How To: Week 2- Composite your own Visual effects shot!

Compositing visual effects shots professionally can be a complex and expensive endeavor. However, its a relatively simple task to create your own composites in Photoshop. And you can use things that you might have around the house.

First off, pick a subject.. Do you want to do something with a science fiction or fantasy angle. A giant monster on the loose?, a futuristic city.? Try to pick something relatively easy and not terribly complex to begin with. For demonstration purposes I have picked spaceships attacking Boston.

For this task you will need

-A digital camera with memory card

- A computer with Photoshop

- A sunny day to shoot outdoors

-A subject to shoot (miniature or person-you decide)

- Chroma blue background or white paper as background

As I time saver I have photographed a Klingon Bird of Prey Model against a white background. You can also use a bright Chroma blue background, which will make the separation against its original background easier.

   1.  Photograph miniature against background with digital camera. Any digital camera will work.

   2.  Make note of camera position and lens information. Also make note of position of lights so you    can match to the background.

   3.   Pick an outdoor setting to shoot the background plate. Try to match the lighting of your subject in   terms of where the sun will be hitting the subject.

      4. Transfer the digital files to the computer and open Photoshop.Load images into program.

    5.   Add layer in Photoshop for background. Load background photo

    6.  Add second layer for subject.

    7.  Make a separation layer from the subject layer. You do this by right clicking and clicking on make layer.

   8. Use the eraser brush to create a transparent layer around the ship. Now we can separate it from the background.

   9. Cut and paste the subject Layer over the background layer after you have separated it from its native layer

  10. Use Conform tool to position it in frame and adjust the size. Using Cut and Paste and conform you can add as many ships as you like.

  11.     Lock all layers. You should have a completed shot! Congratulations. Do it 23 more times and you have one frame of film. (Just kidding)

  The basic principals of compositing are all present in this exercise.

Wikipedia submission

SKOTAK BROTHERS

Submission to Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia

Robert and Dennis Skotak are visual effects supervisors, designers and photographers known professionally as the Skotak Brothers. Their films include Aliens (1986), Tremors (1989), The Abyss (1989) Darkman (1990), Terminator 2 : Judgment Day  (1991), House On Haunted Hill(1999) and Starship Trooper: Marauder (2007)

Professionally they worked together for most of their careers but occasionally have worked independently. In 1989 they founded the visual effects company 4ward Productions. Collectively they have won three Academy awards in the visual effects category  for Aliens, The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In addition to his work as a visual effects supervisor, Robert is also a writer, film historian and production designer. Dennis is an experienced still photographer and digital artist.

EARLY CAREER

Both brothers were influenced early on by the works of George Pal specifically the film War Of The Worlds and the films of IB Melchior (Angry Red Planet). They eventually moved from their home state of Michigan to Los Angles, CA to seek work professionally in film production. In their adolescence they created several award winning short films, usually tackling subjects in the science fiction or fantasy realm.

One of the first projects they were hired for was to create several visual effects shots for the low budget thriller THE AFTERMATH (1977), a post apocalyptic science fiction film directed and starring Steve Barkett.

CORMAN STUDIOS/ NEW WORLD PICTURES

In the late 70’s the Skotaks went to work for Roger Corman’s New World Studios. Corman, impressed and motivated by the success of Star Wars (1977), began his own visual effects studio to provide effects for his own productions and to service other modestly budgeted film productions.

It was at the Corman studios that the Skotaks met fellow artist James Cameron. Together they worked on the visual effects and sets for Battle Beyond The Stars (1979), Corman’s response to George Lucas’ hit film. The Skotaks worked in multiple capacities on the film including set building, design, Photography, Matte Paintings. After the success of that film, The Skotaks continued working for Corman creating effects for Galaxy of Terror (1981),which Robert co-production designed with James Cameron, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981) and Forbidden World (1982)

WORKING WITH JAMES CAMERON

In 1985 the Skotaks were contacted by producer Gale Anne Hurd to supervise the visual effects for James Cameron’s follow up to his surprise hit The Terminator (1984). Cameron admired their skill and abilities in many areas of filmmaking including miniature construction, matte painting and photography. They ended up spending nearly a year on England on the film. Despite the limitations of the budget and the firing of the LA Effects Group from the film, the film earned Robert his first visual effects Oscar (shared with Stan Winston and special effects supervisor John Richardson)(2)

In 1988, the Skotaks were called up again by producer Gale Anne Hurd to work on Cameron’s next film, the ambitious The Abyss . Instead of taking on the supervision of the entire film they chose to work on certain sections of the film including the Benthic Explorer crane collapse and the DSRV drop from the tanker.  Dennis Skotak was awarded an academy award for his work on the film. (2)

In 1991 the Skotaks again collaborated with Cameron on his sequel to his 1984 independent hit The Terminator with Terminator 2 Judgment day. Although the majority of the press for the film focused on ILM's morphing T-1000 liquid metal effects, 4Ward cleverly incorporated digital effects with miniature work into the “nuclear nightmare” sequence.  For the shockwave blast effect, the Skotak used Mac computers to create a particle effect that would be digitally composited with the miniature building explosions. T2 would earn Robert his second academy award for visual effects supervision in 1992(shared with Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Gene Warren Jr)

The Skotaks would work again with Cameron on T-2 ride film as well as several key sequences in Titanic. (1997)

4WARD PRODUCTIONS

In 1989 The Skotaks along with partner Elaine Edford formed the visual effects studio 4Ward Productions. Their first project was the Gale Ann Hurd-produced science fiction Horror film Tremors.  Over the next two decades, 4Ward would create visual effects for such high profile films as Darkman (1990), Batman returns (1992), Hearts and Souls (1993), No Escape (1994), Captain Ron (1994), Tank Girl (1994), The Arrival (1996)and Hard Rain (1998)

The Skotaks had dabbled with integrating digital technology with Terminator 2 nuclear dream sequence but with House On Haunted hill (1999) they would use the new digital compositing tools on a much grander scale. They developed a technique of shooting miniatures and puppet effects on film and transferring the footage to high resolution digital tape and then compositing and manipulating the elements in a high speed composite system called The Flame. The resulting effects were impressive and millions were saved by avoiding expensive 3D CGI costs.

In 2007 they tackled their biggest project in years, Starship Troopers 3; Marauder. In this follow up to Paul Verhoven’s original 1997 film, the Skotaks would help design sets and hardware, help design creature effects and supervise all miniature and CG photography. Robert would also design the marauder suits and the boss creature, The Bethmacotyl. (6)

Today the Skotaks continue to run 4Ward from their studios in Chatsworth, California. Their most recent film was Joe Dante’s The Hole.

WRITING

Before Michigan for Los Angeles, the Skotak brothers wrote, edited and published the genre tribute fanzine, Fantascene and are currently working on a documentary on Soviet fantasy cinema. (1)

Robert Skotak is a noted film historian and has written several articles and biographies most notably Ib Melchior: Man of Imagination (3)

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

Robert Skotak

Academy award/ Best visual effects- Terminator 2 (1992)

Academy award/ Best visual effects- Aliens (1987)

Saturn Award/ Best visual effects- Aliens  (1987)

BAFTA Award/ Best visual effects –Terminator 2 (1992)

BAFTA Award/ Best visual effects- Aliens (1987) (5)

Dennis Skotak

Academy award/ Best visual effects- the Abyss (1990)

Academy award Nomination/ Best visual effects- Batman Returns (1993)

Saturn Award/ Best visual effects- Aliens  (1987)

BAFTA Nomination/ Best visual effects- Batman Returns (1993)

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY (as VFX supervisors/ designers) (5)

Alien
Titanic 
T2 3D Battle Across Time 
Ghost
Dracula 
Terminator 2 Judgement Day 
, Failure to Launch ,Young MacGyver
,The Tuxedo
Joe and Max
The Skys the Limit 
House on Haunted Hill
,Hard Rain 
Stepford Wives 
Mousehunt ,
Mars Attacks!,
,The Arrival
Tank Girl
No Escape
Clifford
Mad House 
Heart and Souls,
Captain Ron, 
Honey I Blew Up The Kid 
Batman Returns
Cast a Deadly Spell ,
Darkman ,
Tremors,
Syngenor, 
The Abyss
Space Rage 
The Lords of the Deep
City Limits 
Creature 
To Be or Not to Be 
Jaws 3 D 
Forbidden World
,The Aftermath ,
Galaxy of Terror 
Escape from New York 
Battle Beyond the Stars
,The Sky is Falling: The Making of 'The War of the Worlds' 
The Alien Legacy 
Batman Returns 
Strange Invaders 
The Demon Lover
Baby Killer 
Superior Firepower: The Making of 'Aliens' 
The Making of Tremors 
Movie Magic - Action Miniatures - Fast and Furious 
Shadows of the Bat
The Naked Monster 
Bio-Dome 
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins 
Trapped Ashes(3)

REFERENCES

1..http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/09/film/new-maps-of-heaven

2.http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/87922%7C0/Aliens.html

3. http://www.mentorhuebnerart.com/featuredguests/filmmakers/robertanddennisshotak.shtml

4. Sci Fi Fantasy FX, 25 years of moving $ward: a retrospect of the skotak Brothers

5.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0804738/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

6. Sci Fi Fantasy Modeller, Happy Medium Press, 2008, “Battle Plan”  creating the effects of Starship troopers 3

coolVFX on line resume UPDATE

https://twitter.com/coolVFX

http://coolvfx.tumblr.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coolvfx/394337563989731

http://coolvfx67.blogspot.com/

Fusion of old and new tech...the wave of the future?

In order for film producers to cut costs in growing visual effects budgets, they are constantly on the lookout for interesting methodologies that may present n cost saving measures.

In the new Sam Raimi fantasy film "Oz, The great and Powerful" the filmmakers enlisted the services of master puppeteer Phillip Huber, best known for his work on "Being John Malkovich".

An interview regarding that film can be found here

http://www.hubermarionettes.com/news/scifi.htm

Again, Huber brings his talent for the new character "The China Girl" for Oz.

An interview with him regarding the China Girl can be found here

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/60954.

I find it promising that Hollywood is continuing to find traditional solutions to VFX problem solving. Miniature builders and puppeteers have almost become extinct in Hollywood since the introduction of computers but occasionally they make a come back and the results are always interesting. Tim Burton's Frankenweenie and Paranorman also use the time honored tradition of puppet creation and stop motion photography (although using digital cameras for the work).

Hopefully Hollywood will continue to foster  all manner of artistry whether it be digital or practical even when budgetary concerns are involved.

Technology in entertainment. Why Hollywood can't live without it

Imagine you're producing a film and you're breaking down the script, trying to determine the cost and feasibility of shooting a film adaption of a book that largely takes place on the open sea. The main character of this story is sharing a life raft with a hungry Bengal tiger who is constantly trying to eat him. The logistical nightmares of that aspect alone is mind numbing!

Twenty years ago such a challenge might seem impossible to most producers and studios. They would have likely passed on filming a book like  Life of Pi.

Animal rights groups have cracked down heavily against animal mistreatment and have since required film companies to have an ASPCA representative on set whenever an animal is present. Also, animals are somewhat limited to what they can (or are willing) to do. Many animals (such as gorillas and certain species of chimpanzees) are difficult or illegal to train for entertainment purposes.

Digital technology solves a great deal of these problems.

The challenge of course is realism. It has to be believable to have dramatic impact. The digital artists and supervisors at California based visual effects house Rhythm and Hues have made major advancements in realistic animal animation. What is so challenging for effects artists is creating movement that seems natural.

Most artists have never seen large predatory cats up close and it would be somewhat difficult to put a motion capture suit on a tiger to get that realistic motion translated into the computer. After studying hours of footage of live tigers , it took months for the R and H artists to get the movements correct.

They managed to create a believable wild animal without the expense or potential danger or cruelty of using a live animal.

Digital technology of this type is still very expensive and many studios have difficulty maintaining the overhead to sustain the hardware and personnel to make such imagery. But comparatively  speaking, its still easier, cheaper and more humane to go the digital route.

FX Instruction: Building your own spaceship miniature

Before the advent of Computer generated imagery, movie effects technicians utilized the skills of miniature artists to create otherworldly machines and vehicles. Miniature creation was a staple of the pre-digital effects industry. Now studios have turned almost exclusively to digital science for the creation of film illusion.

Miniature effects haven't completely gone the way of the dinosaur although digital technology has become far more viable, versatile and flexible for filmmakers. Low budget filmmakers like the fact that they are relatively in expensive and quick to construct. Student filmmakers also like the flexibilty that miniatures bring to their projects.

Here is a few quick steps to build your own movie quality film spaceship miniature. As an example we will be recreating the spaceship "The Nostromo" from the film "ALIEN"

First off, here's some the materials you will need to get started:

- Bottle of Zap and gap and excelerator spray. The spray reacts with the glue and fuses it together.
- Several balsa wood sheets
- 1/2" inch piece of styrene plastic.
-Several styrene or plastic sheets (Can be found in any hobby store)
- various misc wood of plastic blocks of different sizes and shapes
-X-acto  knife or other sharp cutting instrument
-Misc bits of plastic from model kits and household items
-reference material of subject or design illustration
- Grey spray Paint. Black model paint.

1)Get started by starting with the base out of the 1/2 inch styrene sheet. This will be the base of the ship that the structure will be built on. Cut the base into a "figure eight" shape.

2)Use the the wood blocks and build four distinct towers in the center with about a two inch distant between them but symmetrically placed. They can be glued down with the zap

3)Use bits of small modular pieces from misc model kits and plastic bits from house hold items. Use the zap-a-gap glue to adhere them to the side of the blocks. This creates an outer "skin" making the ship look mechanical. Cut small squares from balsa wood and styrene to made modular sections on the surface. Use the glue and excelerator to adhere these to the surface.

4) Use small plastic pieces like bottle cap tops as the tower top crown. Glue these pieces with the gap glue and spray with excelerator. Detail the surface with small pieces as well. Anything will work, old buttons, plastic caps, pen tops, etc.

5) Take model kit trees and cut them into small pieces using the x-acto knife. Use these pieces along the edges and on the surface to add detail. Glue down with gap glue and excelerator.

6) spray paint model with grey spray paint. Allow for plenty of ventilation when using spray paint . Wait a few hours for paint to dry. Then take a wide brim brush and lightly dip in paint. Remove most paint until only a little remains on the brush surface. Slowly run brush over surface. This technique is called "dry brushing" and will detail the edges of the surface giving it extra depth.

remember to always have reference photos to use as a guide and remember its never going to look exactly like the original. The object here is to have fun and make it look interesting.

Stuart Freeborn-Unsung visual effects artist

You know the characters. You know their sounds and their faces. But many do not know about the creative minds behind their favorite fictional creations. It wasn't well known that a Mexican immigrant named Marcel Delgado was the man who sculpted and built the model for King Kong or that a near blind Japanese art director named Al Nozaki was  responsible for the menacing martian warships in  War Of the Worlds. So I suppose it came with little surprise to many when last week some headlines announced the passing of Stuart Freeborn. Most people shrugged their shoulders and said "who"? Like most great artist Freeborn was represented in public light by his creations and his creations were most memorable to fans of movies everywhere. Perhaps his greatest contribution to cinema were the creation of the photo-humans in the Dawn of man sequence in 2001: a space Odyssey (some of these suits still survived the years and are touring with a traveling exhibit on Kubrick). His realization of the ancient Jedi wizard Yoda was said to have been based loosely on his own appearance with the edition of Albert Einstein's eyes. Whenever I would would see his work I always marveled at how expressive it was. I never  stopped and wondered what the creation was made out of. I was too busy being awe inspired.

 Stuart freeborn working on Yoda

cool VFX on the web

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/coolVFX

https://twitter.com/coolVFX

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coolvfx/394337563989731

http://coolvfx.tumblr.com/

RESUME-COOLVFX 67

COOLVFX 67 RESUME

Visual Effects On-set/Post Coordinator. Here Comes The Boom and Zookeeper (May 2009-present)    

Managed on-set logistics of effects-heavy feature film. Managed visual effects specialty motion control equipment and data and information gathering for visual effects post work. Worked closely with Producers and Visual Effects supervisor to insure successful execution of plates used to create feature film’s visual content. Managed and coordinated post-production work concerning visual effects and acted as liaison between studio and visual effects vendors.

 Visual Effects Producer  4Ward Productions (2007- 2008)                                                  

Managed on-set visual effects production work and logistics on location for Oscar winning visual effects company.

Organized, budgeted and coordinated miniature effects and work created in post-production as well as coordinating all digital effects work. Worked closely with editorial to insure prompt delivery of elements. Projects include Starship Troopers 3, Charlie Wilson’s War, X2, Tremors 4 and House on Haunted Hill.

 Visual Effects Producer WhoDoo EFX (2005-2007)

        Managed digital effects work on several projects including Stepford Wives and Failure to Launch. Organized,

budgeted and coordinated miniature effects and work created in post-production as well as coordinating all digital effects work. Worked closely with editorial to insure prompt delivery of elements.

 Visual Effects Producer Misc Freelance Projects (1997-2010 )

Managed digital effects and vfx plate photography work on several projects including Nomad, The Postman, Nutty Professor 2, The Matrix, Mothman Prophecies and Orange County.  Organized and coordinated logistics of the creation of visual effects for feature films.

 Visual Effects Coordinator VIFX/ Video Image (1993-1997)

       Managed digital and miniature effects work on several projects including Se7en, Escape from LA, Demolition Man, Executive Decision, JAG, RELIC, Down Periscope, TIMECOP, SUDDEN DEATH and Clear and Present Danger.

                                                                                                                             

Education

Emerson college, Boston MA                                                                                  

Bachelor of Science degree, Film Production, 1990

Otis art college, Los Angeles, CA                                                                           

Certificate in Fine Art, 2010     

Argument-Technology in entertainment. Who needs it? REPOST

TECHNOLOGY? WHO NEEDS IT?

Remember when?

Growing up watching films from the 60’s and70’s as a kid I remember first seeing such blockbusters as Jaws and Star Wars and like a million other kids of the era I was awestruck. I stayed up late and watched UHF transmissions of the now well known Toho films, watching with eyed enthusiasm as Godzilla, the brown and green Garguantuas, Rodan, Mothra and their kin stomped the hell out of Osaka and Tokyo (or their miniature equivalent) and an army of H/O scale tanks.

Realism wasn’t necessary to draw you into the fantasy back then. All you needed was an open mind and an interesting premise. At that time, computers and digital high tech solutions weren’t available as a tool for filmmakers. Spielberg and Lucas first started making names for themselves in the early 70’s but the success of their work became the harbinger of the technology, which has raised the stakes with every passing year.

Ray Harryhausen created most of his amazing illusions single handedly with a rear projector screen, footage of the day’s dailies and one or two of his stop motions models. Harryhausen’s films were created at a time when fantasy wasn’t really the king of the roost. Science fiction and fantasy were considered aberrations and B-movie drivel by critics and audiences alike up until the mid 70’s. Occasionally a big studio production would emerge that would receive positive notice from the America’s top critic’s. George Pal’s War of The Worlds and Forbidden Planet were just two examples of 1950’s A list fantasy from an era when such things were often laughed at and ignored. Technology changed all that. Now the top grossing films of all times are primarily in the fantasy or science fiction realm. The film going experience is now considered akin to an amusement park ride than theatre.

The pre-digital age films had a charm to them. These films had a handmade kind of feel to them in which the effects and matte paintings had a wonderful aesthetic quality to them. You can’t really describe to someone born pre 1980’s. I think it’s easy to look back at some of these older films and laugh at their crudeness, their naïve breeziness. But when you consider the budget and technology limitations of the pre-digital age, you begin to appreciate the art and creativity behind them. Back then artists were really artists. They thought of their work as art in a museum that was moving at 24 frames per second.

In the pre-digital era, so many of these illusions required the skills of engineers, photographers and even scientists to bring them to life. Off the shelf solutions that are common in the digital age didn’t exist. Problem solving was always a competent of the methodology in this time. Problem solving still exists but it seems more about software solutions than artistic ones.

When you watch David Naughton transform himself into the devil dog from hell in John Landis’ 1981 cult classic American Werewolf in London, you feel every bone-crunching bit of his metamorphosis. Rick Baker and his crew were unable to show the wolf creature full frame as a quadruped due to restrictions of the technology at the time so the director showed the creature running from the head to mid section only. The effects team used a “wheel barrel” set up to move the actor in the suit so he appeared to move as a four-legged creature. Using clever editing and quick cutting solved the issue. Problem solving was a director’s prerogative. It kept them on their toes. Now it seems like digital tools have made filmmakers lazy.

Sometimes the most effective effects are always the ones that you never see. When Spielberg had difficulty with the mechanical shark built by Robert Mattey for Jaws, he decided to shoot around it until he began editing together with Verna Fields. He discovered that not showing the shark in the first hour of the film was far more effective and suspenseful. The now opening of the film is a classic example of letting the viewer fill in the blanks for maximum effect.

Digital effects have opened the door wide open for filmmakers and producers to create anything they can image. That can be a good thing and a bad thing depending on your point of view. From a strictly economic perspective, digital tools can save time and money, create imagery that can be changed with relative ease and summon armies of digital actors to fill in crowds without having to pay for overtime.  However, digital effects can often look mechanical and soulless. Directors can often over do effects sequences, making them extremely overlong and redundant simply to show off the technology. Either way, the sheen comes off fairly quickly.

Illusions are no longer eye openers because they have become commonplace and audiences are becoming more tech savy. They don’t make your jaw drop open like I remember so vividly when I first viewed the “Stargate” sequence in  2001: a space odyssey at the Cinerama dome in Hollywood.  I recall seeing Terminator 2 in a movie theatre in Boston. In the scene when Arnold’s robotic protector blasts huge holes in the liquid metal T-1000. During the quick shot, the camera showed the holes liquefying and sealing up. I recall a loud gasp from the woman sitting behind me. That was a sounding horn of the new age. Digital was here to stay. Since then we have had dinosaurs, dragons, trolls, great apes, goblins and every manner of magical creature that would never been possible before the implementation of computers. But has all this technology made filmmakers lazy? Is the fact that they can now show you what they couldnt 30 years ago a good thing? Would Jaws have been better if the shark didn't break down during shooting and replaced with a CG shark? Ask Yourself..

But since the dawn of the digital age, nothing has made me gasped in awe like when I first saw the fighting skeleton army of Jason and Argonauts, or the universe opening up in a barrage of mystical colors in 2001: a space odyssey, or the monster from the ID breaking through the invisible force field in Forbidden Planet, or the alien war ships destroying Los Angeles in War of the Worlds. This was my eye candy. These are the images that will stay with me forever. I can’t really remember much of what I saw last week at the theatre.