.
 
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