Effective Use Of FX

simonpwood wrote: 2 films from the top of my head.

Bram Stokers Dracula. All of the effects were done 'in-camera' in way or the other. There were some very basic practical effects such as getting people to do actions one way, and then playing it in reverse. A good example is when Van Helsing (played by Anthony Hopkins) forces the recently dead female vampire Lucy backwards into her crypt. This was actually filmed with her coming out of the crypt forwards while Anthony Hopkins walked in reverse. When they played it backwards Van Helsing advanced while the vampire retreated, and she managed to climb backwards into her crypt. When you watch it the action looks very animalistic and weird, but you don't know you are watching something in reverse, you only know something is a bit 'off' which is the tone they were aiming for. There were lots of similar basic effects like that in the movie.

YES this one is great!

As mentioned earlier, I'm very much interested in creating memorable title sequences & animated logos for the beginning & end of my projects.

Previously I'd mentioned how impressed I was with the title sequence for the show Mad Men.
It's still one of my faves.

Recently I took to liking the title sequence for Million Dollar Listing, it's simple, powerful & effective. This show also uses a lot of graphic overlays which really add punch to the visuals.

Of course the music & sound FX turn the visual tricks into gold.

With that in mind, I have to draw attention to the Cinemax TV show Strike Back - it's opening sequence is outstanding. I also like the Sky TV logo that looks like it's made out of shimmering water, this airs at the end of the program.

Speaking of tail end logos - the FX network has a great multidimensional logo with rotating shadows that appears at the end of its shows (like the show Louie for instance).

It's my suspicion that these are all created in After Effects, but I'm hoping more Motion tutorials will begin to lead us in that direction.

Check out the Strike Back sequence...

Please don't view this as a dreaded "double post" ... it's almost a week later.

For those of you that enjoyed the wonderfully creative quirky short films that Simon Wood shared as the finalists in the Rode Mic video contest, you will absolutely love the new movie Moonrise Kingdom.

The shots in the opening scene will grab you, everything about this is so clever, original, witty & brilliant. Even the closing credits are creative.

They used miniatures for some of the effects (you can't tell), but the use of pans, tilts, pivots & dolly shots thru long extended takes is really something to marvel at. Of course the writing is stellar.

Check the IMDB rating (8.3 ! or Rotten Tomatoes 94%) & impressive cast list

www.imdb.com/title/tt1748122/

EDIT ::::

Also, to my list of eye-catching opening title sequences, I'd like to add the new Conan O'Brien show. It looks very do'able in Motion. The textures they put on the colors look like some time in PhotoShop though. It's simple, bold, powerful, creative & very effective. Again, as always, music helps tremendously.

:::: yes, another EDIT

If you haven't seen the new season of SNL (Saturday Night Live), they're using some very interesting effects in their title sequences & bumpers, there's a kind of prismatic kaleidoscope effect they do on a title, then reverse it back to normal, also some interesting diagonal strips that formulate the images.

:::: I have to keep EDITING (until someone else adds something, or I'll be double posting - which is probably a no-no here).

Anyway, just returned from a preview screening of Deadfall, it packs a stellar cast & an amazing script. If you're interested in film-making, this one's a masterclass. During the closing credits, I see that Shane Hurlbut was the DOP. He, if you recall, used Canon 5D's for more than half of the big budget feature Act Of Valor (his excellent videos on that process are here... fcp.co/dslr/canon/533-shane-hurlbut-asc-...lms-and-the-canon-5d

Deadfall has some marvelous camera techniques, & tricks, you'll really get some creative ideas. Some of them are very subtle, & easily missed, like a tracking dolly shot towards the path of a speeding car, which transitions into a crane shot as the car passes, but done so seamlessly you'll think it's one shot. They also utilize extensive blizzard effects that are so realistic, yet there are a couple of ways you can tell they were added in post. However, everything starts with the story, & this one's a doozy. All in all, an excellent film. The pre-release buzz on Deadfall is deafening...

Beautiful Slow-Mo

There have been quite a few inquiries here about one of the most popular effects of all time; slow motion. Gorgeous slow motion is a wonderful effect that can add tremendous value to a production. Regardless of which route you choose to go in FCPX (retiming, optical flow or Twixtor), you're still going to need to start with a quality image, which usually means a higher frame rate, requiring more light & or better lenses. Unfortunately most of the lower end cameras drop your frame size down to 720 if you want to raise your frame rate even to 60fps. However, this is changing as new exciting camera developments are continually evolving.

In the mean time, here's an interesting slo-mo sequence from Vincent Laforet's blog shot with the new Tactec TS3Cine camera - yeah, it's still 720

Impressive slo-mo though

vimeo.com/51876780

Here are the technical details

blog.vincentlaforet.com/

While we're on the skater genre - Look how much more exciting the shot is with the addition of a reverse moving background.

www.directiondesign.nl/blog/?p=552

/// UPDATE \\\

There are emails floating around promoting this super high-speed camera footage showcased on TED. It's worth sharing again, it's probably some of the most spectacular slow-motion you'll ever see. The topic is Pollination - my favorites are the Hummingbird barrel rolls & the fruit-bat with clutching baby... but then again the airborne shots thru clouds of bees or butterflies will take your breath away.

www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0

/// Update 2 \\\

I'm really hoping some others will contribute here before I get in trouble for making an entire thread. It's just that, if you love film like I do, often while watching you see a technique that is done so well that it really... well, makes the film. All these little brush strokes, so masterfully applied bring us a cinematic Rembrandt.

Right now I'm watching Hope Springs ( www.imdb.com/title/tt1535438/ ), & there is subtle use of a camera trick we've been talking about in the thread for Alex's animated zoom plug in. This applies directly to FCPX because we can create that camera move in post. In this movie, which is very well written, acted & shot, they feature some intimate counseling sessions. The way it's filmed & edited is excellent, but in particular the extremely slow zoom, even on a short 5 second shot, is so effective. It acts as an emotional magnet, pulling you into the scene, into the moment. Sometimes they're applying some light soundtrack accompaniment which accentuates the effect. The camera's movement in on the subject is so slight, I often have to check the edge of the frame for the almost imperceptible crawl. But it's as if our mind's eye perceives even the slightest approach, & thus the power of this move. Without an expensive dolly, track, lenses, dolly grip, focus puller, etc, it's difficult to make this move so slowly & perfectly smoothly. The slowness of the creep, the almost imperceptible quality of it, is what makes it work on the subconscious. The smoothness of the move in the big features can not be duplicated without all that equipment & personnel. However, in post, with the plugin judiciously applied to smoothly creep in with minute increments, we can match the effect displayed in the big budget features.

Once again, Alex of Alex4D fame has generously contributed so that we can all produce this powerful effect.

www.fcp.co/forum/9-free-fcpx-plugins-and...e-lifetime-of-a-clip

Good news everybody! Yes, it's Christmas, Happy Happy to you all. But it's also time to revive this thread, it's already over 3000 hits!

Somewhere in this thread I'd mentioned my penchant for opening title sequences. Just found this very cool collection of fan generated retooled & re-stylized opening sequences .

Some of these are ingeniously creative. I think they're all done with FCPX & Motion.

One of my favorites (Mad Men) gets a bit of a downgrade here (though still clever), but my favorites are Breaking Bad, Into The Wild & Dexter.

Eat some turkey, sit back ... & enjoy.

It looks like After Effects was used in most of these Opening Titles.

I'm pretty sure it can all be done in Motion.... Ben where are you on this one?


so... which one was your fav?
The Walking Dead was pretty gruesome, but excellent FX
I still stand by my list

a course some of them can... to a certain point.
What are interested about Motion and the opening titles. Here are more people that know about Motion.

Yeah, Motion can do that stuff...

This is an amazing use of effects!

Recruiting old 60's footage to construct a fantastical futuristic new world.

Larry Jordan sent this out as a tweet today saying, "I can barely wrap my head around this amazing video."

It contains so many creative simple image developments into complex structures. Dystopian? Satirical? How about the housewives window shopping next to hell? Or the manufactured Madison Avenue faces supplanting the tree of life, or trampling Megaopolis as the image fueled Godzilla rampages out of control... or .. is it always under perfect control?

I call it "If Escher Were An Editor."


Click on full screen, you'll be glad you did...




@GlobalWatchM3

In this thread we had mentioned clever openings & title sequences. I'd like to add to that, closing title sequences.

If you haven't seen the latest Ironman 3, it's basically .. well, you know, Ironman. However the closing title sequence before the credits roll has to be one of the most complex uses of split screen effects I've seen. Not only are all the slices & segments moving & changing shapes, the speed, image juggling & freeze-framing is chronologically dazzling & logistically mind boggling. It's set to retro style music giving a real 70's TV feel. Looks like it took a lot of work to construct the sequence, but they've really achieved something memorable.

Maybe we should start a thread for Opening Sequences or Title Sequences