VFX: Easier than you think, harder than you think
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 1:48PM
I love this breakdown clip from Ryan vs. Dorkman 2 (which, if you haven't seen it, is totally worth watching). Based of the so-simple-it's-brilliant notion of showing Star Wars Lightsabers doing things that "we personally think would be fun to see," these guys staged a Lightsaber battle in a factory between, well, two regular guys. The effects work is excellent, and one reason why is that they shot a lot of practical elements.
When you're just getting into effects, it's easy to get stuck thinking that you have to do everything with your computer. These guys wanted to create a realistic reflection, smoke, and sparks. So you know what they did? They shot something that would create a reflection. Then they filmed some smoke. Then they filmed some sparks.
Easy, right? Well, maybe not. To some people it's easier to sit in front of a computer for hours trying to get particles to look like smoke than it is to black out a space and heat up a metal rod with a blowtorch. But the latter is worth the extra effort, because the results will look better and ultimately take less time to create. Sometimes making something look photo-real is just as easy—and as difficult—as shooting something real.
Reader Comments (9)
Yes, but do they ever touch it, or accidentally whack R2?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2U10tf5buE
I apologize in advance for the shameless self-promotion, but I just made this last weekend. Much lower quality (DV), about 4 hours and all FX, nothing practical. They really did a great job and I really appreciate the extra mile they are going.
RVD2 looks pretty amazing. What a great example of how much you can do with practical effects, really slick shot.
I'm always an advocate of filming elements and even miniatures, instead of trying to create them in 3D. You get better realistic results in less time. I'm a practical man. :)
I'm all for using practical AND cg. Whatever works best. I'm a little tired of hearing people rag on CG just because they see a lot of bad CG out there. Remember, there's also a lot of bad practical out there. It's not important what technique you use, as long as it doesn't pull the audience out of the story.
I was actually one of the VFX artists on RVD2. I created a CG hilt for two two shots. You can view the breakdown here...
http://www.danielbroadway.michaelfrisk.com/TRAILER/rvd2_pm_web.mov" REL="nofollow">RVD2_ VFX_BREAKDOWN
Yep! And I did the sparkies. Represent!
Great work guys!
Great work guys!
Hey Stu,
This is Dorkman. Thanks for the write-up, it's a real honor and it means a lot that you've even seen the film, much less enjoyed it.
Also, I sent you a PM about a week ago thru the Pixelcorps forums. I don't know if you got it. My username there is "mii".