Sweet & simple: SFX tips, tricks and cheats

[Erojo12]

I recently re-watched Star Trek (2009) and was amazed to learn that the constant horizontal light flares across the picture were simple to do.
From IMDB (trivia):

The film was shot in 2.35:1 anamorphic Panavision, which is director of photographyDaniel Mindel's preferred format. To take full advantage of the format, Mindel caught as many lens flares (a photographic effect where light sparkles everywhere) in the film as possible, to create a sense of wonder that enhanced the film: "There's something about these flares, especially in a movie that potentially could be incredibly sterile and overly controlled by CGI, that's just incredibly unpredictable and gorgeous." He would create flares by shining a flashlight or pointing a mirror at the camera lens, or using two cameras (and therefore two lighting set-ups) simultaneously.

I was wondering of other easy, simple, yet effective, special effects tips or tricks anyone knows of or has used and found effective.

 

[nycineaste]

its funny this thread came up, ive been thinking alot recently about how alot of the effects for the first STAR WARS are basically in all or hands now- anyone can do green screen with any NLE.

ive been thinking about taking advantage of this and doing a sci fi short with model spaceships built from breaking up cheap toys from the the 99 cents store. and painting them up.

if someone put their minds to this it could look incredible- turthfully I wont get to it i have too much other stuff thinking about shooting, but...

for easy monster fx look up "toilet paper zombie"on youtube to learn how to take liquid latex and make monsters its good for any kind of monster. it was the main technique used to make the possessed characters in the first evil dead.


thsi is just me in liquid latex and toilet paper, teeth from the halloween store, and some uplighting. not too bad i think for something done so fast and cheap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLb45XkuG0Q&feature=plcp

 

[mail4joeg]

It worked because they had 35mm film and Panavision lenses.

They also tried doing it (horribly) in Total Recall, and it was the most annoying, unnecessary, fake looking crap you've ever seen. The image kept on blowing out (Red) with white flashlight intrusions, completely unmotivated over and over again. My wife and I were joking about it after a couple of minutes. By the way, horrible film, could be summed up in one sentence: Kate Beckinsdale is a *****.

 

[colfaxrev]

Colin Farrell will NEVER by QUAID in my eyes

 

[Wesley Byram]

its funny this thread came up, ive been thinking alot recently about how alot of the effects for the first STAR WARS are basically in all or hands now- anyone can do green screen with any NLE.

ive been thinking about taking advantage of this and doing a sci fi short with model spaceships built from breaking up cheap toys from the the 99 cents store. and painting them up.

if someone put their minds to this it could look incredible- turthfully I wont get to it i have too much other stuff thinking about shooting, but...

If you ever get the chance, I say go for it. That sort of model effect work appears to be a dying art. We had some fun trying something like that for our last video. The test shots came out looking pretty decent, but in the end we went all CGI for the outer space segments. It was just easier.

for easy monster fx look up "toilet paper zombie"on youtube to learn how to take liquid latex and make monsters its good for any kind of monster. it was the main technique used to make the possessed characters in the first evil dead.


thsi is just me in liquid latex and toilet paper, teeth from the halloween store, and some uplighting. not too bad i think for something done so fast and cheap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLb45XkuG0Q&feature=plcp

I like the vid. It has an authentically retro feeling quality. Did you transfer it to VHS and then re-record it back to get the old-tape look?

 

[Wesley Byram]

I was wondering of other easy, simple, yet effective, special effects tips or tricks anyone knows of or has used and found effective.

It probably isn't much relavent these days, but when I was a kid with a PXL2000 I tried to make a Top Gun knock off. I did the flying shots by holding a toy airplane close to the lens with my left hand (fingers just off frame) and the camera in the right. Then, I would spin myself around and around which had the effect of making the backround a fast moving blur, as if the plane was wizzing by the scenery. Other 6th graders thought it looked awesome. Probably not so impressive today.

On a similar note, forced perspective can be a cool in-camera trick to make a small object look bigger. The shot of the wrecked ship in the desert from Close Encounters was done that way.

 

[arco1]

Of course, lens flares can also be added in post using any one of several plug-in tools available. I've even used some subtle flares to spice-up a wedding video shot in a rather dreary-looking church.


Jim

 

[Michael Carter]

But in my experience, only the really pricey flare plugins are really beautiful. The Knoll plugin is amazing - you can even add dust in the lens elements.

I cut a pencil-sized hole in some black foamcore, set up a 1k light, and shot a bunch of flare plates one day. I got some amazing ones with a screw-on "HD Wide Angle" adapter, which is sort of a beautiful wreck of a lens. Amazing 16-point flares.

My other favorite cheap-effects trick? Shoot a bunch of handheld reference plates - just a couple markers on a wall. From very subtle to pretty intense. When you do a composited shot where handheld would add to the feel, shoot it locked down so you don't have to composite it with tracking... then parent a tracked handheld reference to it. It can really "glue" an effect shot together, even with subtle motion.

 

[Wesley Byram]

My other favorite cheap-effects trick? Shoot a bunch of handheld reference plates - just a couple markers on a wall. From very subtle to pretty intense. When you do a composited shot where handheld would add to the feel, shoot it locked down so you don't have to composite it with tracking... then parent a tracked handheld reference to it. It can really "glue" an effect shot together, even with subtle motion.

That's pretty darn clever. It would also take the camera's rolling shutter out of the equation for those sorts of composite shots.

 

[Doc Bernard]

It worked because they had 35mm film and Panavision lenses.

They also tried doing it (horribly) in Total Recall, and it was the most annoying, unnecessary, fake looking crap you've ever seen. The image kept on blowing out (Red) with white flashlight intrusions, completely unmotivated over and over again. My wife and I were joking about it after a couple of minutes. By the way, horrible film, could be summed up in one sentence: ************ ********* ** * *****.

No reason for an unwarranted attack on someone you probably don't even know. PM sent.

Keep it classy.

 

[nycineaste]

Did you transfer it to VHS and then re-record it back to get the old-tape look?

thansk, thats exactly what i did.

woudlve been better if i managed to get more low key lighting, but for something done in one day in my bedroom with thrown together props, i guess im happy with it.

also i messed up shouldve put a bandage on her hand after she "cuts" herself.

but yeah vhs trick.

the fake video logo i made in vegas with the built on plugins (lens flare, etc)

 

[Wesley Byram]

No reason for an unwarranted attack on someone you probably don't even know. PM sent.

Keep it classy.

I could well be mistaken, but in fairness to mall4joeg, I think that he was refering to Kate Beckinsdale's fictional *character* in the movie, rather than to Beckinsdale herself.

Another interpretation is that "mall4joeg" is the handle that Colin Farrell uses when he posts to message boards while drunk. In that case, I guess that he would have met her. ;-)

 

[Postmaster]

I did my first VFX shot when I was 14 - that was also my first job as DP and director at the same time :happy:

We had a huge meadow behind our house, where they put all the snow from the inner city streets.
Making it a perfect snow planet in my book.

I talked my mum into standing on one of those mounts in the middle of a snow storm and swinging a X-wing fighter model, hanging from a broomstick over the landscape.
A friend was throwing firecrackers in the snow and I was shooting all that with my dad's super 8 camera.
I was later cutting that together with Viper (Battlestar Galactica) starting scenes I filmed from the TV screen.

Damn, I wish I would know where that flick is now.

Frank

 

[mail4joeg]

"Another interpretation is that "mall4joeg" is the handle that Colin Farrell uses when he posts to message boards while drunk. In that case, I guess that he would have met her. ;-)"

I confess, I’m Colin Farrell.

Is this Doc person serious? Not interested in the PM, btw.

As for liquid latex – look up Gel 10 on youtube. Much better stuff, but pricier.

 

[Doc Bernard]

Ok........then I will assist and edit your post for you. I am the moderator in this section. The PM was a friendly warning (Step 1) that I would have hoped got your "interest" and yes, that "Doc person" was serious.

Violating DVXuser Policy:
The normal procedure will be:

1. Warning by Private Message [PM]
2. Temporary ban if the warning is ignored
3. Permanent ban for continuing problems.
​

 

[Egg Born Son]

Is this Doc person serious? Not interested in the PM, btw.

Look, I think Doc got the wrong end of the stick here with your comment but the correct response to a moderator is to apologise for the misunderstanding, explain yourself and modify the post to make it clear that you were describing the character. Moderated sites are moderated, which means you must submit to the standards imposed by the moderators, even if you disagree. You may well be in the right but dismissing a PM questioning your post is poor form and won't get you anywhere.


On topic, my favourite effects are the ones that wink at the audience pantomime-style. The audience knows how it's done. So they are in on it and still appreciate the optical effect for what it is. The classic is the "lying down of the floor and pretend your hanging off the side of a building" shot. The Dark Star elevator shaft scene is a classic example. He labours the effect so much that you're half laughing, half appreciating the lengths to which he's taking it. Kind of like Team America, how on the one hand it's lame and on the other hand they take it further than anyone else ever has.

 

[Erojo12]

its funny this thread came up, ive been thinking alot recently about how alot of the effects for the first STAR WARS are basically in all or hands now- anyone can do green screen with any NLE.

ive been thinking about taking advantage of this and doing a sci fi short with model spaceships built from breaking up cheap toys from the the 99 cents store. and painting them up.

if someone put their minds to this it could look incredible- turthfully I wont get to it i have too much other stuff thinking about shooting, but...

I agree, this could look really good, especially for a sci-fi film in which you want to ensure what you create looks new and different. If I need any original models, I'll consider the dollar store and some good paint. Especially because I want to make sure I'm not mimicking anything that already exists.

 

[Erojo12]

I did my first VFX shot when I was 14 - that was also my first job as DP and director at the same time :happy:

We had a huge meadow behind our house, where they put all the snow from the inner city streets.
Making it a perfect snow planet in my book.

I talked my mum into standing on one of those mounts in the middle of a snow storm and swinging a X-wing fighter model, hanging from a broomstick over the landscape.
A friend was throwing firecrackers in the snow and I was shooting all that with my dad's super 8 camera.
I was later cutting that together with Viper (Battlestar Galactica) starting scenes I filmed from the TV screen.

Damn, I wish I would know where that flick is now.

Frank

I'd love to see that video. I love the family help and the young originality, just the inspiration I need to try to innovate something of my own.

 

[iHartVideo]

I cut a pencil-sized hole in some black foamcore, set up a 1k light, and shot a bunch of flare plates one day. I got some amazing ones with a screw-on "HD Wide Angle" adapter, which is sort of a beautiful wreck of a lens. Amazing 16-point flares.

... then parent a tracked handheld reference to it. It can really "glue" an effect shot together, even with subtle motion.

Two great ideas. I think I'm going to do these!