Any ideas on how to (on a budget) create a black shadowy figure, supernatural (ghost), that moves around a room, etc? I have a short film script available that I might want to produce, but the shadowy figure special effect worries me, how to create it and make it believable. The script is interesting in that it involves a Japanese couple, a special ancient japanese sword, and ancient Samurai armour; well as luck would have it a fried of mine collects that stuff, so it presents a unique opportunity for me, if I can just solve how to create that shadowy figure/ghost. I would be willing to pay several hundred dollars for software that could help do this (FXStudio?)
?Beowulf
Independent Filmmaking.
Seeking to tell Hero's Journeys
http://borealpictures.com
CG composited with the live footage would be the obvious solution, or you could try doing it with a real effect (e.g. hanging something from above the camera on thin wires).
Shoot all the action without the figure. Don't move the camera as that complicates things. Then shoot the action again with just the figure. Camera should be in the exact same spot. Than when you plop one ontop of the other you can make the layer with the figure at 10% or 1% visibility. Since everything else is the same only the figure will show from the shadow layer.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
Yeah I'd go with rjschwarz's plan- you can vary the opacity and effects on the figure layer to make him flicker and more 'shadowy'
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quote:
Originally posted by rjschwarz
Shoot all the action without the figure. Don't move the camera as that complicates things. Then shoot the action again with just the figure. Camera should be in the exact same spot. Than when you plop one ontop of the other you can make the layer with the figure at 10% or 1% visibility. Since everything else is the same only the figure will show from the shadow layer.
That seems doable. OK don't laugh (oh hell go ahead if you want to) but maybe I could have the shadowy figure actor wear a black ninja out fit of some sort; with the visibility extremely low at the 1-10% it might just look as it should. Thoughts?
Independent Filmmaking.
Seeking to tell Hero's Journeys
http://borealpictures.com
A ninja outfit or something fuzzy to really haze up the outline of the figure. Might look really odd when filming but should look nice when it's at 10% or less. Other things you could do, a cheap hollyween mask might look lame normally but reduced like that would probably look creepy. Those old zany zappers, illuminated glasses that make you look like you have glowing red eyes also look super-cheesy but might look nice phased out like that.
It's also the kind of thing I would do a couple of test shots with so by the time you get the actors onset you know exactly what it's gonna look like.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
quote:
Originally posted by rjschwarz
A ninja outfit or something fuzzy to really haze up the outline of the figure. Might look really odd when filming but should look nice when it's at 10% or less. Other things you could do, a cheap hollyween mask might look lame normally but reduced like that would probably look creepy. Those old zany zappers, illuminated glasses that make you look like you have glowing red eyes also look super-cheesy but might look nice phased out like that.
..
Though the script calls for a 'black shadowy figure' (ghost), I might even play with a white shadowy figure, use veiled sheer material, i wonder how that would work at 5% transparency, etc.
Another thought is to have two black shadowy figures (film the same one twice). If the shadowy actor follows a similar path around the screen you can then show one, then the other, than back, and create a sort of skipping effect that might work nice.
Another nice trick is if the shadowy figure doesn't move (especially if in front of the right background) for awhile people may not notice it. Than when it does (along with music cue) the audience is likely to jump).
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
