CAT385 — Visual Effects

Japanese Talent Show — Bunraku Comedy

2011-03-24T13:03:00.001-07:00

Nifty Chaplin Camera Trick

2011-02-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

Two Ghostly Doubles

2010-09-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

The first is from the beginning of Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr. — named one of the best 100 movies of all time by Time magazine. As Keaton's character splits into two, the characters in the movie he is projecting transform into characters from his personal life. Right after this scene he jumps through the screen and joins them. Great movie, check it out!

The second clip is from Woody Allen's Annie Hall, co-starring Diane Keaton, and winner of four Academy Awards.

Buster Keaton's Multiple Selves in "The Playhouse"

2010-09-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

Not to be confused with Michael Keaton's clones in the movie Multiplicity (1996). By the way, Michael Keaton is not in any way related to Buster Keaton; in fact, his real name is Michael Douglas, and he took Keaton as a stage name because the other Michael Douglas was already famous.

So how did Buster Keaton do this back in the early days of film (1921)? According to our good friend, Wikipedia:

"Keaton's portrayal of nine members of a minstrel show required the use of a special camera shutter. It had nine exactingly-machined strips of metal which could be moved up and down independently of each other. Elgin Lessley, Keaton's cameraman, shot the far-left Keaton with the first shutter up, and the others down. He then rewound the film, opened the second segment, and re-filmed the next Keaton in sequence. This continued for each of the remaining seven Keatons. The camera was hand-wound, so that Lessley's hand had to be absolutely steady, with no variation in its speed. Keaton had to move meticulously in each of his appearances, so he relied on a metronome to guide him, not a problem in a silent film. It was decades before Keaton, who masterminded this, revealed his technique to other filmmakers."

Stop-Action Substitution — Georges Méliès' "The Black Imp" (1905)

2009-01-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

Before making films, Georges Méliès (1861-1938) was a stage magician at the Theatre Robert-Houdin. He was very innovative in the use of special effects. He accidentally discovered the stop trick, or substitution, in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour in his films. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality with the cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the "Cinemagician." —Wikipedia

Click here to read the whole article.

"Art of Motion" Stop-Action Video

2009-01-23T16:17:00.000-08:00

This is the one we viewed in class. It's by Russell Wyner, who writes: "This is entirely stopmotion. No digital compositing. The hard part was doing all the math to make the frames match the music."

Buster Keaton Stop-Action Sequence

2009-01-23T16:13:00.000-08:00

This is from near the beginning of his feature film, Sherlock Jr. (1924). Instead of merely substituting an object, Keaton changes the entire environment.

How to Use a Flip Camera

2009-01-19T16:40:00.000-08:00

Flip camera home page.

How to use Flip camera: frequently asked questions.

David Pogue NY Times review or original Flip camera.

David Pogue NY Times review of new HD Flip camera.

Video showing how to use the Flip camera:

First Movie Visual Effect Ever?!

2009-01-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

Here it is, stop-action substitution, from the Edison Studios just down the road from us. The year is 1895.

3 Graphics Designers Recreate Omaha Beach

2009-01-16T13:57:00.000-08:00

Here's there attempt at duplicating Saving Private Ryan.

The Importance of Invisible Effects

2009-01-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

Let's start our blog off with a really interesting article by Steve Wright, author of the highly recommended Compositing Visual Effects. When we talk about visual effects, we tend to think about explosions and space aliens, but in reality most visual effects are not noticed by the average viewer. That's because these effects are invisible, and as often as not are used to save money or to improve the cinematography, rather than to dazzle. Invisible effects are what make it financially possible for you to be an independent filmmaker.

The article, with pictures, is found on the CreativeCow.net web site, a great resource for everything we do:

http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/the-importance-of-invisible-effects